TITLE III. CITY COUNCIL WITH MAYOR PRESIDING AND CITY COUNCIL
36 Administration; vested in mayor and city council; selection and terms of same.
(a) The administration of all the fiscal, prudential and municipal affairs of the city and the government thereof, except as herein otherwise provided, shall be vested in a principal officer to be styled the Mayor and a board of 12 members to be denominated the City Council. The City Council shall elect one of the members President thereof.
(b) The Mayor and City Council sitting in their joint capacity shall be called the City Council with Mayor presiding.
(Act No. M-15, § 2, approved 3-4-14)
ARTICLE 14. MEETINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL WITH MAYOR PRESIDING AND CITY COUNCIL
37 Manner of convening.
All meetings of the city council with mayor presiding shall, unless otherwise provided [,] be convened in the same manner as herein provided for calling special meetings of the city council.
38 Regular meetings.
Regular meetings of the City Council shall be held based on a schedule adopted by the City Council for the fiscal year and generally on Mondays once or twice each month. The schedule may be amended by action of the Council.
(Act No. M-9, § 2, approved 3-7-17)
39 Special meetings.
Special meetings of the City Council may be called at any time by the Mayor, and shall be called by the Chief Administrative Officer on petition signed by a majority of the City Council then in office and filed with the Chief Administrative Officer. Notice of special meetings shall be provided to the City councilors by any means sufficient to reasonably ensure that all councilors have or should have received notice of the date, time, and purpose of the meeting. Leaving a written notice at the address the Chief Administrative Officer has on file for a councilor or providing notice to the electronic mail address of the councilor or through an electronic scheduling program that sends automatic updates to a councilor shall, among other means, be considered sufficient notice.
(Act No. M-9, § 2, approved 3-7-17)
40 Quorum; attendance of certain officers may be required.
A majority of the city council elect shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and enforce such penalties for nonattendance as may by ordinance be prescribed. Any other city officer may be required to attend a meeting of the city council or city council with mayor presiding in the same manner as a member of the city council.
41 Meetings to be public; except.
All meetings of the city council and all meetings of the city council with mayor presiding are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times. Provided, that executive sessions of such bodies shall be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 of Title 1, Vermont Statutes Annotated, as amended.
ARTICLE 15. BOARD OF ABATEMENT OF TAXES
42 Composition; meetings.
The mayor, city council and assessors shall constitute a board for the abatement of taxes and also for the abatement of special assessments, or any part thereof, for sewers and street improvements, whenever the same are illegal or in the judgment of the board cannot be collected or are manifestly unjust. Meetings of such board shall be convened in the manner herein prescribed for calling special meetings of the city council; and notice thereof signed by the mayor or chief administrative officer, shall be given to all taxpayers by the publication of such notice for two days in all the daily newspapers printed in said city, the first of which publications shall be not more than ten days, and the last not less than three days prior to said meeting. Whenever any special assessment, or any part thereof, for sewers or street improvements is abated, the chief administrative officer shall make a minute of such abatement on the original assessment on file in his or her office on the margin of the record thereof.
ARTICLE 16. BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY
43 Composition; board for registration of voters; duties; appointments; offices.
(a)(1) The City Council with Mayor presiding shall constitute the Board of Civil Authority for the City, except that all duties with respect to preparing checklists of voters and making additions thereto or alterations or corrections thereon imposed upon the Council by this charter or the provisions of the general statutes relating thereto shall be performed by a board of 12 members, to be known as the Board for Registration of Voters.
(2) Not more than six members of the Board shall at any one time be from the same political party.
(b)(1) All members of the Board shall be legal voters of the City and shall serve a term of five years.
(2) Terms shall be staggered so that in June in each year the City Council with Mayor presiding shall appoint no more than three members of the Board depending upon the expiration of terms to serve for a term of five years from the July first next succeeding or until his or her or their successor(s) is or are duly appointed and qualified.
(3) Vacancies in the Board for any cause shall be filled by appointment by the City Council with Mayor presiding for the balance of the unexpired term.
(c)(1) The records of the Board shall be maintained in an office in the City Hall of the City or another location determined by the Chief Administrative Officer that is open for business during the regular business hours of the City.
(2) The Board shall advise any petitioner whose application to vote has been rejected or whose name has been removed from the checklist of his or her statutory right to seek judicial review of such decision pursuant to 17 V.S.A. § 2148.
(3) The Board shall also appoint a Clerk, who need not be a member thereof, who shall have such duties as the Board may assign.
(4) Records of the taking of voter’s oaths heretofore kept by the City Clerk shall be transferred to the Clerk of the Board.
(Act No. M-15, § 2, approved 3-4-14; Act No. M-9, § 2, approved 3-7-17)
ARTICLE 17. MAYOR TO PRESIDE AND VOTE
44 Authorized.
At all meetings of the Board of Civil Authority, the Board for the Abatement of Taxes, and also of the City Council for the appointment of officers or for the removal of such officers, except for the meeting for the appointment of those officers identified in Article 38, and in all proceedings by the City Council for the purpose of taking lands or other property for public purposes, the Mayor shall preside and shall vote as other members thereof.
(Act No. M-9, § 2, approved 3-7-17)
ARTICLE 18. VETO POWER OF MAYOR
45 Mayor not to participate in enactment of ordinances; approval by mayor of council actions required.
For the enactment of all ordinances and by-laws and the transaction of any other business by the city council, except such as is designated in the preceding section of this Charter, the mayor shall not preside over or sit with the city council, and the action of the city council shall require the approval of the mayor, except as herein otherwise provided.
46 Approval or veto of ordinances by mayor; reconsideration; item veto on appropriations.
If the mayor shall approve any ordinance, or by-law, or any resolution or vote of the city council in respect to the business above referred to, the mayor shall sign the same. If the mayor does not approve the same, the mayor shall return it, with his or her objections in writing, to the city council at the next meeting thereof after it shall have been presented to the mayor, provided that the mayor shall have not less than two weeks to consider such ordinance, by-law, resolution or vote, as aforesaid. The city council shall thereupon proceed to reconsider such ordinance, by-law, resolution or vote, and if, upon such reconsideration, two-thirds of the whole number of city councilors shall vote in favor of the same, it shall be valid and take effect, notwithstanding the objection of the mayor. In the event that any ordinance, by-law, resolution or vote of the city council shall contain more than one appropriation, or establish more than one salary, the mayor shall have the power to veto with respect to each such appropriation or salary, and no item of appropriation or salary so vetoed shall be effective unless adopted by the city council upon reconsideration, by two-thirds vote of the whole number as hereinabove provided.
47 Ordinances to become valid at expiration of certain period if not returned.
If any such ordinance, by-law, resolution or vote shall not be returned by the mayor of the city council at the next meeting of said city council after the expiration of two weeks from the time the mayor received it, the same shall be valid and take effect without the mayor’s approval.
ARTICLE 19. POWERS OF CITY COUNCIL
48 Enumerated.
The city council shall have power:
(1) To establish and regulate a market, and to regulate, license, tax or prohibit the selling or peddling of meat, fish, or other provisions on foot or from vehicles about the city, except that the city council shall not have power to license, tax, or prohibit farmers selling the produce of their own farm.
(2) To restrain and prohibit all descriptions of gaming, to order the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose, and to license or tax any such devices or instruments the usage of which is now, or may hereafter be, permissible under the laws of the state, and to license or tax any mechanical or electrical amusement devices or the places wherein the same may be located.
(3) To regulate, license, tax or prohibit the exhibition of common showmen, circuses, menageries, carnivals, and shows of every kind, and all plays, athletic contests, exhibitions or entertainments for money, including the power to tax admissions to the same except such as may be conducted by educational or nonprofit institutions or organizations or wholly for charitable purposes; to provide a system of examination, approval and regulation of motion picture films, reels or stereopticon views or slides and of banners, posters and other like advertising matter used in connection therewith; to create and establish a board of censors to administer such system within the limits of said city and to define and prescribe their duties and powers and to regulate, restrict or prevent attendance of minors at exhibitions of films, reels or stereopticon views.
(4) To regulate, license, tax, or prohibit itinerant vendors, peddlers, street musicians, transient auctioneers and itinerant photographers; provided the city council shall not have the power to license, tax or prohibit farmers selling the produce of their own farm.
(5) To prevent riots, noises, disturbances or disorderly assemblages.
