A.R.S. tit. 9 ch. 2 — Arizona Revised Statutes Title 9 Chapter 2 — Form Of Government

9-201. Elective officers in cities and towns of less than six hundred voters; duties A. In cities or towns that are not organized under article 3 or 4 of this chapter and in which at the next preceding municipal election less than six hundred votes were cast, the only officers shall be a mayor, a councilman from each district and a marshal or chief of police. B. The chief of police or marshal is also ex officio city or town license tax collector, pound-master, street commissioner and fire warden, shall perform all duties as such and shall receive in full compensation for all services not more than one hundred twenty-five dollars per month. 9-202. Appointive officers; compensation A. The mayor and common council shall appoint a clerk who shall keep the minutes of their proceedings and the accounts of the city or town finances, and whose compensation is fixed at fifteen dollars per month. B. The mayor and common council shall appoint one of their number as city or town treasurer to perform all the duties of the office, and he shall receive the sum of ten dollars per month in full for all services. C. The compensation for performing the duties of chief of police, clerk and treasurer shall be in full for all services rendered either by them or by their deputies, should they appoint any. The mayor and councilmen, other than the treasurer appointed from the council, shall receive no compensation. 9-203. Vacancies; bonds A. In case of the death, resignation or removal of the chief of police or marshal, city clerk or treasurer, the mayor and common council may fill the vacancy by appointment until the next general municipal election, at which time the office of chief of police or marshal shall be filled by election. B. The chief of police and treasurer shall give bond in a sum to be fixed and approved by the mayor and common council for the faithful performance of their duties. 9-204. Officers in cities and towns of six hundred to eight hundred fifty voters; terms of office; elections; removal A. In all cities or towns not organized under article 3 or 4 of this chapter, in which at the next preceding municipal election not more than eight hundred fifty nor less than six hundred votes were cast, the only officers shall be a mayor, four councilmen, a chief of police, a recorder who is also ex officio city auditor and police judge, and a treasurer. B. The term of office of each officer, except councilmen, is two years. Each councilman shall hold office for a term of four years. The recorder shall be elected as other city or town officers. C. Elections shall be held on the third Tuesday in May of each odd-numbered year at which all officers whose terms have then expired shall be elected. D. The mayor and common council may remove an officer for malfeasance in office. 9-231. Common council A. The corporate powers of a town incorporated under section 9-101 shall be vested in a common council. The first common council shall be appointed by the board of supervisors, on declaring the town incorporated, and the members shall continue in office until their successors are elected and qualified. The successors shall be elected by qualified electors residing in the town at an election held for that purpose on the third Tuesday in May following, and on the third Tuesday in May each two years thereafter, pursuant to section 16-204. B. The common council of every town shall consist of five members if the population is fifteen hundred persons or less, or seven members if the population exceeds fifteen hundred persons at the time of incorporation. If thereafter the population of the town exceeds fifteen hundred persons as determined by the latest official United States census, the council may pass an ordinance increasing the membership to seven, with the additional two members to be elected at the first election subsequent to the passage of the ordinance. 9-232. Council; qualifications of members; oath; selection of mayor; vacancy A. A person shall not be a member of a city or town council unless, at the time of the election, the person is eighteen years old, is a qualified elector residing within the city or town and has resided in the city or town for at least one year next preceding the election, or if an area has been annexed to the city or town for a period of less than one year next preceding the election has resided in such area for at least one year next preceding the election. If an annexed area is subject to the provisions of this subsection, a person may meet the residency requirements if the person has resided within the existing limits of the city or town for the one-year period. B. Every member of the council shall hold the office for the term of two years, except the members of the council first appointed, and before entering on the duties of the office, the member shall take and subscribe the oath of office. C. Except for a common council organized as prescribed by section 9-232.04, the common council shall assemble within twenty days after their appointment or election, and choose a mayor from among their number. D. If a member of the council, at any time during the member's term of office, ceases to be a qualified elector of the city or town or ceases to reside in the city or town, the council seat held by the member is deemed vacant. The council seat shall be filled in the same manner as any vacancy on the council. On request, the county attorney for the county in which the city or town is located shall investigate and determine whether a vacancy exists pursuant to this subsection. 9-232.01. Salaries The common council may by ordinance or resolution prescribe a daily compensation or salary to be paid the mayor, councilmen and administrative board members for the performance of official duties. 