There is hereby adopted the Code of Ordinances of the City of Giddings, 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 Giddings, 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)
Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance unless the contrary is clearly indicated.
Each means the City of Giddings, Texas.
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 Giddings, 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 “city council” or “the council” is used, it shall mean the city council of the City of Giddings, Texas.
The term “county” or “this county” shall mean the County of Lee, 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.
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 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.
(Ordinance adopting 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.
(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 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 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.
(Ordinance adopting Code)
Whenever in one section reference is made to another section hereof, such reference shall extend and apply to the section referred to as subsequently amended, revised, recodified, or renumbered unless the subject matter is changed or materially altered by the amendment or revision.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.08)
Reference to a public office or officer shall be deemed to apply to any office, officer, or employee of this city exercising the powers, duties, or functions contemplated in the provision, irrespective of any transfer of functions or change in the official title of the functionary.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.09)
If a manifest error is discovered, consisting of the misspelling of any words, the omission of any word or words necessary to express the intention of the provisions affected, the use of a word or words to which no meaning can be attached, or the use of a word or words when another word or words was clearly intended to express such intent, such spelling shall be corrected and such word or words supplied, omitted, or substituted as will conform with the manifest intention, and the provisions shall have the same effect as though the correct words were contained in the text as originally published. No alteration shall be made or permitted if any question exists regarding the nature or extent of such error.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.10)
In all cases where an ordinance requires an act to be done in a reasonable time or requires reasonable notice to be given, reasonable time or notice shall be deemed to mean the time which is necessary for a prompt performance of such act or the giving of such notice.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.12(A))
All ordinances passed by the city council requiring publication shall take effect from and after the due publication thereof, unless otherwise expressly provided. Ordinances not requiring publication shall take effect from their passage, unless otherwise expressly provided.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.15)
(a)
Whenever any ordinance or part of an ordinance shall be repealed or modified by a subsequent ordinance, the ordinance or part of an ordinance thus repealed or modified shall continue in force until the due publication of the ordinance repealing or modifying it when publication is required to give effect thereto, unless otherwise expressly provided.
(b)
No suit, proceedings, right, fine, forfeiture, or penalty instituted, created, given, secured, or accrued under any ordinance previous to its repeal shall in any way be affected, released, or discharged, but may be prosecuted, enjoyed, and recovered as fully as if the ordinance had continued in force unless it is otherwise expressly provided.
(c)
When any ordinance repealing a former ordinance, clause, or provision shall be itself repealed, the repeal shall not be construed to revive the former ordinance, clause, or provision, unless it is expressly provided.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.16)
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; provided, however, this section shall not be construed to apply to officers or employees of this city in the manner of performing their duties as city officers and employees.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.19)
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.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.20)
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, proviso or exemption contained in the code and the burden of proof of any such exception, excuse, proviso or exemption shall be upon the defendant.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.21)
Any violation of this code can be enjoined by a suit filed in the name of the city in a court of competent jurisdiction, and this remedy shall be in addition to any penal provision in this code or any other ordinance of the city.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.22)
All of the regulations provided in this code are hereby declared to be governmental and for the health, safety and welfare of the general public. Any member of the city council or any city official or employee charged with the enforcement of this code, acting for the city in the discharge of his duties, shall not thereby render himself personally liable, and he is hereby relieved from all personal liability, for any damage that might accrue to persons or property as a result of any act required or permitted in the discharge of his duties.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.23)
That the ordinances of the city and the laws of the state and of the United States shall be enforced by public safety officers, code enforcement officers/officials, animal control officers, building officials and fire marshals of the city and each shall have the authority to issue citations for any violation within the jurisdiction of the municipal court thereof.
(Ordinance 675 adopted 10/1/12)