The common council of said city shall have the following general powers enumerated in the subdivisions of this section, as follows:
(1) To lay off, open, close, vacate or maintain public grounds, parks, and public places, and name and rename the same, to have control and supervision thereover, to protect the same from damages or other injury by persons or property, to fix fines and punishments for any injury thereto in violation of any of the orders of said common council, and to maintain good order and prevent violation of the ordinances of said city therein or thereon.
(2) To acquire, either by purchase, condemnation or other modes provided by general law, ground within said city for such streets and alleys as the common council may deem proper; to locate, lay off, vacate, close, alter, grade, straighten, widen or narrow, pave or repave, construct and keep in good repair, the roads, streets, alleys, pavements, sidewalks, crosswalks, drains, viaducts and gutters therein, and such bridges as may be owned or built by the said city, for the use of the public or of any of the citizens thereof, and to improve and light the same and to keep the same clean and free from obstruction of every kind: provided, that the municipality shall not be liable for or responsible in damages for injuries to persons or property caused by or from any defect or obstruction in or on any street or alley within said city that has been or may be taken over by the state road commission, under and by virtue of the laws of the state; nor shall said municipality be liable in damages for injuries to persons or property caused by or from a defect or obstruction in or on the plat of ground between the gutter or curb of any street and the sidewalks extending there along or between any such sidewalks and the property lying next adjacent thereto, unless the municipality had actual notice of such defect or obstruction prior to the time of the injury complained of; and provided further, that where said city shall be required to respond in damages by reason of injury to persons or property occasioned by the failure of any abutting owner to so provide or keep in repair any sidewalk along said property, after being notified by the common council to do so, that such property owner shall be liable to the city for any sum of money, costs and counsel fees which it has been required to pay by reason thereof.
(3) To regulate the width of sidewalks and the streets and the width and care of the public grounds or grass plats abutting thereon, and to order the sidewalks, footways, crossways, drains, and gutters to be curbed, paved or repaved and kept in good order, free and clean, and to provide for the removal of snow and ice therefrom, and for sprinkling the same by the owner or occupants of the real property next adjacent thereto, and to provide and enforce punishments for obstruction, injuring or preventing the free and proper use thereof, and to provide and enforce fines and penalties for throwing therein or thereon any paper, glass, rubbish, decaying substances or other things that would make said streets, sidewalks, grass plots, crosswalks, drains or gutters unsightly and unhealthy.
(4) To regulate the use of the walks, highways, bridges, streets, alleys and gutters and the rate of speed or travel thereon, and to prevent and punish for operating vehicles of whatever kind at excessive rates of speed, and to prevent injury to such streets, alleys, roads and highways from overloaded or improperly loaded vehicles, and from dragging logs or other matter therein, and to regulate the speed of engines or trains or streetcars upon or across any of such streets, alleys, highways, bridges, public places or any other place that the common council deems the public safety requires such regulation; and otherwise regulate the use and manner of operation of said vehicles.
(5) To regulate the planting, trimming and preservation of shade trees, by persons and by corporations, in streets, alleys, roads, public grounds and places, and shall require the owner of adjacent property to trim or remove any shade tree or ornamental shrubbery or other tree that in the opinion of the common council is an obstruction to the streets, alleys, or sidewalks, or a menace to public safety.
(6) The common council shall have the right to require the owner or occupier of any property in the city to keep his premises clean and free from all matters that would endanger the health and welfare of the citizens of the city, and may require the removal of any waste paper or waste material of any kind or character upon the private property of any citizen or property owner that would cause the spread of fire or when the common council deems the same should be removed; and may require the removal or straightening of any fence, wire, paling, or other material enclosing any lot, when, in the opinion of the common council, the same is dangerous or obstructs or encroaches upon the streets, alleys or sidewalks; provided, that in all such cases, if the owner or occupier of such property fails to do any of the things enumerated in this section required by the common council, the common council may take such action as may be necessary to perform such acts and the expense thereof shall be charged against the property owner and collected as taxes are collected.
