1922
ORDINANCE NO. 1922
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CLEARWATER, FLORIDA
AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA BY ENACTING A NEW CHAPTER
3.A, RELATING TO FRANCHISES AND PUBLIC UTILITIES,
PROVIDING FOR PUBLIC WORKS, LIGHTS, HEAT, AND POWER,
WATERWORKS, SANITARY SEWER SERVICE OUTSIDE
CORPORATE LIMITS, GRANTING FRANCHISES, PRESCRIBING
CONDITIONS TO WHICH FRANCHISES WILL BE SUBJECT,
THE REGULATION BY THE CITY OF PUBLIC UTILITY
FIXTURES, FORFEITURE OF GRANTS, AUDITING AND
ACCOUNTABILITY OF FINANCES, THE EXERCISE OF
FURTHER RESTRICTIONS NOT SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED,
THE GRANTING OF SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND ALSO TO
PROVIDE FOR THE MAXIMUM TIME PERIOD OF GRANTS,
RESTRICTIONS ON THE ASSIGNMENT OF GRANTS, EXTENSION
BY ANNEXATION, GRANTS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS ACT;
PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES;
PROVIDING FOR THE SEPARABILITY OF THE PROVISIONS
HEREOF; PROVIDING FOR PROPER NOTICE OF THE
PROPOSED ENACTMENT; AND PROVIDING FOR THE
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ORDINANCE.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA:
Section 1. The Code of Ordinances of the City of Clearwater,
Florida, 1962, is hereby amended by the enactment of Chapter 3B,
Franchises and Public Utilities, to read as follows:
CHAPTER 3 B
FRANCHISES AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
Section 313- 1. Public Works.
The city commission shall have the power within and
without its corporate limits, to construct, condemn, purchase,
acquire or lease, and to maintain, conduct and operate, within
and without its corporate limits, wharves, warehouses, ship
channels, breakwaters, parks, drives, boulevards, causeways
and bridges, telephone systems, transportation systems,
cemeteries, pest houses, schools, hospitals and libraries,
and to make a contract of whatever nature in connection
therewith; and shall enforce such purchase, if necessary,
by eminent domain proceedings; and shall have the right
and power to issue bonds upon a majority vote of the
electors of said city possessing the qualifications of electors
in bond elections, at any general or special election, and
to any amount necessary, to carry out any of said powers
or purposes.
Section 3B .•2. Lights, Heat and Power.
The city commissiou'shall have power to provide for
lighting the streets, parks, public buildings and public
places of the city; and to purchase or otherwise acquire,
establish, maintain and operate plants either within or
without the corporate limits of the city for lighting and
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heating by electricity, gas or any other method, and to
supply the inhabitants of said city with artificial light,
heat, and power, for domestic, business and other purposes,
and to charge and collect reasonable rates, prices and
compensation for furnishing and supplying the same.
Section 3B-3. Waterworks,
The city commission shall have the power to construct,
establish, and maintain waterworks, and to bore and
dig wells, construct reservoirs, lay pipes, and do such
other things as may be necessary, essential or conven-
tent for procuring and distributing an abundant supply of
good and wholesome water to the inhabitants of said city
for domestic and other purposes, and to protect the
property of said city and its inhabitants against fire;
and to collect reasonable rates, prices and compensation
for furnishing and supplying same, except for fire
protection, which may be provided for in the tax levy.
Section 3B-4. Sanitary Sewer Service Outside Corporate
Limits.
The city shall have the power to install, improve and
maintain sanitary sewer lines and facilities outside
of the corporate limits of the City of Clearwater and to,
assess the abutting property so benefitted by such facilities
under the following conditions: (1) when the city receives a
petition requesting sanitary sewer service signed by at
least fifty percent (5016) of the property owners within a
given unincorporated geographic area, or (2) when the
state division of health shall officially notify the City of
Clearwater that a health hazard exists within a given
unincorporated area, which health hazard shall be
determined by a field survey appropriate tests inspections
by the state division of health. After receiving the said
petition or the written official report of the state division
of health, the city commission shall, by resolution,
declare its intention to hold a public hearing to determine
the need and necessity to construct sanitary sewer lines
and facilities in the said geographic area, and shall notice
by publication in a newspaper published in the city once a
week for at least two (2) weeks, the first publication of the
notice to be not less than ten (10) days prior to the hearing
provided for in the notice, and in addition, the City of
Clearwater shall send written notice to all property owners
within the geographic area or determined by the current
Pinellas County tax rolls, at least ten (10) days before the
scheduled public hearing. The notices shall require all
persons interested to show cause why said sewer lines and
facilities should not be constructed, and if at the time
designated in the notice, no objections are filed, or if
objections are filed and the same shall be deemed insufficient
by the city commission, then the commission shall, by
resolution, order the sanitary sewer lines and facilities
constructed in accordance with plans and specifications therefor
to be kept on file in the office of the city clerk. The resolution
shall be published in a newspaper published in the City of
Clearwater, once a week for at least two (2) weeks.
