[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of
the City of Middletown as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 2-8-1978 as §§ 1-1
to 1-5 of the 1978 Code]
The general ordinances of the City of Middletown
shall be compiled and published as required by the General Statutes.
Said ordinances shall be organized by chapters and sections and be
designated as the "Code of Ordinances of the City of Middletown, Connecticut."
[Amended 2-4-1980; 4-7-1980]
In the construction of this Code and of all
ordinances of the City, the following rules of construction shall
be applied unless the context requires otherwise:
A.Â
General rule. All words and phrases shall be construed
according to the commonly approved usage of the language, and technical
words and phrases, and such as have acquired a peculiar and appropriate
meaning in the law, shall be construed and understood accordingly.
B.Â
Gender. Words importing the masculine gender shall
include the female and neuter.
C.Â
Number. A word importing the singular number only
may extend and be applied to several persons or things, and a word
importing the plural number may be applied to one person or thing.
D.Â
Computation of time. The time within which an act
is to be performed shall be computed by excluding the first and including
the last day, and if the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday,
then the last day to perform said act shall be the next business day.
E.Â
Joint authority. All words giving a joint authority
to three or more persons shall be construed as giving such authority
to a majority of such persons, unless otherwise specifically provided.
F.Â
Tenses. The use of any verb in the present tense shall
include the future when applicable.
G.Â
Overlapping provisions. Whenever any specific provision
of the Code imposes a greater restriction upon the subject matter
than any general provisions of the Code, the provision imposing the
greater restriction shall apply.
H.Â
Delegation of authority. Whenever a provision requires
a director of a department or officer of the City to do some act or
perform some duty, it shall be construed to authorize qualified subordinates
to do the required act or perform the required duty unless the terms
of the provision designate otherwise.
I.Â
Use of the words "shall" and "may." Whenever the word
"shall" is used, it shall be construed to be mandatory, and whenever
the word "may" is used, it shall be construed to be permissive.
[Amended 5-1-1978]
The following words and phrases when used in
this Code and all other ordinances of the City shall have the following
meanings unless the context requires otherwise:
The City of Middletown, Connecticut.
The Code of Ordinances of the City of Middletown, Connecticut.
Middlesex County in the State of Connecticut.
The General Statutes of the State of Connecticut, as amended.
Includes any federal or state statute or regulation and any
ordinance, regulation or bylaw of the City.
A calendar month.
The word "oath" shall include an affirmation in all cases
in which by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and
in such cases the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to
the words "affirm" and "affirmed."
Applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner,
joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership or joint tenant
of the whole or of any part of such building or land.
Includes associations, firms, partnerships, corporations,
individuals and other legal entities.
Next before and next after, respectively.
Any portion of any street between the curb and adjacent property
line, intended for use of pedestrians.
Includes a mark when the person cannot write.
The State of Connecticut.
Includes avenues, boulevards, highways, roads, alleys, lanes,
viaducts, bridges and the approaches thereto, and all other public
thoroughfares in the City, and means all that part thereof from the
property line of the premises abutting thereon.
Applied to a building or land, shall mean any person who
occupies the whole or any part of such building or land, whether alone
or with others.
Includes any representation of words, letters or figures,
whether by printing or otherwise.
A calendar year.
The headings of sections and subsections of
the Code are intended as captions to indicate the contents of the
section or subsection and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles
of such sections, nor any part of the section or subsection, nor,
unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any section,
including its heading, is amended or reenacted.
A.Â
When a Code section or other ordinance which has repealed
another Code section or ordinance is itself repealed, the previous
section or ordinance shall not be revived.
B.Â
The repeal of a Code section or other ordinance shall
not affect any right accrued, any offense committed, any penalty or
punishment incurred or any proceeding commenced before the repeal
took effect.
[Added 10-4-1982]
A.Â
Whenever in this Code, or any other ordinance, rule
or regulation promulgated by any officer or agency of the City under
authority vested in him or it by law, any act is prohibited or declared
to be unlawful, or the doing of any act is required or the failure
to do any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty
is provided therefor by this Code, any other ordinance, rule or regulation,
or the General Statutes, violation of any such provision of this Code,
or any other ordinance, rule or regulation, shall be punished by a
fine not exceeding $100.
