NE Code § 14-102 (2021)
2021 Nebraska Revised Statutes|Chapter 14 - Cities of the Metropolitan Class|14-102 - Additional powers.

14-102.  Additional powers.In addition to the powers granted in section 14-101, cities of the metropolitan class shall have power by ordinance:Taxes, special assessments.(1) To levy any tax or special assessment authorized by law;Corporate seal.(2) To provide a corporate seal for the use of the city, and also any official seal for the use of any officer, board, or agent of the city, whose duties require an official seal to be used. Such corporate seal shall be used in the execution of municipal bonds, warrants, conveyances, and other instruments and proceedings as required by law;Regulation of public health.(3) To provide all needful rules and regulations for the protection and preservation of health within the city; and for this purpose they may provide for the enforcement of the use of water from public water supplies when the use of water from other sources shall be deemed unsafe;Appropriations for debts and expenses.(4) To appropriate money and provide for the payment of debts and expenses of the city;Protection of strangers and travelers.(5) To adopt all such measures as they may deem necessary for the accommodation and protection of strangers and the traveling public in person and property;Concealed weapons, firearms, fireworks, explosives.(6) To punish and prevent the carrying of concealed weapons, except the carrying of a concealed handgun in compliance with the Concealed Handgun Permit Act, and the discharge of firearms, fireworks, or explosives of any description within the city, other than the discharge of firearms at a shooting range pursuant to the Nebraska Shooting Range Protection Act;Sale of foodstuffs.(7) To regulate the inspection and sale of meats, flour, poultry, fish, milk, vegetables, and all other provisions or articles of food exposed or offered for sale in the city;Official bonds.(8) To require all officers or servants elected or appointed to give bond and security for the faithful performance of their duties; but no officer shall become security upon the official bond of another or upon any bond executed to the city;Official reports of city officers.(9) To require from any officer of the city at any time a report, in detail, of the transactions of his or her office or any matter connected therewith;Cruelty to children and animals.(10) To provide for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals;Dogs; taxes and restrictions.(11) To regulate, license, or prohibit the running at large of dogs and other animals within the city as well as in areas within three miles of the corporate limits of the city, to guard against injuries or annoyance from such dogs and other animals, and to authorize the destruction of the dogs and other animals when running at large contrary to the provisions of any ordinance. Any licensing provision shall comply with subsection (2) of section 54-603 for service animals;Cleaning sidewalks.(12) To provide for keeping sidewalks clean and free from obstructions and accumulations, to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes on real estate and for the sale and conveyance thereof, and to pay the expenses of keeping the sidewalk adjacent to such real estate clean and free from obstructions and accumulations as herein provided;Planting and trimming of trees; protection of birds.(13) To provide for the planting and protection of shade or ornamental and useful trees upon the streets or boulevards, to assess the cost thereof to the extent of benefits upon the abutting property as a special assessment, and to provide for the protection of birds and animals and their nests; to provide for the trimming of trees located upon the streets and boulevards or when the branches of trees overhang the streets and boulevards when in the judgment of the mayor and council such trimming is made necessary to properly light such street or boulevard or to furnish proper police protection and to assess the cost thereof upon the abutting property as a special assessment;Naming and numbering streets and houses.(14) To provide for, regulate, and require the numbering or renumbering of houses along public streets or avenues; to care for and control and to name and rename streets, avenues, parks, and squares within the city;Weeds.(15) To require weeds and worthless vegetation growing upon any lot or piece of ground within the city or its three-mile zoning jurisdiction to be cut and destroyed so as to abate any nuisance occasioned thereby, to prohibit and control the throwing, depositing, or accumulation of litter on any lot or piece of ground within the city or its three-mile zoning jurisdiction and to require the removal thereof so as to abate any nuisance occasioned thereby, and if the owner fails to cut and destroy weeds and worthless vegetation or remove litter, or both, after notice as required by ordinance, to assess the cost thereof upon the lots or lands as a special assessment. The notice required to be given may be by publication in the official newspaper of the city and may be directed in general terms to the owners of lots and lands affected without naming such owners;Animals running at large.