9-232.02. Permitting town councilmen to hold office for four-year staggered terms The common council may, by majority vote of the qualified electors of the town voting thereon, provide for four-year staggered terms for members of the town council in the manner provided in section 9-272, with respect to cities. In the event the common council consists of five members only, the first class shall consist of two councilmen and the second class shall consist of three councilmen. 9-232.03. Alternative procedure for mayor to be directly elected by electors The common council may, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the town voting thereon either at a regular or special election, provide by ordinance that the mayor shall be directly elected by the electors rather than selected by the common council. 9-232.04. District system as alternative organization A. The common council, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the town who vote on that issue, may elect to be governed by a district system of municipal government. In accordance with that election, the common council by a majority vote shall adopt a resolution or ordinance that divides the town into not more than six districts, and the council members shall thereafter be elected from districts by the residents of the district. B. A mayor of the town shall be elected, who is the chief executive officer of the town. 9-232.05. Town elected officials; term limits; applicability A. By majority vote of the qualified electors of the town voting on the initiative, the qualified electors may by initiative: 1. Enact term limits on the number of terms a member of the common council or mayor may serve. 2. Enforce term limits on the number of terms a member of the common council or mayor may serve. 3. Repeal term limits on the number of terms a member of the common council or mayor may serve. B. Any enactment, enforcement or repeal of a term limit pursuant to this section applies to any common council member or any mayor elected after the date that the majority of the qualified electors vote to enact, enforce or repeal the term limit pursuant to subsection A of this section. 9-233. Council meetings; quorum; adjournment The common council shall, by ordinance, fix the time and place of holding stated meetings, and the council may be convened at any time by the mayor. A majority of the councilmen shall constitute a quorum for transacting business but a lesser number may adjourn from time to time and compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalty as the council may, by ordinance, have previously prescribed. No such adjournment shall be to a day beyond the next stated meeting of the council. 9-234. Power of council to regulate proceedings; records A. The common council shall judge the elections, qualifications and returns of its members. It may prescribe rules for the government of its proceedings, may punish any member or other person for disorderly conduct at any meeting of the council by a fine not exceeding twenty dollars, and by imprisonment until the payment of the fine, and with the concurrence of four councilmen may expel any member, but not a second time for the same cause. B. The common council shall cause the clerk to keep a journal of its proceedings and a record of all ordinances adopted, and at the request of any member shall cause the ayes and nays upon any question to be taken and entered upon its journals. C. The proceedings of the common council shall be public. 9-235. Vacancies in council A. The council shall fill a vacancy that may occur by appointment until the next regularly scheduled council election if the vacancy occurs more than thirty days before the nomination petition deadline, otherwise the appointment is for the unexpired term. If the city or town by ordinance provides that at the primary election any candidate for the office of mayor or city council who receives a majority of all votes cast at that election for that office is declared elected to the office and a candidate to fill the vacancy in that office receives a majority of all votes cast for that office at the primary election, section 9-821.01, subsection D applies. This subsection does not apply to a charter city. B. The member appointed shall meet the qualifications established in section 9-232. 9-236. Mayor; duties The mayor of the common council shall be the chief executive officer of the town, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law and ordinance. In case of the absence of the mayor the council may appoint one of their number to act in his stead. 9-237. Appointive officers In addition to the common council, the officers of every town shall be a town clerk, town marshal, town engineer and other officers deemed necessary by the common council, who shall be appointed as provided by ordinance of the town. 9-238. Duties of appointive officers A. The town clerk shall also be treasurer of the town. The town marshal shall be collector of all taxes of the town. The town engineer shall have charge of the town streets, sewers and water works, and in towns of three thousand or more inhabitants, shall be a competent engineer. B. In towns of less than three thousand inhabitants the town marshal, in addition to his duties as town marshal, may act as town engineer. 9-239. Council powers relating to appointive officers A. The common council may prescribe the duties and compensation of all officers of the town, and provide, by ordinance, the manner of filling vacancies in such offices. The council may appoint, from time to time, officers and agents of the town whose appointment is not provided for in this article, and remove them. B. The common council may require all officers to give bond for the due discharge of their duties in such sums and with such security as it may direct and approve, and for default of giving security, may declare an office vacant. C. The common council may provide severance pay for town officers by ordinance or by contract with an individual officer. 