The ordinances embraced in the following Chapters and Sections
shall constitute and be designated the "Code of Ordinances,
City of Lexington, Missouri," and may be so cited.
[Ord. No. 90-8 §§ 1-2, 12-11-1990]
A.
The Code of ordinances, consisting of Titles I through VII, each inclusive, is hereby adopted and enacted as the "Code of Ordinances of the City of Lexington"; which shall supersede all other general and permanent ordinances of the City passed on or before April 20, 1990, to the extent provided in Section 1-1.1 hereof.
B.
All provisions of such Code shall be in full force and effect from
and after December 11, 1990.
[Ord. No. 90-8 § 3, 12-11-1990]
A.
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature of the City adopted
on final passage on or before April 20, 1990, and not included in
such Code or recognized and continued in force by reference therein,
are hereby repealed from and after December 11, 1990, except those
which may be specifically excepted by separate ordinance, and except
the following which are hereby continued in full force and effect,
unless specifically repealed by separate ordinance:
1.
Ordinances promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the
City, or authorizing the issuance of any bonds or notes of the City
or any other evidence of the City's indebtedness, or authorizing
any contract or obligation assumed by the City;
2.
Ordinances levying taxes or making special assessments;
3.
Ordinances appropriating funds or establishing salaries and compensation,
and providing for expenses;
4.
Ordinances granting franchises or rights to any person, firm or corporation;
5.
Ordinances relating to the dedication, opening closing, naming, establishment
of grades, improvement, altering, paving, widening or vacating of
streets, alleys, sidewalks or public places;
6.
Ordinances authorizing or relating to particular public improvements;
7.
Ordinances respecting the conveyances or acceptance of real property
or easements in real property;
8.
Ordinances dedicating, accepting, or vacating any plat or subdivision
in the City or any part thereof, or providing regulations for the
same;
9.
Ordinances annexing property to the City;
B.
The repeal provided for in this Section shall not be construed to
revive any ordinance or part thereof that has been repealed by a subsequent
ordinance which is repealed by this Section.
In the Construction of this Code, and of all ordinances, the
following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would
be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City Council:
Whenever the words "the City," "this City," "the corporation"
or "this corporation" are used they shall be construed as if the words
"of Lexington, Missouri" followed them.
Whenever a notice is required to be given or an act to be
done, a certain length of time before any proceeding shall be had,
the day on which such notice is given, or such act is done, shall
not be counted in computing the time, but the day on which such proceeding
is to be had shall be counted.
Whenever the words "corporate limits," "corporation limits"
or "City limits" are used they shall mean the legal boundary of the
City of Lexington.
Shall be construed to mean the City Council of the City of
Lexington.
Any person elected to that office and shall include those
persons who hold other offices and who are ex officio.
The words "the County" or "this County" shall mean the County
of Lafayette in the State of Missouri.
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department
of the City to do some act or make certain inspections it is to be
construed to authorize the head of the department to designate, delegate
and authorize subordinates to perform the required act or make the
required inspection unless the terms of the provision or Section designate
otherwise.
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and
be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations
as well as to males.
In the interpretation and application of any provision of
this Code, it shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted
for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience
and general welfare. Where any provision of the Code imposes greater
restrictions upon the subject matter than the general provision imposed
by the Code, the provision imposing the greater restriction or regulation
shall be deemed to be controlling.
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.
Shall mean and include persons, firms, associations, corporations,
clubs and partnerships, whether acting by themselves or through a
servant, agent or employee.
Shall mean the Mayor of the City of Lexington.
Shall be construed to mean any violation, failure, neglect
or refusal to comply with the provisions, regulations or requirements
of this Code or any other ordinance of the City.
Shall mean a calendar month.
Whenever the name of an officer is given it shall be construed
as though the words "of the City of Lexington" were added.
Words and phrases shall be construed 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 law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.
A word importing the singular number only may extend and
be applied to several persons and things as well as to one (1) person
and thing.
Shall be construed to 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."
"Or" may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or" if the
sense requires it.
Applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner,
joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant
or tenant by the entirety of the whole or of a part of such building
or land.
Shall extend and be applied to associations, clubs, societies,
firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to
individuals.
Includes every species of property except real property,
as herein described.
The words "preceding" and "following" mean next before and
next after, respectively.
