There is hereby adopted the Code of Ordinances of the City of Odessa, Texas, as compiled, edited and published by Franklin Legal Publishing, Inc.
(Ordinance adopting 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 Odessa, Texas,” and may be so cited.
(Ordinance adopting 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.
(Ordinance adopting 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:
Generally.
Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance unless the contrary is clearly indicated.
City and town.
Each means the City of Odessa, Texas.
City manager, city secretary, chief of police or other city officers.
The term “city manager,” “city secretary,” “chief of police” or other city officer or department shall be construed to mean the city manager, city secretary, chief of police or such other municipal officer or department, respectively, of the City of Odessa, Texas.
Computation of time.
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.
Council.
Whenever the term “council” or “city council” or “the council” is used, it shall mean the city council of the City of Odessa, Texas.
County.
The words “the county” or “this county” shall mean the County of Ector, Texas, and the County of Midland, Texas.
Delegation of authority.
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.
Gender.
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.
Joint authority.
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.
May.
The word “may” is permissive.
Month.
The word “month” shall mean a calendar month.
Must and shall.
Each is mandatory.
Nontechnical and technical words.
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.
Number.
Any word importing the singular number shall include the plural, and any word importing the plural number shall include the singular.
Oath.
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.”
Official time standard.
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.
Or, and.
The word “or” may be read “and,” and the word “and” may be read “or,” as the sense requires it.
Owner.
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.
Person.
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.
Preceding, following.
The terms “preceding” and “following” mean next before and next after, respectively.
Property.
The word “property” shall mean and include real and personal property.
Real property.
The term “real property” shall mean and include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
Residence.
The term “residence” 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 place and sleeps at another, the place where such person sleeps shall be deemed his residence.
Sidewalk.
The word “sidewalk” shall mean that portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property line intended for the use of pedestrians.
Signature or subscription.
A signature or subscription shall include a mark when a person cannot write.
State.
The term “the state” or “this state” shall be construed to mean the State of Texas.
Street.
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.
Tense.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future, as well as the past and present.
V.T.C.S., V.T.P.C., V.T.C.C.P., V.T.C.A.
Such abbreviations refer to the divisions of Vernon’s Texas Statutes Annotated.
Written or in writing.
The term “written” or “in writing” shall be construed to include any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
Year.
The word “year” shall mean a calendar year.
(Ordinance adopting Code; Ordinance 2008-37, sec. 1, adopted 9/9/08)
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.
(Ordinance adopting 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 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.
(Ordinance adopting 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 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 such code or ordinance the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, the violation of any such provision of this code or any such ordinance governing fire safety, zoning and public health and sanitation other than vegetation and litter violations shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000.00). The violation of any such provision of this code or any such ordinance governing traffic offenses shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00). The violation of any other provisions of this code shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00). Each day any violation of this code or any other ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(b) 
(1) 
The specific sections and provisions of the city code and any codes, supplements, appendixes, schedules, standards, tables or other attachments referenced therein that govern fire safety, zoning and public health and sanitation other than vegetation and litter violations and subject to a fine not to exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) per day or any portion thereof and referenced in subsection (a) of this section, as now adopted or as hereafter amended, are as follows:
Section 2-1-8, Rabies Confinement.
Section 2-2-3, Failure to Release Animal to Enforcement Officer.
Section 2-2-4, Keeping Vicious Animal.
Article 2-5, Miscellaneous Provisions, except for section 2-5-3.
Article 3-2, Building Code.
Article 3-3, Division 2, Plumbing Code.
Article 3-4, Division 2, Electrical Code.
Article 3-5, One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code.
Article 3-6, Mechanical Code.
Article 3-7, Gas Code.
Article 3-8, Code Enforcement Guidelines for Residential Rehabilitation.
Article 3-9, Wind Energy Conversion Systems.
Article 3-10, Dangerous Buildings.
Article 3-11, Swimming Pool Code.
Article 3-12, Floodplain Management Regulations [Flood Damage Prevention].
Article 3-13, Mobile Homes and Manufactured Homes, except for section 3-13-62(14).
Section 3-15-109, Clearance for Fire Equipment.