9-240. General powers of common council A. The common council shall have control of the finances and property of the corporation. B. The common council shall also have power within the limits of the town: 1. To erect, purchase or lease necessary buildings for the purposes of the corporation. 2. To appropriate money and provide for the payment of its debts and expenses. 3. (a) To exercise exclusive control over the streets, alleys, avenues and sidewalks of the town and to give and change the names thereof. (b) To prevent and punish for the encumbering thereof, and to abate and remove all encumbrances and obstructions thereon. (c) To widen, extend, straighten, regulate, grade, clean or otherwise improve the same. (d) To open, lay out and improve new streets, avenues and alleys. (e) To vacate or abandon any street, avenue, alley, park, public place or sidewalk in such town or to abolish them, provided that rights-of-way or easements of existing sewer, gas, water or similar pipelines and appurtenances and for canals, laterals or ditches and appurtenances, and for electric, telephone, and similar lines and appurtenances shall continue as they existed prior to the vacating, abandonment, or abolishment thereof. (f) To protect the same from encroachment and injury. 4. To erect and maintain bridges, culverts, sidewalks and crossways, and prevent and punish for injuries thereto or obstructions thereon. 5. (a) To construct and maintain sewers and drains, and prevent and punish for any obstruction thereof, or thereto. (b) To change the channels of natural watercourses, to wall the same and cover them over, and regulate the same as sewers. (c) To prevent and punish for the filling up, altering or changing of natural watercourses by private persons. (d) To regulate the bridging of all millraces, irrigating and other ditches at the crossings of public highways, by the owners of such millraces and ditches, and after such bridge or ford is built according to the street commissioner's instructions, the crossing shall thereafter be a public charge. 6. To provide the town with water, to construct public wells, cisterns and reservoirs in the streets and other public and private places within the town, or beyond the limits thereof, and to supply the same with pumps and conducting pipes or ditches. 7. (a) To provide regulations for the prevention and extinguishment of fires. (b) To prevent the erection of wooden buildings within prescribed limits. (c) To regulate the construction of chimneys, furnaces and fireplaces. (d) To regulate the storage of explosives, tar, pitch, resin and other combustible or inflammable materials, and to prescribe the places and manner of storing the same. 8. To provide for lighting the streets and other public places of the town, and to exclusively regulate and control the laying and repairing of gas pipes and other appurtenances therein. 9. To provide for enclosing, improving and protecting the public grounds and cemeteries of the town, and to direct and regulate the planting of ornamental and shade trees therein and in the streets of the town. 10. To establish markets and marketplaces for the town and to regulate the same. 11. (a) To establish and maintain necessary cemeteries and burial places for the town beyond the limits thereof. (b) To regulate the burial of the dead. (c) To require a registration of the deaths and births, and to impose penalties upon physicians and surgeons for any default in the premises. 12. To establish and regulate the police of the town, to appoint watchmen and policemen, and to remove them, and to prescribe their powers and duties. 13. To prevent, suppress and punish any riot, rout, affray, disorderly noise or disturbance in any public or private place within the town. 14. To prevent, suppress and punish racing or immoderate riding or driving through the streets. 15. (a) To prohibit and punish any amusements or practice tending to annoy or obstruct persons passing upon the streets or sidewalks, or frighten horses or other animals being ridden or driven thereon. (b) To restrain and punish the ringing of bells, blowing of horns, crying of goods or other noises, performances and practices tending to cause the collection of persons upon the streets or sidewalks and the obstruction thereof. 16. (a) To prohibit the roaming at large of animals within the town. (b) To authorize the impounding and summary sale thereof when found roaming at large contrary to ordinance. (c) To impose penalties upon the owners thereof for a violation of any ordinance in relation thereto. (d) To regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of dogs and to authorize their destruction when at large contrary to any ordinance of the town, and to impose penalties upon the owners thereof. 17. (a) To suppress and prohibit prostitution and unlawful sexual intercourse and to punish persons guilty thereof. (b) To suppress and prohibit the operation of disorderly houses and to punish the owners, managers, lessees, agents, keepers and inmates thereof. (c) To suppress and prohibit gambling and the operating of gambling houses and to punish the owners, managers and employees thereof and players at such games. 18. To fix the amount of license taxes to be paid by any person, firm, corporation or association for carrying on any business, game or amusement, calling, profession or occupation, and prescribe the method of collection or payment of the same, for a stated period in advance, and fix penalties for failure to comply by fine or imprisonment, or both. Nothing in this article shall be construed as authorizing any town or city to levy an occupational license or fee on any activity when the general law of the state precludes levying such a license or fee. 19. To authorize the clerk to issue licenses, to direct the manner of issuing and registering the same, and the fees of the clerk therefor. No license shall be granted for more than one year, and not less than ten dollars nor more than five thousand dollars shall be charged for any license so issued. 