[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Galena as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 12-3-1990 by Ord. No. 90-2 (Ch. I, Art. 2, of the 1990 Code of Ordinances)]
In the construction of this Code, the following rules shall be observed unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of this Code:
A. 
All words and phrases shall be construed and understood according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.
B. 
The singular always includes the plural, and vice versa, except where such construction would be unreasonable.
C. 
Unless otherwise provided in a particular section, all words in this Code importing one gender include and apply to the other gender as well.
As used in this Code, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CHARTER
The Charter of the Town of Galena.
CODE
The Code of Ordinances of the Town of Galena.
COUNCIL
The Council of the Town of Galena.
COUNTY
Kent County, Maryland.
JOINT AUTHORITY
Includes all words giving a joint authority to three or more persons or officers, and shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
MAY
Permissive.
MAYOR
The Mayor of the Town of Galena.
MONTH
A calendar month.
OATH
Shall be construed to include an affirmation or declaration 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."
OWNER
Applied to a building or land shall be construed to include any part owner, joint owner, tenant-in-common, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or a part of such building or land.
PERSON
Includes a corporation, company, partnership, association or society as well as a natural person.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
Includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt.
PROPERTY
Includes real and personal property.
REAL PROPERTY
Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
SHALL
Mandatory.
SIDEWALK
That portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property intended for the use of pedestrians.
SIGNATURE or SUBSCRIPTION
Shall be construed to include a mark when the person cannot write, his name being written near it and witnessed by a person who writes his own name as witness.
STATE
The State of Maryland.
STREET
Includes any public ways, roads, highways, avenues, alleys and lanes within the Town.
TENANT OR OCCUPANT
As applied to a building or land, shall include any person who legally occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
TOWN
The Town of Galena, Maryland.
WRITING
Includes printing.
YEAR
Refers to the Town fiscal year.
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by any applicable provision of this Code, the day of the act, event, or default, after which the designated period of time begins to run is not to be included. The last day of the period so computed is to be included unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday. When the period of time allowed includes intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, such days shall be counted in computing the period of time.
The repeal of an ordinance or code section shall not revive any ordinance or code section in force before or at the time such repeal took effect, nor shall such repeal affect any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time thereof.
Those provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they may be the same in substance as ordinances which existed at the effective date of said Code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments.
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the Mayor and Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and words of this Code are severable and if any word, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of said Code shall be declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid by judgement or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect any of the remaining words, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of this Code, since the same would have been enacted by the Mayor and Council without the incorporation into this Code of any such unconstitutional or invalid word, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
[Adopted 7-1-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-02]
The various chapters and articles of the 1990 Code of Ordinances of the Town of Galena, and subsequent ordinances of the Town of Galena of a general and permanent nature adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Galena, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code, LLC and consisting of Chapters 1 through 173, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the Town of Galena," hereinafter known and referred to as the "Code."
This ordinance and the Code shall supersede the 1990 Code of Ordinances of the Town of Galena and all other general and permanent ordinances enacted prior to the enactment of this Code which are inconsistent with any provisions of the Code and not contained herein or recognized and continued in force by reference therein, except such ordinances as are hereinafter expressly saved from repeal or continued in force.
A. 
All provisions of this ordinance and the Code shall be in full force and effect 20 days after the passage of this ordinance.
B. 
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 has been filed in the office of the Town Clerk-Treasurer 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 Town Clerk-Treasurer by impressing thereon the Seal of the Town of Galena, and such certified copy shall remain on file in the office of the Town Clerk-Treasurer of the Town, to be made available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while the 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 Mayor and Council to make them a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that reference to the "Code of the Town of Galena" 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 published as amendments and supplements thereto.
The Town Clerk-Treasurer of Town of Galena, pursuant to law, shall cause to be published, in the manner required, a notice of the passage of this ordinance in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town. Sufficient copies of the Code shall be maintained in the office of the Town Clerk-Treasurer for inspection by the public at all times during regular office hours. Publication of such notice, coupled with availability of copies 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 Town Clerk-Treasurer, or someone authorized and directed by the Town Clerk-Treasurer, to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the Code required to be filed in the Town Clerk-Treasurer’s office for the use of 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, at which time such supplements shall be included therein.
Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion of it, may be purchased from the Town Clerk-Treasurer or an authorized agent of the Town Clerk-Treasurer upon the payment of a fee to be set by resolution of the Mayor and Council. The Town Clerk-Treasurer 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 Town of Galena to be misrepresented thereby. Any violation of this section shall be punishable as a misdemeanor, the penalty for which shall be a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not to exceed six months, or both such fine and imprisonment.
A. 
Titles of sections. The titles of the chapters, articles and sections set forth in the Code are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the chapters, articles and sections and shall not be taken to be a part of such chapters, articles and sections.
B. 
References to the laws of other jurisdictions. Whenever a provision of the Code refers to any portion of a state or county law, the reference includes any subsequent amendment to that law, unless the referring provision expressly provides otherwise.
A. 
Severability of Code provisions. 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.
B. 
Severability of ordinance provisions. 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 inconsistent with the provisions contained in the Code adopted by this ordinance are hereby repealed; provided, however, that such repeal shall only be to the extent of such inconsistency, and any valid legislation of the Town of Galena which is not in conflict with the provisions of the Code shall be deemed to remain in full force and effect.
A. 
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for adoption and revision as part of the Code, certain grammatical changes and other minor changes were made in one or more of said ordinances. It is the intention of the Mayor and Council that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances so changed had been previously formally amended to read as such.
B. 
Nomenclature.
(1) 
Chapter 44 is amended to change "Dog Control Warden" and "Dog Warden" to "Animal Control Officer" and to change "dog control shelter" to "animal control shelter."
(2) 
Chapter 84 is amended to change instances of "Forest Conservation Technical Manual" to "Forest Conservation Manual."
C. 
In addition, the changes, amendments or revisions enumerated in Schedule A[1] 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.)
[1]
Editor’s Note: In accordance with § 1-20C, the chapters, parts and sections which were added, amended, adopted or repealed 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, repealed) 7-1-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-02." Schedule A, which contains a complete description of all changes, is on file in the Town offices.