There is hereby adopted the Code of Ordinances of the City of
Paris, Texas, as compiled, edited and published by Franklin Legal
Publishing, Inc.
(Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
The ordinances embraced in this chapter and the following chapters,
articles and sections shall constitute and be designated the “Code
of Ordinances, City of Paris, Texas,” and may be so cited.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-1; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-1; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
The catchlines of the several articles, divisions and sections
of this code are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents
of the article, division or section and shall not be deemed or taken
to be titles of such articles, divisions and sections, nor as any
part of the articles, divisions and sections, nor, unless expressly
so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such articles, divisions
and sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-2; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-2; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
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:
The provisions of this code shall be liberally construed
to effect the purposes expressed therein or implied from the expression
thereof. In case of doubt or ambiguity in the meaning of such provisions,
the general shall yield to the particular. Reference for interpretation
and construction shall tend to further the accomplishment of the elimination
of the particular mischiefs for which the provisions were enacted.
Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance unless
the contrary is clearly indicated.
Each means the City of Paris, Texas.
The term “city administrator,” “city manager,”
“city secretary,” “chief of police” or other
city officer or department shall be construed to mean the city administrator,
city manager, city secretary, chief of police or such other municipal
officer or department, respectively, of the City of Paris, Texas.
The words “this code” shall mean the Code of Ordinances, City of Paris, Paris, Texas, as designated in section 1.01.002.
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 first day is excluded and the last day is included. If the last
day of any period is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the period
is extended to include the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday,
or legal holiday.
Whenever the term “council” or “city council”
or “the council” is used, it shall mean the city council
of the City of Paris, Texas.
The term “county” or “this county”
shall mean the County of Lamar, Texas.
Whenever a provision of this Code of Ordinances requires
or authorizes an officer or employee of the city to do some act or
perform some duty, it shall be construed to authorize such officer
or employee to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform
the act or duty unless the terms of the provision specifically designate
otherwise.
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.
The term “health department” shall mean the Paris-Lamar
County health unit and the term “health officer” shall
mean the director of such unit. The term “board of health”
shall mean the Paris-Lamar County board of health.
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 “month” shall mean a calendar month.
Each is mandatory.
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.”
Whenever certain hours are named in this code, they shall
mean standard time or daylight saving time, as may be in current use
in the city.
The word “or” may be read “and,”
and the word “and” may be read “or,” as the
sense requires it.
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, organizations,
business trusts, estates, trusts, and bodies politic and corporate,
as well as to individuals.
The terms “preceding” and “following”
mean next before and next after, respectively.
The word “property” shall mean and include real
and personal property.
The term “real property” shall mean and include
lands, tenements and hereditaments.
The term “roadway” shall mean that portion of
a street or highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular
travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. In the event a street or
highway includes two (2) or more separate roadways the term “roadway”
as used herein 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 curbline and the adjacent property line intended
for the use of pedestrians.
A signature or subscription shall include a mark when a person
cannot write.
The term “the state” or “this state”
shall be construed to mean the State of Texas.
The word “street” shall have its commonly accepted
meaning and shall include highways, sidewalks, alleys, avenues, recessed
parking areas and other public rights-of-way, including the entire
right-of-way.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future,
as well as the past and present.
Such abbreviations refer to the divisions of Vernon’s
Texas Statutes Annotated.
The term “written” or “in writing”
shall be construed to include any representation of words, letters,
or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
The word “year” shall mean a calendar year.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-3; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-3; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the city council
that 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 any court of competent jurisdiction, such
unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases,
clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this code, since the
same would have been enacted by the city council without the incorporation
in the code of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence,
paragraph or section.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-8; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-8; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
The repeal of an ordinance or any portion thereof shall not
repeal the repealing clause of an ordinance or revive any ordinance
which has been previously repealed.
(Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature, and amendments
to such ordinances, hereafter enacted or presented to the city council
for enactment, shall be drafted, so far as possible, as specific amendments
of, or additions to, the Code of Ordinances. Amendments to this code
shall be made by reference to the chapter and section of the code
which is to be amended, and additions shall bear an appropriate designation
of chapter, article and section; provided, however, the failure to
do so shall in no way affect the validity or enforceability of such
ordinances.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-5; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-5; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
(a)
By
contract or by city personnel, supplements to this code shall be prepared
and printed whenever authorized or directed by the city council. A
supplement to the code shall include all substantive permanent and
general parts of ordinances passed by the city council or adopted
by initiative and referendum 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 that 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)
In
preparing a supplement to this code, all portions of the code which
have been repealed shall be excluded from the code by omission thereof
from reprinted pages.
