[Adopted as Ch. 1.04 of the 1997 Code]
The following words and phrases, whenever used in the ordinances
of the City of Columbia, Illinois, shall be construed as defined in
this section unless from the context a different meaning is intended
or unless a different meaning is specifically defined and more particularly
directed to be used in such words or phrases:
The City of Columbia, Illinois, or the area within the territorial
limits of the City, and such territory outside the City over which
the City has jurisdiction or control by virtue of any constitutional
or statutory provision.
This Code of Ordinances and all amendments thereto.
The Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Columbia, Illinois.
"All its members" or "all Council members" means the Mayor and Aldermen
of the City holding office.
The County of Monroe or the County of St. Clair, in the State
of Illinois, as the context requires. The City is located in both
counties.
The 1992 Compiled Statutes of the State of Illinois or the
latest edition thereof, as amended.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Denotes applicable federal law, the Constitution and statutes
of the State of Illinois, the ordinances of the City, and, when appropriate,
any and all rules and regulations which may be promulgated thereunder.
Is permissive.
The Mayor of the City.
A calendar month.
Are each mandatory.
Includes 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."
As applied to a building or land, includes any owner or co-owner
of record who is a part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint
tenant, tenant by the entirety, of the whole or a part of such building
or land.
Includes a natural person, joint venture, joint stock company,
partnership, association, club, company, corporation, business, trust,
organization, or the manager, lessee, agent, servant, officer or employee
of any of them and bodies politic and corporate.
Includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences
of debt.
Next before and the next after, respectively.
Includes real and personal property.
Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
Are each mandatory.
The State of Illinois.
Includes all streets, highways, avenues, lanes, alleys, courts,
places, squares, curbs or other public ways in the City which have
been or may hereafter be dedicated and open to public use, or such
other public property so designated in any law of this state.
Applies to a building or land, and includes any person who
occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, whether alone
or with others.
Includes printed or otherwise reproduced in permanent visible
form; but when the written signature of any City official is required,
it shall be in the proper handwriting of such person or by his mark
properly witnessed by two witnesses; except that duplications or public
documents or notices to be published in a newspaper may contain a
printed simulation of the signature.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
A calendar year.
All 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 the law shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar
and appropriate meaning.
The following grammatical rules shall apply in the ordinances
of the City unless it is apparent from the context that a different
construction is intended:
A.
Gender. Each gender includes the masculine, feminine and neuter genders.
B.
Singular and plural. The singular number includes the plural and
the plural includes the singular.
C.
Tenses. Words used in the present tense include the past and the
future tenses and vice versa, unless manifestly inapplicable.
When an act is required by an ordinance, the same being such
that it may be done as well by an agent as by the principal, such
requirement shall be construed to include all such acts performed
by an authorized agent.
Whenever in the ordinances of the City any act or omission is
made unlawful, it shall include causing, allowing, permitting, aiding,
abetting, suffering or concealing the fact of such act or omission.
Except when otherwise provided, the time within which an act
is required to be done shall be computed by excluding the first day
and including the last day, unless the last day is a Sunday or a holiday,
in which case it shall also be excluded.
The provisions of the ordinances of the City, and all proceedings
under them, are to be constructed with a view to effect their objects
and to promote justice.
The repeal of an ordinance shall not repeal the repealing clause
of an ordinance or revive any ordinance which has been repealed thereby.
A.
The Seal provided by the Council shall be circular in form, consisting
of the words, "1859, City of Columbia, 1903, County of Monroe, State
of Illinois" around the outer edge of the Seal and the figures "1927"
in the interior of the Seal, and shall be and hereby is established
and declared to be the Seal of the City. The City Clerk shall be the
custodian of the City Seal.
B.
The corporate Seal shall be used as such seal in all cases provided
for by law or by the ordinances of the City, and in all other cases
in which, by law and custom, it is usual and necessary for the corporation
to use a seal.
A.
There is established a benchmark in the City which shall be the official
reference for elevations and grade lines.
B.
The benchmark is located at the Municipal Building at the junction
of Cherry Street and Rapp Avenue, being 30 feet southeast of the corner
of the building; 36 feet north and 24 feet west of the center line
of the streets; also 7.3 feet north of the north edge of the sidewalk
and 5.2 feet west of the west edge of the sidewalk.
C.
The benchmark is a standard United States Geological Survey Tablet
set in a concrete post, and stamped "1 SAN 1963 515."
D.
The elevation of the benchmark is 514.989 feet above mean sea level.
In any suit brought under the ordinances of this City upon the
complaint of a person other than the Chief of Police or some other
City officer wherein such suit is dismissed as trivial or frivolous,
the suit shall be at the cost of the person making such complaint.
When it appears to the satisfaction of any judge that there are good
grounds for believing that a suit is trivial or frivolous, and that
the party complaining is not legally responsible for costs that may
be expended in their behalf, the judge may demand security for such
costs, in the event that such suit is dismissed, or may require that
the party complaining deposit, in advance, the costs of issuing the
necessary writs of making the arrest.