(6) To abate and remove nuisances; to regulate or prohibit the storage and accumulation on premises within the city of garbage, ashes, rubbish, refuse and waste materials; to tax or license for revenue and regulate or prohibit the collection and removal of such materials from such premises and the disposal of the same by private persons or agencies; to compel and regulate the removal and disposal of such materials by owners, tenants and occupants of such premises; to require and provide for the collection, removal and disposal of such materials, by the city at its expense by contract with some private individual or agency, or by some city officer, officers or department either existing, or hereafter created and established by the city council for that purpose; to establish, in case the collection, removal and disposal of such materials is done at the expense of the city, service rates to be paid to the city by the owners, tenants or occupants of premises from which said materials are collected and removed for services rendered by the city in collecting, removing and disposing of such materials, to compensate the city for the cost and expense of those services. All service rates against owners or others shall be collected and enforced under such regulations and ordinances as the city council shall prescribe.
(7) Repealed.
(8) 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, so far as may be necessary for the health or comfort of the inhabitants of said city.
(9) To direct the location and management of all slaughterhouses, markets, steam mills, blacksmith shops, sewers and all private drains, and to compel the construction of drains within the limits of the city, under such inspection regulations as the city council may adopt.
(10) To regulate the use in blasting, the manufacture and the keeping of gunpowder and all other combustible and dangerous materials.
(11) 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.
(12) To establish and regulate a fire department and fire alarm system, and fire companies, except as herein otherwise provided.
(13) To regulate the size, height, material, and manner of erecting and constructing new buildings and repairing of buildings already constructed in said city, or in certain prescribed localities therein; and to regulate the use of streets for building purposes.
(14) To prescribe the duties and powers of inspectors of buildings and fire wardens; and to provide penalties for any refusal or neglect to comply with the orders of said inspectors and fire wardens made by virtue of any resolution or ordinance passed by said city council.
(15) Repealed.
(16) To prevent encumbering the streets, sidewalks and public alleys with firewood, lumber, carriages, boxes or other things.
(17) To provide for the care, preservation and improvement of public grounds, except as herein otherwise provided.
(18) To restrain and punish vagrants.
(19) To make regulations respecting paupers, except as herein otherwise provided.
(20) To restrain or regulate the keeping and running at large of poultry, cattle, horses, swine, sheep, goats and dogs. And in addition to the tax now imposed by the laws of this state upon the owner or keeper of dogs, to impose upon or require of the owner or keeper of any dog or dogs, such additional tax or license fee for the keeping thereof, and prescribe such penalties in default thereof, as may be deemed necessary. And all moneys received hereunder shall be paid into the city treasury and belong to said city.
(21) To provide a supply of water for the protection of the city against fire and for the distribution and sale of water for private and public purposes to persons and corporations both within and without the city, and to regulate the use of the same; to establish and maintain reservoirs, aqueducts, water pipes, hydrants, or any other apparatus necessary for such purposes, upon, in and through the lands of individuals and corporations both within and without the city, on making compensation therefor; but the city council, in providing such supply of water and establishing and maintaining reservoirs, aqueducts, water pipes, hydrants and other apparatus, as hereinbefore provided, for the distribution and sale of water outside of the city, shall not incur any expense for the same that cannot be paid from the current net earnings of the water resources department above the necessary operating expenses, and the necessary cost of maintaining, improving and adding to the property and equipment of that department within the city, unless authorized by the legal voters so to do, and to raise the necessary funds to pay for the same.
(22) To regulate and determine the time or place of bathing in any of the public waters within said city, or adjacent thereto, and to prevent the same.
(23) 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, brush, thistles and weeds growing or being thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed therefor, except as herein otherwise provided.
(24) To regulate and license innkeepers, keepers of saloons, victualing houses, billiard saloons, billiard tables, bowling alleys, places of amusement and auctioneers, or to tax the same, under such regulations as shall be prescribed therefor; and all moneys paid for such licenses or taxes shall belong to the city, and be paid into the city treasury.
(25) 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.
(26) To regulate gauging; the place and manner of selling and weighing hay, packing, inspecting and branding meats and produce; and of selling, measuring and weighing wood, lime, coal, and petroleum products; and to appoint suitable persons to superintend and conduct the same.
(27) To regulate and license porters and cartmen who receive or discharge their loads within the city; to regulate and license the owners and drivers of taxicabs, jitneys, and motor vehicles for hire, receiving or discharging passengers, with or without baggage, within the city, whether or not such vehicles are engaged in carrying passengers entirely within the city; to prescribe the duties and privileges of such owners and drivers; to fix and regulate rates of fare, including maximum and minimum rate or rates, for any such transportation of passengers within the city; to license and regulate all such vehicles; to rescind any and all licenses granted hereunder, and to prohibit the operation of such vehicles upon the streets of the city when either the owners or the drivers thereof have not complied with all the provisions of ordinances duly enacted hereunder; provided, however, that no license shall be granted hereunder unless the applicant has first complied with all the requirements of the laws of the State of Vermont relative to the registration and operation of motor vehicles to enable the applicant to use the license for which he applies; and to limit and restrict the use of its streets and highways by such motor vehicles in such manner as will promote the safety and general welfare of the public.
(28) To prescribe the powers and duties of watchmen and policemen of said city.
(29) To regulate, establish and alter the grade of streets and the grade and width of sidewalks, and the construction thereof, and prescribe the material to be used therein.
(30) To provide for lighting of the city.
(31) To provide for removing and trimming shade, fruit and ornamental trees in the public streets and parks whenever the public good or convenience requires the same to be done, except as herein otherwise provided.
(32) To prohibit and punish willful injuries to shade, ornamental and fruit trees standing on public or private lands.
(33) To prevent and punish trespasses or willful injuries to or upon public buildings, squares, commons, cemeteries, fountains, statues, or other property.
(34) To establish and maintain a public library.
(35) To regulate the time and manner in which examinations of public documents, land records and other public records shall be made.
(36) To establish, manage, and control public cemeteries, parks, commons, or any other public place in said city, and to regulate the use of the same by the public, except as herein otherwise provided.
(37) To permit, regulate, license, tax or prohibit, except as herein otherwise provided, the suspending, putting up, or continuance of any sign or awning in or over any street, lane, alley, common or other public place in said city; and whenever the public good may require, to order and direct that any such sign or awning heretofore erected or suspended as aforesaid shall be changed, taken down or removed; and to order and direct the removal of any sign or awning upon which any license fee or tax levied under the provisions hereof shall not have been paid.
(38) (A) To provide for assessing owners of land and buildings thereon abutting any street, alley or lane in said city such sum as said land and buildings shall be benefited by raising or lowering the surface of said street or highway; and also to award such damages to such owners as they shall suffer in consequence of raising or lowering the surface of said street or highway as aforesaid.
(B) The same proceedings shall be had in respect to said award of damages and assessment, as are herein provided in case the owners of lands are dissatisfied with the award of damages or amount of assessment in laying out or altering streets or highways; and said assessment shall be a lien in the nature of a tax on the lands and buildings so assessed, and may be collected or enforced in the same manner herein provided for assessments made in laying out, altering or resurveying any street or highway in said city.
(39) To provide for indexing any part or all of the records of deeds and of any or all public records of said City of Burlington, and like records of the former Town of Burlington, by the "card index," so-called, or any other like system. Such "card index" or other like system may be employed in addition to or in lieu of the manner of indexing now required by the laws of this state.
(40) (A) To fix, demand, impose and enforce such terms, conditions and regulations for the use or occupation of any street or highway in said city by any street railroad, traction, telegraph, telephone, electric, gas, electric lighting, electric power, or other company or any person enjoying the privileges, or exercising the functions of any such company aforesaid, as shall be just and reasonable, including any sum or sums of money to be paid to said city for the use of any street or highway by any or all of said companies for the purpose of laying, maintaining and operating any street railway therein, or for the purpose of therein erecting and maintaining any poles, wires or any other apparatus in or under the surface of said street; and to prohibit the use of such street by any such company or person until such terms have been complied with.
(B) In case any such company or person cannot agree with said city upon such terms, said company or person may apply by petition to the county court within and for the County of Chittenden, and said court shall thereupon, after hearing all parties interested therein, fix such terms as shall be just and reasonable and make all necessary orders for carrying its decision therein into effect.