(c)
When
preparing a supplement to this code, 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 appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for articles,
sections and other subdivisions of the code printed in the supplement
and make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles;
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to articles, sections and other subdivisions
to be inserted in the code and, where necessary to accommodate new
material, change existing article or section or other subdivision
numbers;
(4)
Change the words “this ordinance” or words of the same
meaning to “this chapter,” “this article,”
“this section,” “this subsection,” etc., as
the case may be; and
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original
meaning of ordinance material inserted into 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 embodied in the code.
(Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
(a)
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 whenever in this code or such 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 five hundred dollars ($500.00).
(b)
A
fine or penalty for the violation of a rule, ordinance or police regulation
that governs fire safety, zoning or public health and sanitation,
other than the dumping of refuse, may not exceed two thousand dollars
($2,000.00).
(c)
A
fine or penalty for the violation of a rule, ordinance, or police
regulation that governs the dumping of refuse may not exceed four
thousand dollars ($4,000.00).
(d)
A
person convicted of an offense under title 7, subtitle C, Transportation
Code (the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways) for which another
penalty is not provided shall be punished by a fine of not less than
$1.00 or more than $200.00 plus such other penalties and costs as
may be provided by such subtitle C.
(e)
Unless
otherwise specifically stated in this code, any violation of this
code or of any ordinance that is punishable by a fine that does not
exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) does not require a culpable
mental state, and a culpable mental state is hereby not required to
prove any such offense.
(f)
No
penalty shall be greater or less than the penalty provided for the
same or a similar offense under the laws of the state.
(g)
Unless
otherwise stated in this code or in any ordinance, each day any violation
of this code or of any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a
separate offense.
(h)
In
the event that any such violation is designated as a nuisance under
the provisions of this code, such nuisance may be summarily abated
by the city. In addition to the penalty prescribed above, the city
may pursue other remedies such as abatement of nuisances, injunctive
relief and revocation of licenses or permits.
(i)
In
the event authorizing state law is amended, modified, superseded or
otherwise changed to alter the allowable punishment range, then the
city’s range of punishment shall likewise be amended, modified,
superseded or otherwise changed.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-6; Ordinance 87-044, sec. 1, adopted 8/19/87; Ordinance 2000-065, sec. 2, adopted 12/11/00; 1988 Code, sec. 1-6; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
In case of a violation of any of the terms or provisions of
this code or other ordinance by any firm, corporation or association,
the officers and agents actively in charge of the business of such
firm, corporation or association shall be responsible for such violation
and subject to prosecution therefor. If a corporation or association
is adjudged guilty of an offense, the court may sentence the corporation
or association to pay a fine in an amount fixed by the court, not
to exceed the fine provided by the offense.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-7; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-7)
Nothing in this code or the ordinance adopting this code shall
be deemed to affect the validity of any of the following:
(1)
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.
(2)
Any
ordinance authorizing, confirming or otherwise relating to any contract.
(3)
Any
ordinance granting a franchise or other rights.
(4)
Any
appropriation ordinance or ordinance providing for the levy of taxes
or for an annual budget.
(5)
Any
ordinance relating to local improvements and assessments therefor.
(6)
Any
ordinance annexing territory to the city or discontinuing territory
as a part of the city.
(7)
Any
ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat or subdivision in the city.
(8)
Ordinance 1710, being the zoning ordinance as set out in exhibit B of chapter 9 of this code, and amendments thereto, including ordinances amending the zoning map or zoning or rezoning specific property or granting special use permits.
(9)
Ordinance No. 1315, the subdivision regulations, as set out in exhibit A of chapter 9 of this code, and amendments thereto.
(10)
Any ordinance regulating or fixing the rates to be charged by gas,
telephone, electric and other utilities operating within the city.
(11)
Any ordinance providing for personnel regulations.
All such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full
force and effect to the same extent as if set out in full in this
code.
(1970 Code, sec. 1-4; 1988 Code,
sec. 1-4)
(a)
Office created.
There exists the office of emergency
management director of the city, which shall be held by the city manager.
(b)
Responsibilities.
The director shall be responsible
for conducting a program of comprehensive emergency management within
the city and for carrying out the duties and responsibilities set
forth herein. He may delegate authority for execution of these duties
to the coordinator, but ultimate responsibility for such execution
shall remain with the director. The duties and responsibilities of
the emergency management director shall be included in the emergency
management plan as adopted.
(c)
Powers and duties.