(7) The regulate the making of division fences of an unsightly nature and party walls by the owners of adjoining and adjacent premises and lots, insofar as the same shall not be in conflict with general laws.
(8) To regulate or require drainage by the owner or occupier of any lot or other real estate, by proper drains, ditches, and sewers, and to require the owner or occupier of any lot to fill the same, at his own expense, so that water will not collect in a body thereon, or so that the same will not become a menace to public health.
(9) To regulate or prohibit street carnivals, or street fairs or street parades, advertising exhibition, or other exhibitions thereon, or the exhibition of goods, wares, merchandise, material, material or artificial curiosities upon any street, sidewalk, alley or public place of said city.
(10) The regulate or prohibit the ringing of bells, blowing of steam whistles, or use of hand organs, or other instruments of an annoying character, or other music of itinerant performers in the streets, or public speaking and preaching in the streets, roads, parks or public places of the municipality.
(11) To license, regulate or prohibit auctioneering.
(12) To license, regulate or prohibit the sale of goods, wares, merchandise, drugs, or medicine on the street or other public places.
(13) To prevent the illegal sale, offering or exposing for sale, or advertising of spirituous liquors, wine, porter, ale, beer, or drinks of a like nature.
(14) To prevent the illegal sale of tobacco, cigars, snuff, or cigarettes, within said municipality.
(15) To regulate, assess and collect a license fee for the said city for the doing of anything or the carrying on of any business for which a state license is required; provided, however, that when anything for which a state license is required is to be done within the limits of said city, the common council may decide whether such license may be granted or not, and if granted, it shall be assessed and collected the same as if granted by the County Court of Wetzel County.
(16) To establish, when the common council may deem proper, locate and keep in repair, market places, market houses, and regulate markets, prescribe the time for holding the same, to authorize the seizure thereof and destruction of any and all such foods and drink products as shall be found unwholesome, dangerous or offensive, and without recourse against the municipality for cost and value.
(17) To regulate the keeping, handling and transportation of explosives and dangerous combustible within the municipality; and to regulate or prohibit the use of fireworks or gunpowder, toy pistols, air rifles, or guns, within the said municipality.
(18) To define by ordinance what shall constitute a nuisance, and to abate all nuisances whether defined or not, and to require the removal or abatement, at the expense of the owner thereof, of any obnoxious business, building, sign board, signs or other thing, which in the opinion of the common council is a nuisance.
(19) To regulate or prohibit the distribution of handbills, circulars and other advertisements of like kind, on the streets, roads, alleys and public places, or the placing of same in private yards, buildings or other structures, without first having procured the consent of the owner or occupier of such property.
(20) To prohibit the keeping and/or prevent the running at large in the city of dogs, hogs, cattle, sheep, horses and other animals, and/or fowls and domesticated birds of all kinds; and to establish and maintain places for their detention, make regulations respecting the same, to appoint a dog warden and define his duties and provide for the sale or disposition of such animals and fowls impounded.
(21) To arrest, convict and punish any person for importing, printing, publishing, selling, giving away, exhibiting, or distributing any book, picture or device, or other thing containing any obscene picture or language, or making any indecent representation.
(22) To prevent and prohibit any tumult or riotous assembly.
(23) To prevent and prohibit trespass upon private property or the doing of anything which would annoy the owner, or occupier of any premises and to fix and provide fines and punishments therefor.
(24) To provide against danger or damages by fire, and to that end, to require, when the common council may think necessary, an inspection of all the properties within the said city, to require the owner or occupier of any property in which a defective or dangerous chimney, wires, flue or other dangerous condition is found, to immediately repair the same, and to prevent the use thereof until repaired as required.
(25) To prohibit and prevent intoxication or drunkenness, and the drinking of intoxicants in any public place, store, street or alley, and to fix fines and penalties.
(26) To protect the public schools in said city, and to prohibit and prevent any disturbance thereof in and about the buildings or upon the grounds, and to prevent injury, destruction, or defacement of any school property or building.