(C) Provided, however, that no special franchise shall be granted by said city council for a longer term than thirty years, and further provided that at the expiration of any franchise, or at any time thereafter, the city shall have the right to acquire the title to and take over the property employed or used in the business for which such franchise was granted, upon the payment to the owner of the same of the fair value of the physical properties at that time employed or used in such business, and that in case the city is unable to agree with the owners as to the value of such physical properties, then said property may be condemned and taken for public use, and the value thereof ascertained and awarded as compensation therefor to the owner of the same in the manner, as near as may be, provided in the general laws of the state for the determination of the damages to be awarded persons aggrieved or damaged by the construction or operation of a street railway, and further provided that the grant of every such special franchise shall contain provisions embodying the foregoing conditions and limitations. Provided, notwithstanding the foregoing, the city council shall not have authority to increase the level of any franchise fee enacted pursuant hereto without first receiving approval by a majority of the voters present and voting at an annual or special city meeting duly warned for this purpose.
(41) To prescribe the duties of the inspector of electrical wiring apparatus and the installation and maintenance thereof; to regulate and require licenses for all persons engaged in the business or trade of selling electrical apparatus and supplies and in the business or trade of installing and repairing electrical wiring and apparatus but not including telephone or telegraph wires or apparatus, and to regulate and require licenses for all persons engaged in the business or trade of plumbing or house drainage within the limits of said city and to fix and impose the terms, conditions and fees for all such licenses.
(42) To purchase, construct and maintain a public wharf.
(43) Reserved.
(44) To acquire voting machines, so-called, and prescribe the use thereof in any or all elections held within said city.
(45) To order any streets or part of a street sprinkled, sprayed or treated with water, tarvia or any other materials when in its judgment the public good requires.
(46) To enact and enforce rules for its government and for the government of the city council. Notwithstanding 1 V.S.A. § 172, the city council may enact rules providing that as long as a quorum exists, a valid majority for taking action may be a concurrence of a majority of those present and voting.
(47) To appropriate money in excess of the amount required by law to be raised for highways, which a town may now vote to raise at its annual meeting or at a special meeting duly warned for that purpose, according to the provisions of the laws of the state relating to highways; and to assess upon the grand list of the city a tax sufficient to raise the amount of money so appropriated.
(48) To regulate the exposing for sale in the city and conveying through the streets of the city of foodstuffs intended for human consumption to prevent contamination thereof.
(49) To fix, impose and establish the terms, conditions and regulations under which any person or persons may exclusively occupy specified portion of any public street, lane, alley, or other thoroughfare used for public travel, for the storage or sale of oil or other merchandise, or for any other private purpose not affected with a public interest, to fix and collect a fee for such occupancy, and to prohibit use or occupancy of such specified portion for any other purpose.
(50) To acquire and hold by lease, purchase or gift and to maintain within the limits of said city, or within the limits of an adjoining town, a public aviation field and municipal airport and to properly equip the same for use; to regulate the use of said field and its equipment and to charge, receive, demand and collect from time to time reasonable compensation for use thereof and to manage and control such field and its equipment, appoint proper officers to have charge of the same and to define their duties; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of an airport police force to provide security and law enforcement within the limits of the airport premises and to lease to private parties for aviation purposes such part of said field and buildings as in the judgment of the city council is not for the time being required by the city for the purposes of a public aviation field or municipal airport and for such time as in the judgment of said council the same is not so required.
(51) To acquire and hold by lease, purchase or gift, and to maintain and operate within or without the limits of said city, a stone quarry, a sand and gravel pit, and an asphalt plant, and all lands and interests in lands, required for such purposes, and to properly equip the same for use, and to engage the city in the business of selling stone from such quarry, sand and gravel from such pit, and asphalt from such plant, to persons and corporations both within and without said city and for public or private purposes, said city being hereby authorized to maintain and operate such stone quarry, sand and gravel pit, and asphalt plant, for such purposes.
(52) To regulate and license junk dealers.
(53) To receive and hold grants, gifts, or bequests of money or other property, in trust, the income or interest of which is to be used for the care, improvement, embellishment and repairs of its burial grounds, or of private lots within any such burial ground.
(54) To receive and hold grants, gifts, or bequests in money or other property, in trust, for any governmental purpose, under the charter, and manage and use the same, its income, or interest, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the trust.
(55) To provide for, create, establish, maintain and regulate an insurance sinking or reserve fund to be used for the purpose of compensating the city for any and all losses and damages to city property by reason of fire, tornado, wind, flood or other casualty and for the purpose of paying to city employees, their dependents, executors, administrators and heirs, any and all compensation that may become their due from the city under the provisions of the laws of the state relating to workmen’s compensation.
(56) To control and regulate the use of any present or future harbor on Lake Champlain in said city and to make and put into force and effect by proper ordinances all reasonable rules and regulations not in conflict with the jurisdiction of the federal government, governing the use of the waters of Lake Champlain within the city limits and the use of any public pier, wharf or dock within said city, the mooring and anchorage of vessels within said harbors and at piers, docks or wharfs within the city, trespasses and nuisances upon public and privately owned wharfs, docks and piers, and all other proper and reasonable rules and regulations in the premises, tending to promote the public safety, health, morals, convenience, utility and the public welfare, and to fix, determine, collect and enforce reasonable charges for the use of any public wharf, pier or dock owned by the city, and to prescribe and enforce penalties for violation of any and all of such rules and regulations.
(57) To enter into any agreement on behalf of the city with the United States, or any department, subdivision, or agency thereof, to accept grants, loans and assistance from the United States, or any department, subdivision or agency thereof to make public improvements within the city, or upon property of the city outside its corporate limits, and to make appropriations consistent with the provisions of this Charter to accomplish such purpose.
(58) (A) To acquire and hold by lease, purchase, gift, condemnation under the provisions of 24 V.S.A. §§ 2805 through 2812, inclusive of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, as amended, or otherwise, and to maintain and operate within the limits of Chittenden County, a municipal parking lot or lots, a municipal parking garage or garages, and any other municipal parking structure(s), and to alter, improve, extend, add to, construct, and reconstruct such lots or garages, subject, however, to the provisions hereinafter contained in this subdivision. In exercising the foregoing power, and notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the City Council shall not, except pursuant to subdivision (50) of this section and section 276 of this charter, have authority to acquire any property outside the limits of the City of Burlington through the use of the power of eminent domain or condemnation. The City Council shall not be exempt from the responsibility for securing all applicable permits from any community within Chittenden County outside the limits of Burlington in which it desires to construct a parking lot or garage. Any parking lot or garage constructed by the City outside the corporate limits of Burlington shall be subject to the ad valorem property tax of the community in which it is located.
(B) The Board of Public Works Commissioners shall have general control, management, and supervision of all municipal parking lots and garages. The Board shall have power to make regulations with respect to the use of all such municipal parking lots and garages, including reasonable terms, conditions, and charges, and shall also have the power to regulate the parking, operation, and speed of vehicles and pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the public highways of the City, including such ways, streets, alleys, lanes, or other places as may be open to the public, to erect, maintain, and operate equipment and systems for the regulation of parking of vehicles, to govern and control the erection of guideposts, street signs, and street safety devices on the highways, and to prescribe regulations and penalties for violation of the same in respect to all of the matters and to remove and impound as a public nuisance, at the expense of the owner, any vehicle found parking on a public highway or in a municipal parking lot or garage in violation of any City ordinance or any regulation hereunder, and to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which the owner may redeem such vehicle from the pound, which regulations, when published in the manner provided in section 49 for the publication of ordinances, shall have the force and effect of ordinances of the City, and violations of which shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 50 of this charter. All ordinances of the City, and all regulations of the Board of Parking Commissioners, in effect prior to July 1, 1959, shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding that the subject matter thereof shall be within the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Works Commissioners, unless and until such Board shall, by regulation duly adopted and published, alter, amend, or repeal the same.
(C) The Board shall also from time to time recommend to the City Council the acquisition or construction of municipal parking lots or garages, and the City Council shall not authorize such acquisition or construction without such recommendation, nor shall the City Council dispose of or lease to others for operation any municipal parking lot or garage without the recommendation of the Board.
(D) All receipts from the operation or lease of municipal parking lots and garages shall be kept by the City Treasurer in a separate fund, to be known as the Parking Facilities Fund and shall be used for the purpose of paying any and all expenses related to operating, maintaining, acquiring, constructing, or expanding the lots and garages, including any payments on any obligation incurred for construction or repair of those lots or garages. Any amounts unused at the end of a fiscal year shall be carried over to the next fiscal year. All revenues generated from on-street parking equipment and systems shall be used by the City Council for traffic regulation and control, including acquisition or maintenance of parking facilities; proper repair or construction of streets, sidewalks, and bridges; traffic or parking demand management facilities, planning, or services; traffic calming measures; and other transportation-related activities. In addition, the City Council may vote to place any such revenues in the Parking Facilities Fund, at its discretion.