20. (a) To provide regulations to prevent the introduction or spread of contagious, loathsome or infectious diseases within the town. (b) To make quarantine laws and enforce them within the town and within two miles thereof, and to provide pest houses and hospitals necessary therefor. 21. (a) To define, abate and remove nuisances, and punish persons committing nuisances. (b) To compel the owner or any occupant of any house or premises to clean the grounds, stables, alleys, streets and walks appurtenant and adjacent thereto. (c) To prohibit within the town and within two miles beyond the limits thereof slaughterhouses, tanneries, soap factories, establishments for the steaming or rendering of tallow, lard or offal, and all other establishments and places where any nauseous, offensive or unwholesome business may be carried on. 22. To perform other acts, and prescribe other regulations, which may be necessary or expedient for the prevention or suppression of disease. 23. To establish and maintain a workhouse or houses of correction, to make regulations for the government thereof and to appoint the officers and keepers thereof. 24. To authorize the arrest and punishment of vagrants, stragglers and idle and disorderly persons found loitering or strolling about in public places, leading an immoral or profligate life, and to authorize the confinement of any such person, and persons who fail to pay any fine, in the workhouse or house of correction for a period not exceeding three months. 25. (a) To direct and control the laying and construction of railroad tracks, bridges, switches and sidetracks in the streets, alleys and other public places of the town. (b) To require the same to be so laid and constructed as to interfere as little as possible with the ordinary travel and use of the streets, and other public places. (c) To authorize the construction of tramways, electric, steam or cable roads and railways in the town, and to regulate the operation thereof, and the fares to be charged thereon and to require the owners thereof to keep in repair the streets wherein the same may be laid, and to construct and keep in repair all bridges, culverts, crossways, ditches and sewers. (d) To regulate the speed of locomotives. 26. To levy taxes as hereinafter mentioned in this article. 27. To apply any surplus money in the treasury of the town to the extinguishment of the debt of the town, or to provide a sinking fund for that purpose. 28. (a) To make, amend or repeal all ordinances necessary or proper for the carrying into effect of the powers vested in the corporation, or any department or officer thereof. (b) To enforce the observance of such ordinances, and to punish violations thereof by fine or imprisonment, or both, and by confinement at hard labor, in the discretion of the magistrate or court before whom a conviction may be had, but no fine shall be imposed exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars, nor imprisonment or confinement at hard labor exceeding six months. (c) Unless specifically prohibited by statute, to classify ordinance violations as criminal or civil offenses. 29. To adopt ordinances for the government of the corporation, its officers and persons within its corporate limits needful for the good government and order of the municipalities, and to provide the manner of prosecution and define the punishment for the violation of such ordinance. 9-241. Purchase and sale of property A. The corporation may purchase, receive, hold, lease and convey property, real and personal, necessary or proper to carry out the purposes of the corporation, within or without its limits. B. Every conveyance of real property to the corporation shall be in its corporate name. Conveyances by the corporation shall be executed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council, at a regular meeting thereof. C. Real property of the corporation shall be sold as provided by section 9-402. 9-242. Hospitals A. The corporation may own, operate and control hospitals in the interest of the general welfare. B. The council may lease a hospital to a nonprofit association or corporation organized under state law, on such terms and conditions, and for such consideration, as the council may prescribe. 9-243. Construction of streets and sidewalks; default of property owner; abatement of assessment; appeal; definitions A. The common council may require the proprietor of any block, lot or part of a lot within the town to construct a sidewalk in front thereof of a width and type of construction as it may direct, and may by ordinance provide that upon failure of the proprietor to construct the sidewalk within a time to be prescribed after notice so to do it may be constructed by the town, and the expense thereof assessed against the block, lot or part thereof. The council may provide the manner of making the assessment, may approve the same and provide the manner of collecting the assessment. B. The council may by ordinance require the proprietor or owner of any property within the town at the time of the development of the property to construct streets within and adjacent to the property. If the council determines that such streets are necessary before the development of the property, the council may order these improvements to be constructed by the town at its expense and the expense shall be assessed against the property. The council may provide and approve the manner of assessing the property at the time of development and provide the manner of collecting unpaid assessments at the time of