24-18 Enact Sec. 131.03 Franchises to Reflect 3rd Amended Charter

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conducive to the public interest; and also the manner in which the streets and public grounds shall be used and occupied. Such grant or any amendment or re- newal thereof shall be for such period of time as Council may determine, but it shall not exceed a period of 25 years. (b) Renewals. Council may renew any grant for the construction or operation of any utility, at its expiration, upon such terms as may be conducive to the public interest. All such grants and renewals thereof may reserve to the City the right to purchase all the property of the utility in the streets and highways and elsewhere used in, or useful for, the operation of the utility, at a price either fixed by ordi- nance, or to be fixed in the manner provided by the ordinance making the grant or renewal of the grant. Nothing in such ordinance shall prevent the City from acquiring the property of any such utility by condemnation proceedings or in any other lawful mode; but all such methods of acquisition shall be alternative to the power to purchase, reserved in the grant or renewal as herembefore provid- ed. No ordinance making such purchase shall be valid unless it shall expressly provide therein that the price to be paid by the City for the property that may be acquired by it from such utility by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, shall exclude all value of such grant or renewal. 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. (c) Extension. Council may grant to any individual, company or corporation op- erating a public utility, the right to extend the appliances and service of such utility. All such extensions shall become a part of the aggregate property of the utility, and shall be subject to all the obligations and reserved rights applicable to the property of the utility by virtue of the ordinance providing for its construc- tion and operation. The right to use and maintain any such extension shall expire with the original grant of the utility to which the extension was made or any re- newal thereof. (d) Consents. No consent of the owner of property abutting on any highway or public ground shall be required by Council as a condition of its authority to au- thorize the construction, extension, maintenance or operation of any public utili- ty by original grant or renewal, (e) Regulations. All rights granted for the construction and operation of public utilities in the City shall be subject to both the additional, more specific regula- tions found within the Code and the continuing right of Council to require such reconstruction, relocation, change or discontinuance of the appliances used by the utility in the streets, alleys, avenues, and highways of the City, as shall in the opinion of Council be necessary in the public interest. In ordering any such re- construction, relocation, change or discontinuance Council shall provide for such alteration in the rates for service and in the terms upon which purchase is authorized to be made by the City, as shall be necessary or equitable to protect the owner of the utility against loss of property value. Section 2. It is found and determined that all formal actions of this Council concerning and relating to the passage of this ordinance were adopted in an open meeting of this Council and that all such deliberations of this Council and of any of its committees that resulted in such for- mal action were in meetings open to the public in compliance with all legal requirements. Section 3. This ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health, safety and welfare in the City