[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Bethlehem
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 5-15-1997]
The Town of Bethlehem hereby creates and establishes an ordinance
regarding a citation hearing procedure pursuant to C.G.S. § 7-152c,
as amended. Any assessments on judgments provided herein shall be
enforced by the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut. This procedure
shall apply to enforcement of ordinances adopted by the Town of Bethlehem
pursuant to C.G.S. § 7-148 and/or § 22a-226d,
as amended.
Within 30 days of the effective date hereof, the First Selectman
of the Town of Bethlehem (hereinafter the "municipality") shall appoint
one or more citation hearing officers, other than police officers
or employees or persons who issue citations, to conduct the hearings
authorized by this article and by C.G.S. § 7-152c.
At any time within 12 months from the expiration of the final
period for uncontested payment of fines, penalties, costs or fees
for any citations issued under any ordinance adopted pursuant to C.G.S.
§ 7-148 or 22a-226d, for an alleged violation thereof, the
First Selectman shall send notice to the person cited. Such notice
shall inform the persons cited:
A.
Of
the allegations against him and the amount of the fines, penalties,
costs or fees due;
B.
That
he may contest his liability before a citation hearing officer by
delivering in person or by mail, to a specific office or address,
written notice within 10 days of the date thereof;
C.
That
if he does not demand such a hearing, an assessment and judgment shall
be entered against him; and
D.
That
such judgment may issue without further notice.
If the person who is sent notice pursuant to § 1-3 of this article wishes to admit liability for any alleged violation, he may, without requesting a hearing, pay the full amount of the fines, penalties, costs or fees admitted to in person or by mail to an official designated in the notice by such municipality. Such payment shall be inadmissible in any proceeding, civil or criminal, to establish the conduct of such person or other person making the payment. Any person who does not deliver or mail written demand for a hearing within 10 days of the date of the first notice provided for in § 1-3 of this article shall be deemed to have admitted liability, and the designated municipal officer shall certify such person's failure to respond to the hearing officer. The hearing officer shall thereupon enter and assess the fines, penalties, costs or fees provided for by the applicable ordinance and shall follow the procedures set forth in § 1-6 of this article.
A.
Any
person who requests a hearing shall be given written notice by regular
mail of the date, time and place for the hearing. Such hearing shall
be held not less than 15 days nor more than 30 days from the date
of the mailing of notice, provided that the hearing officer shall
grant upon good cause shown any reasonable request by any interested
party for postponement or continuance.
B.
An
original or certified copy of the initial notice of violation issued
by the issuing official or policeman shall be filed and retained by
the municipality and shall be deemed to be a business record within
the scope of C.G.S. § 52-180 and evidence of the facts contained
therein. The presence of the issuing official or policeman shall be
required at the hearing if such person so requests.
C.
A
person wishing to contest his liability shall appear at the hearing
and may present evidence in his behalf. A designated municipal official,
other than the hearing officer, may present evidence on behalf of
the municipality. If such person fails to appear, the hearing officer
may enter an assessment by default against him upon a finding of proper
notice and liability under the applicable statutes or ordinances.
D.
The
hearing officer may accept from such person copies of police reports,
investigatory and citation reports and other official documents by
mail and may determine thereby that the appearance of such person
is unnecessary.
E.
The
hearing officer shall conduct the hearing in the order and form and
with such methods of proof as he deems fair and appropriate. The rules
regarding the admissibility of evidence shall not be strictly applied,
but all testimony shall be given under oath or affirmation.
F.
The
hearing officer shall announce his decision at the end of the hearing.
If he determines that the person is not liable, he shall dismiss the
matter and enter his determination in writing accordingly. If he determines
that the person is liable for the violation, he shall forthwith enter
and assess the fines, penalties, costs or fees against such person
as provided by the applicable ordinances of the municipality.
[Amended 1-2-2013]
If such assessment is not paid on the date of its entry, the
hearing officer shall send, by first-class mail, a notice of the assessment
to the person found liable and shall file, not less than 30 days nor
more than 12 months after such mailing, a certified copy of the notice
of assessment with the Clerk of the Superior Court facility designated
by the Chief Court Administrator, together with an entry fee of $8.
The certified copy of the notice of assessment shall constitute a
record of assessment. Within such twelve-month period, assessments
against the same person may be accrued and filed as one record of
assessment. The Clerk shall enter judgment, in the amount of such
record of assessment and court costs of $8, against such person in
favor of the municipality. Notwithstanding any other provision of
the General Statutes, the hearing officer's assessment, when so entered
as a judgment, shall have the effect of a civil money judgment, and
a levy of execution on such judgment may issue without further notice
to such person.