The powers and duties of the director
shall include an ongoing survey of actual or potential major hazards
which threaten life and property within the city, and an ongoing program
of identifying and requiring or recommending the implementation of
measures which would tend to prevent the occurrence or reduce the
impact of such hazards if a disaster did occur. As part of this responsibility
in hazard mitigation, the director shall supervise the development
of an emergency management plan for the city and shall recommend that
plan for adoption by the city council along with any and all mutual
aid plans and agreements which are deemed essential for the implementation
of such emergency management plan. The duties of the director shall
also include the causing of a survey of the availability of existing
personnel, equipment, supplies and services which could be used during
an emergency, as provided for herein, as well as a continuing study
of the need for amendments and improvements in the emergency management
plan.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-1; Ordinance
2606, secs. 1, 2, 4, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-1)
An emergency management coordinator may be appointed by and
serve at the pleasure of the director.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-2; Ordinance
2606, sec. 1, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-2)
(a)
The
ultimate responsibility of having an emergency management plan rests
with the mayor in accordance with state law.
(b)
The
mayor is hereby authorized to declare local states of disaster, as
provided in Government Code section 418.108, and to act in cooperation
with the county judge and the mayor of other cities in the county
in time of emergency in order to protect the health, safety and property
of the citizens of the city.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-3; Ordinance
2606, secs. 1, 3, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-3)
The operational emergency management organization of the city
shall consist of the officers and employees of the city so designated
by the director in the emergency management plan, as well as all organized
volunteer emergency management associations or groups. The function
and duties of this organization shall be distributed among such officers
and employees in accordance with the terms of the emergency management
plan. Such plan shall:
(1)
Set
forth the form of the organization, establish and designate divisions
and functions, assign tasks, duties and powers, and designate officers
and employees to carry out the provisions of this article. Insofar
as possible, the form of organization, titles, and terminology shall
conform to the recommendations of the state division of emergency
management and of the federal government;
(2)
Provide
for wage, price, and rent controls and other economic stabilization
methods in the event of a disaster; and
(3)
Provide
for curfews, blockades, and limitations on utility use in an area
affected by a disaster, rules governing entrance to and exit from
the affected area, and other security measures.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-2; Ordinance
2606, sec. 5, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-4)
(a)
At
all times when the orders, rules, and regulations made and promulgated
pursuant to this article shall be in effect, they shall supersede
and override all existing ordinances, orders, rules, and regulations
insofar as the latter may be inconsistent therewith as empowered by
the laws of the state and the city charter.
(b)
This
article shall not be construed so as to conflict with any state or
federal statute or with any military or naval order, rule, or regulation.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-5; Ordinance
2606, secs. 6, 7, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-5)
This article is an exercise by the city of its governmental
functions for the protection of the public peace, health, and safety
and neither the city, the agents and representatives of the city,
nor any individual, receiver, firm, partnership, corporation, association,
or trustee, nor any of the agents thereof, in good faith carrying
out, complying with or attempting to comply with any order, rule or
regulation promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this article
shall be liable for any damage sustained to persons as the result
of said activity.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-6; Ordinance
2606, sec. 8, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-6)
Any person owning or controlling real estate or other premises
who voluntarily and without compensation grants to the city a license
or privilege or otherwise permits the city to inspect, designate and
use the whole or any part or parts of such real estate or premises
for the purpose of sheltering persons during an actual, impending
or practice enemy attack shall, together with his successors in interest,
if any, not be civilly liable for the death of, or injury to, any
person on or about such real estate or premises under such license,
privilege or other permission or for loss of, or damage to, the property
of such person.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-7; Ordinance
2606, sec. 8, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-7)
No person shall have the right to expend any public funds of
the city in carrying out any emergency management activity authorized
by this article without prior approval by the city council, nor shall
any person have any right to bind the city by contract, agreement
or otherwise without prior and specific approval of the city council.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-8; Ordinance
2606, sec. 9, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-8)
It shall be unlawful for any person willfully to obstruct, hinder,
or delay any member of the emergency management organization in the
enforcement of any rule or regulation issued pursuant to this article,
or to do any act forbidden by any rule or regulation issued pursuant
to the authority contained in this article. The penalty for violation
of this article or for any violation of any of the city’s emergency
management plan shall be a fine not to exceed $1,000.00, confinement
in the county jail for a period not to exceed 180 days, or both.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-9; Ordinance 2606, sec. 10, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-9; Ordinance adopting
2021 Code)
Each employee or any individual that is assigned a function
or responsibility under this article shall solemnly swear or affirm
to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the laws
of the state and the ordinances of the city.
(1970 Code, sec. 9-10; Ordinance
2606, sec. 11, adopted 1/11/82; 1988 Code, sec. 8-10)