(E) If it shall reasonably appear to the Board of Public Works commissioners at any time that the receipts from the existing municipal parking lots or garages are in excess of the amounts required for the purposes enumerated in subdivision (D) of this subdivision (58), and that the acquisition of further lots or garages is not required, they shall cause rates and charges for the use of the lots and garages, or some of them, to be reduced.
(F) If the Board of Public Works commissioners, pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (C) of this subdivision (58), has recommended the acquisition or construction of a new parking lot or garage, the City Council may from time to time pledge, assign, or otherwise hypothecate the net revenues from the lots or garages, after the payment of operating expenses, and may mortgage any part or all of the lots or garages, including personal property located therein, to secure the payment of the cost of purchasing, acquiring, leasing, altering, improving, extending, adding to, constructing, or reconstructing the lots or garages, but the City Council shall not pledge the credit of the City for any of the purposes except in accordance with the provisions of section 62 of this charter.
(59) To fix and establish, and to provide for the collection of, sewer rents and sewage disposal charges, and to alter and amend the same, pursuant to the provisions of the general laws of the state relating thereto. In addition, the city council shall also have the power to fix and establish by ordinance, and to alter and amend from time to time thereafter, reasonable fees to be paid for new or amended uses of lands or buildings which shall require a new or additional allocation of a portion of the city’s wastewater collection system capacity, and/or wastewater treatment facilities capacity, such fees to include, but not be limited to, capacity charges, connection fees, impact fees or similar charges related to the sewer system.
(60) To exercise any powers now or hereafter granted to municipalities under the laws of the state, and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter; provided, however, that in the event so granted to municipalities, excepting only those powers relating to the amount of taxes which may be assessed upon the grant [grand] list, are more extensive than the powers herein contained, the powers so granted shall control.
(61) To provide by ordinance minimum requirements and standards for the subdivision of lands within the corporate limits of the city, including standards and requirements for streets, services and utilities in such subdivisions; to prescribe penalties for the violation of such standards or requirements; to prohibit such subdivisions, and to prohibit the recording or filing of plans for such subdivisions as do not comply with such standards or requirements; and to designate appropriate city officials to pass upon such compliance; provided, however, that no ordinance shall be adopted hereunder until after public hearing thereon. The term "subdivision" as used herein shall mean the division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale or building development, excluding development for agriculture purposes, and shall include resubdivision.
(62) To provide by ordinance a procedure for waiver of process and prosecution by an individual, firm or corporation notified or accused of a violation of a City of Burlington ordinance by payment to the city of an amount fixed by ordinance, in lieu of such process and prosecution.
(63) (A) To establish and maintain a unified Department of Public Works, the superintendent of which will be designated Public Works Director, said Department to be managed and controlled by the Mayor and City Council. The City Council may by resolution delegate any of its powers relating to the Public Works Department to the Board of Public Works commissioners.
(B) The board of public works commissioners shall consist of seven legal voters of the City of Burlington, who shall be appointed by the city council to serve for the term of three years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified, except as herein otherwise provided.
(C) The city council with mayor presiding shall appoint to the public works commission seven legal voters of the City of Burlington. On the first Monday in June, 1988, and every three years thereafter, the city council with mayor presiding shall appoint three commissioners to serve a term of three years. On the first Monday in June [,] 1989, and every three years thereafter, the city council with mayor presiding shall appoint two commissioners to serve a term of three years. On the first Monday in June, 1990, and every three years thereafter, the city council with mayor presiding shall appoint two commissioners to serve a term of three years.
(D) The public works director shall have the special and immediate care and practical supervision of the public works department, its personnel and its facilities and equipment, subject to the authority of the mayor as chief executive officer and the orders and ordinances of the city council.
(E) Unless otherwise determined by resolution of the City Council, the Public Works Department shall, in addition to the Director, consist of a Streets Division, Water Division, Waste/Solid Waste Division, Traffic Division, Finance Division, Equipment Maintenance Division/Engineering Division, and Construction Division, each of which shall include a Manager who shall be hired as a City employee by the Director and shall serve subject to the direction of the Director.
(64) (A) Where there is no written rental agreement and notwithstanding subsection 4467(c) of Title 9, to prohibit by ordinance, a landlord from terminating a tenancy of rental housing within the city for no cause unless the landlord provides to the tenant written notice of at least 90 days when the tenancy has been less than two years and of at least 120 days when the tenancy has been two years or more.
(B) Unless inconsistent with a written rental agreement or otherwise provided by law, and notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 4456(d) of Title 9, to required by ordinance, tenants who wish to terminate a residential tenancy to give actual notice to the landlord at least two rental periods prior to the termination date specified in the notice.
(65) To prohibit increases in rent for rental housing within the city without advanced written notice of at least 90 days.
(66) To regulate thermal energy systems in residential and commercial buildings, including assessing carbon impact or alternative compliance payments, for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the City. No assessment of carbon impact or alternative compliance payment shall be imposed unless previously authorized by a majority of the legal voters of the City voting on the question at an annual or special City meeting duly warned for that purpose.
(Act No. M-14, § 1, approved 5-19-2004; Act No. M-4, § 2, approved 4-4-2011; Act No. M-7, § 2, approved 11-8-16; Act No. M-6, § 2, approved 5-23-19; Act No. M-9, § 2, approved 4-20-22; Act No. M-19, § 2, approved 6-7-22)
ARTICLE 20. ORDINANCES AND BY-LAWS
49 Authority to enact.
The city council may make, alter, amend or repeal any resolutions, by-laws, regulations and ordinances which it may deem necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers or for the well-being of said city, and which shall not be repugnant to the constitution or the laws of the state; and to provide penalties for the breach thereof; all of which by-laws, regulations and ordinances shall be duly published in one or more newspapers in said city to be prescribed by the city council, at least twenty days before they shall take effect. In the event the city council shall pass a comprehensive revision to any chapter or chapters of its Code of Ordinances it shall be sufficient if a concise summary of the principal provisions of such revision is published as aforesaid rather than the entire text thereof. Copies of the entire text of such revisions shall be made available upon request at the office of the chief administrative officer. The City of Burlington is hereby authorized and empowered to maintain actions in Chittenden Superior Court to restrain actual or threatened violations of any ordinance of said city.
50 City council to establish penalty.
The city council may provide a penalty for the violation of any ordinance, regulation or by-law not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00). Each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. If no penalty shall be fixed for the violation of any ordinance, regulation or by-law, the court before which such action is heard shall impose a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each offense.
51 Ordinance enforcement.
(a) The violation of an ordinance, regulation or by-law adopted by the city, including, without limitation, zoning and subdivision by-laws adopted pursuant to chapter 117 of Title 24 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, as the same may be amended from time to time, may be prosecuted as a criminal or civil action.
(b) All penalties collected for the violation of an ordinance, regulation or by-law shall be paid over to the city except for a surcharge that shall be set and retained by the court.
(c) A superior or district court judge shall have the jurisdiction to enjoin the violation of an ordinance or rule but the election of the city to proceed under this subsection shall not prevent its proceeding under subsection (a) of this section.
52 Court authorized to order abatement.
In any prosecution for a nuisance arising under this Charter or under any lawful ordinance, regulation or by-law resulting in a judgment or conviction, the court before which said judgment or conviction shall be had shall order the nuisance or offense complained of to be removed or abated, and shall determine the expense of removing or abating the same and tax such expense as part of the costs of prosecution.
53 [Reserved.].
54 Offenders may be liable in damages.
A person violating any ordinance, regulation or by-law of said city shall be liable in damages to said city or to the person who shall sustain damage as the direct result of said violation; such damages may be recovered in an action declaring upon such ordinance, regulation or by-law.
ARTICLE 22. CITY PROPERTY, HOW SOLD OR LEASED
55 City council may authorize sale or lease.
The city council shall have the exclusive power to authorize sale or lease of any real or personal estate belonging to said city, and all conveyances, grants or leases of any such real estate shall be signed by the mayor and sealed with the city seal.
