Title 24APPENDIX, Municipal Charters

§ 13. City Treasurer (a) The City Council shall appoint a City Treasurer. The City Treasurer shall have the same power and be subject to the same liabilities as are prescribed by law for town treasurers. (b) [Repealed.] (c) The City Clerk and Treasurer may be one and the same per…

§ 14. Assessor The Assessor shall be a professionally qualified real estate appraiser or appraisal firm and shall have the same power and proceed in the discharge of the duties in the same manner, and be subject to the same liabilities as are prescribed for listers or the board o…

§ 15. Conflict of interest No elective or appointive official or employee of the City shall be beneficially interested directly or indirectly in any contract with the City, regardless of amount, or furnish any material, or perform any labor, except in the discharge of his or her …

§ 16. Ordinances; authority to enact (a) The City Council may make, alter, amend, or repeal any resolutions, bylaws, regulations, and ordinances that it may deem necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers or for the well-being of the City, and that shal…

§ 17. Ordinances; introduction; first and second readings; public hearings (a) Every ordinance shall be introduced in writing. The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be “The Council of the City of St. Albans hereby ordains . . . ”. If the Council passes the proposed ordinanc…

§ 18. Ordinances; authority enumerated The general grant of ordinance promulgating authority in section 16 of this charter, and in addition to those powers enumerated in 24 V.S.A. § 2291, such authority shall include the authority to fix and impose licenses, fees, or taxes within…

§ 19. Ordinances; City Council to establish penalty The City Council may provide a penalty for the violation of any ordinance, regulation, or bylaw not to exceed $500.00. Each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. If no penalty shall be fix…

§ 2. Boundaries The boundaries of the City of St. Albans shall continue as heretofore established by said act as amended by 1915 Acts and Resolves No. 280, which boundaries are therein described as follows: (1) Beginning at the southeasterly corner of Aldis Hill playground, thenc…

§ 20. Ordinances; enforcement (a) The violation of an ordinance, regulation, or bylaw adopted by the City, including zoning and subdivision bylaws adopted pursuant to 24 V.S.A. chapter 117, as the same may be amended from time to time, may be prosecuted as a civil action in the V…

§ 21. Ordinances; court authorized to order abatement In any prosecution for a nuisance arising under this charter or under any lawful ordinance, regulation, or bylaw resulting in a judgment or conviction, the court before which the judgment or conviction shall be had shall order…

§ 22. Ordinances; offenders may be liable in damages A person violating any ordinance, regulation, or bylaw of the City shall be liable in damages to the City or to the person who shall sustain damage as the direct result of the violation; such damages may be recovered in an acti…

§ 23. Taxation (a) The City Council shall assess such taxes upon the inhabitants of the City and the ratable estate within the City, whether owned by residents or nonresidents, as may be necessary for the payment of all State, county, and highway taxes as are or may be required b…

§ 24. School District; transfer of fund to The City Council shall annually transfer to the School District a sum from the General Fund as may be realized from the tax required by the Board of School Commissioners, all such monies as shall arise from the State school tax, from Cit…

§ 25. Sale of property The City Council may authorize the sale or lease of any personal or real estate belonging to the City, and all conveyance, grants, or leases of any such real estate shall be signed by the Mayor and be sealed with the City Seal. (Amended 2009, No. M-23 (Adj.…

§ 26. Warrants (a) No money, other than money belonging to the “School Fund,” shall be paid out of the City Treasury except upon warrant approved by the City Council. All purchase approvals and warrants shall be signed by two members of the City Council. The approval of the warra…

§ 27. Taxes; sidewalk, water, and wastewater assessment arrearages The inhabitants, estates, and the owners of those estates within the City of St. Albans shall be held to pay the arrears of taxes, sidewalk, water, and wastewater assessments, and the inhabitants, estates, and the…

§ 28. Construction and maintenance of roads and walks (a) The City Council may lay out, alter, maintain, establish, and change the grade of and discontinue any street, road, lane, alley walk, or sidewalk in the City and appraise and settle damages therefor, causing its proceeding…

§ 29. Borrowing in anticipation of taxes The City Council may borrow money at the most favorable rate of interest it can obtain in anticipation of City revenues to be collected within the fiscal year. (Amended 2009, No. M-23 (Adj. Sess.), § 30, eff. May 20, 2010.)

§ 3. General corporate powers The inhabitants of that territory embraced within the boundaries as established by 1915 Acts and Resolves No. 280 shall continue as a body corporate and politic, under the name of the City of St. Albans; and by that name may sue and be sued, prosecut…

§ 30. Bonding; School District; City (a) The City of St. Albans or the St. Albans City School District at any annual or special meeting when an article for that purpose shall have been inserted in the warning therefor may authorize the issue of notes or bonds for the purpose of p…

§ 31. St. Albans Academy (a) 1892 Acts and Resolves No. 157, the act incorporating the St. Albans Academy and graded school, also known as the St. Albans City School, and all acts amendatory thereof, shall remain in full force with the following modifications: the boundaries of S…

§ 32. Library (a) The City Council of the City of St. Albans shall annually assess upon the ratable estate within the City, whether owned by residents or nonresidents, such tax as the trustees of the St. Albans Free Library shall recommend to the Council for the support of the li…

§ 33. General provisions (a) This charter shall be a public act and may be altered, amended, or repealed by the General Assembly whenever the public good may require. (b) All bylaws and ordinances, rules, and regulations of the City of St. Albans in force on the date when this ch…

§ 4. Form of government The municipal government provided by this charter shall be known as a council-manager form of government. Pursuant to its provisions and subject only to the limitations imposed by the State Constitution and by this charter, all powers of the City shall be …

§ 5. Wards The City Council is empowered to make such changes from time to time, by resolution or ordinance, in the number and boundaries of the several wards of the City as it may deem proper, having regard so far as practicable and convenient, to an equal division of population…

§ 6. City meetings (a) Annually on the first Tuesday of March, a meeting of the legal voters of the City, and of the several wards therein, shall be held for the election of officials, the voting of budgets, and any other business included in the warnings for the meeting, which s…

§ 7. Vacancies (a) If a member of the City Council, during his or her term, removes from the ward that he or she represents, his or her office shall become vacant upon removal from the ward. (b) In case of a vacancy in the office of Mayor, the remaining members of the City Counci…

§ 8. Voting (a) Voting qualifications for the right to vote in any City election or meeting shall be the same as those required by State statutes for municipal meetings. (b) The penalties for illegal voting at any City election shall be the same as those prescribed for illegal vo…

§ 9. Mayor (a) The legal voters of the City shall elect a Mayor who shall be a legal voter in the City. The Mayor shall hold office for a term of two years. (b) The Mayor shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the City. The Mayor shall use his or her best efforts to see that the…