(27) To arrest, convict and punish any person for cruelty, unnecessarily or needlessly beating, torturing, mutilating, killing, or overloading, or overdriving, or wilfully depriving of necessary sustenance, any horse or other domestic animal.
(28) To prohibit, prevent and punish for the pollution of any stream of water running into or through the said municipality; and to prohibit and prevent the throwing into any such stream of any trash, dirt, filth, offal, decayed substances or matters, or anything that would make said water unhealthy or unfit for domestic use.
(29) To restrain, prevent and punish fraudulent practices of any kind within the municipality.
(30) To regulate the erection, construction, alteration and repair of dwelling houses, buildings and other structures, within the municipality, to issue permits therefor and to compel the numbering of such houses and buildings by the owners and occupiers thereof; and to prescribe by ordinance the distance which dwelling houses, and other structures in resident districts shall be set back from the sidewalk.
(31) To require any building that, in the opinion of the common council is dangerous, to be repaired, altered or removed by the owners thereof or put in a safe condition, such as the common council may approve, at the expense of such owner or occupier, and to provide punishment for failure to comply with any order of the common council concerning same.
(32) To provide for the prevention and extinguishing of fires, and for this purpose, the common council may equip and govern fire companies, prescribe the power and duties of such companies and departments, and of the several officers thereof, or may authorize volunteer fire companies, under such rules and regulations as the common council may prescribe and impose on those who fail to obey any lawful command of the officer in charge of any such company, or volunteer company, any penalty which the common council is authorized to impose for violation of an ordinance, and to give authority to any such fire officer to direct the pulling down or destruction of any building, fence, wall or other thing, if such officer deems it necessary to prevent the spreading of any fire which is being extinguished under the direction of such officer, and without any liability on the municipality for damages therefor.
(33) To protect the persons and property within the corporate limits and preserve the peace and good order therein, and for this purpose, to appoint, when necessary, a police force and such other officers as may be deemed necessary; and to provide a lock-up, jail or other suitable place to confine persons sentenced to imprisonment for violation of the ordinances of said city; provided, however, that the jail of Wetzel County may be used for that purpose, if authorized by the county court of said county.
(34) To prescribe the powers, define the duties of the officers appointed under the corporate authority, fix their terms of service and compensation, if not otherwise prescribed by this charter, and to require and take from them bonds, when deemed necessary payable to the State of West Virginia, or the City of New Martinsville with the sureties, and in such penalties as may be prescribed, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their respective duties; provided, that the compensation of any officer, elected or appointed, shall not be increased nor diminished during the time for which he is elected or appointed.
(35) To make regulations with respect to, and have supervision and control over the erection, removal and relocation of all telephone, telegraph, electric light or other poles within said city, and the extension of wires, lines or poles by any individuals or corporations.
(36) To acquire, erect, operate and manage or authorize or prohibit the erection of gas works, electric light works or waterworks within the city limits; to prevent injury to such works or the pollution of any gas or other used or intended to be used by the public or by individuals; and to do all things necessary to adequately supply said city and the inhabitants thereof with pure, healthful and wholesome water; and to require any company furnishing gas or electricity for sale or distribution in said city to furnish an adequate supply thereof; to require gas fixtures, electric light wires, telephone wires and all apparatus used in connection with any of these, to be kept in repair and suitable for use, and free from danger, so far as practicable; to use, generate, distribute, sell and control electricity, water and gas for heat, light and power and to furnish light for the streets, highways, buildings, stores and other places in and about the city.
(37) To acquire, erect, provide, manage and operate an incinerator or incinerators, machinery and equipment for disposal of garbage and other waste material; to provide, furnish, maintain and operate and/or contract for a system of garbage removal for the said city, including the power to fully regulate the service charges and service in connection therewith, and to promulgate such rules and regulations concerning the use thereof as may be necessary for the safe and efficient handling of such business.
