[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of Wicomico County: Art. I, 2-15-1978
by Bill No. 1978-6. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 2-15-1978 by Bill No. 1978-6]
The County Charter, the Charters of the various municipalities in the county, the public local laws adopted by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland and the acts, ordinances and resolutions adopted by the Board of County Commissioners and the County Council of Wicomico County, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code Publishers Corp., and consisting of the County Charter, the Charters of the various municipalities in the county, the public local laws enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland and the acts, ordinances and resolutions, which public local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions are designated as Chapters 1 through 225, together with an Appendix, are hereby adopted, approved, ordained and enacted as the "Charter and Code of Wicomico County 1978," hereinafter known and referred to as the "Code."
This ordinance and the Code shall supersede all other permanent public
local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions enacted prior to the enactment
of this Code, except such public local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions
as are hereinafter expressly saved from repeal or continued in force.
All provisions of this ordinance and the Code shall be in full force
and effect on and after April 17, 1978.
[Amended 10-17-2006 by Bill No. 2006-11]
A published serial-numbered copy of the Code shall be certified to by
the Council Administrator of Wicomico County and the County Executive shall
impress thereon the seal of the county; and such certified copy shall remain
on file in the office of the Council Administrator of the county, to be made
available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while the
said Code is in effect.
Any and all additions, amendments or supplements to the Code, when passed
and adopted in such form as to indicate the intent of the governing body to
make them a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code
so that reference to the "Charter and Code of Wicomico County 1978" shall
be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments. Whenever
such additions, 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 the said Code, as amendments and supplements thereto.
[Amended 10-17-2006 by Bill No. 2006-11]
The enactment and publication of legislative bills in accordance with
law, coupled with the availability of enrolled copies of the legislative bills
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.
[Amended 10-17-2006 by Bill No. 2006-11]
It shall be the duty of the Council Administrator, or someone authorized
and directed by him, to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing
the Code required to be filed in his office for the use of the public. All
changes in said Code and all legislation 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 legislation is printed as supplements to said Code book,
at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
[Amended 10-17-2006 by Bill No. 2006-11]
Copies of the Code book containing the Code may be purchased from the
office of the Council Administrator or the commercial publisher of the code
upon the payment of a fee to be set by the publisher with the consent of the
County Council, who may also arrange, by resolution, for procedures for the
periodic supplementation thereof.
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 Wicomico County
to be misrepresented thereby. Anyone violating this section of this ordinance
shall be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment
for not more than six months, in the discretion of the Judge imposing same.
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 section 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 public local laws, acts and ordinances, or parts thereof, of a general
and permanent nature adopted and in force on the date of the adoption of this
ordinance and not contained in the Code are hereby repealed as of the effective
date of this adopting ordinance, except as hereinafter provided. The following
public local laws, acts and ordinances are specifically repealed:
A.
Section 79 of the 1965 Code of Public Local Laws pertaining
to the Director of Public Works.
B.
Section 209 of the 1965 Code of Public Local Laws pertaining
to the Nursing Home Project.
C.
Chapter 750 of the 1966 Laws of Wicomico County pertaining
to the People's Court of Wicomico County.
D.
Sections 239 and 242, inclusive, of the 1965 Code of
Public Local Laws pertaining to the collection of county taxes by the Treasurer;
his bond; failure to qualify and vacancy in office.
E.
Sections 264 through 267, inclusive, of the 1965 Code
of Public Local Laws pertaining to the imposition of a tax on the sale of
tobacco products.
F.
Section 271 of the 1965 Code of Public Local Laws pertaining
to tax exemptions for the elderly.
G.
Section 278 of the Code of Public Local Laws pertaining
to rights of county employees working on county roads with respect to sick
leave and vacation benefits.
H.
Ordinance No. 17, adopted July 18, 1961, regulating the
use of Bivalve Harbor.
I.
Ordinance No. 23, adopted May 10, 1966, pertaining to
abandoned motor vehicles.
J.
Resolution No. 39, adopted September 6, 1966, pertaining
to a tax credit for the elderly.
K.
Ordinance No. 13, adopted April 22, 1958, pertaining
to daylight saving time.
L.
Ordinance No. 12, adopted October 1, 1957, pertaining
to the jurisdictional limits of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The adoption of this Code and the repeal of public local laws, acts and ordinances provided for in § 1-12 of this ordinance shall not affect the following legislation, rights and obligations which are hereby expressly saved from repeal:
A.
Any act or ordinance adopted subsequent to June 13, 1977.