[Amended 1-6-2003 by Ord. No. 01-03]
B.Â
Each day any violation of any provision of this Code
or any other ordinance, rule or regulation of the City continues shall
constitute a separate offense.
[Added 5-1-1978]
In all cases where any law requires or permits
the giving of a notice or order to any person or corporation, union,
partnership, association or other organization or legal entity, unless
otherwise required by law, such notice or order shall be served by
a City official authorized to issue such notice or order, a City official
or employee who is under the supervision of any such City official,
or a person authorized to serve civil process by the laws of the State
of Connecticut. When deemed advisable by the issuing authority, the
notice or order may also be served as herein provided in addition
to service required by any other law.
A.Â
Service of a notice or order addressed to an individual
shall be made by leaving a copy in his hands or at his usual place
of abode, or by depositing a copy in the United States Mail, postage
prepaid, registered or certified, addressed to his last known place
of residence.
B.Â
Service of a notice or order addressed to a corporation
or other organization or legal entity shall be made by leaving a copy
in the hands of a person authorized by law to be served with civil
process on behalf of such corporation, organization or other legal
entity, or the manager or person in charge of its place of business
in the City or in charge of its principal office or place of business
outside the City, or by depositing a copy of the notice or order in
the United States Mail, postage prepaid, registered or certified,
addressed to its last known office or place of business in the City,
or addressed to its principal office or place of business outside
the City.
C.Â
The person making service shall make a written statement
of the manner, time and place of service, which statement is to be
attached to a copy of the notice or order and kept on file in the
office of the official that issued the notice or order.
[Adopted 1-6-2003 by Ord. No. 01-03]
The various chapters and sections of the 1978 Code of Ordinances of the City of Middletown, and subsequent ordinances of the City of Middletown of a general and permanent nature adopted by the Common Council of the City of Middletown, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code Publishers Corp., and consisting of Chapters 1 through 305, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the City of Middletown," hereinafter referred to as the "Code."
The provisions of the Code, insofar as they
are substantively the same as those of the legislation in force immediately
prior to the enactment of the Code by this ordinance, are intended
as a continuation of such legislation and not as new enactments, and
the effectiveness of such provisions shall date from the date of adoption
of the prior legislation.
A copy of the Code, in loose-leaf form, has
been filed in the office of the City/Town Clerk and shall remain there
for use and examination by the public until final action is taken
on this ordinance, and, if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copy
shall be certified to by the City/Town Clerk, and such certified copy
shall remain on file in the office of said City/Town Clerk to be made
available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times
while said Code is in effect.
Any and all additions, deletions, amendments
or supplements to the Code, when adopted in such form as to indicate
the intention of the Common Council to make them a part thereof, shall
be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that reference to the
"Code of the City of Middletown" shall be understood and intended
to include such additions, deletions, amendments or supplements. Whenever
such additions, deletions, amendments or supplements to the Code shall
be adopted, they shall thereafter be printed and, as provided hereunder,
inserted in the loose-leaf book containing said Code as amendments
and supplements thereto.
The Clerk of the City of Middletown shall cause
to be published, in the manner required by law, a copy of this Adoption
Ordinance. Sufficient copies of the Code shall be maintained in the
office of the 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.
It shall be the duty of the City/Town Clerk,
or someone authorized and directed by the Clerk, to keep up-to-date
the certified copy of the book containing the Code required to be
filed in the Clerk's office for use by the public. All changes in
said Code and all ordinances adopted subsequent to the effective date
of this codification which shall be adopted specifically as part of
the Code shall, when finally adopted, be included therein by reference
until such changes or new ordinances are printed as supplements to
said Code book, at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion
of it, may be purchased from the Clerk or an authorized agent of the
Clerk upon the payment of a fee to be set by the Common Council. The
Clerk may also arrange for procedures for the periodic supplementation
of the Code.
