FRANCHISES To provide for the sale of street railway franchises in towns, sections 2121-2128. Concerning the granting of franchises by boards of county commissioners, sections 2129 2141. See, also, Corporations, secs. 1261-1264. An Act to provide for the sale of street railway franchises in the towns of this state, and matters properly relating thereto. 2121. Street railway franchises. 2122. Proposals to be advertised. 2123. Proceeds of sale of. 2124. Proviso. Approved March 19, 1901, 79 2121. Street railway franchises. 2125. Streets to be kept in good repair. 2127. Cost of advertising-How paid. SECTION 1. The county commissioners, town trustees, aldermen, supervisors or other authorities directly entrusted with the management of affairs of any town or city in this state, shall be and hereby are authorized to sell to the highest responsible bidder any street railway franchise through and over any street or streets of such town, according to the provisions of section 2 of this act. 2122. Proposals to be advertised. SEC. 2. Whenever any person, persons, association, company or corporation shall apply to the proper authorities of any town in this state, for a franchise to construct and operate a street railway within the limits of such town, then the said authorities, whether a board of aldermen, town trustees, county commissioners or supervisors, shall advertise in full the proposed franchise, offering the same for sale to the highest responsible bidder. The advertisement of said franchise shall be published for a period of not less than ninety days, and no privilege shall be conveyed or granted by the said town authorities to any successful bidder, unless the same privilege shall have appeared in full in the advertisement for bids, as an essential part thereof. Beside the essential and all features of the proposed franchise, said advertisement shall contain a statement naming the day upon which all bids for said franchise will be opened, and shall state in detail and specifically the street or streets over and through which the proposed street railway is to run, so that the entire course and extent thereof shall be clearly shown; and no franchise shall be given or issued which has not been so specifically and fully described and advertised. 2123. Proceeds of sale of. SEC. 3. The entire proceeds of the sale of such franchise as may be sold, in accordance with the provisions of this act, shall be devoted to and expended for the purpose of improving and paving the streets of said town. 2124. Proviso. SEC. 4. No franchise granted according to the provisions of this act shall be construed so as to in any way interfere with the ordinary and necessary procedure of the town authorities in establishing or conducting any of the essential features of town improvement or the maintenance of sewers, water and gas pipes, cross walks, paving or other public convenience. 2125. Streets to be kept in good repair. SEC. 5. Every purchaser of a franchise, according to the provisions of this act, and every person, persons, company, association or corporation, oper ating the street railway under said franchise, shall maintain and keep in repair, equally as good as the adjoining portions of the street, immediately surrounding or including said track, that portion of the street included between the rails of said track and also for a distance of two feet outside of said track, on each side thereof. 2126. To furnish bond. SEC. 6. Every person, persons, company, association or corporation, purchasing a franchise under the provisions of this act, shall furnish a good and sufficient bond to faithfully carry out the provisions under which the franchise is purchased. 2127. Cost of advertising, how paid. SEC. 7. The cost of advertising according to the provisions of this act shall be paid by the successful bidder, but the first applicant for the franchise must deposit with the proper town officials a sum sufficient to pay the cost of advertising as herein provided, and any other necessary incidental expense, which sum so deposited shall be returned to the first applicant in case some other bidder is successful and gets the franchise. 2128. Duration of franchise. SEC. 8. No franchise shall be given under the provisions of this act for a period longer than twenty years. An Act concerning the granting of franchises by boards of county commissioners, prescribing the terms under which said franchises shall be granted, and repealing certain acts pertaining thereto, and allowing corporations, associations and persons having franchises obtained under other laws of this state to obtain the benefits of this act, and providing for other matters properly connected therewith. Approved March 23, 1909, 207 2129. Certain franchises, when granted. 2130. Mode of application for-Duration. 2131. Petition-Advertisement. 2132. Objections, how heard. 2133. Petition, when granted. 2134. Guarantee required. 2135. Portion of profits to school fund. 2138. Eminent domain. 2139. Other acts also govern. 2140. Certain acts repealed--Proviso. 2129. Certain franchises, when granted. SECTION 1. The board of county commissioners of any county in this state is hereby authorized and empowered to grant to any person, company, corporation, or association the franchise, right, and privilege to construct, install, operate, and maintain street railways, electric light, heat, and power lines, gas and water mains, telephone and telegraph lines, and all necessary or proper appliances used in connection therewith or appurtenant thereto, in the streets, alleys, avenues, and other places in any unincorporated town or city in such county, and along the public roads and highways of such county, when the applicant therefor shall comply with the terms and provisions of this act. 2130. Mode of application for-Duration. SEC. 2. Any person, company, corporation or association desiring such franchise, right or privilege for any purpose specified in section 1 of this act shall