Article 3-16, Minimum Building Standards and Property Maintenance Code, except for sections 302.4, 302.8, 302.9, 304.2, 304.3, 304.8, 304.20, 304.21, and 308.1.
Article 3-17, Energy Conservation Code
Article 3-18, Existing Building Code
Article 4-4, Dance Halls.
Section 4-5-17, Location of Sexually Oriented Business.
Article 4-14, Oil and Gas Drilling.
Article 4-18, Retailers of Illegal Smoking Materials.
Article 5-3, Fire Prevention Code.
Article 5-4, Fireworks.
Article 6-2, Health Certificates.
Article 6-3, Privies and Closets.
Article 6-4, Repair of Conditions Causing Improper Discharge of Wastewater.
Article 6-6, Food Establishments.
Article 6-7, Tobacco Products.
Article 6-8, Public and Semipublic Swimming Pools.
Article 6-10, Transportation and Disposal of Liquid Waste.
Article 6-11, Trailer Camps.
Article 6-12, Veterinarians.
Section 8-1-3, Discharging Firearm.
Section 8-1-26, Illegal Smoking Materials.
Article 13-1, Utilities, General Provisions.
Article 13-2, Water and Sewer Service.
Article 13-3, Cross-Connections.
Article 13-4, Solid Waste, except for section 13-4-5.
Article 13-5 [Article 13-2, Division 4], Sewage Quality Control.
Chapter 14, Zoning Ordinance.
Standards and requirements for street, alley, water, sewer and drainage improvements.
(2) 
All other nontraffic violations shall have a maximum fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00).
(c) 
The city code, zoning ordinance, standards and requirements for street, alley, water, sewer and drainage improvements, and supplements, appendixes, schedules, standards, tables, or other attachments referenced therein, as now adopted or as hereafter amended or revised, are amended as follows:
(1) 
Any violation of this code or of any ordinance set forth herein that is punishable by a fine that does not exceed the amount authorized by section 12.23 of the Texas Penal Code does not require a culpable mental state, and a culpable mental state is hereby not required to prove any such offense.
(2) 
Any violation of this code or of any ordinance set forth herein that is punishable by a fine that exceeds the amount authorized by section 12.23 of the Texas Penal Code shall require a culpable mental state of “criminal negligence.”
(3) 
Any existing ordinance in conflict with this section shall be superseded only to the extent of such conflict.
(d) 
Whenever necessary to make an inspection to enforce any ordinance of the city or whenever [there is] reasonable cause to believe there exists a violation of any chapter of the Code of Ordinances of the city or the laws of the state, an inspector or officer of the city may enter at all reasonable times, upon presentation of proper credentials, to inspect, or to perform any duty required by the Code of Ordinances or state law. If such entry is refused, the inspector or officer shall have recourse to every remedy provided by law to secure entry. It shall be unlawful for any person to prevent any authorized inspection or to interfere therewith in any manner.
(e) 
The inspectors and officers from the following departments of the city are authorized to make inspections and/or enforce ordinances of the city and/or the laws of the state:
(1) 
Billing and collection;
(2) 
Building inspection;
(3) 
Engineering;
(4) 
Fire department;
(5) 
Code enforcement;
(6) 
Police department;
(7) 
Public works;
(8) 
Solid waste; and
(9) 
Utilities.
(Ordinance 70-59, sec. 1, adopted 8/25/70; Ordinance 85-41, sec. 1, adopted 5/14/85; Ordinance 85-84, sec. 3, adopted 10/22/85; Ordinance 89-24, sec. 2, adopted 3/28/89; Ordinance 96-45, sec. 1, adopted 7/9/96; Ordinance 99-46, sec. 2, adopted 9/14/99; Ordinance 2005-33, sec. 1, adopted 11/22/05; Ordinance 2006-11, sec. 1, adopted 3/14/06; 1957 Code, sec. 1-5; Ordinance 2013-50, sec. 3, adopted 9/10/13; Ordinance 2014-60 adopted 10/28/14; Ordinance 2016-42 adopted 10/25/16; Ordinance 2016-55 adopted 12/13/16; Ordinance 2017-61 adopted 12/12/17; Ordinance 2019-52, sec. 1, adopted 10/22/19)