There is hereby adopted the Code of Ordinances of the Town of Pantego, 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, Town of Pantego, 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 town council, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the town council:
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 provisions of the ordinances of the town, and all proceedings under them, are to be construed with a view to effect their objects and to promote justice.
Each means the Town of Pantego, Texas, or the area within the territorial limits of the Town of Pantego, 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 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 “town council” or “the council” is used, it shall mean the town council of the Town of Pantego, Texas. The term “all its members” or “all councilmen” means the total number of councilmen holding office.
The term “county” or “this county” shall mean the County of Tarrant, Texas.
Whenever a provision of this Code of Ordinances requires or authorizes an officer or employee of the town 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.
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 “law” denotes applicable federal law, the constitution and statutes of the State of Texas, the ordinances of the Town of Pantego, and, when appropriate, any and all rules and regulations which may be promulgated thereunder.
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 town.
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” includes a natural person, joint venture, joint stock company, partnership, association, club, company, lessee, agent, servant, officer or employee of any of them.
The term “personal property” includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt.
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 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” includes all streets, highways, avenues, lanes, alleys, courts, places, squares, curbs, or other public ways in this town 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.
The words “tenant” and “occupant,” applied to a building or land, include any person who occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future, as well as the past and present.
The term “town manager,” “town secretary,” “chief of police” or other town officer or department shall be construed to mean the town manager, town secretary, chief of police or such other municipal officer or department, respectively, of the Town of Pantego, Texas.
Such abbreviations refer to the divisions of Vernon’s Texas Statutes Annotated.
The term “written” includes printed, typewritten, mimeographed, multigraphed, or otherwise reproduced in permanent visible form.
The word “year” shall mean a calendar year.
(Ordinance 108, secs. 1–4, 7, 8, adopted 4/14/86; Ordinance adopting Code)
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the town 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 town 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 108, sec. 9, adopted 4/14/86; Ordinance adopting Code)
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature, and amendments to such ordinances, hereafter enacted or presented to the town 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 town personnel, supplements to this code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the town council. A supplement to the code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the town council 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 town 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, including the dumping of refuse, may not exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000.00).
(c)
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. Unless otherwise specifically stated in this code, any violation of this code or of any ordinance that is punishable by a fine that exceeds five hundred dollars ($500.00) shall require a culpable mental state.
(d)
No penalty shall be greater or less than the penalty provided for the same or a similar offense under the laws of the state.
(e)
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.
(f)
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 town. In addition to the penalty prescribed above, the town may pursue other remedies such as abatement of nuisances, injunctive relief and revocation of licenses or permits.
(Ordinance 105-1, sec. 1, adopted 9/28/87; Ordinance adopting Code)
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.
(Ordinance 108, sec. 5, adopted 4/14/86)
Whenever in the ordinances of the town 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.
(Ordinance 108, sec. 6, adopted 4/14/86)