In all City Council votes which express anything by way of command,
the form of expression shall be "ordered," and when the City Council
expresses opinions, principles, facts or purposes, the form shall
be "resolved."
No new ordinance shall be considered by the City Council until
it shall have been first referred to the standing committee on ordinances.
The draft of every new ordinance to be reported to the City
Council by the committee on ordinances, whether reported by a majority
or minority of such committee, shall be first submitted by the City
Clerk to the Corporation Counsel for examination and approval as to
form and legal character.
[Amended 7-14-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-19; 10-25-2011 by Ord. No.
2011-22]
No order shall be introduced before the City Council unless
it has been filed with the City Clerk before the close of business
on the Thursday preceding the regular meeting date. Any order not
filed in accordance with this section shall not be considered unless
it is presented with an emergency preamble, which preamble shall be
accepted by a two-thirds vote of the City Council prior to the acceptance
of the order for reading before the City Council.
The enacting style of all ordinances shall be: "Be it ordained
by the City Council of the City of Fall River."
All ordinances shall take effect 20 days from and after their
passage to be ordained, unless otherwise provided.
[Amended 6-20-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-21]
Every proposed ordinance shall be published as required in Section
2-9(d) of The Charter. After the final passage, such ordinance, as amended and adopted, shall be published in a bulletin or pamphlet.
Every proposed loan order shall be published as provided in
§ 23 of the Charter. After final passage, every loan order
shall, in the same manner as before, again be published once, as amended
and completed.
[Amended 3-26-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-10; 2-10-1998 by Ord. No.
1998-7; 3-26-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-10]
No order authorizing the issuance of bonds, notes or certificates
of indebtedness in the amount of $5,000,000 or to exceed $20,000,000
within a fiscal year, or in excess thereof, for any purpose, shall
become effective until and unless the order is submitted to a vote
of the registered voters of the City for adoption or rejection at
a general or special City election. Such election shall be in the
same manner and with the same force and effect as provided for measures
submitted to the voters pursuant to MGL c. 43, § 43. This
requirement shall not be applicable to any municipal project for which
state or federal reimbursement of not less than 51% of the project
cost has been approved, to any temporary loan in anticipation of revenue,
reimbursement by the commonwealth or revenue from the sale of bonds,
notes or certificates of indebtedness, as authorized pursuant to MGL
c. 44, §§ 4, 6, 6A and 17, or to any temporary loans
for payment or final judgments or other emergency appropriations as
authorized pursuant to MGL c. 44, § 7, cl. 11, or MGL c.
44, § 8, cl. 2 and cl. 9, or to refunding bonds or notes
as authorized by MGL c. 44, § 21A.
If no obligation has been incurred by the City on any capital construction project approved in accordance with the provisions of §
2-131 within four years of such approval, such project shall again be placed before the registered voters for adoption or rejection.
[Added 3-25-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-6]
The City Council at any time may request from the Mayor, or,
under Plan D or E, from the city manager, specific information on any loan order within its jurisdiction,
and may request him to be present to answer written questions relating
thereto at a meeting to be held not earlier than one week from the
date of the receipt by the Mayor, or, under Plan D or E, by the city
manager, of said questions. The Mayor, or, under Plan D or E, the
city manager, shall personally, or through the head of a department
or a member of a board, attend such meeting and publicly answer all
such questions. The person so attending shall not be obliged to answer
questions relating to any other matter. The Mayor, or, under Plan
D or E, the city manager, may attend and address the City Council
in person or through the head of a department, or a member of a board,
upon any subject. The Mayor, or his designee, shall provide updates
to the City Council regarding projects funded by loan orders, utilizing
a capital project status report form, during a regular meeting of
the City Council in the months of January, April, July and October.