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Any member of Council having any interest, direct or indirect, other than as a citizen of Wheeling, in any matter to be acted upon in any way by Council, shall have no vote on such matter, nor shall be privileged to take part in the discussion thereof except by unanimous consent, and, upon the request of any other member of Council, the member shall retire from the session until such matter has been disposed of.
Every ordinance, resolution or action changing the precinct boundaries or otherwise redistricting the City, or annexing any municipality or territory, or appropriating money in excess of one hundred dollars, or ordering any street improvements or sewer, or granting any franchise, or any right to occupy or use the streets, highways, bridges, or public places in the City or any part thereof, for any purpose, shall be complete in the form in which it is finally passed, and remain on file with the City Clerk for public inspection at least one week before the final passage or adoption thereof. No franchise, or right to occupy or to use the streets, highways, bridges, or public places in the City, or any part thereof, shall be granted, renewed, altered, amended, repealed or extended except by ordinance; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall prohibit Council from empowering the City Licensing Officer from granting permits to churches, community associations and the like, for the use of portions of City streets for street fairs and fetes of similar character.
No ordinance, resolution or action of the Council changing the precinct boundaries or otherwise redistricting the City, or annexing any municipality or territory, or granting to any corporation, firm, person or association, or combination of persons, any privilege, right, license, easement or franchise to establish, maintain or conduct in the City any public utility, except when otherwise required by the general laws of this State, shall go into effect before thirty days from the time of its final passage, and not then unless within two days after passage, Sundays and holidays excepted, the same shall have been published in two newspapers published and generally circulated in the City. And, if during those thirty days a petition signed by ten percent of the qualified voters of the City of Wheeling protesting against the passage of such ordinance, resolution or action, be presented to Council, the ordinance, resolution or action thereupon suspended from going into operation, and it shall be the duty of Council to reconsider the same, and if the same is not entirely repealed the Council shall submit the ordinance, resolution or action as is provided in relation to referendum of ordinances to the vote of the electors of the City, either at the next general municipal election or at a special municipal election to be called for the purpose, and such ordinance, resolution or action shall not go into effect or become operative unless a majority of the qualified electors voting on the same shall vote in favor thereof. Such petition shall conform to the provisions of Section 81
of this Charter and shall be submitted, examined and certified in the manner provided in Section 81
.
Any proposed ordinance may be submitted to the Council by petition signed by ten percent of the qualified voters of the City. Such petition shall be conformed as provided by Section 81
of this Charter, and shall be submitted, examined and certified in the manner provided in Section 81
. If the petition be certified to Council as provided in Section 81
of this Charter, and contains a request that the ordinance be submitted to a vote of the people if not passed by the Council, the Council shall either (a) pass such ordinance without alteration within twenty days after attachment of the Clerk's certificate of sufficiency to the petition; or (b) forthwith after the Clerk shall attach to the petition a certificate of sufficiency, the Council shall call a special election, unless a general election is to be held within ninety days thereafter, and at such special or general municipal election such ordinance shall be submitted without alteration to the vote of the electors of the City. If a majority of the votes cast be in favor thereof, such ordinance shall thereupon become a valid and binding ordinance of the City, and any ordinance proposed by petition, or which has been adopted by a vote of the people, shall not be repealed or amended except by a majority vote of the people. Any number of proposed ordinances may be voted upon at the same election. In accordance with the provisions of this section, but there shall not be more than one special election in any period of six months for such purpose.
Whenever any ordinance or proposition is required by this Charter to be submitted to the voters of the City at any election, the City Clerk shall cause such ordinance or proposition to be published once in two daily newspapers published in the City, such publication to be not more than twenty days or less than fifteen days before such election.
Franchises, rights or privileges may be granted by the Council, allowing to persons, firms or corporations for a limited time such occupancy of portions of the streets, alleys or public grounds of the City as may be deemed by it necessary for the use of any public utility as defined by the general laws of this State. But no such franchise, right or privilege shall hereafter be granted by the Council except under the following restrictions and conditions:
(a) To be offered at regular meeting; publication of object and nature: yea and nay vote. No ordinance granting any franchise, right or privilege, for the use of streets, alleys or public grounds of the City, shall be passed unless it shall have been first offered at a regular meeting of the Council and notice of the object, nature and full extent of such franchise, right or privilege shall have been published by the applicant once a week for four successive weeks in two newspapers of general circulation in the City of Wheeling before being acted upon. The vote thereon shall be taken by yeas and nays and the same entered upon the journal of the proceeding of the meetings of the Council. Opportunity to be heard shall be given to any interested person pursuant to W.Va. Code Sec. 8-31-1.
