§ 1.105. Specific powers enumerated.

The city shall have power and authority to:

(1)

Buy and sell water, gas, electricity and other public utilities at cost or for a profit, both within and without the territorial boundaries of the city. Erect, establish, and operate all facilities including lines, mains, pipes, machinery, plants, and structures necessary for the maintenance and operation of such utilities, including the repair and replacement of the same.

(2)

Adopt ordinances binding on everyone within the city to protect the health, peace, safety, good order, dignity and general welfare of the city and the inhabitants thereof.

(3)

Exercise complete control over all the public streets, roads, ways, drives, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, crossings, and parks of the city. They shall have full and complete power and authority to open, curb, locate, relocate, replace, work, straighten, abandon, close, drain, pave and repave the same, or cause the same to be done.

(4)

Establish a system of numbering houses in the city, and to assign appropriate street numbers to the various houses on the various streets, alleys, roads, lanes, drives and ways of the city, and to compel said houses to be properly numbered.

(5)

Control by ordinance the time, manner, terms, conditions, and places of all sewer connections and how much surface or drainage water may flow into such sewers, and the terms and conditions on which it will be permitted, and at what points, and generally all matters relating to the construction, use, control, maintenance, repair, replacement, improvement and removal of sewers and sewer connections, and the cutting and replacing of pavement and other adjacent structures shall at all times be under the control and regulation of the city council in its fair and legal discretion.

(6)

Control by ordinance the construction, maintenance and removal and replacement of all city culverts, pipes, sewers, drains, private drains, water closets, urinals, privies, toilets, and the like, and provide for their location, structure, size and use, in all particulars, as may be deemed best for the health, comfort and general welfare of the inhabitants of the city. The city council shall have power and authority to prescribe by ordinance the kind of water closets, urinals, privies and plumbing which shall be used in the corporate limits, and to condemn and compel the disuse of same when they shall become and are declared a nuisance by a court having jurisdiction. The city council shall also have power and authority to compel the owner or owners of property within the city to connect water closets, sinks, commodes and urinals on their property with the sewers and sanitary system of said city when such property is located within a reasonable distance of such sewer, and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by ordinance. If any property owner shall fail or refuse to make connections as required by city ordinance or resolution, such owner shall be punished as provided by ordinance.

(7)

Contract with other municipalities and political subdivisions, and to cooperate with the other municipalities and political subdivisions, in acquiring, establishing, constructing, building, maintaining, and/or operating such garbage disposal, water, sewerage, electric and/or gas plants, lines and/or facilities, and streets, sidewalks and parks within and/[or] without the limits of the city, as well as library and other institutions, utilities and/or services, in addition to existing plants, systems, building[s], facilities, lines and services as the city council may at any time deem for the best interest of said city.

(8)

Levy, assess and collect taxes to raise sufficient revenue to pay for the improvements, services, equipment and/or facilities provided for in any contract or agreement to which the city is or may become a party.

(9)

Issue and sell bonds for the purpose of paying bonds of the city and interest thereon, and for any public or other purpose allowed by the constitution and laws of this state, and to issue and sell revenue anticipation certificates as now or hereafter allowed by law.

(10)

Provide by ordinance for reporting all property in the city subject to taxation by the city, whether such property be realty or personalty, tangible or intangible, and to require all persons owning such property to file a written statement and description of such property with the fair market value thereof under oath.

(11)

Prescribe by ordinance a penalty for failure to make such return or report within the time prescribed by ordinance; provided such penalty shall not exceed the sum of double the amount of tax levied against such person or taxpayer failing to make or file such return. Such penalty shall be a lien upon property of the defaulter and shall be collected in the same manner as the taxes of the city. Such penalty shall be established at the discretion of the mayor and council at the time taxes are levied.

(12)

Assess the costs of sewers against abutting lots of real estate and the owners thereof on each side of a street in which such sewer is laid or constructed, and the owners of such abutting real estate shall have the right to have the drains from their abutting lots connected with such sewer at their cost under such rules and regulations as the city council may prescribe by ordinance.

(13)

Control and/or prohibit the manufacture and/or sale of all alcoholic beverages, and to tax, license, regulate and control hotels, boardinghouses, apartments, restaurants, theatres, dance halls, athletic and sporting events and places and all other entertainment activities and places, regulate the operation of all vehicles used for pleasure or business, and garages, mills, factories, ginneries, gas and water companies; regulate the use of its streets for all purposes, and prevent their use for business, or regulate business use by taxation and otherwise, including the right to impose a reasonable license tax for use of streets for business purposes; to prevent stock and poultry from running at large, and to seize and impound any domestic or wild animal or fowl found at large within the city limits; and to provide by proper ordinance for the redemption or sale of the same; and to adopt such ordinances as may be considered necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

(14)

Grant franchises, easements and rights-of-way over, in, under and on public streets, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, parks and other property of said city on such terms and conditions and for such lengths of time as it may fix; provided, franchises shall not be granted without fair and adequate compensation provided for in the franchise ordinance; and provided further, that no such franchise shall be granted until notice has been published at least one time one week preceding the week in which the city council meets to consider such application, stating the nature of the franchise, the streets, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, parks or other property on or through which it is desired, the terms of such grant and the time at which the city council will act upon such application.