(16) To prohibit and regulate the running at large or the herding or driving of domestic animals, such as hogs, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, fowls, or animals of any kind or description within the corporate limits and provide for the impounding of all animals running at large, herded, or driven contrary to such prohibition; and to provide for the forfeiture and sale of animals impounded to pay the expense of taking up, caring for, and selling such impounded animals, including the cost of advertising and fees of officers;Use of streets.(17) To regulate the transportation of articles through the streets, to prevent injuries to the streets from overloaded vehicles, and to regulate the width of wagon tires and tires of other vehicles;Playing on streets and sidewalks.(18) To prevent or regulate the rolling of hoops, playing of ball, flying of kites, the riding of bicycles or tricycles, or any other amusement or practice having a tendency to annoy persons passing in the streets or on the sidewalks or to frighten teams or horses; to regulate the use of vehicles propelled by steam, gas, electricity, or other motive power, operated on the streets of the city;Combustibles and explosives.(19) To regulate or prohibit the transportation and keeping of gunpowder, oils, and other combustible and explosive articles;Public sale of chattels on streets.(20) To regulate, license, or prohibit the sale of domestic animals or of goods, wares, and merchandise at public auction on the streets, alleys, highways, or any public ground within the city;Signs and obstruction in streets.(21) To regulate and prevent the use of streets, sidewalks, and public grounds for signs, posts, awnings, awning posts, scales, or other like purposes; to regulate and prohibit the exhibition or carrying or conveying of banners, placards, advertisements, or the distribution or posting of advertisements or handbills in the streets or public grounds or upon the sidewalks;Disorderly conduct.(22) To provide for the punishment of persons disturbing the peace and good order of the city by clamor and noise, intoxication, drunkenness, fighting, or using obscene or profane language in the streets or other public places or otherwise violating the public peace by indecent or disorderly conduct or by lewd and lascivious behavior;Vagrants and tramps.(23) To provide for the punishment of vagrants, tramps, common street beggars, common prostitutes, habitual disturbers of the peace, pickpockets, gamblers, burglars, thieves, or persons who practice any game, trick, or device with intent to swindle, persons who abuse their families, and suspicious persons who can give no reasonable account of themselves; and to punish trespassers upon private property;Disorderly houses, gambling, offenses against public morals.(24) To prohibit, restrain, and suppress tippling shops, houses of prostitution, opium joints, gambling houses, prize fighting, dog fighting, cock fighting, and other disorderly houses and practices, all games and gambling and desecration of the Sabbath, commonly called Sunday, and all kinds of indecencies; to regulate and license or prohibit the keeping and use of billiard tables, ten pins or ball alleys, shooting galleries except as provided in the Nebraska Shooting Range Protection Act, and other similar places of amusement; and to prohibit and suppress all lotteries and gift enterprises of all kinds under whatsoever name carried on, except that nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to apply to bingo, lotteries, lotteries by the sale of pickle cards, or raffles conducted in accordance with the Nebraska Bingo Act, the Nebraska Lottery and Raffle Act, the Nebraska Pickle Card Lottery Act, the Nebraska Small Lottery and Raffle Act, or the State Lottery Act;Police regulation in general.(25) To make and enforce all police regulations for the good government, general welfare, health, safety, and security of the city and the citizens thereof in addition to the police powers expressly granted herein; and in the exercise of the police power, to pass all needful and proper ordinances and impose fines, forfeitures, penalties, and imprisonment at hard labor for the violation of any ordinance, and to provide for the recovery, collection, and enforcement thereof; and in default of payment to provide for confinement in the city or county prison, workhouse, or other place of confinement with or without hard labor as may be provided by ordinance;Fast driving on streets.(26) To prevent horseracing and immoderate driving or riding on the street and to compel persons to fasten their horses or other animals attached to vehicles while standing in the streets;Libraries, art galleries, and museums.(27) To establish and maintain public libraries, reading rooms, art galleries, and museums and to provide the necessary grounds or buildings therefor; to purchase books, papers, maps, manuscripts, works of art, and objects of natural or of scientific curiosity, and instruction therefor; to receive donations and bequests of money or property for the same in trust or otherwise and to pass necessary bylaws and regulations for the protection and government of the same;Hospitals, workhouses, jails, firehouses, etc.; garbage disposal.