development of the property subject to the following limitations: 1. The assessment of property, if adjacent arterial streets are involved, shall not exceed the cost of improving more than one-half of the width or more than one thousand lineal feet of such adjacent arterial street, except that if any parcel of land is presently being used for single family residential use and the width of such does not exceed two hundred lineal feet, such property shall not be assessed greater than one-half the cost of the average residential street within such city or town. 2. The assessment of property shall not exceed the actual expense incurred by the town at the time of construction. C. Any assessment under this section shall abate if the property has not been developed within ten years of the assessment. D. The determination of necessity by the council resulting in the assessing of property under this section may be appealed by any aggrieved party to the superior court. E. As used in this section: 1. "Development" includes construction of residential, commercial or industrial buildings or structures or major additions or alterations to existing structures and includes new buildings or structures on property having existing buildings or structures situated on such property. When such property is zoned for agricultural or single family residential use at the time of assessment, development shall also require a change of use or purpose. 2. "Streets" may include asphaltic concrete surfacing, aggregate base, curb and gutter, valley gutter, concrete sidewalks and tiling of irrigation ditches and storm drainage facilities if required. 9-244. Levy of taxes A. The common council may levy and collect annually, upon the assessed value of the real and personal property within the town, as shown by the equalized assessment roll of the current year, except such as is, or may be, exempt from taxation under the laws of the state, property taxes to defray the salaries of officers, and the ordinary and contingent expenses of the corporation, not herein otherwise provided for, and for constructing and repairing streets, sewers, sidewalks and crosswalks, or bridges and culverts upon such streets and sidewalks. B. The limitation imposed by this section shall not prohibit the right to levy and collect amounts necessary to defray the charges of the public debt of the corporation. C. Nothing contained in this section shall be held to repeal, modify or affect the provisions of title 42, chapter 17, article 2. 9-246. Publication of financial statement The common council shall, at least ten days before the biennial election, publish in a newspaper published in the town, or if there is none, then post in three or more public places in the town, a full and correct statement of all monies received into the treasury of the town since the last report, and the sources from which they were severally derived, and also of all disbursements and expenditures and the account upon which the disbursement was made. 9-247. Claims, warrants, substitute checks and vouchers When a town organized under this article is indebted on an account, the official having power to audit and allow claims against the town shall draw a warrant, substitute check or voucher upon the treasurer for the amount due. The official shall not draw more than one warrant, substitute check or voucher for the amount allowed. 9-248. Warrants, substitute checks and vouchers; payee; form No warrant, substitute check or voucher drawn on the treasurer of any town shall be drawn in favor of a person other than the one to whom it is due. The warrant, substitute check or voucher shall be in the form prescribed by ordinance. 9-249. Warrants, substitute checks and vouchers; presentment; payment; registry; definitions A. The treasurer of a city or town shall not pay any warrant, substitute check or voucher unless presented for payment by the person in whose favor it is drawn or the person's assignee, executor or administrator. When a warrant, substitute check or voucher on the treasurer is properly presented for payment, the treasurer shall pay it and write or stamp on the face of it "paid" and the date of payment and shall sign it. An electronic image of the original warrant provided by or made available by the servicing bank in a format approved by the treasurer of a city or town shall be deemed properly presented. If the treasurer cannot pay the warrant, substitute check or voucher for want of funds, the treasurer shall write or stamp on the face of it "not paid for want of funds" and the date of presentation and shall sign it, and, from that date until paid, the warrant, substitute check or voucher shall bear interest at a rate to be determined by the council, but in no case to exceed six per cent per year. The city or town and the servicing bank shall agree upon the method of delivery of the warrant, substitute check or voucher. B. The treasurer shall keep a registry of warrants, substitute checks and vouchers presented for payment. C. For the purposes of this article: 1. "Substitute check" means a paper reproduction of an original warrant created from an electronic image of the original warrant that: (a) Contains an image of the front and back of the original check. (b) Bears a magnetic ink character recognition line containing all of the information in the magnetic ink character recognition line of the original check. (c) Conforms in paper stock, dimension and otherwise with generally applicable industry standards for substitute checks. (d) Is suitable for automated processing in the same manner as the original warrant. 2. "Warrant" means an original warrant or an electronic image of an original warrant from which a substitute check may be created. 9-250. Violation of provisions relating to warrants; classification An officer of a town who violates any provision of sections 9-247, 9-248 or 9-249 is guilty of a petty offense. 