§ 301. Powers of the Selectboard
The Selectboard of the Town of Chester, consistent with the Constitution and laws
of the United States and of this State, shall have the power and authority to make,
establish, alter, amend, or repeal ordinances, regulations and systems of licenses
for regulation or revenue, for the following purposes:
(1) To establish and regulate a market.
(2) To make regulations relating to the suppression and restraint of disorderly and gaming
houses, bowling alleys, billiard and pool tables, and all descriptions of gaming,
and relating to the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose
and relating to the location of bowling alleys.
(3) To regulate the exhibition of common showmen and of shows of every kind not interdicted
by law.
(4) To abate and remove all public nuisances and private nuisances.
(5) To compel the owner or occupant of any unwholesome, noisome, or offensive house or
place to remove or cleanse the same from time to time as may be necessary for the
health and comfort of the inhabitants of said Town.
(6) To direct the location and management of all slaughterhouses, meat markets, steam
mills, blacksmith shops, and sewers.
(7) To regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder, ashes, and all combustible and
dangerous materials.
(8) To regulate the making of alterations and repairs of stovepipes, furnaces, fireplaces,
and other things from which damage by 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,
and to establish and regulate a Fire Department and fire companies.
(9) To prevent inordinate driving or riding in streets, and cruelty to animals.
(10) To regulate the erection of buildings and to regulate entrances and exits to public
halls and theatres until proper exits are provided, to prevent the encumbering of
streets, sidewalks, or public alleys with firewood, lumber, carriages, boxes, and
other things, and to provide for the care, preservation, and improvement of public
grounds.
(11) To provide a supply of water for the protection of the Town against fire, and for
other purposes, and to regulate the use of same.
(12) To compel all persons to remove from the sidewalks and gutters adjacent to the premises
owed or occupied by them, all snow and ice, dirt and garbage, and to keep sidewalks
and gutters clean.
(13) To license innkeepers, keepers of saloons or victualing houses, peddlers, itinerant
vendors, and auctioneers under such regulations and for such sums of money as shall
be prescribed therefor.
(14) To regulate or restrain the use of rockets, squibs, firecrackers or other fireworks
in the streets or commons, and to prevent the practicing of any amusements therein
having a tendency to injure or annoy persons passing thereon, or to endanger the security
of property.
(15) To regulate gauging, the place and manner of selling and weighing hay, packing, inspecting,
and branding of beef, pork, and produce, and selling and measuring wood, lime, and
coal, and to appoint suitable persons to superintend and conduct the same.
(16) To prescribe by regulation, as the same may be necessary and under the general authority
herein granted, the powers and duties of the police officers of the Town.
(17) To regulate the grade of streets and the grade and width of sidewalks and the construction
thereof and protect the same.
(18) To provide for street lighting.
(19) To prohibit and punish willful injury to trees planted for shade, ornament, convenience,
or use, public or private, and to prevent and punish trespassing, or willful injuries
to or upon public buildings, squares, commons, cemeteries, or other property.
(20) To restrain and punish vagrants, mendicants, and common prostitutes, and to suppress
houses of ill fame.
(21) To establish and maintain a public library and reading room.
(22) To regulate and license junk dealers.
(23) To license taxicabs and to regulate their fees and prescribe their duties; and to
rescind any license granted hereunder.
(24) To make rules and regulations for the parking of motor vehicles, automobiles, and
vehicles of every kind and description, to exclude the parking thereof from certain
public highways or parts thereof, and to make such traffic rules and regulations as
the public good may require.