ARTICLE 23. SEQUESTRATION OF LANDS
56 Council to have powers conferred by statute regarding public burial grounds.
In establishing or enlarging public burial grounds within said city, the city council shall have the same power as is conferred by the general laws of the state upon selectmen, and shall proceed in the same manner, subject to the same right of appeal from its decision.
57 Manner of taking land for reservoirs, aqueducts, water pipes, etc.
In taking lands for the purpose of establishing and maintaining reservoirs, aqueducts, water pipes, hydrants or any other apparatus necessary for such purposes, the city council shall proceed in the same manner in which selectmen of towns are authorized to proceed in the taking of lands for highways, and in performing all acts and doing all business in taking such lands the mayor shall preside over said city council and shall vote as other members thereof. Any person owning or interested in such lands who is dissatisfied with the decision of the city council taking such lands or in awarding him damages therefor, may have the same proceedings in respect thereto which shall be conducted in the same manner and have the same effect, as if such lands were taken by selectmen in any town in the state for the purpose of laying out, altering or resurveying a highway in said town; but if such proceedings are instituted only in respect to the appraisal of damages for land so taken by the city council, such proceedings shall not prevent said city from establishing and maintaining reservoirs, aqueducts, water pipes, hydrants and other apparatus necessary for such purposes upon the lands so taken, as if no such proceedings had been instituted.
58 Council to issue citation that land is to be taken; service.
In giving notice to all persons owning or interested in any lands to be taken for such purposes, the city council shall issue its citation, signed by the mayor or its chief administrative officer; said citation shall be served in the same manner, and the several officers shall perform the same duties in respect thereto, as provided in this Charter.
59 Refunding bonds; council may authorize issuance of bonds.
The city council may authorize the issuance by said city of refunding bonds for the purpose of paying any of its bonds issued hereunder at maturity or upon acceleration or redemption.
60 Same—Issuance prior to maturity or redemption; amounts; issuance, maturities, security, rights of owners, and rights, duties and obligations of city; general laws relating to refunding of municipal bonds and indebtedness inapplicable.
Any refunding bonds or notes may be issued at such time prior to the maturity or redemption of the refunded bonds or notes as the city council deems to be in the public interest. The refunding bonds or notes may be issued in sufficient amounts to pay or provide the principal of the bonds or notes being refunded, together with any redemption premium thereon, any interest accrued or to accrue to the date of payment of such bonds or notes, the expenses if issue of the refunding bonds or notes, the expenses of redeeming the bonds or notes being refunded, and such reserves for debt service or other capital or current expenses from the proceeds of such refunding bonds or notes as may be required by a resolution under which bonds are issued. The issue of refunding bonds or notes, the maturities and other details thereof, the security therefor, the rights of the owners thereof and the rights, duties and obligations of the city with respect thereto shall be governed by the provisions of this city charter relating to the issue of bonds other than refunding bonds insofar as the same may be applicable. None of the provisions of the general laws relating to the refunding of municipal bonds and indebtedness shall apply to such refunding bonds or notes.
61 Bonds to be signed and contain statement that they conform to applicable provisions.
Such notes or bonds so authorized shall be signed by the mayor and countersigned by the treasurer of said city, and if interest coupons are attached thereto, they shall be signed by the treasurer; and such bonds or notes shall contain a statement that they were issued for the purposes mentioned, and in conformity to the provisions of this Charter; and such statement shall be conclusive evidence of the same and of the liability of the city to pay any such notes or bonds, in an action by a person who in good faith holds any such notes or bonds.
62 Council, school board; not to pledge credit of city; exceptions.
(a) Except as otherwise provided, the credit of the city, except by temporary loans not exceeding during any quarter of any fiscal year twenty-five (25) percent of the taxes assessed upon the entire grand list for such fiscal year, and except by emergency loans as hereinafter provided, shall not be pledged by the city council, or by any officer of said city, unless by vote of the legal voters of said city, at a meeting thereof duly called for that purpose; provided, however, that the chief administrative officer, when authorized and directed by resolution of the city council, may pledge the credit of the city by a temporary loan in anticipation of the receipt of revenue from the airport department, or the traffic division or the wastewater or water divisions of the public works department for their ordinary running expenses during times in any fiscal year when there are not sufficient funds on hand to the credit of the airport department or the above-mentioned divisions for the payment of such bills and accounts, or sufficient unappropriated funds in the city treasury from which such accounts may be paid pending the receipt of revenues of the division sufficient to pay such bills and accounts; and provided further, that the chief administrative officer, when authorized by the city council, may pledge the credit of the city by temporary borrowing in anticipation of the receipt of revenue from the electric department not to exceed five million dollars outstanding at any time to provide working capital for the electric department. Temporary notes issued hereunder in anticipation of the receipt of the revenue from the electric department shall mature within two years from the date of issue, and may be renewed or refunded by the issue of other notes maturing within a similar period whenever such action is deemed expedient. Except as above provided, all temporary loans, except loans for the payment of bills and accounts of the water division of the public works department and the electric department and except emergency loans, shall be paid by the chief administrative officer from and out of the receipts from the collection of the installment of property taxes or other taxes next falling due after the making of the loan, and all moneys received from such temporary loans, other than for the water division of the public works department and the electric department and other than from emergency loans, shall be used to pay the current and ordinary expenses of the city, pending the collection of taxes. All such temporary loans made to pay the accounts and bills of the water division of the public works department pending the receipt of revenue shall be paid during said fiscal year from the revenues received by that division. Temporary loans under this paragraph for the water division and electric departments shall be general obligations of the city notwithstanding that they are primarily payable from the revenues or receipts of the respective division and departments.
(b) In case of an emergency demand found and declared to exist by the city council, the city council may pledge the credit of the city by an emergency loan to meet such demand, but such emergency loans shall not exceed in the aggregate during any fiscal year forty cents upon the dollar of the entire grand list of said city. All emergency loans shall be used for the emergency declared to exist by the city council, and shall be paid by taxation the following fiscal year, the budget for which shall include an appropriation sufficient to pay all such emergency loans.
(c) The city council may, during the first five days of the July following the making of such emergency loans, assess upon the property grand list a tax or taxes, which, together with a tax or taxes of the same rate or rates upon the taxable polls of the city for the fiscal year, will be sufficient to pay such loan, which tax shall be in addition to those provided for in section 99 hereof, and shall not be included within the tax limitation thereby imposed upon taxation for city purposes.
(d) The chief administrative officer, when authorized and directed by resolution of the city council, may pledge the credit of the city by means of temporary loans in anticipation of the sale of bonds authorized by the legal voters of said city for the payment of installments due on the project for which said bonds are to be issued, pending the receipt of revenues from the sale of such bonds; provided, however, that the said temporary loans shall not exceed ninety (90) per cent of the amount so anticipated. Any of such loans shall be immediately repaid upon receipt of the proceeds from the sale of the said bonds.
(e) The chief administrative officer, when authorized and directed by resolution of the city council, may pledge the credit of the city by means of temporary loans for the payment of final bills due on any project approved for school state aid construction, pending receipt by the city of the final state aid payment, but limited to ninety (90) per cent of the amount so anticipated. Any of such loans shall be immediately repaid upon receipt of the state aid construction payment.
(f) (1) The chief administrative officer, when authorized and directed by resolution of the city council, may pledge the credit of the city by issuing negotiable orders, warrants, notes or bonds in an amount not to exceed in the aggregate $2 million in any fiscal year for the purpose of providing working capital and capital improvements, additions and replacements required for the efficient and economical operation of the city and its departments, other than the electric light department and the water and wastewater divisions of the public works department. If any of such annual borrowing authority is used to provide working capital, notes shall be issued in anticipation of the receipt of city revenue and shall mature within two years from the date of issue, and may be renewed or refunded by the issue of other notes maturing within a similar period whenever such action is deemed expedient. If any of such annual borrowing authority is used to provide capital improvements, additions and replacements, the negotiable orders, warrants, notes or bonds issued for such purposes shall be of such denominations, payable at such time or times, at such rate of interest, and to be sold and registered in such manner and under such terms and conditions as shall be established by resolution of the city council.
(2) Notwithstanding the above, however, five (5) per cent of the qualified voters of the city may petition for referendum review of the action by the city council. Any such request for referendum review shall be in accordance with and governed by the procedures specified in Section 63 of this Charter for borrowing on behalf of Burlington Electric Department.