(28) To erect, designate, establish, maintain, and regulate hospitals or workhouses, houses of correction, jails, station houses, fire engine houses, asphalt repair plants, and other necessary buildings; and to erect, designate, establish, maintain, and regulate plants for the removal, disposal, or recycling of garbage and refuse or to make contracts for garbage and refuse removal, disposal, or recycling, or all of the same, and to charge equitable fees for such removal, disposal, or recycling, or all of the same, except as hereinafter provided. The fees collected pursuant to this subdivision shall be credited to a single fund to be used exclusively by the city for the removal, disposal, or recycling of garbage and refuse, or all of the same, including any costs incurred for collecting the fee. Before any contract for such removal, disposal, or recycling is let, the city council shall make specifications therefor, bids shall be advertised for as now provided by law, and the contract shall be let to the lowest and best bidder, who shall furnish bond to the city conditioned upon his or her carrying out the terms of the contract, the bond to be approved by the city council. Nothing in this section, and no contract or regulation made by the city council, shall be so construed as to prohibit any person, firm, or corporation engaged in any business in which garbage or refuse accumulates as a byproduct from selling, recycling, or otherwise disposing of his, her, or its garbage or refuse or hauling such garbage or refuse through the streets and alleys under such uniform and reasonable regulations as the city council may by ordinance prescribe for the removal and hauling of garbage or refuse;Market places.(29) To erect and establish market houses and market places and to provide for the erection of all other useful and necessary buildings for the use of the city and for the protection and safety of all property owned by the city; and such market houses and market places and buildings aforesaid may be located on any street, alley, or public ground or on land purchased for such purpose;Cemeteries, registers of births and deaths.(30) To prohibit the establishment of additional cemeteries within the limits of the city, to regulate the registration of births and deaths, to direct the keeping and returning of bills of mortality, and to impose penalties on physicians, sextons, and others for any default in the premises;Plumbing, etc., inspection.(31) To provide for the inspection of steam boilers, electric light appliances, pipefittings, and plumbings, to regulate their erection and construction, to appoint inspectors, and to declare their powers and duties, except as herein otherwise provided;Fire limits and fire protection.(32) To prescribe fire limits and regulate the erection of all buildings and other structures within the corporate limits; to provide for the removal of any buildings or structures or additions thereto erected contrary to such regulations, to provide for the removal of dangerous buildings, and to provide that wooden buildings shall not be erected or placed or repaired in the fire limits; but such ordinance shall not be suspended or modified by resolution nor shall exceptions be made by ordinance or resolution in favor of any person, firm, or corporation or concerning any particular lot or building; to direct that all and any building within such fire limits, when the same shall have been damaged by fire, decay, or otherwise, to the extent of fifty percent of the value of a similar new building above the foundation, shall be torn down or removed; and to prescribe the manner of ascertaining such damages and to assess the cost of removal of any building erected or existing contrary to such regulations or provisions, against the lot or real estate upon which such building or structure is located or shall be erected, or to collect such costs from the owner of any such building or structure and enforce such collection by civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction;Building regulations.(33) To regulate the construction, use, and maintenance of party walls, to prescribe and regulate the thickness, strength, and manner of constructing stone, brick, wood, or other buildings and the size and shape of brick and other material placed therein, to prescribe and regulate the construction and arrangement of fire escapes and the placing of iron and metallic shutters and doors therein and thereon, and to provide for the inspection of elevators and hoist-way openings to avoid accidents; to prescribe, regulate, and provide for the inspection of all plumbing, pipefitting, or sewer connections in all houses or buildings now or hereafter erected; to regulate the size, number, and manner of construction of halls, doors, stairways, seats, aisles, and passageways of theaters, tenement houses, audience rooms, and all buildings of a public character, whether now built or hereafter to be built, so that there may be convenient, safe, and speedy exit in case of fire; to prevent the dangerous construction and condition of chimneys, fireplaces, hearths, stoves, stovepipes, ovens, boilers, and heating appliances used in or about any building or a manufactory and to cause the same to be removed or placed in safe condition when they are considered dangerous; to regulate and prevent the carrying on of manufactures dangerous in causing and promoting fires; to prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places and to cause such buildings and enclosures as may be in a dangerous state to be put in a safe condition; to prevent the disposing of and delivery or use in any building or other structure, of soft, shelly, or imperfectly burned brick or other unsuitable building material within the city limits and provide for the inspection of the same; to provide for the abatement of dense volumes of smoke; to regulate the construction of areaways, stairways, and vaults and to regulate partition fences; to enforce proper heating and ventilation of buildings used for schools, workhouses, or shops of every class in which labor is employed or large numbers of persons are liable to congregate;Warehouses and street railways.