Whenever the word "premises" is used it shall mean place
or places.
Shall include real and personal property.
Shall mean any park, cemetery, school yard or open space
adjacent thereto.
Shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
Shall be construed to mean the place adopted by a person
as his place of habitation, and to which, whenever he is absent, he
has the intention of returning. When a person eats at one (1) place
and sleeps at another, the place where such person sleeps shall be
deemed his residence.
Shall mean the City or Corporate Seal.
Shall mean any portion of a street between the curbline and
the adjacent property line intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding
parkways.
The "signature" or "subscription" of a person shall include
a mark when the person cannot write.
The words "the State" shall be construed to mean the State
of Missouri.
Shall be construed to embrace streets, avenues, boulevards,
roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other public highways in the
City.
The word "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or
land, shall include any person holding a written or oral lease or
who occupies the whole or a part of such buildings or lands, either
alone or with others.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future
as well as the past and present.
Shall be construed to mean seven (7) days.
The term "written" or "in writing" shall be construed to
include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by
printing or otherwise.
Shall mean a calendar year.
[1]
State Law Reference — Definitions, rules of construction,
etc., RSMo. § 1.020 et seq.
The catchlines of the several Sections of this Code printed
in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents
of the Section and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such
Sections, or as any part of the Section, nor unless expressly so provided,
shall they be so deemed when any of such Sections, including the catchlines,
are amended or re-enacted.
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in
force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or
penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution
or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for an offense committed
or cause of action arising under the ordinance repealed.
The Sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of
this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph
or Section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional by the
valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such
unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases,
clauses, sentences, paragraphs and Sections of this Code.
[Ord. No. 90-8 § 4, 12-11-1990]
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code of Ordinances,
which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code of Ordinances,
may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this Code
and printed for inclusion therein, or in the case of repealed Chapters,
Sections and Subsections or any part thereof, by subsequent ordinances,
such repealed portions may be excluded from the Code by omission from
reprinted pages affected thereby and the subsequent ordinances as
numbered and printed or omitted, in the case of repeal, shall be prima
facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time that
this Code of Ordinances and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted
are readopted as a new code of ordinances by the City Council.
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code should be made
by amending such provisions by specific reference to the Section of
this Code in substantially the following language: "That Section __________
of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Lexington, Missouri, is hereby
amended to read as follows: __________ (Set out new provisions in
full)..."
When the governing body desires to enact an ordinance of a general
and permanent nature on a subject not heretofore existing in the Code,
which the governing body desires to incorporate into the Code, a Section
in substantially the following language shall be made a part of the
ordinance:
"Section __________. It is the intention of the governing body,
and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance shall
become and be made a part of the Code of Ordinances of the City of
Lexington, Missouri, and the Sections of this ordinance may be renumbered
to accomplish such intention."
All Sections, Articles, Chapters or provisions of this Code
desired to be repealed should be specifically repealed by Section
number or Chapter number, as the case may be.
Any and all additions and amendments to such Code when passed
in such form as to indicate the intention of the City Council to make
the same a part thereof shall be deemed to be incorporated in such
Code so that reference to the "Code of Ordinances of the City
of Lexington", shall be understood and intended to include
such additions and amendments.
[Ord. No. 90-8 § 8, 12-11-1990]
It shall be unlawful for any person to change or alter by additions or deletions, any part or portion of such Code, or to insert or delete pages or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the City of Lexington to be misrepresented thereby. Any person violating this Section shall be punished as provided in Section 1-8 of this Chapter.
[Ord. No. 90-8 § 7, 12-11-1990]
A copy of such Code shall be kept on file in the Office of the
City Clerk, preserved in looseleaf form or in such other form as the
City Clerk may consider most expedient. It shall be the express duty
of the City Clerk, or someone authorized by said officer, to insert
in their designated places all amendments and all ordinances or resolutions
which indicate the intention of the City Council to make the same
part of such Code when the same have been printed or reprinted in
page form, and to extract from such Code all provisions which from
time to time may be repealed by the City Council. This copy of such
Code shall be available for all persons desiring to examine the same.
[Ord. No. 90-8 § 5, 12-11-1990; Ord. No. 2019-24, 7-9-2019]
A.