(b) Period of grant: reservation of right to alter, amend or repeal. If no time be expressly provided in the grant, the franchise, right or privilege shall be granted for one year only, and in no case shall the same extend for a period exceeding fifty years. Nor shall any grant of a franchise, right or privilege be made without the reservation on the part of the City of the right to alter, amend or repeal the same at any time during its term should the grantee fail to do those things which the grant of franchise, right or privilege stipulates that the grantee shall do, or should the grantee do such things as by the grant of franchise, right or privilege the grantee is prohibited from doing; provided, that after notice by the City to the grantee specifying wherein the grantee has failed to comply with the terms of the grant, the grantee shall not within three months from the service of such notice comply with such terms.
(c) Indemnifying City and public against damage. No grant of any franchise shall be made without at the time of making it providing that the grantee shall indemnify the City against all damages caused by the construction, operation or maintenance of any works under the grant. All reasonable additional provisions and conditions may be made for the protection of the public from unnecessary damages or inconveniences by reason of such works and the maintenance or operation thereof.
(d) Consideration for grant. No grant of any franchise, right or privilege shall be made without at the time of making it providing that the City shall receive in consideration therefor proper compensation, which may be paid in such manner as Council shall deem to be in the best interest of the City.
(e) Payment of election expenses where special election required. In case a petition for stay of ordinance is presented in accordance with section sixteen, and a special election is called for the purpose of accepting or rejecting the application for a franchise, right or privilege, the applicant for same shall deposit with the City the amount of expenses of the election, which shall be applied to the payment of such expenses.
(f) Two-thirds vote of Council required. No franchise, right or privilege referred to in this section can be granted unless on the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the membership of Council.
(g) Section not applicable to grant under Section 20
; renewal of grants; forfeiture for non-user. The provisions of this section, however, shall not apply to grants made under Section 20
of this Charter. No renewal of any franchise, right or privilege for any such work or public utility service as is mentioned herein, granted for a period of more than three years, shall in any manner be granted until within three years of the time of its expiration. The non-user of a franchise, right or privilege in or upon any street or alley or public ground for a period continuously of one year, shall vacate and annul the same as to the portion so allowed to go into disuse.
Permission may be given to a person, firm or private corporation, not engaged in conducting a public utility business, to place a switch or tramway on a part of a public street or alley, at grade, for the person's own or its own use, but the grant shall be so limited as not to exceed ten years, and a charge, in the nature of an annual rental or license charge for the same, payable to the City, may be fixed by the Council.
All grants under this section shall be subject to the following restrictions and conditions:
If no time is expressly provided in the grant, it shall be for one year only.
It shall provide that the grantee shall indemnify and save harmless the City against all suits, loss or damage, by reason of the construction or maintenance of such switch or tramway, and that the grant may be altered, amended or repealed upon satisfactory evidence that the grantee has failed to comply with its provisions. Reasonable provisions must be made to protect the public from unnecessary damage or inconvenience by reason of such switch or tramway and the operation or maintenance thereof.
No public improvement, the cost or the part of the cost of which is to be specially assessed on the owners of property, shall be made without notice to abutting owners as provided in Section 22
hereof and the concurrence of three-fourths of the members elected to the Council, unless the owners of a majority of the foot frontage to be assessed, petition in writing therefor, in which case the Council shall be authorized (a majority of the members elected thereto concurring) to ordain such improvement.
If the Council proposes to order and cause the grading, paving, curbing or other improving of any street or alley or the construction of any sewer or other drainage, to be paid in whole or in part by any owner of any property abutting or bounding on such street, alley, sewer or other improvement, or whose property abutting or abounding thereon may be assessed with the cost of such improvement, in whole or in part, such owner shall be given notice of such proposal in the manner prescribed by W.Va. Code Sec. 8-18-3. Such notice shall set forth substantially the nature of the work to be proposed, the extent thereof, its location and the manner of paying for the same; and no ordinance or resolution shall be binding upon any such owner unless the required notice shall have been so given.
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