(34) To regulate levees, depots and depot grounds, and places for storing freight and goods and to provide for and regulate the laying of tracks and the passage of steam or other railways through the streets, alleys, and public grounds of the city;Lighting railroad property.(35) To require the lighting of any railway within the city, the cars of which are propelled by steam, and to fix and determine the number, size, and style of lampposts, burners, lamps, and all other fixtures and apparatus necessary for such lighting and the points of location for such lampposts; and in case any company owning or operating such railways shall fail to comply with such requirements, the council may cause the same to be done and may assess the expense thereof against such company, and the same shall constitute a lien upon any real estate belonging to such company and lying within such city and may be collected in the same manner as taxes for general purposes;City publicity.(36) To provide for necessary publicity and to appropriate money for the purpose of advertising the resources and advantages of the city;Offstreet parking.(37) To erect, establish, and maintain offstreet parking areas on publicly owned property located beneath any elevated segment of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways or portion thereof, or public property title to which is in the city on May 12, 1971, or property owned by the city and used in conjunction with and incidental to city-operated facilities, and to regulate parking thereon by time limitation devises or by lease;Public passenger transportation systems.(38) To acquire, by the exercise of the power of eminent domain or otherwise, lease, purchase, construct, own, maintain, operate, or contract for the operation of public passenger transportation systems, excluding taxicabs and railroad systems, including all property and facilities required therefor, within and without the limits of the city, to redeem such property from prior encumbrance in order to protect or preserve the interest of the city therein, to exercise all powers granted by the Constitution of Nebraska and laws of the State of Nebraska or exercised by or pursuant to a home rule charter adopted pursuant thereto, including, but not limited to, receiving and accepting from the government of the United States or any agency thereof, from the State of Nebraska or any subdivision thereof, and from any person or corporation donations, devises, gifts, bequests, loans, or grants for or in aid of the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of such public passenger transportation systems and to administer, hold, use, and apply the same for the purposes for which such donations, devises, gifts, bequests, loans, or grants may have been made, to negotiate with employees and enter into contracts of employment, to employ by contract or otherwise individuals singularly or collectively, to enter into agreements authorized under the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the Joint Public Agency Act, to contract with an operating and management company for the purpose of operating, servicing, and maintaining any public passenger transportation systems any city of the metropolitan class shall acquire, and to exercise such other and further powers as may be necessary, incident, or appropriate to the powers of such city; andRegulation of air quality.(39) In addition to powers conferred elsewhere in the laws of the state and notwithstanding any other law of the state, to implement and enforce an air pollution control program within the corporate limits of the city under subdivision (23) of section 81-1504 or subsection (1) of section 81-1528, which program shall be consistent with the federal Clean Air Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. Such powers shall include without limitation those involving injunctive relief, civil penalties, criminal fines, and burden of proof. Nothing in this section shall preclude the control of air pollution by resolution, ordinance, or regulation not in actual conflict with the state air pollution control regulations.Source   Laws 1921, c. 116, art. I, § 2, p. 398;   C.S.1922, § 3489;   C.S.1929, § 14-102;   R.S.1943, § 14-102;   Laws 1963, c. 314, § 1, p. 945;   Laws 1971, LB 237, § 1;   Laws 1972, LB 1274, § 1;   Laws 1974, LB 768, § 1;   Laws 1981, LB 501, § 1;   Laws 1986, LB 1027, § 186;   Laws 1991, LB 356, § 1;   Laws 1991, LB 849, § 59;   Laws 1992, LB 1257, § 63;   Laws 1993, LB 138, § 61;   Laws 1993, LB 623, § 1;   Laws 1997, LB 814, § 2;  Laws 1999, LB 87, § 59;  Laws 2008, LB806, § 1;  Laws 2009, LB430, § 1;  Laws 2009, LB503, § 11;  Laws 2015, LB266, § 1.  Cross References   Concealed Handgun Permit Act, see section 69-2427.  Interlocal Cooperation Act, see section 13-801.  Joint Public Agency Act, see section 13-2501.  Nebraska Bingo Act, see section 9-201.  Nebraska Lottery and Raffle Act, see section 9-401.  Nebraska Pickle Card Lottery Act, see section 9-301.  Nebraska Shooting Range Protection Act, see section 37-1301.  Nebraska Small Lottery and Raffle Act, see section 9-501.  