(38) The common council shall have the right to own, maintain, operate and control any electric light plant within said city, or to provide for, or purchase electric power and to use, generate, distribute, sell and control electricity and gas for heat, light, and power, and to furnish light for the streets, houses, buildings, stores and other places in and about said city, and for such electricity other than that furnished for the municipality in lighting its streets, or public places, it may charge reasonable rates, but such rates in all cases shall be uniform; and such electric light plant shall be under the supervision and control of the common council, and its wires, poles, distributing system and machinery shall be kept in such repair so that as little danger as possible shall arise therefrom, and so that same will furnish an adequate supply of electricity to all persons in said city desiring to use same.
(39) The common council shall have the right to provide a sewerage system for said city, and may require the owner of any property abutting upon any street or alley in which a sewer has been laid or placed, to connect a sewer leading from his or her property or lot into any public sewer which is located in such street or alley adjoining the same, and if the owner or occupier of said lot or property fails or refuses to do so, after having been given reasonable notice, the common council may enter upon such lot and construct such sewers, and may levy the actual cost thereof against the lot upon which the same is built and collect such costs from the owner of such lot in the same manner as city or state taxes are collected; in addition thereto, the common council may punish by fine, or fine and imprisonment, any person who permits any drainage from his residence or lot to enter upon any property after a sewer has been placed in the street or alley adjacent to his property, to which he should connect after notice has been given to him by the common council to make such connection. The common council may provide by ordinance for the inspection of all sewer connections by some person appointed by the common council and provide for the assessment of the cost of such inspection upon the property owner, which cost may be collected the same as taxes or as otherwise provided by the common council.
(40) The common council shall have the right to impose fines and penalties for any interference with or destruction of the sewer system or any part thereof in said city, or for the destruction or damages to any street, alley or sidewalk in said city or any improper use thereof.
(41) The common council shall have the right to regulate or prevent the use of the sidewalk for bicycles, pushcarts, sleds, tricycles, roller skates and other things of like character and to fix fines and penalties for violation of the ordinances respecting same.
(42) To grant by ordinance or resolution permits for the temporary use of such parts of its streets, roads, alleys and public places as the common council may deem proper and right to be used in construction, alteration or repair of buildings located thereon, or for such other purposes as the common council may deem proper and right, and under such regulations and for such time as the common council may prescribe.
(43) The common council may buy, lease and operate either within or without the municipality, stone quarries, crushers and land for said purposes or for the purpose of furnishing a supply of stone or other material suitable for macadamizing or paving the streets, sidewalks and alleys, and improving public property.
(44) To operate by ordinance such committees or boards, and delegate such authority thereto as may be deemed necessary or advisable by the common council; and to employ such legal counsel on behalf of the city, from time to time, as the common council may deem necessary to protect the interest of the City.
(45) The common council shall keep all roads, streets and alleys within its limits passable and in good repair.
(46) In the enforcement of the ordinances, orders, rules, and regulations of the said city, no fine shall be imposed exceeding five hundred dollars, and no person shall be imprisoned or compelled to labor on the streets of said city; provided, violations of the road laws or automobile laws, may be punished by fines and penalties prescribed by general law, unless different fines and penalties are expressly prescribed by the ordinances of said city.
(47) It shall be the express duty of the common council to present charges against any of its members, or any officer of the city, who fails to perform, or who does not promptly and diligently perform any duty prescribed by this act, or by any ordinance or resolution of the common council, and upon hearing thereof before the common council, after notice to such officer, he shall be removed from office by the common council, if the charges be found correct.
(48) To provide for the payment of all appointive officers and employees.
(49) To exercise all of the legislative functions of the city government, and shall have the right to demand of any city official, or employee, information, explanation, facts, details, correspondence, or other papers affecting the city’s interest; and it shall be deemed misfeasance and neglect of duty for such official or employee to fail or refuse to comply with such demands.
