R. S. 2444-Act 136, 1898

bounds of their hamlet or village, stating the number of inhabitants therein, and praying incorporation, he shall inquire into the facts. If he finds the petition sufficient and sufficiently signed, and it be shown to his satisfaction that it has been published in full for three weeks in some newspaper of the proposed municipality, if there be one, and if not, by posting in at least three conspicuous places in the hamlet or village, and that the place contains at least two hundred and fifty inhabitants, he shall, by proclamation, declare the village incorporated, defining its limits and boundaries, and fixing its name as "The Village of Such proclamation shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and remain a record thereof. See Act 49, 1882, p. 1089.

[Governor Appoints Officers When Incorporation Granted on Petition.] SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, etc., That when any village shall have been incorporated as provided in the last section, the Governor shall appoint all the officers thereof, who shall hold their offices until the next general municipal election, and until their successors are qualified. Such officers shall give bond as required in other cases and shall cause a certified copy of the Governor's proclamation declaring the village incorporated, to be recorded on its municipal records.

[Powers Granted Municipal Corporations.]

SEC. 13. Be it further enacted, etc., That each city, town or village which is incorporated shall be governed by the provisions of this act and shall be a municipal corporation, with power

First-To sue and be sued.

Second-To purchase and hold real estate and personal property, to purchase and hold real estate within the corporate limits, for all proper municipal purposes and for parks, cemeteries, hospitals, school houses, houses of correction, water works, electric light and sewers. Land within the corporate limits may be owned under purchase, grant, or devise heretofore and hereafter made.

Third-To make all contracts and to do all other acts in relation to the property and concerns of the municipality necessary to the exercise of its corporate or administrative powers.

Fourth-To exercise such other or further powers as are herein conferred.

See acts printed at p. 1099 et seq.

[Mayor and Aldermen Exercise Powers Conferred by Act.]

SEC. 14. Be it further enacted, etc., That the powers hereby granted shall be exercised by the mayor and board of aldermen of the respective cities, towns, and villages, as hereinafter set forth. [Have Charge of Property, Enact Ordinances, etc.]

SEC. 15. Be it further enacted, etc., That the mayor and board of aldermen of every city, town, and village, shall have the care, man

R. S. 2444-Act 136, 1893 agement and control of the city, town, and village, and its property and finances, and shall have power to enact ordinances for the purposes hereinafter named, and such as are not repugnant to the laws of the State, and such ordinances to alter, modify and repeal; and they shall have power:

First-To levy and collect taxes upon all the real, mixed and personal property within the corporate limits taxable according to the laws of the State, the valuation of such property to be taken from the assessment rolls of the parish; for general revenue purposes not to exceed ten mills on the dollar; and special taxes for giving additional support to public schools, and for the purpose of erecting and constructing public buildings, public school houses, bridges, wharves, levees, sewerage work and other works of public improvements, the title to which shall be in the public, in the manner provided by Article 232 of the Constitution of this State; and in aid of public improvement or railway enterprises not to exceed five mills in any one year for a period of not longer than ten years, in the manner provided by Article 270 of the Constitution.

Second-To levy and collect taxes annually not to exceed five mills on the dollar and for a period not to exceed forty years on all the taxable property within the municipal limits in addition to other taxes, in a sufficient amount for the purpose of paying the interest coupons as they become due, on all bonds of the municipality now issued, or hereafter to be issued under Article 281 of the Constitution, and thebonds themselves, which bonds shall be payable only in cash or in matured coupons or bonds.

Third-To make regulations to secure the general health of the municipality; to prevent, to remove and abate nuisances; to regulate or prohibit the construction of privy vaults and cesspools, and to regulate or suppress those already constructed; to compel and regulate the connection of all property with the sewers and drains; to suppress hog pens, slaughter houses and stockyards, or to locate same, with the concurrent approval of the Board of Health, or to regulate the same and prescribe and enforce regulations for cleaning and keeping the same in order, and the cleaning and keeping in order warehouses, stables, alleys, yards, private ways, out-houses and other places where offensive matter is kept or permitted to accumulate, and to compel and regulate the removal of garbage and filth beyond the corporate limits.

A municipality which has accepted the provisions of this act is without power to suppress or locate a lawful business which is not a nuisance per se, and it is without power either under the act or otherwise to prohibit the location of a fifth or other livery stable, where the effect of the ordinance would leave four livery stables within the limits described in the ordinance. Town of Crowley vs. West, 52 An. 526.

R. S. 2444-Act 136, 1898

Fourth-To compel owners of property adjacent to walks and ways, where dangerous, to erect and maintain railings, safeguards and barriers along the same, except when made dangerous by municipal authority.

Fifth-To regulate and order the cleaning of chimneys.

Sixth-To regulate parks, public grounds, depots, depot grounds, and places of storage of freight and goods within the corporate limits, and to provide for and regulate the construction and passage of railways and street railroads through the streets, avenues, alleys, or lanes and public grounds of the municipality; but a person or company to whom the right and privilege shall, at any time, be granted by the authorities of a city, town or village, to construct railroads and street railroads through the municipality, shall not have the exclusive privilege to do so.

Seventh-To grant the right for the erection of telegraph, electric light, or telephone poles, posts and wires along and upon any of the streets, alleys, or ways of the municipality, and change, modify and regulate the same. But such privilege shall not be exclusive.

