There is hereby adopted the Code of Ordinances of the City of Troup, Texas, as compiled, edited and published by Franklin Legal Publishing, Inc.
(Ordinance adopting Code)
The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters, articles and sections shall constitute and be designated the “Code of Ordinances, City of Troup, 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 or section and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such articles and sections, nor as any part of the articles and sections, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such articles 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.
A minor public right-of-way, not intended to provide the primary means of access to abutting lots, which is used primarily for vehicular service access to the back or sides of properties otherwise abutting on a street.
Each means the City of Troup, Texas.
The words “city administrator,” “city secretary,” “chief of police” or other city officers or departments shall be construed to mean the city administrator, city secretary, chief of police or such other municipal officers or departments, respectively, of the City of Troup.
Whenever the words “council” or “this council” or “the council” are used, they shall mean the city council of the City of Troup.
The term “county” or “this county” shall mean the County of Smith and/or Cherokee, 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.
The word “road” or “roadway” shall mean that portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic.
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, roads, roadways 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)