Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 7. LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 3. ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Part 43. Municipal Commission-Manager Government

Powers Of Municipalities Under Commission-Manager Plan

7-3-4313. Powers of municipalities under commission-manager plan. (1) The inhabitants of any municipality coming under the provisions of this part and part 44, as its limits now are or may hereafter be, shall be a body politic and corporate and have a corporate name and as such shall have perpetual succession and may use a corporate seal. Through its duly elected officers, it may sue and be sued; may acquire property in fee simple or lesser interest or estate by purchase, gift, devise, appropriation, lease, or lease with the privilege to purchase for any municipal purpose; may sell, lease, hold, manage, and control such property and make any and all rules, by ordinance or resolution, which may be required to carry out fully all 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; may acquire, construct, own, lease, and operate and regulate public utilities; may assess, levy, and collect taxes for general and special purposes on all the subjects or objects which the municipality may lawfully tax; may borrow money on the faith and credit of the municipality by the issue or sale of bonds or notes of the municipality; may appropriate money of the municipality for all lawful purposes; may create, provide for, construct, regulate and maintain all things of nature of public works and improvements; may levy and collect assessments for improvement districts and other local improvements; may license and regulate persons, corporations, and associations engaged in any business, occupation, profession, or trade; may define, prohibit, abate, suppress, and prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals, comfort, safety, convenience, and welfare of the inhabitants of the municipality and all nuisances and the causes thereof; may regulate the construction, height, and the material used in all buildings and the maintenance and occupancy thereof; may regulate and control the use, for whatever purpose, of the streets and other public places; may create, establish, abolish, and organize offices and fix the salaries and compensation of all officers and employees; may make and enforce local sanitary and police and other regulations; and may pass such ordinances as may be expedient for maintaining and promoting peace, good government, and welfare of the municipality and for the performance of the functions thereof.

(2) The municipality shall have all powers that now are or hereafter may be granted to municipalities by the constitution or laws of Montana. All such powers, whether expressed or implied, shall be exercised and enforced in the manner prescribed by this part and part 44 or, when not prescribed therein, in such manner as shall be prescribed by the ordinances or resolutions of the commission.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 152, L. 1917; re-en. Sec. 5409, R.C.M. 1921; re-en. Sec. 5409, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 11-3210.