file with the board of county commissioners of the county wherein such franchise, right or privilege is to be exercised, an application in writing which shall contain and set forth: First, the name of the applicant and the time for which said franchise, right or privilege is desired, not exceeding twenty-five years. Second, the places where such franchise, right or privilege is to be exercised, and, if in any unincorporated town or city, the streets, avenues, alleys and other places through, over, under or along which such franchise, right or privilege is sought. Third, if such application shall be for a street railway, it shall contain a designation of the route of the proposed line in any such county, and shall specify the width of ground desired to be included in its right of way. Fourth, a map or plat correctly showing and delineating, so far as practicable, the proposed route, or right of way of any such street railway, light, heat or power, telegraph or telephone lines, and the places where such gas or water mains shall be laid or installed. 2131. Petition-Advertisement. SEC. 3. An applicant shall also file with such application and as a part thereof, if such franchise, right or privilege is to be exercised within any unincorporated town or city in such county, a petition in writing, signed by a majority of the resident taxpayers of such unincorporated town or city. Said taxpayers must be residents and owners of real estate situated in said county, and paying taxes upon said real estate; provided, that if such street railway, electric light, heat, and power lines, gas, and water mains, telegraph and telephone lines shall not pass through any unincorporated town, or city, no petition need be filed with the said application for the franchise. Upon receipt of such application for such franchise, right or privilege, accompanied by a deposit sufficient in amount to cover the cost of publication, to be fixed by said board of county commissioners, it shall be the duty of such board to cause such application to be published once a week for four consecutive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation, published in such county nearest the place where such application shall take effect, if such there be, and if not, then such application shall be posted for a like period by the county clerk of such county in three public places therein, together with a notice specifying a day not later than ten days after the completion of such publication, or, at the next regular meeting of such board after the completion of such period of publication, when objections to the granting of such franchise, right or privilege as applied for, shall be heard. 2132. Objections, how heard. SEC. 4. On the day specified in such notice for the hearing thereof, or at the next regular meeting of such board thereafter, all objections to the granting of such franchise shall be presented to said board of county commissioners. The board shall proceed at once with the consideration of the application, but may adjourn the hearing from time to time, not exceeding in all thirty (30) days, until a final decision is reached. 2133. Petition, when granted. SEC. 5. If upon full consideration of all the facts the board of county commissioners determine that a majority of the resident taxpayers, as hereinbefore provided, have signed said petition and desire said franchise allowed. they shall fix the terms and prescribe the conditions under which said franchise is to be granted, the character or kinds of service to be rendered, the maximum rates to be charged for the service, and such other matters properly connected therewith; and shall thereupon grant such franchise subject to said terms and conditions. 2134. Guarantee required. SEC. 6. The county commissioners at the time of granting any such authority, franchise and right of way, shall require the applicant to enter into an undertaking to the county in a sum to be determined by the board of county commissioners, with surety or sureties approved by such board, conditioned that such applicant shall commence active construction of such telephone, telegraph, light, heat or power lines, the laying of gas or water mains, or such street-car system, for which such franchise, right or privilege is granted, within sixty days from the date of the granting of such franchise, right or privilege, and prosecute the construction thereof to completion with due diligence; failing to comply with the conditions of such undertaking to pay into the treasury of the county to which such undertaking is given the sum of money mentioned therein and forfeit all rights to such franchise, right or privilege. 2135. Certain portion of profits to school fund. SEC. 7. Every applicant for a franchise for any of the purposes mentioned in section 1 of this act, shall, within ten days after such franchise is granted, file with the county recorder of such county an agreement properly executed by the grantee of such franchise, right or privilege to pay annually on the first Monday of July of each year to the county treasurer of the county wherein such franchise, right or privilege is to be exercised, for the benefit of the school fund of such county, two per cent of the net profits made by such grantee in the operation of any public utility for which such franchise is granted, and no power, function, right or privilege shall be exercised until such agreement shall be filed. 2136. Grantee to submit statement. SEC. 8. The grantee of any franchise, right or privilege secured under the terms and provisions of this act shall file annually, on or before the first Monday of March in each year, with the assessor of the county wherein it is engaged in business, under such franchise, right or privilege, an affidavit made by its president and secretary setting forth the gross receipts and expenses for the preceding year, and the net profits, if any, for the same period. 