The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated as the "Code of Ordinances, City of Burleson, Texas," and may be so cited.
(Code 1983, § 1-2)
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the sections and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, nor as any part of the sections, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
(Code 1983, § 1-5)
In the construction of this Code, and of all ordinances and resolutions passed by the city council, the following rules and definitions contained in this section shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the council:
CHARTER
The Charter of the City of Burleson, Texas.
CITY
The City of Burleson, in Johnson County and Tarrant County, Texas.
CODE
The Code of Ordinances, City of Burleson, Texas.
COMPUTATION OF TIME
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by this Code the day of the act, event or default from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period so computed shall be included unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, in which event the period shall run until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.
CONJUNCTIONS
Unless the context clearly indicates the contrary, where a provision involving two or more items, conditions, provisions or events are connected by the conjunction "and," "or" or "either … or," the conjunction shall be interpreted as follows:
(1) 
"And" indicates that all the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events apply.
(2) 
"Or" indicates that the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events apply single or in any combination.
(3) 
"Either … or" indicates that the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events apply singly but not in combination.
COUNCIL
The mayor and councilmembers acting as the city council of the City of Burleson, Texas.
COUNTY
Johnson County, Texas, or Tarrant County, Texas, or both, as the case may require.
GENDER
A term importing the one gender shall extend and be applied to the other genders.
HIGHWAY
When used in this Code, shall include any street, alley, highway, avenue, public place or square, bridge, viaduct, tunnel, underpass, overpass and causeway in the city, dedicated or devoted to public use.
MAY
Is to be construed as being permissive and not mandatory.
MONTH
A calendar month, except as otherwise specified in this Code.
NUMBER
Any term importing the singular number shall include the plural, and any term importing the plural number shall include the singular.
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 terms "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to the terms "affirm" and "affirmed."
OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DEPARTMENTS, BOARDS, COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS
Any reference to officers, employees, departments, boards, committees and commissions shall be construed to mean the officers, employees, departments, boards, committees and commissions, respectively, of the City of Burleson, Texas.
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.
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, except as otherwise defined in this Code.
PERSON
Shall extend and be applied to associations, corporations, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
Includes every species of property, except real property, as defined in this section.
PRECEDING, FOLLOWING
Next before and next after, respectively.
PROPERTY
Includes real and personal property, and "mixed" if the sense used so indicates.
REAL PROPERTY
Includes land, tenements and hereditaments.
ROADWAY
That portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic and that portion of a street used for drainage.
SHALL
Is to be construed as being mandatory.
SIGNATURE OR SUBSCRIPTION
Includes a mark when a person cannot write.
STATE
Shall be construed to mean the State of Texas.
STREET
Includes any highway, alley, street, avenue, public place or square, bridge, viaduct, culvert, underpass, overpass, tunnel, causeway or other public way in the city, dedicated or devoted to public use.
TIME
Terms used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past and present.
VERNON'S ANN. CIV. ST
The latest edition or supplement to Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes.
V.T.C.A
Refer to the latest edition or supplement of Vernon's Texas Code Annotated.
WRITTEN OR IN WRITING
Shall be construed to include any representation, other than oral, of words, letters or figures, whether by writing, printing or otherwise.
YEAR
A calendar year, except as otherwise provided in this Code.
The history or source notes appearing in parentheses after sections in this Code have no legal effect but are merely intended to indicate the legislative history of that section.
All references to chapters or sections are to the chapters or sections of this Code unless otherwise specified.
Editor's notes, Charter references, cross references and state law references that appear in this Code after sections or subsections are provided for the convenience of the user of the Code and have no legal effect.
(a) 
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
(b) 
The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal for an offense committed or cause of action arising under the ordinance repealed.
