Until the first Tuesday in April, 1955, all ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations in force prior to the adoption of this charter, unless altered, amended, or repealed, shall remain in full force and effect. On and after the first Tuesday in April, 1955, all ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations which were in force prior to that date, and which are not in conflict with the provisions of this charter shall remain in full force and effect until otherwise amended, altered or repealed.
Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be introduced in writing or printed form and shall not contain more than one (1) subject, which shall be clearly expressed in the title, except ordinances or resolutions making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness or issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness. No ordinance, unless it be declared an emergency measure, shall be passed finally on the date it is introduced, but, except as otherwise provided by this charter, must be passed, read, and voted upon at two (2) regular meetings, or special meetings which have been called for that purpose.
The style of all ordinances of the City of Monahans shall be “Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Monahans”, but the same may be omitted when published in book form.
An emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution for the immediate preservation of the public business, property, health or safety, or providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department, in which the emergency is set forth in such ordinance or resolution. Ordinances or resolutions appropriating money to defray current or other expenses of the city may be passed as emergency measures, but no ordinance or resolution making a grant, renewal or extension of a franchise or other special privilege, or regulation of the rate or rates to be charged for service furnished the public generally by any public utility, shall ever be passed as an emergency measure.
It shall be sufficient in all judicial proceedings to plead any ordinance of the city by caption without embodying the entire ordinance in the pleadings, and all pleaded ordinances or codes of ordinances shall be admitted in evidence in any suit and shall have the same force and effect as the original ordinance. Certified copies of ordinances may also be used in evidence in lieu of original ordinances.
Every ordinance imposing any penalty, fine, or forfeiture shall, after passage thereof, be published in one (1) issue of the official newspaper by publishing a descriptive caption of [or] title stating in summary the purpose of the ordinance and the penalty for violation thereof. Proof of such publication shall be made by the printer or publisher of such newspaper by making affidavit before some officer authorized by law to administer oaths, and filing same with the person performing the duties of city secretary, who shall attach the same to the original of the ordinance. Said affidavit shall be prima facie evidence of such publication and promulgation of such ordinance so published, and such ordinance shall take effect and be in force immediately after the date of publication thereof, unless otherwise expressly provided in this charter. Ordinances not required to be published shall take effect and be in force from and after the passage thereof, unless otherwise provided.
Every ordinance shall be authenticated by the signature of the mayor and city secretary and shall be systematically recorded in an ordinance book in a manner approved by the council. It shall only be necessary to record the caption or title or [of] ordinances in the minutes or journal of council meetings. The city council shall have power to cause the ordinances of the city to be corrected, revised, codified and printed in code form as often as the council deems advisable, and such printed code, when adopted by the council, shall be in full force and effect without the necessity of publishing the same or any part thereof in a newspaper. Such printed code shall be admitted in evidence in all courts and places without further proof.