2137. Details of construction. SEC. 9. Every person, company, corporation or association receiving a franchise under the provisions of this act shall provide a plant with all necessary appurtenances of approved construction for the full performance of his, her, their or its franchise duties, rights and obligations, and for the needs, comfort and convenience of the inhabitants of the various unincorporated towns and cities, county or place to which such franchise relates; shall keep such plants and appurtenances, including all tracks, cars, poles, wires, pipes, mains and other attachments in good repair, so as not to interfere with the passage of persons or vehicles, or the safety of persons or property. The board of county commissioners shall, when granting such franchise have authority to so fix and direct the location of all tracks, poles, wires, mains, pipes and other appurtenances upon the public streets, alleys, avenues and highways as to best serve the convenience of the public, and such board shall likewise have authority to change the location of any such appurtenances and permit, upon proper showing, all necessary extensions thereof when the interest or convenience of the public shall so require. All poles, except poles from which trolley wires are suspended for street-car lines, from which wires are suspended for electric railroads, power, light or heating purposes within the boundaries of unincorporated towns and over public highways shall not be less than thirty (30) feet in height, and the wires strung thereon shall not be less than twenty-five feet above the ground, and every person, company, association or corporation operating a telephone, telegraph or electric light, heat or power line, or any electric railway line, shall, with due diligence, provide itself, at its expense, a competent electrician to cut, repair and replace wires in all cases where such cutting or repairing or replacing is made necessary by the removal of buildings or other property through the public streets or highways. And no person, company, corporation or association shall be granted an exclusive franchise nor shall any board of county commissioners have authority to grant a franchise in such manner or under such terms or conditions as to hinder or obstruct the granting of franchises to other grantees, or in such manner as to obstruct or impede reasonable competition in any business or public service to which this act applies. 2138. Eminent domain. SEC. 10. If the owner of any real property upon or over which the proposed line of the grantee of the franchise is to run, shall object to the use of his said property for such purpose, the land reasonably necessary therefor may be condemned in the manner prescribed by law for the condemnation of land for the public use, such condemnation to be in a proceeding brought for the purpose by the grantee of the franchise. If any property, real or personal, abutting or adjacent to the line of the right of way of said franchise shall be injured or damaged by the running or operation of the said line under said franchise, the grantee of the franchise shall be liable, in an action at law, for all such injuries and damages, due to the negligence of the grantee. 2139. Other acts also govern. SEC. 11. All persons, companies, associations or corporations in the business of conducting street railways, telephone, telegraph, electric light and power lines, gas or water mains in any of the cities, towns or places mentioned in this act under the provisions of any other act providing for the granting of such franchises, and who or which has not fully complied with the provisions of the act under which his, her, their, or its franchise was obtained, may, nevertheless, have and enjoy all the privileges and benefits of this act; provided, that such person, company, association or corporation shall, within six months after the passage of this act, file in the office of the secretary of state, and in the office of the county recorder of the county in which such person, company, corporation or association maintains its principal office or place of business, a duly executed and acknowledged acceptance of the terms, conditions and provisions of this act, which acceptance, in case of a corporation, shall be evidenced by a duly attested or certified copy of a resolution of its board of directors; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve any such person, company, association or corporation of any duty or obligation provided in any act or contained in any franchise under which any person, company, association or corporation is now operating. 2140. Certain acts repealed-Proviso. SEC. 12. An act granting to persons and corporations the right to supply electric power, heat and light to the inhabitants of the counties, cities and counties, cities and towns of the State of Nevada, and granting to such persons and corporations the right to construct and maintain poles and wires on the county roads and highways and in the streets of said cities and counties, cities and towns of this state, and to conduct electricity over said wires, and provide for the punishment of obstruction, hindrance or damage thereto, approved March 2, 1901, the same being chapter 25 of the Laws of 1901; also an act entitled "An act to define the rights and responsibilities of owners of electric light lines and power lines in the State of Nevada," approved March 29, 1907, the same being chapter 190 of the Laws of 1907; also "An act to empower the county commissioners of the several counties of the State of Nevada to grant a right of way for the construction of telephone, telegraph and electric power lines, underground pipe lines, street-car lines and other railway lines across and along the public roads and highways of the State of Nevada, and matters relating thereto," approved March 29, 1907, the same being chapter 196 of the Laws of 1907, and all other acts and parts of acts conflicting with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed; |