9-251. Survey and recording of town plats When a town is laid out, the proprietors of the town shall cause to be made an accurate plat or map thereof, setting forth: 1. Streets, alleys, avenues and highways and the width thereof. 2. Parks, squares and other grounds reserved for other uses, with the boundaries and dimensions thereof. 3. Lots and blocks, with their boundaries, designating the lots and blocks by numbers, and giving the dimensions of the lots. 9-252. Acknowledgment and filing of maps The maps required by section 9-251 shall be acknowledged by the proprietor, or some person for him duly authorized by deed, and a copy thereof, so acknowledged, shall be filed in the office of the county recorder, and also in the office of the clerk of the town. 9-253. Recording of maps and plats; preservation of originals A. The county recorder shall record the plats in a book to be kept for that purpose, and, when necessary, may reduce the scale of the plat, and upon each record in the book, shall endorse his certificate that the plat is recorded from the original plat filed in his office. B. The original plat shall be preserved by the county recorder, and the clerk of the city or town, among the records of their offices respectively. 9-254. Title to streets Upon filing a map or plat, the fee of the streets, alleys, avenues, highways, parks and other parcels of ground reserved therein to the use of the public vests in the town, in trust, for the uses therein expressed. If the town is not incorporated, then the fee vests in the county until the town becomes incorporated. 9-255. Unlawful act of officer; liability of council A member of the common council of a town incorporated under the provisions of this article shall not be personally liable in damages or otherwise for an unlawful act of an officer or employee of the town, unless the act is committed by the authority of the member, or he has notice or knowledge thereof, or unless the act is committed under circumstances which would cause, or would have caused, a reasonable or prudent person to have knowledge of the act. 9-271. Procedure for change; city officers A. When a town has acquired a population of three thousand or over and the council shall by resolution so declare, the town may by majority vote of the qualified electors voting thereon assume a city organization having and exercising all rights, powers, authority, duties and privileges of a city under such name as the council may designate. B. Upon making the change from a town to a city organization the officers of the city shall consist of: 1. Seven councilmen elected at large by the qualified electors residing in the city at the regular election which would have been held had the change not been made. 2. A mayor elected by and from among the members of the council. 3. The following officers appointed by the mayor and city council: (a) A city clerk and ex officio treasurer. (b) A city attorney. (c) A city marshal or chief of police. (d) A city physician. (e) A city engineer. (f) When provided by ordinance, a city health or sanitary officer, a superintendent of streets, a fire chief and such other officers as the council deems necessary. C. The same person may hold two or more of the appointive offices enumerated in paragraph 3 of subsection B. D. Pending the holding of the first regular election after the change, the officers of the municipality and their terms of office shall continue as though the change from town to city government had not been made. 9-272. Classification of councilmen for purposes of election; terms of office A. The common council may, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the city voting thereon, provide by ordinance or resolution, that the members of the council be divided by lot into two classes. The first class shall consist of three councilmen and the second class of four. Those of the first class shall hold office until the next regular election, and those of the second class until the second regular election. At the first regular election held after the change, three councilmen shall be elected, and at the second regular election four councilmen shall be elected. B. Thereafter councilmen shall be elected in classes of three and four at successive, regular elections and shall hold their office for terms of four years each and until their successors are elected and qualified. 9-272.01. Alternative procedure for mayor to be directly elected by electors The common council may, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the city voting thereon either at a regular or special election, provide by ordinance that the mayor shall be directly elected by the electors rather than selected by the common council. 9-273. District system as alternative organization A. Upon the change from town to city government, the city, by a majority vote of the qualified electors, may elect to be governed by a district system of municipal government, and in accordance with the election the common council by a majority vote shall adopt such resolution or ordinance, dividing the city into districts, not exceeding six in number, and the councilmen shall thereafter be elected from districts by the residents of the district. B. There shall be elected a mayor of such city, who shall be the chief executive officer of the city. 9-274. Powers of council; salaries A. When the change from town to city government is made, the council of the city may: 1. Appoint and remove city officers, board members and employees not expressly made elective in accordance with civil service regulations, or in absence of such regulations, as the council deems advisable. 2. Fix the salaries of officers, board members and employees, and of the mayor and councilmen. 3. Require and fix official bonds. 4. Prescribe the duties of officers, board members and employees. 