Whenever
in this Code or any other ordinance of the City, or in any rule, regulation,
notice or order promulgated by any officer or agency of the City under
authority duly vested in him/her or it, any act is prohibited or is
declared to be unlawful or an offense or misdemeanor or the doing
of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to
be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, and no specific penalty
is provided for the violation thereof, upon conviction of a violation
of any such provision of this Code or of any such ordinance, rule,
regulation, notice or order, the violator shall be punished by a fine:
not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment in
the County Jail not exceeding ninety (90) days or by both such fine
and imprisonment; provided, that in any case wherein the penalty for
an offense is fixed by a Statute of the State, the statutory penalty,
and no other, shall be imposed for such offense.
B.
Notwithstanding penalties imposed for unlawful acts in Subsection A, above, the following penalties or exceptions shall apply to minor traffic violations and municipal ordinance violations:
1.
The punishment
of a “minor traffic violation,” as defined by Section
479.350, RSMo., shall be subject to the following provisions:
2.
The punishment
of a municipal ordinance violation for which penalties are authorized
by Section 67.398, RSMo. (nuisances), Section 71.285 (tall grass and
weeds and litter and debris nuisances), or Sections 89.120 and 89.490
(zoning violations) shall be subject to the following provisions:
(a)
The
maximum fine and court costs that can be imposed for such violation
shall be:
[1]
For the first violation within any twelve-month period of time: two
hundred dollars ($200.00);
[2]
For the second violation within any twelve-month period of time:
two hundred and seventy-five dollars ($275.00);
[3]
For the third violation within any twelve-month period of time: three
hundred and fifty dollars ($350.00);
[4]
For the fourth and any subsequent violation within any twelve-month
period of time: four hundred and fifty dollars ($450.00).
(b)
Court
costs shall be assessed against such person unless the court finds
that the defendant is indigent.
3.
A person
shall not be placed in confinement for failure to pay a fine unless
such non-payment violates terms of probation or unless due process
procedures mandated by Missouri Supreme Court Rule 37.65 or its successor
rule are strictly followed by the court.
5.
Court costs
that apply shall be assessed against the defendant unless the court
finds that the defendant is indigent based on standards set forth
in determining such by the presiding judge of the circuit. Such standards
shall reflect model rules and requirements developed by the Supreme
Court.
C.
Every
day any violation of this Code or any other ordinance or any such
rule, regulation, notice or order shall continue each violation shall
constitute a separate offense.
D.
Whenever
any act is prohibited by this Code, by an amendment thereof, or by
any rule or regulation adopted thereunder, such prohibition shall
extend to and include the causing, securing, aiding, or abetting of
another person to do said act. Whenever any act is prohibited by this
Code, an attempt to do the act is likewise prohibited.
[Ord. No. 90-8 § 6, 12-11-1990]
In case of the amendment by the City Council of any Section of such Code for which a penalty is not provided, the general penalty as provided in Section 1-8, of this Code shall apply to the Section as amended; or in case such amendment contains provisions for which a penalty other than the aforementioned general penalty, is provided in another Section in the same Chapter, the penalty so provided in such other Section shall be held to relate to the Section so amended, unless such penalty is specifically repealed therein.
In all cases where the same offense may be made punishable,
or shall be created by different clauses or Sections of the ordinances
of the City, the prosecuting officer may elect under which to proceed,
but not more than one (1) recovery shall be had against the same person
for the same offense.
[Ord. No. 88-17 §§ 1-3, 8-23-1988]
A.
There is hereby created and established a special financial account
to be named and commonly known as the "Lexington Reward Fund"; that
said account is to be funded solely and exclusively by voluntary contributions
from persons, firms and other entities other than the City of Lexington,
and shall not in any way be funded by the City of Lexington or result
in any cost or expense to the City of Lexington;
B.
Withdrawals of monies from said account shall be authorized and effectuated
only by ordinance after the receipt by the Mayor and City Council
of a properly executed requisition, or other appropriate form of written
request for payment, executed by the City Marshall and City Attorney
that particularly describes the following;
C.
The monies contributed and accumulated within the Fund thereafter
shall be utilized or disbursed for no reason or purpose whatsoever
other than to provide a financial reward to any person, firm or entity
that provides verifiable, truthful, factual information to the Lexington
City Police that in fact results in successful prosecution and conviction
entered in a criminal or quasi-criminal originally filed in a Division
of the Circuit Court of Lafayette County.