(3) The chief administrative officer, when authorized and directed by the board of school commissioners and the city council, may pledge the credit of the city by issuing negotiable orders, warrants, notes, or bonds in an amount not to exceed in the aggregate two million dollars ($2,000,000.00) in any fiscal year for the purpose of providing working capital and capital improvements, additions, and replacements required for the efficient and economical operation of the school department. If any of such annual borrowing authority is used to provide working capital, notes shall be issued in anticipation of the receipt of school revenue and shall mature within two (2) years from the date of issue, and may be renewed or refunded by the issue of other notes maturing within a similar period whenever such action is deemed expedient. If any of such annual borrowing authority is used to provide capital improvements, additions, and replacements, the negotiable orders, warrants, notes, or bonds issued for such purposes shall be of such denominations, payable at such time or times, at such rate of interest, and to be sold and registered in such manner and under such terms and conditions as shall be established by resolution of the city council. The funds raised in any such year from such borrowing shall be used for the capital needs of the school district that qualify for the thirty percent (30%) State of Vermont matching grant. The authorization provided for this addition to the city charter shall be considered the voting of funds by the Burlington School District as required by 16 V.S.A. §3448, as the same may be amended from time to time. The amortization of such borrowed funds shall be by means of an annual tax on the education grand list in an amount sufficient for this purpose, such tax to be in addition to the tax necessary to support the education spending portion of the annual budget of the school department.
(Act No. M-1, Approved 4-5-2005; Act No. M-3, Election of 3-1-2005, § 4, Approved 5-12-2005; Act No. M-11, Approved March 3, 2009; Act No. M-12, § 2, approved 3-6-12)
63 Council may pledge credit of city when authorized by voters to do so.
(a) Whenever the legal voters of said city, by two-thirds vote of all voters present and voting on the question at any special or annual city meeting duly warned for the purpose, or, if the purpose shall be the making of an improvement relating to a public school by a majority vote of all voters present and voting on the question, shall give authority to the city council thereof to pledge the credit of said city for any purpose by issuing its negotiable orders, warrants, notes, or bonds, or whenever the city council shall determine by resolution, upon prior recommendation of the board of light commissioners, that it is necessary during a fiscal year to pledge the credit of the city by issuing its negotiable orders, warrants, notes, or bonds in an amount not to exceed in the aggregate $3 million in any such fiscal year for the purpose of providing capital improvements, additions, and replacements required for the efficient and economical operation of the electric light department, said city shall have power and authority to issue its negotiable orders, warrants, notes, or bonds, and to prescribe whether such bonds shall be registered or have interest coupons attached, to the amount, not to exceed the limit prescribed by the general laws of the state, for which authority has been given as aforesaid to so pledge the credit of said city; such notes or bonds to be of such denominations, payable at such time or times; and at such a rate of interest, and to be sold and registered in such manner and under such terms and conditions as shall be established by resolution of said city council.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, however, a city council resolution authorizing the credit of the city to be pledged in an amount not to exceed $3 million in a fiscal year for the operation of the electric light department as aforesaid shall not give the city power to so pledge its credit until 44 days have passed following the effective date of such resolution. If during such 44-day period a petition is filed with the chief administrative officer signed by not less than five percent of the qualified voters of the city requesting a referendum vote on whether the credit of the city will be pledged in accordance with the city council resolution, the credit of the city shall not be pledged pursuant thereto unless a majority of the qualified voters of the city present and voting at a duly warned annual or special city meeting vote to affirm such city council resolution. Upon receipt of a proper petition, a special city meeting shall be called by the city council within 60 days from the date such petition is received, or if the next annual city meeting falls within the 60-day period, the city council shall include an article in the warning for such annual city meeting, to determine whether the voters will affirm such resolution. If at such city meeting a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question affirm the action of the city council, the city shall have power to pledge its credit pursuant to the city council resolution as of the day following such city meeting. If the city council resolution is not affirmed by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question, the city shall not have power to pledge its credit in accordance with such resolution.
(Act No. M-3, Election of 3-1-2005, § 5, Approved 5-12-2005; Act No. M-12, § 2, approved 3-6-12)
64 State law not applicable to section 63.
None of the provisions, restrictions, or limitations of chapter 167 of the Vermont Statutes, Revision of 1947, or of amendments and additions thereto, or of the general laws of the state, except the bonding limit prescribed by law, shall in any respect affect or apply to bonds issued under the preceding section. Such bonds shall be signed by the mayor and countersigned by the treasurer of said city; and if interest coupons are attached thereto they shall bear the facsimile signature of the treasurer; and such bonds, orders, notes or warrants shall contain a statement that they are issued in conformity to the provisions of this Charter and shall specify the purpose for which they are issued; such statements shall have the same effect as provided in the case of bonds or notes issued to refund outstanding bonds or notes.
64a Council authorized to erect sewage disposal plant and issue bonds therefore.
The city council may authorize the erection of a sewage disposal plant for the treatment of sewage emptying directly into Lake Champlain, including buildings and equipment, laboratory equipment and furniture, necessary interceptor sewers, force mains and pumping station, acquisition of land necessary therefor, and clearing of site, and may authorize the issuance by said city of its bonds to the amount of seven hundred forty-one thousand dollars bearing interest at not to exceed three per cent, for the purpose of paying therefor, which bonds shall not be considered as part of the indebtedness of the city for the purposes of section 3696 of the Vermont Statutes, Revision of 1947. In connection with the erection and operation of said plant, said city council may also exercise all the powers enumerated by Chapter 180 of the Vermont Statutes, Revision of 1947, as amended by No. 86 of the Acts of 1949, without further vote of the legal voters of said city.
64b Revenue bonds authorized.
(a) The following terms when used in this section shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:
(1) The term "revenue producing facility" shall mean any building, activity, function or service which any executive officer or department of the city is authorized to construct, operate or carry out and for which the city receives revenue in the form of rent admission or use fees, concession fees or other consideration. Provided, the facilities and activities of the Burlington electric light department, the Burlington water resources department and the airport as herein defined shall be excluded from this definition of revenue producing facility.
(2) The term "airport" shall mean the entire airport now owned by the city, including without limitation, runways, hangars, loading facilities, repair shops, terminals, retail stores in such terminals, restaurants, parking areas and other facilities necessary or convenient for the operation of the airport, together with any improvements thereto hereafter constructed or acquired.
(3) The term "bonds" shall mean any bonds, notes or obligations of the city issued pursuant to this section.
(4) The term "city" shall mean the city of Burlington.
(5) The term "improvement" shall mean any improvement, expansion, betterment, addition, alteration, reconstruction, extraordinary repair, equipping or reequipping of the airport.
(6) The term "related laws" shall mean those Acts of the Vermont General Assembly which are specifically applicable to the city of Burlington and are set out in Part I, Subpart B of the Burlington Code of Ordinances but which do not specifically amend sections of the Burlington city charter.
(7) The term "revenues" shall mean all rates, fees, charges, rents and other income derived from the ownership or operation of a revenue producing facility or of the airport and may include, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, investment earnings and the proceeds of insurance, condemnation, sale or other disposition of revenue producing facility or airport assets and proceeds of borrowing hereunder.
(b) The city is hereby authorized and empowered to improve its revenue producing facilities and its airport for the purpose of providing expanded service and facilities to the users of such revenue producing facilities and airport.
(c) (1) The city is hereby authorized and empowered to issue bonds, from time to time, for the purpose of financing the costs of any improvement to a revenue producing facility or the airport; provided, however, that no bonds other than refunding bonds shall be issued under this section unless and until a majority of the legal voters of the city present and voting thereon at any annual or special city meeting duly warned for the purpose shall have first voted to authorize the issuance of such bonds. Said bonds and the interest thereon shall be payable solely and exclusively from the revenues of the revenue producing facility and/or the airport as the case may be and shall not constitute general indebtedness of the city nor be an obligation or liability upon the city to pay the same from any funds of the city other than the revenues of said revenue producing facility or airport. No airport revenues may be pledged or payable to support a revenue producing facility, nor may the revenues of a revenue producing facility be pledged or payable to support the airport. No owner or owners of any bonds issued under this section shall ever have the right to compel any exercise of the taxing power of the city to pay said bonds or the interest thereon. Said bonds shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any debt limitation or restriction and shall not be within any statutory limitation upon the power of the city to issue bonds. It shall be plainly stated on the face of each bond that it does not constitute an indebtedness of the city but is payable solely from the revenues of the revenue producing facility or of the airport.
