The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix : Municipal Charters

Chapter 015 : City of Vergennes

Subchapter 001 : GENERAL PROVISIONS

• § 11. Ordinances and regulations

  (a) The City Council shall (subject to the right of said corporation to alter, amend, or repeal the same at any annual or special meeting) have power to make, establish, alter, amend, or repeal ordinances, regulations, and bylaws for the following purposes and to impose penalties for the breach thereof:

  (1) To establish and regulate a market and to regulate and license the selling or peddling of meat, fish, or other provisions from vehicles about the City, and all monies paid for such licenses shall belong to the City and be paid into the City Treasury.

  (2) To restrain and prohibit all descriptions of gaming and for the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose.

  (3) To regulate the exhibitions of common showmen and shows of every kind not interdicted by law and to regulate, restrain, or license itinerant vendors and peddlers, and all monies received for such licenses shall belong to the City and be paid into the City Treasury.

  (4) To prevent riots, noises, disturbances, or disorderly assemblages.

  (5) To abate and remove nuisances and to restrain and suppress houses of ill-fame and disorderly houses.

  (6) To compel the owner or occupant of any unwholesome, noisesome, or offensive house or place to remove or cleanse the same from time to time as may be necessary for the health or comfort of the inhabitants of the City.

  (7) To direct the location of all slaughterhouses, markets, steam mills, blacksmith shops, and sewers.

  (8) To regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder, ashes, and all other dangerous and combustible material.

  (9) To regulate the making of alterations and repairs of stovepipes, furnaces, fireplaces, and other things from which damage from fire may be apprehended and also to regulate the use of buildings in crowded localities for hazardous purposes; to provide for the preservation of buildings from fires by precautionary measures and inspections; to regulate the size, height, and material of new buildings to be constructed in the City, or in certain prescribed localities therein; and to establish and regulate a Fire Department and fire companies.

  (10) To prevent immoderate riding or driving in the streets and cruelty to animals.

  (11) To regulate the erection of buildings and prevent encumbering the streets, sidewalks, and public alleys with firewood, lumber, carriages, boxes, or other things and provide for the care, preservation, and improvements of public grounds.

  (12) To restrain or regulate the running at large of cattle, horses, swine, sheep, and goats and to regulate or restrain the running at large of dogs. And in addition to the tax now imposed by the laws of this State upon owners or keepers of dogs, to impose upon or require of the owner or keeper of any dog or dogs such additional tax or a license fee for the keeping thereof, and prescribe such penalties in default thereof as may be deemed necessary. And all monies received hereunder shall belong to the City and be paid into the City Treasury.

  (13) To compel all persons to remove from the sidewalks and gutters in front of the premises owned or occupied by them all snow, ice, dirt, and garbage, and to keep such sidewalks and gutters clean, and to compel the owners or occupants of any land or premises in the City to cut and remove from the streets and sidewalks in front of such land or premises all grass, thistles, and weeds growing or being thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed therefor.

  (14) To license innkeepers, keepers of saloons, victualing houses, billiard saloons, and auctioneers, under such regulations as shall be prescribed therefor, and all monies paid for such licenses shall belong to the City and be paid into the City Treasury.

  (15) To regulate or restrain the use of rockets, squibs, firecrackers, or other fireworks in the streets or commons and to prevent the practicing therein of any amusements having a tendency to injure or annoy persons passing therein or to endanger the security of property.

  (16) To regulate gauging, the place and manner of selling and weighing hay, packing, inspecting, and branding beef, pork, and produce and of selling and measuring wood, lime, and coal and to appoint suitable persons to superintend and conduct the same.

  (17) To license porters, cart-men, and the owners and drivers of hackney coaches, cabs, or carriages, and to regulate their fees and prescribe their duties.

  (18) To provide for the lighting of the City.

  (19) To prohibit and punish willful injuries 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, squares, commons, cemeteries, or other property.

  (20) To manage and control the public places, parks, and commons in said City, and to regulate the use of the same by the public, and to prevent and punish trespasses or willful injuries to or upon any fountains, shade or ornamental tree or shrub, building, or structure placed therein by or under the orders of the corporation in such a manner as shall not be inconsistent with the laws of the State.

  (21) To regulate or prohibit the suspending or putting up of any sign or awning in or over any street, lane, alley, common, or other public place in the City and, whenever the public good may require, to order and direct that signs or awnings heretofore erected or suspended as aforesaid shall be taken down or removed.

  (b) Said City Council may make and establish, amend, or repeal any other bylaws, rules, and ordinances that it may deem necessary for the well-being of said City and not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of the State; and such City Council may impose a fine not exceeding $100.00 to be prosecuted and recovered before any justice of the peace within said City, in which action it shall be sufficient to declare generally that the defendant or defendants is or are guilty of the breach of a certain bylaw, naming such bylaw generally; and under such declaration the special matter may be given in evidence. And all writs for the breach of any bylaw may issue against the body of the defendant or defendants in due form of law, on the complaint of the City Attorney or Grand Juror, the process and procedure to be similar to that employed in prosecutions for breach of the peace, including mittimus, if deemed necessary to enforce the penalty imposed.

  (c) As long as the City owes a bonded debt, the City Council shall annually assess upon the grand list of the City, in addition to all other taxes, a tax of at least 10 cents on the dollar, the proceeds of which shall be applied for the redemption of such bonded debt and shall constitute a sinking fund, which shall be safely deposited or invested, under the direction of the City Council so as to yield a proper rate of interest. Such tax shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes of said City are collected, and delinquents shall be subject to the same penalties provided therefor.