§ 1.1. Corporate name and general powers

The inhabitants of the City of Vernon, in Wilbarger County, Texas, as its limits now are, or may hereafter be, shall be a body politic and corporate by and under the name and style of "The City of Vernon," and as such shall:

(1) Have perpetual succession; right of local self government;

(2) May use a seal;

(3) May sue and be sued;

(4) May acquire property in fee simple or lesser interest or estate by purchase, gift, devise, appropriation, lease or lease with privilege to purchase for any municipal purpose;

(5) May sell, lease, hold, manage and control such real, personal and mixed property, and make any and all rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution which may be required to carry out fully all the provisions of any conveyance, deed, or will, in relation to any gift or bequest, or the provisions of any lease by which it may acquire property;

(6) May acquire, construct, own, lease and operate and regulate public utilities, and impound, manufacture and otherwise acquire all such commodities and things as may be necessary or desirable for use or distribution in the operation of public utilities;

(7) May assess, levy and collect taxes for general and special purposes on all the subjects or objects which the city may lawfully tax, including the right to assess the franchise of any corporation using and occupying its streets or grounds separate from its tangible property;

(8) May borrow money on the faith and credit of the city by the issue or sale of bonds or notes of the city in the manner and of the amount permitted by the constitution of the state;

(9) May appropriate the money of the city for all lawful purposes;

(10) May create, provide for, construct, regulate and maintain all things of the nature of public works and improvements;

(11) May levy and collect assessments for local improvements, and create and fix liens therefor, and create and cause to be created improvement districts as now or shall be hereafter authorized by the laws of Texas, and may exercise all powers and shall have all rights in reference thereto that now or may hereafter be authorized and permitted by law;

(12) May license and regulate persons, corporations and associations engaged in any business, occupation, profession or trade, as well as all things and matters pertaining to sanitation or health;

(13) May define, prohibit, abate, suppress and prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals, comfort, safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the city and all nuisance and causes thereof;

(14) May levy and collect from those who keep or permit to be kept or maintained within the city anything whatever which may be or become productive of filth, disagreeable to the senses, or dangerous to health, such taxes as may be deemed reasonably necessary to prevent or correct the evils caused thereby;

(15) May establish a municipal court and prescribe its jurisdiction;

(16) May regulate the construction, height, and the material used in all buildings, and the maintenance and occupancy thereof;

(17) May regulate and control the platting and laying out and the use, for whatever purposes, of the streets and other public places;

(18) May create, establish, abolish and organize or combine offices and fix the salaries and compensations of all officers and employees;

(19) May make and enforce local police, sanitary and other regulations;

(20) And may pass such ordinances as may be expedient for maintaining and promoting the peace, good government, health and welfare of the city;

(21) And for the government and performance of the functions thereof, shall have all powers that now are, or may hereafter be granted to municipalities by the constitution or laws of Texas.

And all such powers, whether expressed or implied, shall be exercised and enforced in the manner prescribed by this Charter, or when not prescribe herein, in such manner as shall be provided by ordinances or resolutions of the commission.