CHAPTER 176
FORMERLY
HOUSE BILL NO. 547
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 174, VOLUME 23, LAWS OF DELAWARE ENTITLED "AN ACT TO RE-INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF TOWNSEND" AND RELATING TO THE POWER TO ADOPT AND ENFORCE TOWN ORDINANCES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (two-thirds of all members elected to each House concurring therein):
Section 1. Chapter 174, Volume 23, Laws of Delaware is amended by adding thereto the following new sections:
"Section 11. The Town shall have all the powers possible for a town to have under the Constitution and Laws of Delaware as fully and completely as though they were specifically enumerated in this section. The Town Commissioners are hereby vested with the authority to enact ordinances and adopt resolutions relating to any subject within the powers or functions of a town, or relating to the government of a town, its peace and order, its sanitation, beauty, health, safety, convenience and comfort of its population, and the protection and preservation of property, and to fix, impose, and enforce payment of fines and penalties for the violation of such ordinances or resolutions, and no provision of this Chapter as to ordinances or resolutions on any particular subject shall be held to be restrictive whether specifically enumerated or not.
The Town may exercise any of its powers or perform any of its functions and may participate in the financing thereof, jointly or in cooperation, by contract or otherwise with any one or more states or civil divisions or agencies thereof, including the government of New Castle County, or the United States or any agency thereof.
It shall be the duty of the Town Commissioners at a reasonable time or times, to compile the ordinances, codes, orders and rules of the Town Commissioners. The Town Commissioners shall have a reasonable number of copies printed for the use of the officials of the Town and for
public information. From time to time, upon the enactment of new ordinances, codes, rules and regulations, or upon the enactment of amendments to the same, the Clerk of the Town Commissioners shall enroll the same in the journal of the Town Commissioners and shall keep copies of the same in a book to be provided for that purpose so that the same may be readily examined.
Section 12. (a) The Justice of the Peace sitting (whether regularly, specially or otherwise) in the Justice of the Peace Court located nearest to the Town or the Town Alderman, if one be established, or both shall have jurisdiction and cognizance of all offenses under the provisions of this Chapter or under the authorized ordinances of the Town committed within the limits of the Town and may release on bail or fine or imprison offenders; provided that he shall impose no fine or penalty in excess of that fixed by an ordinance and shall not commit to prison for a longer term than 30 days. Any Delaware correctional institution may be used for imprisonment.
(b) No ordinance of the Town shall provide for a fine in excess of $200 or imprisonment of more than 30 days.
(c) Any person convicted before the Justice of the Peace or Alderman for the violation of any Town ordinance may appeal from such conviction to the Superior Court in and for New Castle County upon giving bond to the State with or without surety, such as the Justice of the Peace or Alderman shall determine, binding the person taking the appeal before the Court. Notice of such an appeal shall be given to such Justice of the Peace or Alderman within five days from the time of conviction, counting the day of conviction as one, and the bond with surety, if any shall be filed within five days. No bond upon appeal from a conviction for violation of a Town ordinance shall exceed the sum of $200. Such appeal shall be prosecuted and the proceedings shall be had as in an appeal from a conviction before a Justice of the Peace in the case of a violation of State laws relating to the operation of motor vehicles.
Section 13. The Town Commissioners may appoint a police force consisting of such person or persons as the Town Commissioners may deem wise and advisable. The Town Commissioners shall from time to time adopt rules and regulations as may be necessary for the organization, government and control of the police force. The members of the force shall be subject to the direction of the Town Commissioners and may be removed by the Town Commissioners at any time. They shall preserve peace and order and shall compel obedience within the Town limits to the ordinances of the Town and the laws of the State; and they shall have such other duties as the Town Commissioners shall from time to time prescribe.
Each member of the police force shall be vested with all powers and authority of a constable of New Castle County within the Town limits and within one mile outside such limits, and in the case of the pursuit of an offender, his power and authority shall extend to all parts of the State of Delaware.