(2) Bonds issued under this section may be issued in one or more series, may bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times both exceeding forty (40) years from their respective dates, bear interest at such rate or rates (whether variable or fixed), be in such denominations, be in registered form, have such rank or priority, be executed in such manner, be payable in such medium of payment, at such place or places, and be subject to such terms of redemption, with or without premium, be declared or become due before the maturity date thereof as may be determined or authorized by resolution of the city council. Said bonds may be sold at public or private sale for such price or prices as the city council shall determine.
(3) In case any officer of the city whose signature appears on any bond or coupon shall cease to be such officer before the delivery of such bond, such a signature shall, nevertheless, be valid and sufficient for all purposes, the same as if he had remained in office until such delivery. Any provision of any law to the contrary notwithstanding, any bonds issued pursuant to this section shall be deemed to be investment securities under the Uniform Commercial Code. Any bonds issued by the city pursuant to the provisions of this section are declared to be issued for an essential public and governmental purpose and to be public instrumentalities, and, together with interest and income thereon, shall be exempt from taxes. The resolution authorizing the issuance of said bonds may provide that the bonds shall contain a recital that they are issued pursuant to this section, which recital shall be conclusive evidence of their validity and of the regularity of their issuance.
(d) In order to secure the payment of any of the bonds issued pursuant to this section, the interest thereon, or in connection with such bonds, the city shall have power as to such bonds, to the extent not inconsistent with the mandatory provisions of this section:
(1) To pledge all or any part of the revenues derived from the revenue producing facility to secure payment of bonds issued for a revenue producing facility or from the airport to secure payment of bonds issued for the airport;
(2) To provide for the terms, forms, registration, exchange execution and authentication of such bonds;
(3) To provide for the replacement of lost, destroyed or mutilated bonds;
(4) To covenant as to the use and disposition of the proceeds from the sale of such bonds and as to the use and disposition of revenues, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the establishment of reserves for debt service of other capital or current expenses from bond proceeds or revenues or both;
(5) To covenant as to the rates, charges and rents of the revenue producing facility or airport, provided that the city shall always collect revenues adequate at all times to provide for the proper operation and maintenance of the revenue producing facility or airport and for the payment of the principal of and interest on all bonds payable from said revenues and all other required payments in connection therewith;
(6) To redeem such bonds, and to covenant for their redemption, and to provide the terms and conditions thereof;
(7) To covenant and prescribe as to what happenings or occurrences shall constitute "events of default" and the terms and conditions upon which such declaration and its consequences may be waived;
(8) To covenant as to the rights, liabilities, powers and duties arising upon the breach by it of any covenant, conditions or obligations;
(9) To vest in a trustee or trustees the right to receive all or any part of the income and revenue pledged and assigned to, or for the benefit of, the owner or owners of bonds issued hereunder, and to hold, apply and dispose of the same and the right to enforce any covenant made to secure or pay the bonds or made in relation to the bonds; to execute and deliver a trust agreement or trust agreements which may set forth the powers and duties and the remedies available to such trustee or trustees and limiting the liabilities thereof and describing what occurrences shall constitute "events of default" and prescribing the terms and conditions upon which such trustee or trustees or the owner or owners of bonds of any specified amount of percentage of such bonds may exercise such rights and enforce any and all such covenants and resort to such remedies as may be appropriate.
(10) To make covenants other than, and in addition to, the covenants herein authorized, of like or different character, necessary or advisable to effectuate the purposes of this section.
(11) To execute all instruments necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers herein granted or in the performance of its covenants or duties.
(e) (1) Any pledge hereunder shall be valid and binding and shall be deemed continuously perfected from time to time when the pledge is made; unless otherwise provided in the resolution making the pledge, the pledge of revenues shall include any contract or other rights to receive the same, whether then existing or thereafter coming into existence and whether then held or thereafter acquired by the city, and the proceeds thereof; the revenues, rights and proceeds so pledged and then held or thereafter acquired by the city shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical delivery or segregation thereof or further act; and the lien of any such pledge shall be valid and binding as against the city, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. The resolution by which a pledge is made need not be filed or recorded except in the records of the proceedings of the city council and no filing need be made under the Uniform Commercial Code.
(2) A resolution pledging revenues hereunder may provide for priorities among payments to be made from such revenues, whether required by statute, the city charter, such resolution or otherwise. The pledge may include revenues otherwise accruing to particular funds established by statute or the city charter. In the event bonds are issued junior and subordinate to other bonds, revenues remaining from time to time which are permitted by the terms of the senior bonds to be used to pay or secure the junior bonds may be pledged for that purpose by the resolution under which the junior bonds are issued. A pledge of revenues under this section shall constitute a sufficient appropriation thereof for the purpose of any provision for appropriation and such revenues may be applied as required by the pledge without further appropriation.
(f) The city may issue refunding bonds for the purpose of paying any of its bonds issued hereunder at maturity or upon acceleration or redemption. The refunding bonds may be issued at such time prior to the maturity or redemption of the refunded bonds as the city deems to be in the public interest. The refunding bonds may be issued in sufficient amounts to pay or provide the principal of the bonds being refunded, together with any redemption premium thereon, any interest accrued or to accrue to the date of payment of such bonds, the expenses of issue of the refunding bonds, the expenses of redeeming the bonds being refunded, and such reserves for debt service or other capital or current expenses from the proceeds of such refunding bonds as may be required by a resolution under which bonds are issued. The issue of refunding bonds, the maturities and other details thereof, the security therefor, the rights of the owners thereof, and the rights, duties and obligations of the city with respect thereto shall be governed by the provisions of this section relating to the issue of bonds other than refunding bonds insofar as the same may be applicable.
(g) Unless otherwise provided in the authorizing proceedings, if bonds are authorized under this section, temporary notes may be issued in anticipation thereof. The city council may delegate the sale (but not the authorization) of temporary notes to an officer or officers of the city. The principal of and interest on notes may be renewed or paid from time to time by the issue of other notes. Except as otherwise provided, notes issued under this subsection shall be governed by the provisions of this section relating to bonds insofar as the same may be applicable.
(h) Except as otherwise permitted by this section, all moneys received from the issue of bonds for improvements to revenue producing facilities or for airport improvements (other than refunding bonds) shall be used solely to defray the cost of improving the revenue producing facility or the airport of the city as the case may be. The cost of improving shall include all costs of improvement, including all preliminary expenses, the cost of acquiring all property, franchises, easements, and rights necessary or convenient therefor, engineering and legal expenses, expenses for estimates of costs and revenues, expenses for plans, specifications and surveys, other expenses incident or necessary to determining the feasibility or practicability of a project, administrative expenses, interest prior to and during the carrying out of any project and for a reasonable period thereafter, such reserves for debt service or other capital or current expenses as may be required by the resolution under which the bonds are issued, and such other expenses as may be incurred in the financing herein authorized, the improvement of the revenue producing facility or the airport, the placing of an improvement in operation, including the creation of cash working funds, and the performance of the things herein required or permitted in connection therewith.
(i) Any owner or owners of bonds, and a trustee or trustees for holders of such bonds shall have the right in addition to all other rights.
(1) By mandamus or other suit, action or proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce his or their rights against the city, the city council and any other proper officer, agent or employee of any of them, including, but without limitation, the right to require the city, the city council and any proper officer, agent or employee of any of them, to fix and collect rates, charges and rents adequate to carry out any agreement as to, or pledge of revenues, and to require the city, the city council and any officer, agent or employee of any of them to carry out any other covenants or agreements and to perform its and their duties under this section;
(2) By actions or suit in equity to enjoin any acts or things which may be unlawful or a violation of the rights of such holder of bonds.
(j) The city shall have power by resolution of its city council to confer upon any owner or owners of a specified amount or percentage of bonds, including a trustee or trustees for such owners, the right in the event of an "event of default" as defined in such resolution or as may be defined in any agreement with the owner or owners of such bonds or the trustee or trustees therefor:
(1) By suit, action or proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction to obtain the appointment of a receiver of the revenue facility or the airport as applicable or any part or parts thereof If such receiver be appointed he may enter and take possession of such revenue producing facility or airport or any part or parts thereof and operate and maintain the same, and collect and receive all revenues thereafter arising therefrom in the same manner as the city itself might do and shall deposit such moneys in a separate account or accounts and apply the same in accordance with the obligations of the city as the court shall direct.
(2) By suit, action or proceeding in any court of competent jurisdiction to require the city to account as if it were the trustee of an express trust. Any such resolution shall constitute a contract between the city and the owners of bonds of such issue.