(Code 1983, § 1-10)
(a) 
The following types of ordinances or enactments are not affected by the adoption of this Code, and the same are continued in effect until amended or repealed by the city council:
(1) 
Any ordinance promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the city, or authorizing the issuance of any bond of the city or any evidence of the city's indebtedness;
(2) 
Any contract or obligation assumed by the city;
(3) 
Any right or franchise granted by the city, whether or not all or portions of such franchises are set out in such Code;
(4) 
Any ordinance dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, opening, paving, widening, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the city;
(5) 
Any ordinance relating to municipal street maintenance agreements with the state;
(6) 
Any ordinance establishing or prescribing grades for streets in the city;
(7) 
Any appropriation ordinance or ordinance providing for the levy of ad valorem taxes or other taxes not mentioned herein, or providing for an annual budget;
(8) 
Any ordinance relating to local improvements and assessments for such improvements;
(9) 
Any ordinance annexing territory to the city or discontinuing territory as a part of the city;
(10) 
Any ordinance calling an election;
(11) 
Ordinances prescribing traffic regulations, not in conflict herewith;
(12) 
Any zoning ordinance including rezonings and issuance of specific use permits or any subdivision ordinance;
(13) 
Any administrative ordinance not in conflict herewith;
(14) 
Any preamble, recital or finding of fact contained in any ordinance included herein, and all such matters shall be deemed incorporated in the sections herein derived from such respective ordinances;
(15) 
Any ordinance prescribing personnel policies, procedures, or salaries and wages not in conflict herewith;
(16) 
Any ordinance regarding rates or charges of utility companies, not included herein; and
(17) 
Temporary or special ordinances.
(b) 
These ordinances shall be on file in the city secretary's office. This Code may be amended from time to time to incorporate any of the matters listed above into the Code of Ordinances, at which time said exception or exceptions will be deemed to be deleted, whether or not expressly so done.
(a) 
All ordinances adopted subsequent to this Code that amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of the Code and printed for inclusion in the Code. Portions of this Code repealed by subsequent ordinances may be excluded from this Code by omission from affected reprinted pages. The subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed or omitted, in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time that this Code of Ordinances and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new code of ordinances by the city council.
(b) 
Amendments to provisions of this Code shall be made with the following language: "Section (chapter, article, division or subdivision, as appropriate) _________ of the Code of Ordinances, City of Burleson, Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows: …." The new provisions shall be set out in full.
(c) 
If a new section, subdivision, division, article or chapter is to be added to the Code, the following language shall be used: "Section (chapter, article, division or subdivision, as appropriate) ________ of the Code of Ordinances, City of Burleson, Texas is hereby created to read as follows: …." The new provisions shall be set out in full.
(d) 
All provisions desired to be repealed should be repealed by section, subdivision, division, article or chapter number, as appropriate, or by setting out the repealed provisions in full in the repealing ordinance.
(Code 1983, § 1-4)
(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, and may also include all amendments to the Charter during the period. 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) 
In preparing a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the 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 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 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 terms "this ordinance" or terms 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 into the Code); and
(5) 
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections 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.
(Code 1983, § 1-3)
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 in 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 this Code of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
(Code 1983, § 1-8)
In any prosecution for a violation of any provision of this Code, the Code or a copy of such provision, certified by the city secretary, may be admitted in evidence without further proof and shall be prima facie evidence of the existence and regular enactment of such provision, without the necessity of introducing in evidence the entire Code.
(Code 1983, § 1-9)
In any prosecution for a violation of any provision of this Code, upon proof of the provision of the Code, it shall not be necessary to negate any exception, excuse, provision of exemption contained in the Code and the burden of proof of any such exception, excuse, provision or exemption shall be upon the defendant.
(Code 1983, § 1-6; Ord. No. C-358, § 1, 8-27-1987)
(a) 
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance, rule or police regulation 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, ordinance, rule or police regulation the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, where 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 not exceeding $500.00; provided, however, that where the offense is one for which a penalty is fixed by state law, the penalty for such offense shall be the same as fixed by state law.
(b) 
The maximum fine for violating provisions of this Code or any ordinance, rule, or police regulation that govern fire safety, zoning, or public health and sanitation, including dumping of refuse, shall be a fine not exceeding $2,000.00.
(c) 
Each day any violation of this Code or other ordinance of the city shall continue shall constitute a separate offense unless otherwise provided.
(d) 
Nothing herein affects any minimum fine set by the city and said minimum fine shall remain unchanged.
(Code 1983, § 1-7)
Whenever a corporation or association violates any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the city, the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, manager or any agent or employee of such corporation or association shall be severally liable for the penalty prescribed for such violation.
(Ord. No. CSO#228-04-2015, § 1, 4-6-2015)
(a) 
Unless otherwise specifically stated within the provisions of this Code, any violation of this Code that is punishable by a fine that does not exceed the amount authorized by V.T.C.A. Penal Code § 12.23, does not require a culpable mental state, and a culpable mental state is hereby not required to prove any such offense.
(b) 
Unless otherwise specifically stated within the provisions of this Code, any violation of this Code that is punishable by a fine that exceeds the amount authorized by V.T.C.A. Penal Code §12.23 shall require a culpable mental state of "criminal negligence."