There is hereby adopted the Code of Ordinances of the City of
Coleman as compiled, edited and published by Franklin Legal Publishing,
Inc.
(Ordinance adopting Code)
The ordinances embraced in this article and the following chapters,
articles and sections shall constitute and be designated the “Code
of Ordinances, City of Coleman, 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:
Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance
unless the contrary is clearly indicated.
Each means the City of Coleman, Texas.
The words “city manager,” “city secretary,”
“chief of police” or other city officers or departments
shall be construed to mean the city manager, city secretary, chief
of police or such other municipal officers or departments, respectively,
of the city.
Whenever the words “council” or “this council”
or “the council” are used, they shall mean the city council
of the City of Coleman, Texas.
The term “county” or “this county”
shall mean the County of Coleman, Texas.
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.
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 herein they shall mean standard
time or daylight saving time as may be in current use in the city.
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 and bodies politic
and corporate as well as to individuals.
Means and includes real and personal property.
Means and includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
Means that portion of a street between the curbline and the
adjacent property line intended for the use of pedestrians.
Shall include a mark when a person cannot write.
The words “the state” or “this state”
shall be construed to mean the State of Texas.
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.
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.
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 so
to do 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 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 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 articles or 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.
(Ordinance adopting Code)
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, and no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation
of any such provisions of this code or any such ordinance shall be
punished by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00).
However, 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); provided, however, that no penalty shall
be greater or less than the penalty provided for the same or a similar
offense under the laws of the state. Each day any violation of this
code or of any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate
offense. 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)
(a)
Purpose.
This section is adopted in compliance with
city charter section 5.04 investigation by the city council.
(b)
Scope.
This section shall address the process by which
city council shall conduct investigations and hearings authorized
by city charter section 5.04.
(c)
Rules for conduct of hearing.
At any hearing held under
this section during the investigation or disposition of a complaint,
the following rules apply:
(1)
General rules.
(A)
Open session.
All hearings shall be conducted in open
session of city council, except that city council may conduct a closed
session to receive advice from its attorney pursuant to the Texas
Open Meetings Act.
(B)
Special called meeting.
A special meeting of city council
shall be called to hold the hearing.
(C)
Public comment.
Public comment shall only be allowed
in conformance with the rules established for public comments prior
to the opening of the hearing, and in compliance with the Texas Open
Meetings Act.
(D)
Council participation.
A member of city council who
is either the complainant or respondent shall not sit at the dais
during the hearing and shall not participate in any deliberation or
vote during the hearing. For the purposes of this section, the term
city council shall refer to members of city council participating
in the hearing; and, action shall be taken on majority vote.
(E)
Presiding officer.
The mayor, or, in the event of the
mayor’s unavailability, the mayor pro tem; or in the event of
the mayor pro tem’s unavailability, a member of city council
selected by a majority of city council shall preside over the hearing.
(F)
Respondent’s right of appearance.
The person charged
(respondent) in the complaint has the right to attend the hearing,
the right to make a statement, the right to present witnesses, and
the right to be accompanied by legal counsel or another advisor. Only
legal counsel to the person charged in the complaint may advise that
person during the course of the hearing, but may not speak on his
or her behalf, except with the permission of city council or as prescribed
in this section.
(G)
The complainant’s right of appearance.
The person
making a charge (complainant) has the right to attend the hearing,
the right to make a statement, and the right to be accompanied by
legal counsel or another advisor. Only legal counsel to the complainant
may advise the complainant during the course of the hearing, but may
not speak on behalf of the complainant, except with the permission
of city council or as prescribed by this section. Witnesses may not
be presented by the complainant, except with the permission of city
council.
(2)
Procedures.
(A)
Opening hearing.
The presiding officer shall open the
hearing with an announcement of the nature of the hearing and the
reading of the complaint, or a summary of the complaint, which shall
include the allegations to be considered.
(B)
Investigation results.
After opening the hearing the
presiding officer shall call for the presentation of the results of
any investigation.
(C)
Complainant and respondent statements.
After presentation
of investigation results the presiding officer shall call for statements.
The complainant and the respondent shall have ten minutes each to
make a statement and statements may be made by the complainant’s
or respondent’s legal counsel. The complainant shall precede
the respondent when making statements.
(D)
Witnesses.
(i)
Witnesses may be offered by the respondent; witnesses may be
offered by complainant with the consent of city council and any member
of city council may offer witnesses.
(ii)
Witness lists shall be offered to city council by respondent;
complainant and members of city council prior to the questioning of
any witness. City council shall then vote as to which of complainant’s
witnesses, if any, may be called to testify.
(iii)
The presiding officer shall call witnesses from the witness
list tendered by respondent and members of city council and those
tendered by complainants who were approved by city council. Additional
witnesses, offered by city councilmembers, may not be called unless
approved by a majority of city council present.
(iv)
All witnesses must be sworn and all questioning of witnesses
shall be conducted by the members of city council.
(v)
Each member of council shall be given an opportunity to offer
questions to the witnesses, as called upon by the presiding officer.
After each member has such opportunity the questioning of witnesses
shall close unless city council, by majority vote, choose to allow
additional rounds of questioning.
(vi)
Prior to questioning, a witness may make a preliminary statement
that shall not exceed three minutes.
(E)
Modification of rules.
City council may establish time
limits, which diverge from these rules, and other rules relating to
the participation of any person in the hearing as the particulars
of each hearing dictate; provided that such rules are imposed in a
nondiscriminatory manner as to the rights of the complainant and respondent
and are agreed upon by a majority of city council prior to the opening
of the hearing.
(F)
Deliberations.
After the
conclusion of the examination of witnesses city council shall deliberate
the offered evidence.
(i)
In its deliberations city council shall rely on evidence of
which a reasonably prudent person commonly relies in the conduct of
the person’s affairs. City council shall further abide by the
following:
(G)
Findings of fact and law.
After deliberations city council
shall vote on whether each allegation was proven true by a preponderance
of the evidence, and if true, the section of the charter, city code
or city policy that was violated.
(H)
Disposition.
After deliberations, city council may dispose
of the matter in any manner authorized by the city charter, make recommendations
authorized by law, provide appropriate direction to including, or
any other remedy not prohibited by the Constitution.
(Ordinance 1200 adopted 8/15/19)
(a)
Purpose and scope.
This section is adopted in compliance
with the directive stated in city charter section 5.04 and shall prescribe
the punishment city council may impose against any person who violates
a subpoena of witnesses or for the compelling of production of books,
papers or other evidence.
(b)
Subpoena power.
For the purpose of investigations and
hearings, city council shall have the power to subpoena witnesses,
administer oaths, and compel the production of books, papers, and
other evidence material to the inquiry.
(c)
Contempt orders.
City council may impose a fine upon
any person, whether or not an official or employee of the city, who
violates any subpoena, issued pursuant to the city charter and this
section, and such fine shall not exceed one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars,
or such maximum as may be allowed by state law.
(Ordinance 1200 adopted 8/15/19)