B.
Any right or liability established, accrued or incurred
under any legislative provision 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 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.
E.
Any franchise, license, right, easement or privilege
heretofore granted or conferred.
F.
Any act or ordinance providing for the laying out, opening,
altering, widening, relocating, straightening, establishing of grade, changing
of name, improvement, acceptance or vacation of any right-of-way, easement,
street, road, highway, park or other public place, or any portion thereof.
G.
Any act, ordinance or resolution appropriating money
or transferring funds, promising or guaranteeing the payment of money or authorizing
the issuance and delivery of any bond or other instruments or evidence of
the county's indebtedness.
H.
Acts or ordinances authorizing the purchase, sale, lease
or transfer of property or any lawful contract or obligation.
I.
The levy or imposition of taxes, assessments or charges.
J.
The dedication of property or approval of preliminary
or final subdivision plats.
K.
Acts and ordinances establishing the amount and manner
of payment of salaries or compensation of officers and employees, establishing
workdays and working hours of certain employees and providing for holidays
and vacations for employees and keeping of employment records.
L.
All resolutions.
M.
Any act, ordinance or resolution making any change or
revision in the Zoning Map.
N.
Any act, ordinance or resolution regulating traffic or
parking, particularly Res. No. 25, adopted December 7, 1965, pertaining to
the speed limit on Dagsboro Road.
O.
Section 564 of the 1965 Code of Public Local Laws pertaining
to the Wicomico County Free Library, Inc.
P.
The Wicomico County Roads and Streets Policy (Revised
October 4, 1966).
Q.
Disposal area policy (no adoption date available).
A.
County Charter. The adoption of this ordinance and the
Code shall be deemed to include the County Charter without changes of any
nature having been made to same.
B.
Municipal Charters. The adoption of this ordinance and
the Code shall be deemed to include the Charters of the various municipalities
in the county without any substantive revision of any nature having been made
to same, except for the renumbering of the Charters. The adoption of this
ordinance and the Code shall be deemed to include the renumbering of the Municipal
Charters.
A.
In compiling and preparing the Municipal Charters, public
local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions for adoption and revision as
part of the Code, certain grammatical changes and other minor changes were
made in one or more of said Municipal Charters, public local laws, acts, ordinances
and resolutions. It is the intention of the County Council that all such changes
be adopted as part of the Code as if the legislation so changed had been previously
formally amended to read as such.
B.
In compiling and preparing the Municipal Charters, public
local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions for adoption and revision as
part of the Code, terms such as "subtitle," "subheading," "ordinance," "act,"
"resolution," "public local law," etc., were changed to "section," "article"
or "chapter" throughout the Code so as to accurately reflect the new breakdown
in the Code. It is the intention of the County Council that all such changes
be adopted as part of the Code as if the legislation had been previously formally
amended to read as such.
C.
In compiling and preparing the Municipal Charters, public
local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions for adoption and revision as
part of the Code, a new numbering system was used. This new numbering system
required that the references to the original numbering of the legislation
be changed to reflect the new numbering system. It is the intention of the
County Council that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if
the legislation had been previously formally amended to read as such.
D.
In addition, the following changes, amendments or revisions
are made herewith, to become effective upon the effective date of this ordinance.
(Chapter and section number references in parenthesis or brackets are to the
public local laws, acts, ordinances and resolutions as they have been renumbered
and appear in the Code.)[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The following sections of the Code were amended
or added. A complete description of the changes is on file in the office of
the Administrative Director.
A. In the following sections, nomenclature changes only were made: §§ 9-1 through 9-4; 13-4 and 13-6; 22-1 through 22-3 and 22-5 through 22-20; 29-1 through 29-5; 29-7 and 29-9 through 29-21; 41-1; 56-1; 68-1 through 68-6; 77-4, 77-5, 77-7, 77-9 and 77-12; 86-1 through 86-7; 90-1 and 90-3; 97-1, 97-3, 97-4, 97-6, 97-8, 97-10E, 97-11, 97-12, 97-14, 97-15, 97-18C, 97-19 through 97-21, 97-28 and 97-29; 133-2 and 133-4; 151-1 through 151-5 and 151-8; 170-1 through 170-5; 195-1; 200-1, 200-3A and B(1), 200-5B, 200-8F, 200-11C(7), 200-13B(2) and (3), 200-14A, 200-21C, 200-24, 200-25, 200-27A and 200-28A, B and D; 205-2 and 205-3; 211-2, 211-4A, 211-5A, 211-6C and F and 211-7A.
