CHARTER
OF THE
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO

ARTICLE XI - FRANCHISES

SECTION 68.   GRANTS LIMITED.

No grant, or renewal thereof, to construct and operate a public utility in the streets and public grounds of the city shall be made by the city commission to any individual, company or corporation in violation of any of the limitations contained in this Charter.

SECTION 69.   PERIOD OF GRANTS.

No such grant shall be exclusive, nor shall it be made for a longer period than twenty (20) years. No such grant shall be renewed earlier than two (2) years prior to its expiration unless the city commission shall by vote of at least four (4) of its members first declare by ordinance its intention of considering a renewal thereof. All grants of the right 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 70.   ASSIGNMENT

No such grant shall be leased, assigned or otherwise alienated except with the express consent of the city commission.

SECTION 71.   RIGHT OF PURCHASE.

All such grants shall reserve to the city the right to purchase or lease all the property of the utility used in or useful for the operation of the utility, at a price either fixed in the ordinance making the grant, or to be fixed in the manner provided by such ordinance, which price shall in no event include any value for the grant. Nothing, in such ordinance, shall prevent the city from acquiring such property by condemnation proceedings or in any other lawful mode, which rights shall be in addition to those reserved in such ordinance. Upon the acquisition of such property by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, all grants shall at once terminate.

SECTION 72.   EXTENSION BY ANNEXATION.

It shall be provided in every such grant that upon the annexation of any territory to the city the portion of any such utility that may be located within such annexed territory and upon the streets, alleys or public grounds thereof, shall thereafter be subject to all the terms of the grant as though it were an extension made thereunder.

SECTION 73.   RIGHT OF REGULATION

All grants shall be subject to the right of the city, whether in terms reserved or not, to control at all times the distribution of space in, over, under or across all streets, alleys or public grounds occupied by public utility fixtures, and, when in the opinion of the city commission the public interest so requires, such fixtures may be caused to be reconstructed, 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 interest of the public health, safety or accomodation.

SECTION 74.   FORFEITURES.

If any action shall be instituted or prosecuted directly or indirectly by the grantee of any such grant, or by its 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 to be expressed by ordinance. 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.

SECTION 75.   ACCOUNTS AND REPORTS.

Every person or corporation operating a public utility within the city limits, whether under a grant heretofore or hereafter obtained, shall keep and maintain at some place within the city suitable and complete books of account, showing in detail the assets, financial obligation, gross revenue, net profits and all the opertions of such utility which are usually shown by a complete system of bookkeeping.

Each such person or corporation, within sixty (60) days after the end of each of its fiscal years, unelss the city commission shall extend the time, shall file with the city commission a report for the preceding fiscal year showing the gross revenue, the net profits, expenses or repairs, betterments and additions, amount paid for salaries, amount paid for interest and discount, other expenses or operation, and such other information, if any, as the city commission from time to time may prescribe. If the city commission shall prescribe the form for such reports, then such reports shall be made in the form from time to time prescribed by such commission.

It shall be the duty of each such person or corporation to furnish the city commission such supplementary or special information about its affairs as the commission may demand; and the commission, or its authorized representative, shall at any and all reasonable times have access to all books, records and papers of each and every such person or corporation, with privilege of taking copies of 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 Springfield, Ohio, in the sum of two hundred fifty dollars per day for ech [sic] day of such failure, to be recovered in a civil action in the name of the city.

The provisions of this section do not apply to any utility extending in its operations to other communities not properly suburban to The city of Springfield, Ohio; but the city commission by ordinance may make the same, or any part thereof, applicable to the portion of any such utility operated within the limits of the city.

SECTION 76.   GRANTS NOT INCLUDED.

Revocable permits for laying spur tracks across or along streets, alleys or public grounds, to connect a railroad with any property in need of switching facilities, shall not be regarded as a grant within the meaning of this Charter, but may be permitted in accordance with such terms and conditions as the city commission may by ordinance prescribe. Such revocable permits shall be in writing and filed with the clerk of the city commission.

SECTION 77.   GENERAL PROVISIONS.

Nothing in this Charter contained shall be operated 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 commission from imposing in any such grant such further restrictions and provisions as it may deem to be in the public interest, provided only that the same are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter or the constitution of the state.

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