[Amended 1-2-2013]
A person against whom an assessment has been entered pursuant
to this article is entitled to judicial review by way of appeal. An
appeal shall be instituted within 30 days of the mailing of notice
of such assessment by filing a petition to reopen assessment, together
with an entry fee in an amount equal to the entry fee for a small
claims case pursuant to C.G.S. § 52-259, at a Superior Court
facility designated by the Chief Court Administrator, which shall
entitle such person to a hearing in accordance with the rules of the
Judges of the Superior Court.
[Adopted 1-2-2013]
The compilation of the ordinances and regulations of the Town of Bethlehem of a general and permanent nature, codified and consolidated into parts, chapters and sections in the form attached hereto and made a part hereof, and consisting of Chapters 1 through 132, is hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the Town of Bethlehem, Connecticut," hereinafter called the "Code." All provisions contained in the compilation provided for herein and known as the "Code of the Town of Bethlehem" shall be in force and effect on and after the effective date of this ordinance.
The provisions of the Code, insofar as they are substantively
the same as those ordinances and regulations in force immediately
prior to the enactment of the Code by this ordinance, are intended
as a continuation of such ordinances and regulations and not as new
enactments, and the effectiveness of such provisions shall date from
the date of adoption of the prior ordinance or regulation. All such
provisions are hereby continued in full force and effect and are hereby
reaffirmed as to their adoption by the Town Meeting.
All ordinances and regulations or parts thereof of the Town
of Bethlehem 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; provided, however, that nothing herein shall
be construed as repealing or altering the subdivision or inland wetlands
regulations or the road specifications of the Town.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, article or part
of this ordinance or of any ordinance or regulation appearing in the
Code or included in this Code through supplementation 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
judgment shall have been rendered.
A copy of the Code has been filed in the office of the Town
Clerk of the Town of Bethlehem 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 of the Town of Bethlehem, and such certified
copy shall remain on file in the office of said Town Clerk to be made
available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times
while said Code is in effect. 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.
Any and all additions, deletions, amendments or supplements
to any of the ordinances or regulations in the Code of the Town of
Bethlehem, or any new ordinances or regulations, when enacted or adopted
in such form as to indicate the intention that they be a part thereof,
shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that reference
to the Code 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 enacted or adopted,
they shall thereafter be inserted in the 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
and regulations may be amended, deleted or changed from time to time
as the Town Meeting deems desirable.
Whenever in the Code, in describing or referring to any person,
party, matter or thing, any word importing the singular number or
masculine gender is used, the same shall be understood to include
and to apply to several persons or parties as well as to one person
or party, and to females as well as males, and to bodies corporate
as well as individuals, and to several matters and things as well
as one matter or thing.
It shall be the duty of the Town Clerk to keep up-to-date the
certified copy of the Code of the Town of Bethlehem required to be
filed in the office of the Town Clerk for use by the public. All changes
in said Code and all ordinances adopted by the Town Meeting subsequent
to the enactment of this ordinance in such form as to indicate the
intention that they be a part of said Code shall, when finally enacted
or adopted, be included therein by temporary attachment of copies
of such changes until such changes are included as supplements to
said Code.
Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion of it, may be
purchased from the Town Clerk of the Town of Bethlehem or an authorized
agent of the Town Clerk upon the payment of a fee to be set by the
Town. The Town Clerk may also arrange for procedures for the periodic
supplementation thereof.
Any person who, without authorization from the Town Clerk, changes
or amends, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code
of the Town of Bethlehem, or who alters or tampers with such Code
in any manner whatsoever which will cause the legislation of the Town
of Bethlehem to be misrepresented thereby, or who violates any other
provision of this ordinance, shall be guilty of an offense and shall,
upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not more than $100.
A.
In compiling
and preparing the ordinances and regulations for publication as the
Code of the Town of Bethlehem, no changes in the meaning or intent
of such ordinances or regulations have been made, except as have been
made by formal amendment thereto. Certain grammatical changes and
other minor nonsubstantive changes were made in one or more of said
ordinances and regulations, as authorized by the Town Meeting. It
is the intention of the Town Meeting that all such changes be adopted
as part of the Code as if the ordinances and regulations had been
previously formally amended to read as such.
B.
In addition,
the amendments and/or additions as set forth 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 § 1-18B, 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, repealed) 1-2-2013.” Schedule A, which contains a complete description of all changes, is on file in the Town offices.
C.
Nomenclature.
Throughout the Code, references to the following agencies or officials
are updated as indicated:
This ordinance shall take effect upon passage and publication
as required by law.