Eighth-To grant to any person or corporation the use of the streets, alleys and public grounds for the purpose of laying gas, water, sewer, or steam pipes, or conduits for electric light, to be used in furnishing or supplying the municipality and inhabitants or any person or corporation, with gas, water, sewerage, steam or hot air for heating purposes, or light, but a franchise, right of way, or privilege of any character whatever, shall not be granted for a longer period than twentyfive years, and such privilege shall not be exclusive.

Ninth-To prescribe rules for the weighing and measurement of every commodity sold in the municipality, in all cases not otherwise provided by law, and provide for the measuring of wood and fuel and the weighing of coal, and determine the place or places for the sale of the same and to fix the fees and duties of the person authorized to perform the duties herein named; and to provide for the inspection and condemnation of coal oil, gasoline, naphta and all other inflammable and combustible oils, fluids or gases used for heating or lighting purposes, when the same shall not be of the quality and standard prescribed by ordinance.

Tenth-To establish and maintain, and to provide for the government and regulation of markets, market houses and places, and meat shops, and to collect a license tax therefrom and determine the amount of license to be paid therefor; and when the municipality owns a market house or houses, to fix the rental value thereof and of stalls and booths therein.

Eleventh-To establish, alter and change the channel of streams. and water courses, and to bridge the same whenever so to do will pro

R. S. 2444-Act 136, 1898 mote the health, comfort and convenience of the inhabitants of the municipality.

Twelfth-To provide that any person desiring to subdivide a tract of land within the corporate limits, or to be included therein, shall submit a plan and map of such subdivision, to the mayor and board of aldermen, to be approved by them before the same shall be filed for record in the records of deeds of the parish.

Thirteenth-To make all needful police regulations necessary for the provisions of good order and the peace of the municipality; and to prevent injury to, destruction of, or interference with public or private property.

Fourteenth-To maintain streets and roads in the limits of the municipality.

Fifteenth-To provide for the election of such municipal officers, other than those required by this act, as may be found necessary; to prescribe the duties and to fix the compensation of all officers and employees, and to require bonds with sureties for the performance of duties from all officers and employees.

Sixteenth-To provide for the removal of officers and discharge of employees for misconduct or neglect of duty.

Seventeenth-To appropriate money and provide for the current expenses of the municipality; but an indebtedness shall not be incurred nor a warrant be drawn on the treasurer in payment of any indebtedness to exceed the amount of funds on hand in the treasury at the time, except as specially authorized in the issuance of bonds. To meet current expenses, the mayor and council may borrow money, but in so doing the debt so incurred added to the current debt of the year, shall not exceed the sum which the levy of taxes for the year may raise.

Eighteenth-To elect one of the aldermen to be the mayor pro tempore, and who shall preside at all meetings and perform all duties of mayor in the absence or disability of the mayor; and in the absence of both the mayor and the mayor pro tempore, to select another councilman to preside temporarily, and perform the duties; and the mayor pro tempore, when occupying the place of the mayor shall have the same power and perform the same duties as mayor.

Nineteenth-To cause to be constructed and maintained sidewalks, determine the material, plans and specifications and grades of the same, and levy and collect taxes, by special assessment, for the payment of the same.

Twentieth-To close and vacate any street or alley, or any portion thereof, and where the fee is in the municipality to lease or dispose of same by sale or otherwise.

Twenty-first-To exercise the right of eminent domain in the lay

R. S. 2444-Act 136, 1898

ing out of streets, avenues, alleys and parks, and in straightening or widening the streets, or changing the grade thereof, and the construction and repairing of sidewalks, sewers and other needed repairs and improvements; and for the purpose of perfecting its drainage system, may exercise the right without as well as within its limits.

Twenty-second-To exercise full jurisdiction in the matter of streets, sidewalks, sewers and parks; to open and lay out and construct the same; to repair, maintain, pave, sprinkle, adorn and light the

same.

Twenty-third-To erect, purchase, maintain and operate waterworks and to regulate the same; and to prescribe the rates at which water shall be supplied to the inhabitants; and to acquire by purchase, donation, or condemnation in the name of the municipality, suitable grounds, within or without the corporate limits, upon which to erect water-works, and also the right of way to and from such works, and also the right of way for laying water pipes within the corporate limits, and from such water-works to the municipality, and to extend such right from time to time; or to contract with any person for the erection and maintenance of water-works for a term not exceeding twenty-five years, fixing water rules in the contract subject to municipal regulations. But a contract for the erection, purchase, or maintenance of water works shall not be entered into until submitted to a vote of the qualified electors and approved by a majority of them.

Twenty-fourth-To regulate, suppress, and impose a privilege tax on all circuses, shows, theatres, billard tables, bowling alleys, concerts, itinerant sellers of medicine, corn doctors, pet bear exhibitors, exhibitions for pay, fortune tellers, cane or knife racks, and like devices, gift enterprises, lung testers, museums, menageries, feather renovators, muscle testers or developers, peddlers, flying jennies, pistol or shooting galleries, theatrical exhibitions, ten pin alleys, (without regard to the number of pins used), skating rinks, roller coasters and other like things.

Twenty-fifth-To make regulations to prevent the introduction and spread of contagious or infectious diseases; to make quarantine laws not contrary to the general State laws on the subjects, and to enforce the same within five miles of the corporate limits; to establish pest houses within or without the corporate limits, and to provide for the support and government of the same.

Twenty-sixth-To prohibit and suppress tippling shops, saloons, dram shops, club rooms; to restrain, prohibit, and suppress slaughter houses, houses of prostitution, disreputable houses, games and gambling houses and rooms, dance houses and rooms, keno rooms, desecration of the Sabbath day and all kinds of indecency and other dis