[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City
of Pawtucket as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 7-25-1996 by Ch. 2420]
The Charter and ordinances of the City of Pawtucket as codified by General Code, and consisting of the Charter and Chapters 1 through 410, together with an Appendix, shall be known collectively as the "Code of the City of Pawtucket," hereafter termed the "Code." Wherever reference is made in any of the ordinances contained in the Code of the City of Pawtucket to any other ordinance appearing in said Code, such reference shall be changed to the appropriate chapter title, chapter number, Article number or section number appearing in the Code as if such ordinance had been formally amended to so read.
A.
In the construction of this Code and of all other
city ordinances, the following rules shall be observed, unless such
construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the
City Council:
(1)
City. The words "the city" or "this city" shall be
construed as if the words "of Pawtucket" followed them.
(2)
Computation of time. Whenever time is to be reckoned
from any day, date or act done or the time of any act done, such day,
date or the day when such act is done shall not be included in such
computation.
(3)
Council or City Council. Wherever the words "Council"
or "City Council" are used, the same shall be held to mean the "City
Council of Pawtucket." On all matters relating to licensing, wherever
the words "Council" or "City Council" are used, the same shall be
held to mean the "City Council of Pawtucket or the City Council of
Pawtucket sitting as the Pawtucket Board of License Commissioners."
[Amended 11-8-2012by Ch. No. 3016]
(4)
County. The words "the county" or "this county" shall
mean Providence County, Rhode Island.
(5)
Joint authority. All words giving a joint authority
to three (3) or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving
such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
(6)
May. The word "may" is permissive.
(7)
Month. The word "month" shall mean a calendar month.
(8)
Number. A word importing the singular number only
may extend and be applied to several persons and things as well as
to one (1) person or thing.
(9)
Oath. When an oath is required or authorized by law,
an affirmation in lieu thereof may be taken by a person having conscientious
scruples against taking an oath. An affirmation has the same effect
as an oath.
(10)
Preceding; following. The words "preceding" and "following"
mean next before and next after, respectively.
(11)
Shall. The word "shall" is mandatory.
(12)
State law references. Whenever reference is made to
the "General Laws," "Gen. Laws" or R.I.G.L. this shall mean the General
Laws of Rhode Island. Whenever reference is made to "Public Laws"
or "P.L.", this shall mean the Public Laws of Rhode Island.
(13)
Time. Words used in the past or present tense include
the future as well as the past and present.
(14)
Gender neutrality. Whenever the context so requires,
reference in the Code and supplements to the Code to the masculine
gender shall include the female gender or the neuter gender.
B.
FIRE DIVISION
IN THE CITY or WITHIN THE CITY
KEEPER and PROPRIETOR
LAND or REAL ESTATE
OWNER
PERSON
PERSONAL PROPERTY
POLICE DIVISION
PROPERTY
PUBLIC PLACE
REAL PROPERTY
SIDEWALK
SIGNATURE OR SUBSCRIPTION
STATE or THIS STATE
STREET
TENANT or OCCUPANT
WRITTEN or IN WRITING
YEAR
Definitions. As used in this ordinance and the Code
of the City of Pawtucket, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The Fire Division of the Department of Public Safety of the
city.
Includes all territory over which the city now has or shall
hereafter acquire jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers
or other regulatory powers.
Includes persons, firms, association, corporations, clubs
and copartnerships, whether acting by themselves or as a servant,
agent or employee.
Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments and rights and
easements of incorporeal nature.
Applied to a building or land, includes any part owner, joint
owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership or joint tenant of
the whole or of a part of such building or land.
Applies to associations, societies, clubs, firms, partnerships
and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
Includes every species of property except real property,
as herein defined.
The Police Division of the Department of Public Safety of
the city.
Includes real, personal and mixed estates and interests.
Includes any park, cemetery, school yard or open space adjacent
thereto and any lake or stream.
Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
That part of the street exclusively reserved for pedestrians
and constructed for such purpose.
Includes a mark when the person cannot write.
The State of Rhode Island.
Embraces streets, avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes,
viaducts and all other public highways in the city.
Applied to a building or land, includes any person holding
a written or oral lease of, such building or land or who occupies
the whole or part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
Includes any representation of words, letters or figures,
whether by printing or otherwise.
A calendar year.
The provisions of the Code, insofar as they are substantively the same as those of ordinances in force immediately prior to the enactment of the Code by this ordinance, are intended as a continuation of such ordinances and not as new enactments, and the effectiveness of such provisions shall date from the date of adoption of the prior ordinance. All such provisions are hereby continued in full force and effect and are hereby reaffirmed as to their adoption by the City Council of the City of Pawtucket, and it is the intention of said City Council that each such provision contained within the Code is hereby reaffirmed as it appears in said Code. Only such provisions of former ordinances or sections of the 1966 Code as are omitted from this Code shall be deemed repealed or abrogated by the provisions of § 1-5 below.
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature
heretofore adopted by the City Council of the City of Pawtucket and
in force on the date of the adoption of this ordinance and not included
in the Code of the City of Pawtucket are hereby repealed as of the
effective date of this ordinance, except as hereinafter provided.