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After the completion of the construction of said sanitary
sewer lines and facilities, the city shall assess the actual
cost thereof against the property abutting said sewer lines
and facilities which said costs shall be itemized and subject
to audit. If the assessments are not paid within thirty (30)
days of the making thereof, the city may at any time thereafter
issue certificates of indebtedness against the abutting property
for such assessments or parts thereof as is unpaid, said
certificates to be payable in not less than three (3) nor more
than ten (10) equal annual installments and shall bear
interest at the rate of eight percent (816) per annum until
paid, interest payable annually, which said certificates shall
constitute and be a prior lien to all other liens, except the
lien for taxes. The said certificates shall be processed and
administered in accordance with sections 12+4, 125, 126,
and 127 of the Charter of the City of Clearwater, Florida,
which shall provide that the method of collecting special
improvement assessments on property within sanitary
sewer project areas shall be the same as that followed
on property situated within the corporate limits of the city.
The City of Clearwater shall charge a rate for sanitary
sewer service outside of the corporate limits of the city
developing such rate in accordance with the guidelines set
out in Section 180. 191 Florida Statutes.
Section '3B»5. Granting Franchises.
The city commission may by ordinance, grant permission
to any individual, company, firm, or corporation, to construct
and operate a public utility in the streets and public grounds
of the city, but no such ground or renewal thereof shall be
made in violation of any of the limitations contained in this
ordinance.
Section 3B-6. Period of Grants.
No such grant or franchise shall be exclusive, nor shall it
be made for a longer period than thirty (30) years. All grants
of rights to make extensions of any public utility shall be
subject as far as practicable to the terms of the original grant
and shall expire therewith.
Section 3B»7. Conditions.
The city commission shall in ordinances granting or
renewing any franchise to construct and operate a public
utility, prescribe the kind and quality of product or service
to be furnished, the manner in which public streets and
grounds shall be used and occupied, and other terms and
conditions conducive to the public interest. Such grants
or franchises shall provide that the rate to be charged
shall at all times be under the supervision, direction, and
control of the city commission, and no rate shall be in effect
unless same is approved by said city commission; provided,
the rate allowed shall be sufficient to insure a reasonable
return on the investment.
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All such grants and renewals thereof shall reserve to
the city the right to terminate the same upon purchasing
all of the property and property rights of the utility as well
as the extensions thereof within and without the city, used
in or useful in or connected with such utility and the
extensions thereof within and without the city or may be
provided for in ordinance making the grant or renewal and
including all contracts for the service or motor power fairly
and reasonably made in good faith by the utility, at a price
either fixed in the ordinance or to be fixed in the manner
provided in the ordinance making the grant or renewal of the
grant, if so purchased by the city. Nothing in such ordinance
shall prevent the city from acquiring said property of any
such utility by condemnation proceedings, or in any other
lawful manner; and all such 'methods of acquisition shall be
alternative to the power or purchase reserved in the grant or
renewal thereof as herein provided. In such event, however,
said contracts of such utility shall be performed by the city.
Upon the acquisition by the city of the property of any utility,
by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, all grants or
renewals shall at once terminate.
Section 3B-8. Assignment of grants.
No such grant or franchise, or renewal thereof, shall be
leased, assigned, or otherwise alienated, except with the
express consent of the city commission.
Section 3B-9. Extension by annexation.
It shall be provided in every such grant or franchise, that
upon the annexation of any territory to the city, the portion
of such utility that may be located within such annexed
territory and upon the streets, alleys or public grounds
thereof, shall be thereafter subject to all the terms of the
grant as though it were an extension made thereunder.
Section 38-10. Right of regulation.
All grants shall be subject to the right of the city, whether
its terms reserved or not, to control at all times the distribu-
tion of space in, over, under or across streets, alleys,
or public grounds occupied by the public utility fixtures, and
when in the opinion of the city commission the public interest
so requires such fixtures may be caused to be removed, re-
constructed, relocated, altered, or discontinued; and said city shall
at all times have the power to pass all regulatory -ordinances
affecting such utilities which in the opinion of the city commission
are required in the interests of the public health, safety, or
accommodation.
