Can We Do That?

The Constitution of the United States of America does not mention local governments. As a result, local governments are created by and regulated by the state. There are many types of restrictions on local governments.
One restriction is a court decision, referred to as "Dillon's Rule" which has been applied to municipal powers in many states. Dillon's Rule is derived from written decision by Judge John F. Dillon of Iowa in 1868. It is a cornerstone of American municipal law. It maintains that a political subdivision of a state is connected to the state as a child is connected to a parent. Dillon's Rule is used in interpreting state law when there is a question of whether or not a local government has a certain power. Dillon's Rule narrowly defines the power of local governments. The second part of Dillon's Rule states that if there is any reasonable doubt whether a power has been conferred on a local government, then the power has NOT been conferred. This is the rule of strict construction of local government powers.
Advocates of local government autonomy started pushing for Home Rule legislation nation wide. Wisconsin adopted home rule legislation in 1911 that was eventually declared unconstitutional in the state. The only recourse for advocates of municipal home rule, therefore, was amending the constitution. In 1924, the Wisconsin Constitution was amended to establish municipal home rule. Municipal home rule consisted in limiting legislative power in the area of local affairs by carving out a sphere of city and village influence over local affairs and government. The amendment permitted cities and villages to determine their local affairs and government, subject only to other provisions of the Wisconsin Constitution and to legislative enactments of statewide concern that uniformly affect every city and village.
It should be note that the amendment did not grant home rule authority to counties or towns. Municipal home rule jurisprudence consists largely in setting the boundaries between those areas of local affairs and government that are within the legislative purview of cities and villages and those areas that are of statewide concern and, therefore, subject to control by the legislature.
It turns out that the home rule constitutional amendment is not a substantial impairment to legislative enactments affecting cities and villages. The reason may be because the terms of the amendment are limited to “local affairs and government” and, for most practical purposes, “local affairs” have statewide impact and are therefore of statewide concern.
What does this all mean? City Councils are not the independent powers they sometimes try to be; they are really just tools of the State. Any Council needs to be careful that they don’t abuse their police powers or exercise powers they don’t have. The police power is a vague concept that encompasses the power of the government to promote the public welfare by restraining and regulating the use of liberty and property. The Council needs to know if they have the authority to exercise police power and then they need to reasonably exercise the police power. The also need a clear public purpose.