The repeal provided for in this section includes those sections of
the 1966 Code indicated on the document entitled "Derivation Table
in the 1966 Code" as "not desired by governing body" or otherwise
noted as repealed by a specific ordinance.
The repeal of ordinances provided for in § 1-5 of this ordinance shall not affect the following classes of ordinances, resolutions, rights and obligations, which are hereby expressly saved from repeal:
A.
Any ordinance or resolution adopted subsequent to
March 25, 1996.
B.
Any right or liability established, accrued or incurred
under any legislative provision of the city prior to the effective
date of this ordinance, or any action or proceeding brought for the
enforcement of such right or liability.
C.
Any offense or act committed or done before the effective
date of this ordinance in violation of any legislative provision of
the city, or any penalty, punishment or forfeiture which may result
therefrom.
D.
Any prosecution, indictment, action, suit or other
proceeding pending, or any judgment rendered prior to the effective
date of this ordinance, brought pursuant to any legislative provision
of the city.
E.
Any franchise, license, right, easement or privilege
heretofore granted or conferred by the city.
F.
Any ordinance or resolution of the city providing
for the laying out, opening, altering, widening, relocating, straightening,
establishing grade, changing name, improvement, acceptance or vacation
of any right-of-way, easement, street, road, highway, park or other
public place within the city, or any portion thereof.
G.
Any ordinance or resolution of the city appropriating
money or transferring funds, promising or guaranteeing the payment
of money or authorizing the issuance and delivery of any bond of the
city or other instruments or evidence of the city's indebtedness.
H.
Ordinances or resolutions authorizing the purchase,
sale, lease or transfer of property, or any lawful contract or obligation.
I.
The levy or imposition of special assessments or charges.
J.
The dedication of property.
K.
Any ordinance or resolution relating to salaries and
employee benefits.
L.
Any rules, regulations, standards or specifications
referred to or authorized to be adopted by any ordinance or resolution
included in the Code.
M.
Any ordinance adopting or amending the Zoning Map
of the city.
N.
All ordinances pertaining to the regulation of vehicles
and traffic, including Ch. 19 of the 1966 Code, Ch. No. 2024, Ch.
No. 2300, Ch. No. 1115, and all amendments and supplements therefor.
O.
Section 2 of Ch. No. 1408, approved 6-29-1973 (acceptance
of New Court).
P.
Chapter No. 2409, approved March 25, 1996, maintaining
a special revenue account.
A.
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for publication as the Code of the City of Pawtucket, no changes in the meaning or intent of such ordinances have been made, except as provided for in Subsection B hereof. Certain grammatical changes and other minor nonsubstantive changes were made in one (1) or more of said pieces of legislation. It is the intention of the City Council that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances had been previously formally amended to read as such.
B.
In addition, the amendments and/or additions set forth
in Schedule A attached hereto are made herewith, to become effective
upon the effective date of this ordinance. (Chapter and section number
references are to the ordinances as they have been renumbered and
appear in the Code.)[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: In accordance with § 1-7B, the chapters, parts and sections which were added, amended, adopted or deleted by this ordinance are indicated throughout the Code by a footnote referring to Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article I. During routine supplementation, footnotes indicating amendments or additions will be replaced with the following wording: "amended (added) 7-25-1996 by Ch. No. 2420." A complete description of all changes is on file in the city offices.
C.
In addition, the following general nomenclature changes
were made throughout the Code.
(1)
In the Code and the future supplementation thereof,
it shall be considered acceptable to refer to departments, divisions,
directors, boards, etc., by the name used in the Charter or the reversal
thereof. For example, the Division of Police may be referred to as
the Police Division; the Director of Personnel may be referred to
as the Personnel Director; the Department of Planning and Redevelopment
may be referred to as the Planning and Redevelopment Department; etc.
(2)
Generally names of division, departments, boards and
commissions were made to jibe with names of such division, department,
board or commission as set forth in the Charter of the City of Pawtucket,
including the following:
(e)
Department (or Director) of Community Medical Services and Director of Health or Health Officer to Director of Planning and Redevelopment in Chapter 116, Article II; to Animal Control Officer in Chapter 116, Articles III and IV, or Director of Zoning and Code Enforcement in Chapter 218, Article I, Chapter 263, or Supervisor of the Environmental Control Division in Chapter 347, Article I.
A copy of the Code of the City of Pawtucket,
in loose-leaf form, has been filed in the office of the City Clerk
of the City of Pawtucket and shall remain there for the use of and
examination by the public until final action is taken on this ordinance;
and if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copies shall be certified
to by the City Clerk of the City of Pawtucket, and such certified
copies shall remain on file in the office of said City Clerk, to be
made available to persons desiring to examine the same during all
times while said Code is in effect.
A.
Chapter and Article titles, headings and titles of
sections and other divisions in the Code, or in supplements made to
the Code, are inserted in the Code and may be inserted in supplements
to the Code for the convenience of persons using the Code and are
not part of the legislation.
B.
Editor's notes indicating sources of sections, giving
other information or referring to the statutes or to other parts of
the Code are inserted in the Code and may be inserted in supplements
to the Code for the convenience of persons using the Code and are
not part of the legislation.