It shall be unlawful for anyone to improperly
change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of
the Code or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever
which will cause the law of the City of Middletown to be misrepresented
thereby. Anyone violating this section or any part of this ordinance
shall be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than $100.
Each section of the Code and every part of each
section is an independent section or part of a section, and the holding
of any section or a part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective
for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality
of any other sections or parts thereof.
Each section of this ordinance is an independent
section, and the holding of any section or part thereof to be unconstitutional,
void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the
validity or constitutionality of any other sections or parts thereof.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances of the
City of Middletown of a general and permanent nature in force on the
date of the adoption of this ordinance which are inconsistent with
any provisions of the Code are hereby repealed from and after the
effective date of this ordinance.
[Amended 5-2-2013 by Ord. No. 11-13]
A.Â
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for publication as the Code of the City of Middletown, no changes in the meaning or intent of such ordinances have been made, except as provided for in Subsections B and C hereof. Certain grammatical changes and other minor nonsubstantive changes were made in one or more of said pieces of legislation and shall be made as needed for all legislation adopted by the Common Council. It is the intention of the Common 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.Â
The
following changes are made throughout the Code:
(1)Â
References to specific chapters and sections of the Connecticut General
Statutes are revised to reflect numbering of the statutes as of the
publication of this Code.
(2)Â
References to the "Finance and Budget Committee" are amended to "Finance
and Government Operations Commission."
(3)Â
References to the "Finance Director" are amended to "Director of
Finance."
(4)Â
References to the "Zoning Enforcement Officer" are amended to "Zoning/Wetlands
Officer."
(5)Â
References to the "Building Inspector" are amended to "Assistant
Building Official" and references to the "Chief Building Inspector"
are amended to "Chief Building Official."
(6)Â
References to the "Superintendent of Fire Alarms" are amended to
"Superintendent of Alarms."
(7)Â
[1]References to the "City Clerk," "Town Clerk," "Town and
City Clerk" and "Town/City Clerk" are amended to "City/Town Clerk."
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection B(7), which amended
references to the "Park and Recreation Commission" to "Parks and Recreation
Commission," was repealed 8-5-2019 by Ord. No. 09-19. This ordinance
also provided for the redesignation of former Subsection B(8) through
(11) as Subsection B(7) through (10), respectively.
(8)Â
References to the "City Attorney" are amended to "General Counsel."
(9)Â
References to the "Deputy City Attorney" are amended to "Deputy General
Counsel."
(10)Â
References to the "Personnel Director" or "Director of Personnel"
are amended to "Director of Human Resources."
(11)Â
References to "Parks and Recreation Department" and "Department of
Parks and Recreation" are amended to "Recreation and Community Services
Department."
[Added 8-5-2019 by Ord.
No. 09-19]
(13)Â
References to "Director of Parks and Recreation," "Parks and Recreation
Director," "Director of Senior Services," and "Senior Services Director"
are amended to "Director of Recreation and Community Services."
[Added 8-5-2019 by Ord.
No. 09-19]
(14)Â
References to the "Director of Human Relations" and "Human Relations
Director" are amended to the "Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity
Management."
[Added 5-2-2016 by Ord.
No. 06-16]
(15)Â
References to the "Human Relations Office" or "Office of Human Relations"
are amended to the "Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management."
[Added 5-2-2016 by Ord.
No. 06-16]
(16)Â
References to the "Recreation and Community Services Commission"
are amended to the "Recreation and Senior Services Commission."
[Added 8-5-2019 by Ord.
No. 09-19]
C.Â
In addition, the amendments and/or additions as set
forth in Schedule A attached hereto and made a part hereof 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.)[3]
[3]
Editor's Note: In accordance with § 1-19C, 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 II. During routine supplementation, footnotes indicating amendments, additions or deletions will be replaced with the following history: "Amended (added, deleted) 1-6-2003 by Ord. No. 01-03." Schedule A, which contains a complete description of all changes, is on file in the City offices.
This ordinance shall take effect upon passage
and publication as required by law.