5. Fill by appointment vacancies in the office of mayor or councilmen and other vacancies occurring in any other city office, board or employment. B. In fixing salaries the city council may by ordinance or resolution prescribe a daily compensation to be paid to the mayor, councilmen and administrative board members for performance of official duties. C. The city council may by ordinance or resolution establish or alter salaries or compensation of the mayor and councilmen. 9-275. Applicability of certain provisions to specified cities A. The provisions of sections 9-271 to 9-274, inclusive, shall not apply to a city operating under a special act or special charter or which has been organized prior to June 12, 1929 and is operating under the provisions of article 1, chapter 2 of this title, or any other state law or statute enacted prior to June 12, 1929, but the officers of such city, their manner of election or appointment, their term of office, duties, salaries, bonds and the filling of vacancies shall remain as provided by the special acts, charter, laws or statutes enacted prior to June 12, 1929. B. A city or town operating under any act, special charter, law or statute of the state enacted prior to June 12, 1929, may by majority vote of its council avail itself of the benefits, privileges and provisions of this article to take effect at the holding of the next regular election in the municipality. C. Pending the holding of the first regular election after such decision and action, the officers of the municipality and their tenure of office shall continue as theretofore, and as though such change of municipal government had not been made. 9-276. Additional powers of cities A. In addition to the powers already vested in cities by their respective charters and by general law, cities and their governing bodies may: 1. Lay out and establish, regulate the use, open, vacate, alter, widen, extend, grade, pave, plant trees or otherwise improve streets, alleys, avenues, sidewalks, parks, public grounds and off-street parking sites and acquire any property necessary or convenient for that purpose by the exercise of the right of eminent domain. 2. Prevent and remove encroachments or obstructions, provide for lighting and cleaning, and regulate the openings for the laying of gas and water pipes and mains on streets, alleys, avenues, sidewalks, parks and public grounds. 3. Build and repair sewers, tunnels and drains. 4. Erect lights, gas or otherwise. 5. Regulate the erection of poles and wires, the laying of street railway tracks, and the operating of street railways in and upon its streets, alleys, public grounds and plazas. 6. Regulate the use of sidewalks and all structures thereunder, and require the owner or occupant of premises to keep the sidewalks in front of or along the premises free from obstruction. 7. Regulate and prevent the throwing of offensive material in and prevent injury to any street, way, alley or public grounds. 8. Construct and keep in repair bridges, viaducts, tunnels, culverts, drains, sewers and cesspools, and regulate their use. 9. Provide for the cleaning and purification of waters, watercourses and canals, and the draining or filling of ponds on private property when necessary to prevent or abate nuisances. 10. Establish markets and market houses, and regulate their use. 11. Regulate the sale of meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese, lard, fruit, vegetables and other provisions, and provide for and regulate the inspection and the place and manner of selling them, and provide for the inspection of hay, grain, flour, meal and other provisions. 12. Regulate the construction, repair and use of vaults, cisterns, areas, hydrants, pumps, sewers and gutters. 13. Regulate partition fences and party walls and regulate the construction and location of buildings, walls and fences on the line of a street, way or alley. 14. Prescribe the thickness, strength and manner of constructing stone, brick and other buildings, and construction of fire escapes. 15. Fix and designate by ordinance fire limits within which no buildings having outside wooden walls shall be constructed or repaired so as to increase their value beyond a percentage to be fixed in the ordinance, and, by ordinance, prescribe special fire limits, within the general fire limits, requiring therein building material to be used and additional precautions to be observed in the construction of new buildings, and in the repairing and maintenance of buildings, as may from time to time be designated, for the prevention of fires and the spread thereof, and provide for the enforcement of the ordinance and for the appointment of a building inspector, his authority, his term of office and his compensation. 16. Define nuisances and abate them, and impose fines upon persons creating or continuing nuisances. 17. Appoint a board of health, and prescribe its powers and duties. 18. Prohibit an offensive or unwholesome business or establishment within two miles of the limits of the corporation. 19. Compel the owner of any unwholesome or nauseous house or place to clean, abate or remove it, and regulate the location thereof. 20. Extend by condemnation or otherwise any street, alley or highway over or across, or construct a sewer under or through, any railroad track, right-of-way or land of a railroad within its corporate limits, but where no just compensation is made to the railroad company, the city shall restore the railroad track, right-of-way or land to its former state, or in a manner so as not to impair its usefulness. 21. Establish and define sewer districts and construct sewers therein. 22. Establish and alter the grade of streets, alleys and sidewalks, and regulate the manner of using the streets and pavements in the city to protect them from injury by vehicles driven thereon. No street or sidewalk grade shall be altered after it has once been established and built unless compensation is made to abutting owners for damages done to their property by the change. 