The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix : Municipal Charters

Chapter 251 : Village of North Bennington

Subchapter 011 : Powers of Village Trustees

• § 1101. Designated powers

  The trustees of said Village shall have the power:

  1. To establish and regulate a market, and to regulate and license the selling and peddling of meat, fish, and other provisions from vehicles within the Village.

  2. To regulate, license, tax, and prohibit the exhibition of common showmen, circuses, menageries, and shows of every kind not prohibited by law, and all plays, exhibitions, or entertainments for money.

  3. To regulate the speed for riding or driving horses, teams, or bicycles, and the use of automobiles, cars, and other vehicles within said Village.

  4. To regulate the making of alterations and repairs of stove pipes, furnaces, fireplaces, and other things, from which damage from fire may be apprehended; to regulate the use of buildings in crowded localities for hazardous purposes; to provide for exits and fire escapes from all public buildings and rooms; and to provide for the preservation of buildings from fire by precautionary measures and inspection.

  5. To regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder, ashes, lime, matches, gasoline, fireworks, and other dangerous explosives and combustible materials.

  6. To regulate the grade of streets and the grade and width of sidewalks, and the construction thereof, and protect the same.

  7. To regulate porters, truckmen, cartmen, and cartage, also hackney coaches, cars, and carriages and their drivers.

  8. To regulate and determine the time and place of bathing in any of the public waters within the Village, and to prevent the same.

  9. To regulate and direct the location and management of all slaughtering houses, markets, blacksmith shops, and all like industries.

  10. To regulate and restrain the use of rockets, squibs, firecrackers, or other fireworks in the streets or on the commons or parks of the Village.

  11. To regulate and restrain coasting, ball playing, or other sports upon the streets, sidewalks, parks, or common of said Village.

  12. To regulate and restrain the keeping and running at large of animals and fowls in said Village.

  13. To regulate and restrain the putting up or suspending of any sign or awning in or over any street, lane, alley, common, or other public place in the Village; and to order and direct that signs and awnings heretofore erected or suspended as aforesaid, shall be changed, taken down, or removed.

  14. To compel the owner or occupant of any unwholesome or offensive house or place to remove or cleanse the same from time to time, and as may be necessary for the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the Village.

  15. To compel the cleansing and repairing of any premises when in such condition as to seriously impair the general appearance of the Village, and to be seriously injurious to any property therein, and to control the removal and disposition of rubbish, waste, and objectionable material therefrom.

  16. To license victualing houses, billiard saloons, bowling alleys, shooting galleries, places of amusement, and auctioneers, under such regulations as may be prescribed therefor.

  17. To restrain and prohibit all descriptions of gaming and gambling; and to provide for the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose.

  18. To abate and remove nuisances, and to restrain and suppress houses of ill-fame and disorderly houses.

  19. To prevent riots, noises, disturbances, or disorderly assemblages.

  20. To prevent cruelty to animals.

  21. To provide for policing and lighting its streets, sidewalks, parks, commons, and public buildings.

  22. To provide for the care, preservation, and improvement of public grounds and the planting, maintenance, and trimming of shade and ornamental trees in the public streets and parks, and for the removal of the same whenever the public good or convenience requires.

  23. To prohibit willful injury to trees planted for shade, ornament, convenience, or use, public or private, and to prevent and punish trespasses or willful injuries to or upon public buildings, parks, squares, commons, cemeteries, or other property.

  24. To fix and determine the location, as well as the method of construction and the manner of operation of any railroad or railway hereafter to be constructed in or through said Village, and to demand, impose, and enforce such terms, conditions, and regulations for the construction and operation of any such railroad or railway, and for the use of any portion of any street or highway in said Village by any railroad company, and to fix and regulate the location, construction, maintenance, and operation of any telegraph, telephone, electric light, gas, electric power or water line, plants, or systems, including such sum or sums to be paid said Village for the use of any street or highway for any or all of said purposes, and for the purpose of laying, maintaining, and operating the plant or appliances therein, or for the purpose of therein locating and maintaining any poles, wires, pipes, or other apparatus in or under the surface of any street or highway and to prohibit the use of such street or highway by such company or person until such terms have been complied with, and no such railroad, railway, telegraph, telephone, electric light, gas, or water lines shall be located or constructed in or through said Village without the consent of the trustees thereof.

  25. To establish regulations not inconsistent with law for the conduct of elections in said Village.

  26. To establish taxi stands and cab stands and to issue licenses therefor.

  27. To regulate traffic, to establish one-way streets, and to regulate the times and places for parking.

  28. To regulate building and to establish fire and building zones so as to reduce or prevent fire hazard and so as to prevent the erection of manufacturing and mercantile buildings in residential zones and so as to preserve the alignment of buildings at uniform distance from the street.