The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated as the Code of Ordinances, City of El Lago, Texas, and may be so cited.
In the construction of this Code and of all ordinances and resolutions passed by the city council, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the city council:
Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance unless the contrary is clearly indicated.
The words “the city” or “this city” shall mean the City of El Lago in the County of Harris and the State of Texas.
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 be counted in computing the time, but the day on which such proceeding is to be had shall not be counted.
Whenever the words “city council” or “the council” are used, they shall mean the City Council of the City of El Lago, Texas.
The term “the county” or “this county” shall mean the County of Harris, Texas.
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships, associations and corporations as well as to males.
Words purporting to give authority to three (3) or more officers or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such officers or other persons, unless it is otherwise declared.
The word “may” is permissive; the word “shall” is mandatory.
The word “month” shall mean a calendar month.
Any word importing the singular number shall include the plural and any word importing the plural number shall include the singular.
The word “oath” 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.”
The words “city secretary,” “chief of police” or words referring to other officers, departments or agencies shall be construed to mean the city secretary, chief of police or such other officers, departments or agencies respectively of the City of El Lago, Texas.
The word “owner,” 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.
The word “person” shall extend and be applied to associations, corporations, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
The words “preceding” and “following” means next before and next after, respectively.
The word “roadway” shall mean that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. If a highway includes two (2) or more separate roadways the term “roadway” shall refer to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively.
The word “sidewalk” shall mean that portion of a street between the curblines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines intended for the use of pedestrians.
The words “signature” and “subscription” shall include a mark when a person cannot write.
The words “the state” and “this state” shall be construed to mean the State of Texas.
The words “street” and “highway” shall mean the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past and present.
The initials “VTCS” shall mean “Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes,” as amended.
The terms “written” and “in writing” shall be construed to include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by writing, printing or otherwise.
The word “year” shall mean a calendar year.
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, nor 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 reenacted.
If any provision of this Code or the application hereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this Code which can be given effect without defeating the purpose or objective of the provisions, and to this end, the provisions of this Code are declared to be severable.
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance of the city an act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, or wherever in such Code or ordinance the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any such provision of this Code or any such ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) for violations of all such provisions that govern fire safety, zoning, or public health and sanitation, and not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) for violations of ordinances that govern vegetation and litter as well as all other violations; provided, however, that no penalty shall be greater or less than the penalty provided for the same or a similar offense under the laws of the state. Each day any violation of this Code or of any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ordinance 235 adopted 12/21/87)
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of the following:
(1)
Any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture incurred or any contract or right established or accruing before the effective date of this Code;
(2)
Any ordinance promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the city, or authorizing the issuance of any bonds of the city or any evidence of the city’s indebtedness;
(3)
Any contract or obligation assumed by the city;
(4)
Any right or franchise granted by the city;
(5)
Any ordinance dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the city;
(6)
Any ordinance relating to city street maintenance agreements with the state;
(7)
Any ordinance establishing or prescribing grades for streets in the city;
(8)
Any appropriation ordinance or ordinance providing for the levy of taxes or for an annual budget;
(9)
Any ordinance relating to local improvements and assessments therefor;
(10)
Any ordinance annexing territory to the city, discontinuing territory as a part of the city or otherwise relating to city boundaries;
(11)
Any ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat;
(12)
Any ordinance provision relating to specific named persons;
(13)
Any ordinance regulating traffic or parking at specific locations;
and all such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this Code. |
(a)
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion in this Code. When subsequent ordinances repeal any chapter, section or subsection or any portion thereof, such repealed portions may be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted pages.
(b)
Any and all additions and amendments to this Code, when passed in such form as to indicate the intention of the city council to make the same a part hereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated in this Code, so that reference to the Code shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments.
(c)
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code shall be made by amending such provisions by specific reference to the section number of this Code in the following language:
“That section ____________ of the Code of Ordinances, City of El Lago, Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows:....” The new provisions shall then be set out in full as desired.
(d)
If a new section not heretofore existing in the Code is to be added, the following language shall be used: “That the Code of Ordinances, City of El Lago, Texas, is hereby amended by adding a section, to be numbered _____, which section reads as follows:....” The new section shall then be set out in full as desired.
(e)
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 of such Code, shall be deemed to be incorporated in such Code, so that reference to such Code shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments.
(a)
By contract or by city personnel, supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the council. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive parts of permanent and general ordinances passed during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
(b)
All portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded by their deletion from reprinted pages.
(c)
The codifier (meaning the person, agency or organization authorized to prepare the supplement) may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified Code. For example, the codifier may:
(1)
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;
(2)
Provide captions or catchlines for sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and make changes in captions and catchlines;
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers;
(4)
Change the words “this ordinance” or words of the same meaning to “this chapter,” “this article,” “this division,” etc., as the case may be or to “sections _____ to _____“ (inserting section numbers to indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated in the Code);
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of the sections inserted in the Code; but in no case shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already in the Code.
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinance in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.