Section 313-11. Forfeitures.
If any action shall be instituted or prosecuted directly or
indirectly by the grantee of any such grant, or by the stockholders
or creditors, to set aside or have declared void any of the terms
of any such grant, the whole of such grant may be thereupon
forfeited and annulled at the option of the city commission. All
such grants shall make provision for the declaration of a
forfeiture by the city commission for the violation by the
grantee of any of the terms thereof.
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Or 1922 4/19/79
Section 3B-12. Accounts and Reports.
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Every person or corporation operating a public utility
within the city limits, whether under a grant heretofore
or hereafter made and obtained, shall keep and maintain
at some place within the city suitable and complete books
of accounts showing in detail, the assets, financial
obligations, gross revenue, net profits, and all of the
operations of such utility which are usually shown by a
complete system of bookkeeping.
Each such person or corporation within ninety days
after the end of its fiscal year, when thereunto required
by the city commission, shall file with said commission a
report for the preceeding fiscal year, showing the gross
revenue, the net profits, expense of repairs, betterments
and additions, amount paid for salaries, amount paid for
interest and discount, and other expenses of operation,
and such other information as the city commission may
from time to time prescribe. If the city commission
shall prescribe the form for such reports, then the
same shall be made in the form from time to time
prescribed.
It shall be the duty of each such person or corporation
to furnish such supplementary or special information
about its affairs as the commission may demand, and said
commission or its authorized representatives shall at
any and all reasonable times have access to all the books,
records and papers of each and every such person or
corporation, with the privilege of taking copies of the same
or any part thereof. The duties herein prescribed may be
specifically enforced by appropriate legal proceedings; and,
in addition, each such person or corporation, for failure to
comply with the provisions of this section, shall be liable
to the City of Clearwater, in the sum of twenty-five dollars
($25. 00) per day for each day of such failure, to be recovered
in a civil action in the name of the city.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to any
utility extending in its operations to other communities
not property suburban to the City of Clearwater, but the
city commission may make the same or any part thereof,
applicable to the portion of such utility operated within the
limits of the City of Clearwater.
Section 3B-13. Grants not included.
Revocable permits for laying spur tracks across or
along streets, alleys, or public grounds, to connect a
railroad of any kind or nature with any other property in
need of switching facilities, shall not be regarded as a
grant within the meaning of this ordinance, but may be
permitted in accordance with the terms and conditions as
the city commission may prescribe.
Section 3B-14. General provisions.
Nothing in this ordinance contained shall operate in
any way, except as herein specifically stated, to limit the
city commission in the exercise of any of its lawful powers
respecting public utilities, or to prohibit the city com-
mission from imposing in any such grant such further „
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public interest, provided only that the same are not ?:_ •;,' . -? °ia?`r.
inconsistent with the provisions of this ordinance or the
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' constitution of this state, r°
t Section 323-15. Private special privileges.
.': The city commission may grant special privileges
or permits to persons, firms or corporations for the use
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of sidewalks, parkways, or public grounds, or any part
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thereof, but the same shall be revocable at the pleasure tau?,f?,,:',wa
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of the city commission. r
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Section Z. That Section 142 through Section 156, inclusive, of
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Chapter 9710, Special Acts of Florida, 1923, as amended by Chapter d 5 '
30659, Special Acts of Florida 1955; Chapter 67-1215 Special Acts of
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Florida, 1967; Chapter 69-975 Special Acts of Florida, 1969 and {
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Chapter 70-63Z, Special Acts of Florida, 1970, which have become an
ordinance pursuant to Section 10. 01 of Ordinance No, 1830, be and the
same are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Should any part or provision of this ordinance be
declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the same
shall not affect the validity of the ordinance as a whole, or any part
thereof other than the part declaredto be invalid.
Section =4. Notice of the proposed enactment of this ordinance has
been properly advertised in a newspaper of general circulation in accordance
with Section 166. 041, Florida Statutes.
Section S. This ordinance shall become effective immediately upon
its passage.
PASSED ON FIRST READING April 5, 1979
PASSED ON SECOND AND FINAL
READING AND ADOPTED April 19, 1979
AS AMENDED
Mayor-Commissioner
Attest:
City Clerk
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Ord.' 1912 4/19/79'.