(15)

Employ or cause to be employed a certified public accountant to examine and audit all books of account and pertinent records of all officers, employees, and agencies of said city relative to the financial affairs of the city whenever and as often as the city council shall consider proper, and shall fix his compensation. The compensation of such accountant may be fixed on an hourly or other basis before, after, or at the time of his employment. It shall require at least one examination and report every year.

(16)

Pave or otherwise improve the whole or any part of any street, sidewalk or alley of said city, without giving any railroad company, or other property holder or occupant on the street the option to pave or otherwise improve the same or any part thereof by themselves or by contract.

(17)

Define a nuisance in the city and provide for its abatement. The recorder's court of the city shall have jurisdiction of all nuisance abatement proceedings in the city.

(18)

Remove any building, stall, booth, tent, awning, steps, gate, fence, post, wires, stump, tree, structure, pole, or other obstruction or nuisance in a public street, sidewalk or way or so near thereto as to constitute a defect or render the city liable in damages for not removing it, or cause the aforesaid to be removed at the owner's expense if the owner shall fail or refuse to remove the same within such reasonable time as may be fixed by order of the city recorder, or mayor when acting as recorder, and execution shall issue against said owner for the expense thereof as in case of executions for unpaid taxes, and said owner shall also be subject to punishment for maintaining a nuisance.

(19)

Regulate, lay out, open, relocate, straighten, improve, grade, and control old and new streets, lanes, alleys, street curbing, street crossing and sidewalks, and no person or corporation shall at any time hereafter lay out, locate, relocate, open, extend, or close any street, lane, road, alley, way, sidewalk, park or square contrary to the plan of the city nor without the consent of the city council, and any application for this purpose shall, with an appropriate plat, first be filed with the city engineer or such officer as the city council may designate by ordinance, and notice thereof shall be given the public or parties in interest by publication of notice as required by law and the ordinances of the city. If such application is granted, the owner shall relinquish all rights and titles to the area involved and the same shall pass to and become vested in the city, and all management and control over the same shall pass unequivocably to the city.

(20)

Impose and collect a license and a tax on dogs within the city in such a manner and mode as it may deem best.

(21)

License electricians, plumbers, contractors and others and to require examinations as conditions precedent to granting of such license; create examining boards and prescribe by ordinance the minimum requirements in such examinations, and to appoint the members of such boards.

(22)

Condemn or cause worn out sewers, street pavement, street curbing, or sidewalks within the city to be condemned, reconstructed, replaced or repaired, as the case may require, at the expense of owners of lots of real estate abutting thereon (or against the real estate and owner or owners thereof for whose sole benefit such improvement exists in case of sewers laid solely for the benefit of persons other than owners of real estate abutting thereon), and assess the cost thereof (or in case of street paving such part of the costs as the city council shall deem just and proper) against such abutting lots of real estate and the owners thereof (or in cases of sewers constructed solely for the benefit of a person or persons other than abutting lot owners against other real estate, and the owners thereof for the sole benefit of which such sewer exists), as in the case of original construction of the same kind of improvements.

(23)

Provide, by ordinance, a civil service system for city officers and employees and/or provide by ordinance for a system of retirement for city officers and employees, which retirement system may be that of old age and survivor's insurance.

(24)

Regulate the subdivision of land in the city by requiring and regulating the preparation and presentation of preliminary plats, by establishing minimum improvements to be made or to be guaranteed to be made by the subdivider, by setting forth the procedure to be followed by the planning commission in applying rules, regulations, and standards, and by providing for penalties for violation of aforesaid rules, regulations and standards.

(25)

Advertise the advantages of the city and promote the growth and interests of the city, or the welfare of its inhabitants, in such manner as shall be determined by the mayor and council of the city, including, but not limited to, the encouragement and promotion of economic development, including retail, commercial and residential development, to contract with public and private entities to carry out such purposes, and to appropriate funds for such purposes.

(26)

To enter into contracts and agreements with other governmental entities and with private persons, firms, corporations and other private entities.

(27)

To make appropriations for the support of the government of the city; to authorize the expenditure of money for any purposes authorized by this charter and for any purpose for which a municipality is authorized by the laws of the State of Georgia, and to provide for the payment of expenses of the city.

(28)

Receive and accept federal and state funds for, and to engage and participate in, any "transportation enhancement activity" as defined in 23 USC § 101 or other federal or state law now existing or hereinafter enacted, whether within or outside of the City, and to appropriate funds and provide in-kind services, labor, materials or real estate required for the local contribution to receive such federal or state funds.

(1963 Ga. Laws, page 2030, § 9; Ord. No. 460, § 1, 3-16-10; Ord. No. 468, § 1, 12-21-10; Ord. No. 478, 11-20-12)