State Lottery Act, see section 9-801. Annotations  1. Use of streets 2. Health and safety 3. Occupations 4. Miscellaneous 1. Use of streets This section does not deprive the State Railway Commission of jurisdiction over the regulation of taxicabs in a metropolitan city. In re Yellow Cab & Baggage Company, 126 Neb. 138, 253 N.W. 80 (1934). A metropolitan city may impose a tax for use of streets upon a "rolling store" as a means of regulating transportation through its streets. Erwin v. City of Omaha, 118 Neb. 331, 224 N.W. 692 (1929). City has authority to regulate the use of autobuses upon its streets. Omaha & C. B. Street Ry. Co. v. City of Omaha, 114 Neb. 483, 208 N.W. 123 (1926). City cannot authorize construction in a public street of a canopy that deprives abutting property owner of light, air or view. World Realty Co. v. City of Omaha, 113 Neb. 396, 203 N.W. 574 (1925). City may regulate housemoving upon its streets, and can compel street railway to pay expense of removal of wires so houses can be moved. State ex rel. Barnum v. Omaha & C. B. Street Ry. Co., 100 Neb. 716, 161 N.W. 170 (1916). An ordinance prohibiting distribution of dodgers, handbills or circulars upon streets, alleys or sidewalks or public grounds of the city does not violate state Constitution. In re Anderson, 69 Neb. 686, 96 N.W. 149 (1903). City could not prohibit transportation of munitions by interstate motor carrier. Watson Bros. Transp. Co. v. City of Omaha, 132 F. Supp. 6 (D. Neb. 1955). 2. Health and safety City is authorized to provide for detention of persons infected with communicable venereal disease. Brown v. Manning, 103 Neb. 540, 172 N.W. 522 (1919). City cannot arbitrarily classify ashes, manure, or other rubbish having some value as garbage, and grant an exclusive contract for removal. Iler v. Ross, 64 Neb. 710, 90 N.W. 869 (1902). Authority is conferred to license and regulate the production and sale of milk within the corporate limits, and a reasonable license fee may be exacted. Littlefield v. State, 42 Neb. 223, 60 N.W. 724 (1894). City can make exclusive contract with party for removing garbage and other noxious and unwholesome matter amounting to nuisances. Smiley v. MacDonald, 42 Neb. 5, 60 N.W. 355 (1894). 3. Occupations Metropolitan city was authorized to enact ordinance prohibiting sale or exchange of motor vehicles and keeping open a place of business for that purpose on Sunday. Stewart Motor Co. v. City of Omaha, 120 Neb. 776, 235 N.W. 332 (1931). City ordinance requiring closing grocery and meat markets on Sunday is valid. State v. Somberg, 113 Neb. 761, 204 N.W. 788 (1925). 4. Miscellaneous Under section 14-101 and this section, a city of the metropolitan class has the power to provide firefighting services to an airport authority. Professional Firefighters of Omaha v. City of Omaha, 243 Neb. 166, 498 N.W.2d 325 (1993). Public officials of cities of the metropolitan class are vested with the power to provide for keeping sidewalks clean and free from obstructions and accumulation. Hartford v. Womens Services, P.C., 239 Neb. 540, 477 N.W.2d 161 (1991). Under subsection (25) of this section, zoning ordinances enacted by a city, as a lawful exercise of police power, must be consistent with public health, safety, morals, and the general welfare. Giger v. City of Omaha, 232 Neb. 676, 442 N.W.2d 182 (1989). Ordinance regulating advertising signs held not unreasonable or discriminatory. Schaffer v. City of Omaha, 197 Neb. 328, 248 N.W.2d 764 (1977). This section discussed in connection with expenditure of municipal or county funds, for public purpose, through private agency. Chase v. County of Douglas, 195 Neb. 838, 241 N.W.2d 334 (1976). City empowered hereunder to require bonds of police officers, and recovery may be had thereon by persons injured as result of negligent acts of policeman in discharge of municipal duties, although bond runs to city as obligee. Curnyn v. Kinney, 119 Neb. 478, 229 N.W. 894 (1930). Mayor and city council are given ample power to make and enforce regulations for the good government, general welfare, health, safety, and security of the city and citizens thereof. State ex rel. Thompson v. Donahue, 91 Neb. 311, 135 N.W. 1030 (1912). Metropolitan city may enact ordinance forbidding construction of brick kilns within city. State ex rel. Krittenbrink v. Withnell, 91 Neb. 101, 135 N.W. 376 (1912), 40 L.R.A.N.S. 898 (1912). City is not liable in negligence action on account of original construction of viaduct where plan designed by competent engineers was carried out. Watters v. City of Omaha, 86 Neb. 722, 126 N.W. 308 (1910); Watters v. City of Omaha, 76 Neb. 855, 107 N.W. 1007 (1906), affirmed on rehearing, 76 Neb. 859, 110 N.W. 981 (1907). Power to establish fire-engine houses, under this section, together with section conferring power to issue bonds for construction and purchase of needful buildings for use of the city, conferred authority upon metropolitan city to issue bonds to pay cost of construction of fire-engine houses. Linn v. City of Omaha, 76 Neb. 552, 107 N.W. 983 (1906). Unless reasonable notice is given to owner to perform work, all proceedings and assessments by city are void. Shannon v. City of Omaha, 72 Neb. 281, 100 N.W. 298 (1904); Albers v. City of Omaha, 56 Neb. 357, 76 N.W. 911 (1898). City was not liable for acts of building inspector. Murray v. City of Omaha, 66 Neb. 279, 92 N.W. 299 (1902). Charter granting power to impound animals running at large is not in conflict with state herd law which is not applicable to cultivated lands within limits of cities. Lingonner v. Ambler, 44 Neb. 316, 62 N.W. 486 (1895).