(k) The powers conferred by this section shall be in addition and supplemental to the power conferred by any other law or by any other section of this city charter or the related laws of the city. Bonds may be issued hereunder for the improvement of a revenue producing facility and/or the airport notwithstanding that any other law may provide for the issuance of bonds for the like purpose and without regard to the requirements, restrictions or procedural provisions contained in any other law. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the city from issuing general obligation bonds or notes in accordance with applicable law to finance improvements to a revenue producing facility or to the airport. Such financing shall not be governed by the provisions of this section. It shall not be necessary for the city proceeding under this Charter to obtain a certificate of convenience or necessity, franchise, license, permit or other authorization or approval from any bureau, board, commission or other instrumentality of the state of Vermont or the city for the issuance of bonds hereunder except as expressly provided in this section.
(l) This section is remedial in nature and the powers hereby granted shall be liberally construed to effectuate the purposes hereof, and to this and the city shall have power to do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes hereof in addition to the powers expressly conferred in this section.
(m) It is hereby declared that the subsections, clauses, sentences and parts of this section are severable, are not matters of mutual essential inducement, and any of them shall be exscinded if this section would otherwise be unconstitutional or ineffective; it is the intention to confer upon the city the whole or any part of the powers in this Charter provided for, and if any one or more subsections clauses, sentences and parts of this section shall for any reason be questioned in any court, and shall be adjudged unconstitutional or invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remaining provisions thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the specific provision or provisions so held unconstitutional or invalid, and the inapplicability or invalidity of such subsection, clause, sentence or part of this section in any one or more instances shall not be taken to affect or prejudice in any way its applicability or validity in any other instance.
(n) The powers granted to the city hereunder shall be exercised by its city council. No provisions hereof shall be deemed to permit the exercise or any power in violation of the rights of bonds or note owners.
65 Source of funds for appropriations; operating expenses for departments; creation of special funds.
(a) All money received from taxation, assessments, fines and other lawful sources, except revenues and income of the water, waste water/solid waste and traffic divisions of the public works department and of the electric light department, shall constitute the entire sum from which appropriations and payments are to be made by and under the authority of the city council. The necessary operating expenses and the cost of repairs, improvements and additions to the property and equipment of such divisions and of the light department shall be paid from the receipts of said divisions and department, respectively.
(1) The electric light department, the water division and the waste water division shall every fiscal year make a contribution to the city in lieu of taxes in the form of a cash payment or the equivalent in free services and municipal rate benefits, or a combination of cash and free services, in an amount equaling the amount of money that would be received by the city in ad valorem real estate taxes and personal property inventory taxes were such divisions and department privately owned utilities.
(A) In order to determine the amount of contribution in lieu of taxes to be received from each such division and department, the city assessor shall annually make an assessment of their respective properties in the same manner as and at the same time that assessments of taxable properties are made. Each division and department shall likewise file with the city assessor inventory forms at the time and in the manner required by state law of taxable persons.
(B) Each division and department shall have the same right of grievance and appeal as is afforded to taxpayers except that the determination of the board of civil authority shall be final.
(C) The specific level of the contribution shall be fixed in the same manner as the amount of tax on taxable properties and inventories are determined, immediately upon the setting of the annual tax rate by the city council.
(2) The city council, with the prior approval of the board of light commissioners or the board of public works commissioners, as applicable, shall have authority to create and establish, maintain, build up and increase from year to year from the earnings of such department and divisions, special reserve funds for such department and divisions, to be kept by the city treasurer in a separate bank deposit and in a separate account for each department and division and to be used only to pay for such expenses as the electric light or public works departments may recommend and the city council may approve and authorize.
(A) Appropriations and payments from the earnings of said department and divisions to said reserve funds may be made at any time but must be authorized by separate resolution of the city council for each department and division.
(B) The total amount of such reserve funds may be limited to such sum as the city council may by resolution from time to time determine and prescribe.
(3) All portions of all appropriations remaining unexpended at the close of the fiscal year, except in the case of appropriations to the school department and the streets division of the public works department, shall then become part of the general fund, unless the city council provides otherwise by resolution.
(b) In addition to the reserve funds for the electric light department and for such divisions of the public works department authorized in subsection (a) of this section, the city council may by resolution create and establish reserve funds to pay for public improvements, replacement of equipment, capital expenses, and planned or unplanned operating expenditures of any city department(s) or division(s) thereof.
(1) Once established, the city council may maintain, build up and increase a fund from year to year by depositing in the fund any monies the city council may deem advisable, to the extent not prohibited by any other law or regulation.
(2) Monies deposited in and expended from a reserve fund shall be identified in the city budget as it may be amended from time to time.
(3) Reserve funds shall be kept in separate accounts and invested in the same manner as other public funds.
(4) The city council may expend monies from a reserve fund for any legal purpose for which that fund was established. (Act No. M-7, § 2, approved 3-3-15)
66 Annual school appropriations.
The city council shall annually appropriate for the use of schools such sum as shall be recommended by the board of school commissioners within the limitations of section 102 of this Charter. In addition, the city council shall also annually appropriate for the use of schools one-half of the cash payments to be received by the city in lieu of taxes from the electric light and water resources departments and from any other source. In computing the schools’ entitlement under the preceding sentence, only cash payments shall be considered, and any contributions to the city in the form of free services or municipal rate benefits shall not be deducted from the city’s one-half share of the cash payments to be received. The school commissioners shall be responsible for allocating annually sufficient funds for the payment of any principal and interest due or coming due on city bonds issued for school purposes. The city may reduce the schools’ share of such cash payments in lieu of taxes to the extent necessary to meet payments on bonds issued for school purposes not otherwise provided for by the school commissioners.
67 Appropriations for park and recreation purposes.
The city council shall annually appropriate a reasonable amount of money, not less than two cents on each dollar of the grand list, to be expended for the purpose of providing necessary funds for the care and improvement of park property and for the city recreational program, and meeting the expenses of the park and recreation department.
68 Authorized expenditures.
No money shall be paid out of the city treasury unless an approved budgetary authorization for such expenditure exists, sufficient unexpended funds remain in such budgetary line item and a properly executed voucher requesting such expenditure is in the possession of the chief administrative officer’s office for the proper spending authority.
69 Fiscal year, reports required.
(a)(1) The fiscal year of the city shall begin on the first day of July in one year and end on the thirtieth day of June in the next year. A full record of the revenues and expenditures of all city departments shall be kept; and a clear statement of the affairs of the city generally, including all receipts and disbursements of city monies shall be published online and available for inspection upon request.
(2) The name and amount of salary paid to every city employee shall be published in the city’s annual report. The name and amount of compensation paid to any other individual to the extent required to be reported to the IRS on a 1099 form or otherwise shall be published online and available for inspection upon request prior to the annual meeting.
(3) The annual audit of the city’s financial records shall be finalized at least thirty (30) days before the annual meeting or as the city council may by resolution prescribe. The annual report of the city shall include a summary of the audit and a copy of the management letter, and full copies of each annual audit shall be published online and available upon request.
(b) Each city department that has a commission shall consult with and seek the recommendation of its commission prior to submission of its annual budget to the mayor.
(Act No. M-18, § 2, approved 3-1-16)
70 Excess expenditures prohibited; assessments for street improvements credited to streets division of the public works department.
(a) No superintendent, board or commission member or corresponding executive officer of any city department, with the exception of the health, police and fire departments, and then only in case of an emergency, shall expend any money or incur any obligation, unless there is an available appropriation from which the same may be paid and to which it may be charged, and shall not at any time expend any money or incur any obligation in excess of such appropriation. In case any such superintendent, board or commission member or corresponding executive officer of any city department violates this provision, the city chief administrative officer shall report such occurrence to the mayor and to the city council. The mayor shall advise the city council as to whether there was appropriate justification for such violation and if the mayor and city council agree that such violation was unjustified, the mayor may recommend and the city council may determine that the office shall thereupon become vacant and shall be forthwith filled for the unexpired term by the officials authorized to make the original appointment in such case. Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the city council to remove a duly-elected school commissioner or the superintendent of schools.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by resolution of the city council, all assessments for street improvements shall be credited to the streets division of the public works department and be available to said division as an appropriation for its use only when and as collected and paid to the chief administrative officer.
ARTICLE 27. CHANGE OF STREET NAMES
71 Approval of property owners required.
The established name of any street in the city shall not be changed by the city council except upon the approval in writing of the owners of the greater part of all property fronting on such street.