(50) The common council shall have the power, under this section, to require the acting head official of any municipal gas, water, electric, garbage and/or sewerage department to prepare or cause to be prepared a charge or map of any or all municipal water lines, gas lines, electric lines, sewerage lines and/or garbage routes; and if such be not furnished within a reasonable and fixed time after notice thereof, to the common council, the defaulting official or officials may be removed or fined in the discretion of the common council.
(51) The common council shall have the power and authority to levy, assess and collect taxes upon the real and personal property within said city, including the taxation of dogs kept in said city; provided, that such levy and assessment of taxes shall be uniform with respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of said city; and provided further, that such levy, assessment and collection of taxes shall be made in accordance with the acts of the legislature of West Virginia now existing or hereafter enacted, and in accordance with the provisions of the constitution of the State of West Virginia and amendments thereto.
To provide a revenue for the city for municipal purposes and to appropriate such revenue to its expenses.
(52) The common council shall have the power to grant franchises, but shall not grant any such franchise to any person, or corporation, within said city limits which shall be either exclusive or perpetual, but all such grants shall have annexed to them the power to rescind, revoke, alter, modify or regulate the exercises of any such franchise; and said common council shall have power on ten days’ notice, and for cause, to revoke, rescind, alter or modify, the exercise of any such franchise; and no franchise involving the use of any of the public property, streets, alleys, sidewalks, crosswalks or involving the use or occupancy of the same, shall be granted except by an ordinance to that effect.
(53) The common council shall have the right, power and authority to require the owner of any real property abutting upon any sidewalk or footway in the city to curb, recurb, pave, repave, or keep the same clean; and if the occupant and/or owner shall fail or refuse to keep the same clean, or if the owner shall fail or refuse to curb, recurb, pave or repave any such sidewalk or footway in the manner or within the time required by the common council, it shall be the right and duty of the common council to cause the same to be done at the expense of the municipality and to assess the amount of such expense upon such owner or occupant, as the case may be; and such expenses may be collected by the city in the manner herein provided by the collection of municipal taxes.
(54) The common council shall have the power and authority to restrain, prevent and punish the stealing of any gas, water or electric energy, or the tampering with any mains, pipes, meters, or any other device or appliance used in connection with the aforesaid, conducting, supplying, or being used in somewise in connection therewith, of gas, water or electric energy; provided, that any enactment of this section shall be consistent with the general laws of the state.
(55) The common council shall have authority and power to pass such ordinances as may be deemed necessary or advisable to carry out the provisions of this Charter and to protect all property, public or private, within said city; to preserve and maintain peace, quiet and good order therein; and to preserve and promote the health, safety and well being of the inhabitants of said city.
(56) Except as herein otherwise provided, the powers of the common council of said city shall also be co-extensive with the powers of the town and common council generally as provided by the general laws and statutes of the State of West Virginia.
(57) Said common council shall have power, also, to appoint policemen whenever the necessities of public safety of the people of said city in their judgment shall require it, who shall be under the direction and supervision of the chief of police and of the said common council; and the said common council shall by ordinance define the duties of all officers so elected or appointed as aforesaid and allow them a reasonable compensation, which shall be by monthly salaries, and not otherwise, except as to the collection of taxes, and which compensation shall not be increased or diminished during their term of office; and shall require and take from all those whose duty it is to receive its funds, assets or property, or have charge of the same, such bonds, obligations and other writings, as they shall deem necessary or proper to insure the faithful performance of their said duties. All officers appointed or elected by the common council shall hold their office or appointment during the will and pleasure of the said common council, but no appointee shall hold beyond the current year for which he shall have been appointed without a new election by said common council.
(58) All officers appointed by the common council must be residents of the said city at the time of their appointment, and a removal from the city shall vacate their said offices.
(59) All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed, but this act shall not be construed to repeal, change or modify any previous act, not inconsistent with this act, authorizing the City of New Martinsville to contract debts or to borrow money, or to take away any of the powers conveyed by general law upon said city, or upon the mayor or common council or any officers, except so far as the same may be inconsistent with the powers hereby conferred.