23. Make local improvements by special assessments, by special taxation or otherwise, as they shall by ordinance prescribe. 24. Adopt and enforce standards for shielding and filtration of commercial or public outdoor portable or permanent light fixtures in proximity to astronomical or meteorological laboratories. B. A domestic corporation or association organized for the purpose of manufacturing gas to supply cities, or their inhabitants, or to supply cities, or their inhabitants, with water, or for the purpose of furnishing cities and the inhabitants with a sewer system, may, by consent of the governing body, erect and establish gas factories, waterworks and sewer plants, and lay down pipes in the streets, alleys, plazas and ways of a city, subject to such rules and regulations as the city shall by ordinance impose. 9-281. Adoption procedure; board of freeholders; election A. A city containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants may frame a charter for its own government consistent with the constitution and the laws of the state, by causing a board of freeholders, composed of fourteen qualified electors of the city, to be elected at large by the qualified electors thereof, at a general or special election. B. An election of the board of freeholders may be called at any time by the legislative authority of the city. The election shall be called by the chief executive officer of the city within ten days after there has been filed with him a petition demanding the election, signed by a number of qualified electors residing within the city equal to twenty-five per cent of the total number of votes cast at the next preceding general municipal election. C. The election shall be held not later than thirty days after the call therefor. At the election a vote shall be taken upon the question whether further proceedings toward adopting a charter shall be had in pursuance to the call, and unless a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon shall vote to proceed further, no further proceedings shall be had. 9-282. Proposed charter; publication; election; approval by governor A. The board shall, within ninety days after the election, prepare and propose a charter for the city. The proposed charter shall be approved and signed in duplicate by the members of the board, or a majority of them, who shall file one copy with the chief executive officer of the city and the other with the county recorder of the county in which the city is located. B. The proposed charter shall then be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation published within the city for at least twenty-one days if in a daily paper, or in three consecutive issues if in a weekly paper, and the first publication shall be made within twenty days after completion of the proposed charter. C. The proposed charter shall be submitted within thirty days and not earlier than twenty days after the publication to the vote of the qualified electors of the city at a general or special election. If a majority of the electors voting thereon ratify the proposed charter, it shall be submitted to the governor for his approval, who shall approve it if not in conflict with the constitution or the laws of the state. 9-283. Approval of charter; recording and filing; amendment A. On approval the charter shall become the organic law of the city and supersede any charter then existing and all ordinances inconsistent with the new charter. B. A copy of the charter, certified by the chief executive officer of the city, and authenticated by the seal of the city, together with a statement similarly certified and authenticated setting forth the submission of the charter to the electors and its ratification by them, after approval of the charter by the governor, shall be filed in the archives of the city, after being recorded in the office of the county recorder, and thereafter all courts shall take judicial notice of the charter. C. The charter so ratified may be amended by amendments proposed and submitted by the legislative authority of the city to the qualified electors thereof, or by petition as provided in this article, at a general or special election, and ratified by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon, and approved by the governor as provided in this article for the approval of the charter. 9-284. Effect of charter on inconsistent laws A. When the charter has been framed, adopted and approved, and any of its provisions are in conflict with any law relating to cities containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants in force at the time of the adoption and approval of the charter, the provisions of the charter shall prevail notwithstanding the conflict, and shall operate as a repeal or suspension of the law to the extent of conflict, and the law shall not thereafter be operative as to such conflict. B. The charter shall be consistent with and subject to the state constitution, and not in conflict with the constitution and laws relating to the exercise of the initiative and referendum and other general laws of the state not relating to cities. C. Notwithstanding any statute, the charter may authorize agreements setting wages and salaries which extend not more than two years beyond the term of the contracting council. 9-285. Expenses of board When a city has adopted a charter under the provisions of this article, the chief executive and the legislative authority of the city may provide for the payment of the expenses of the board of freeholders necessarily incurred in the framing of the charter, including clerical assistance which shall not exceed three dollars per day for the time actually employed.