§ 10A.8. Eminent domain not affected.

No franchise granted pursuant to this chapter shall in any way affect the right of the city during the term of such franchise to acquire the property of the grantee, either by purchase or through the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and nothing therein contained shall be construed to contract away or to modify or to abridge either for a term or in perpetuity the city's right of eminent domain in respect to any public utility. Every franchise shall provide that upon termination the city may acquire the property of the grantee by paying an amount which equals the original cost of such property less depreciation. The franchise itself shall never be given any value before any court or other public authority in any proceeding of any character in excess of the cost to the grantee of the necessary publication and any other sum paid by the grantee to the city at the time the franchise was granted. (Ord. No. 1008, § 2.)