Any and all additions, deletions, amendments
or supplements to any of the ordinances known collectively as the
"Code of the City of Pawtucket" or any new ordinances, when enacted
or adopted in such form as to indicate the intention of the City Council
to be a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such
Code so that reference to the Code of the City of Pawtucket shall
be understood and intended to include such additions, deletions, amendments
or supplements. Whenever such additions, deletions, amendments or
supplements to the Code of the City of Pawtucket be enacted or adopted,
they shall thereafter be printed and, as provided hereunder, inserted
in the loose-leaf book containing said Code as amendments and supplements
thereto. Nothing contained in this ordinance shall affect the status
of any ordinance or regulation contained herein, and such ordinances
or regulations may be amended, deleted or changed from time to time
as the City Council deems desirable.
It shall be the duty of the City Clerk, or someone
authorized and directed by the City Clerk, to keep up-to-date the
certified copies of the book containing the Code of the City of Pawtucket
required to be filed in the office of the City Clerk for the use of
the public. All changes in said Code and all ordinances adopted by
the City Council subsequent to the enactment of this ordinance, in
such form as to indicate the intention of said City Council to be
a part of said Code, shall, when finally enacted or adopted, be included
therein by temporary attachment of copies of such changes or ordinances
until such changes or ordinances are printed as supplements to said
Code book, at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
Copies of the Code book containing the Code
of the City of Pawtucket may be purchased from the City Clerk upon
the payment of a fee to be set by resolution of the City Council,
which may also arrange by resolution for procedures for the periodic
supplementation thereof.
The City Clerk of the City of Pawtucket, pursuant
to law, shall cause to be published, in the manner required, a notice
of the introduction and enactment of this ordinance in the official
newspaper of the city. A copy of the Code of the City of Pawtucket
shall be maintained in the office of the City Clerk for inspection
by the public at all times during regular office hours. The enactment
and publication of this ordinance, coupled with the availability of
a copy of the Code for inspection by the public, shall be deemed,
held and considered to be due and legal publication of all provisions
of the Code for all purposes.
The standard time throughout the city is that
of the 75th meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, except that
at 2:00 a.m. from the last Sunday in April of each year, such standard
time shall be advanced one (1) hour, and at 2:00 a.m. of the last
Sunday in October of each year, such standard time shall, by the retarding
of one (1) hour, be returned to the mean astronomical time of the
75th meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, and all courts, public
offices and legal and official proceedings shall be regulated thereby
A.
The Seal of the city shall be in circular form, having
in its center a view of the Main Street Bridge and the lower falls,
and in the margin the words "City of Pawtucket, Incorporated 1886."
B.
The City Clerk shall be ex officio keeper of the City
Seal, and he or she is empowered to affix the same to such papers
and instruments pertaining to the city as by law are required to bear
the Seal of the city.
The following shall be the Seal of the City
Council: around the margin of the same, a raised circle containing
the words "Council, Pawtucket," within which circle, a likeness of
Samuel Slater, with his name beneath.
The following shall be the Seal of the Mayor:
a raised circle containing the words, "Seal of the Mayor, Pawtucket,
R.I.," within which circle a likeness of the Goddess Minerva, with
the motto "Minerva custos urbis" beneath.
In the service of all notices, orders, writs,
precepts and other papers of the several departments of the city government,
its officers and servants, excepting the Police Division, preference
shall be given to the City Sergeant, provided that such notices, writs
and other papers may be legally served by such officer.
[Amended 5-24-2018 by Ch. No. 3160]
Any person who, without authorization from the
City Clerk, changes or amends, by additions or deletions, any part
or portion of the Code of the City of Pawtucket, or who alters or
tampers with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the
legislation of the city to be misrepresented thereby, or who violates
any other provision of this ordinance shall be punished by a fine
of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.).
[Amended 5-24-2018 by Ch. No. 3160]
Except where otherwise provided, whenever in
this Code or in any ordinance of the city or in any rule, regulation
or order promulgated by any officer or agency of the city under authority
duly vested in him or, her or if any act is prohibited or is made
or declared to be made unlawful or an offense, or whenever the doing
of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to
be unlawful or an offense where no specific penalty is provided therefor,
the violation of any such provision of this Code or any such ordinance,
rule, regulation or order shall, for any one (1) offense, be punished
by a minimum fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.) and a maximum fine
of five hundred dollars ($500.). Each day any violation of any provision
of this Code on any such ordinance, rule, regulation or order shall
continue shall constitute a separate offense.
All fines and penalties for the violation of
this Code or of any city ordinance, rule, regulation or order shall
be recoverable by complaint, warrant or other appropriate legal process
before any tribunal having jurisdiction thereof and when recovered
shall enure to the use of the city unless otherwise specially provided
by general law or in the ordinance respecting the same.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section,
Article or part of this ordinance, or of any ordinance or regulation
included in the Code of the City of Pawtucket, or of any ordinance
or resolution incorporated into the Code hereafter, shall be adjudged
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment
shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but
shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,
section, Article or part thereof directly involved in the controversy
in which such judgment shall have been rendered.
This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage.
