The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated the "Code of Ordinances, City of McAllen, Texas" and may be so cited.
(1966 Code, § 1-1)
In the construction of this Code, and of all ordinances and resolutions passed by the board of commissioners, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the board of commissioners:
The term "board of commissioners" shall mean the governing body of the City of McAllen, as established by article 3, section 1, of the Charter.
The word "Charter" shall mean the Charter of the City of McAllen printed as Part I of this volume.
The word "city" shall mean the City of McAllen, in the County of Hidalgo and State of Texas.
Whenever officers are referred to by title, such as city manager, city clerk, chief of police, etc., such reference shall be construed as if followed by the words "of the City of McAllen, Texas."
The term "code enforcement officer" means an employee holding a position designated in writing by the city manager to enforce the city ordinances, and who is licensed or certified by the state for code enforcement.
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 day on which such notice is given or such act is done shall not be counted in computing the time, but the day on which such proceeding is to be had shall be counted.
The word "county" shall mean Hidalgo County, Texas.
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department or some other city officer or employee to do some act or perform some duty, it shall be construed to authorize the head of the department or other officer or employee to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the required act or perform the duty unless the terms of the provision or section specify otherwise.
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations as well as to males.
The term "highway" shall include any street, alley, highway, avenue or public place or square, bridge, viaduct, tunnel, underpass, overpass or causeway in the city, dedicated or devoted to public use.
Words purporting to give authority to three 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 "month" shall mean a calendar month.
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."
"Or" may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or," if 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 and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
The words "preceding" and "following" mean next before and next after, respectively.
The word "roadway" shall mean that portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic.
The word "sidewalk" shall mean any portion of the street between the curb or the lateral line of the roadway and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians.
The words "signature" or "subscription" shall include a mark when a person cannot write.
The word "state" shall be construed to mean the State of Texas.
The term "street" shall include any highway, alley, street, avenue or public place or square, bridge, viaduct, underpass, overpass, tunnel or causeway in the city, dedicated or devoted to public use.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past and present.
The abbreviation "Vernon's Ann. Civ. St." shall mean the latest edition or supplement to Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes.
The abbreviation "V.T.C.A." shall mean and refer to the latest edition or supplement of Vernon's Texas Codes Annotated.
The words "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.
(1966 Code, § 1-3; Ordinance 2009-03, § I, adopted 1/26/2009)
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, nor as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
(1966 Code, § 1-2)
All references to chapters or sections are to the chapters and sections of this Code unless otherwise specified.
The history notes appearing in parentheses after sections of this Code are not intended to have any legal effect, but are merely intended to indicate the source of matter contained in the section.
References and editor's notes following certain sections are inserted as an aid and guide to the reader and are not controlling nor meant to have any legal effect.
(a)
The provisions appearing in this Code so far as they are the same as those of the Code of the City of McAllen, Texas, 1966, and of ordinances existing at the time of adoption of this Code shall be considered as a continuation thereof and not as new enactments.
(b)
The adoption of this Code shall not be interpreted as authorizing or permitting any use or the continuance of any use of a structure or premises in violation of any ordinance of the city in effect on the date of adoption of this Code.
(a)
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall affect any offense or act committed or done, or any penalty or forfeiture incurred, or any contract or right established or accruing before the effective date of this Code.
(b)
Nothing contained in this Code shall be construed as abating any action now pending under or by virtue of any general ordinance of the city repealed in this chapter and the provisions of all general ordinances contained in this Code shall be deemed to be continuing provisions and not a new enactment of the same provision. This Code shall not be deemed as discontinuing, abating, modifying or altering any penalty accrued or to accrue, or as affecting the liability of any person, or as waiving any right of the city under any ordinance or provision thereof in force at the time of the adoption of this Code.
(a)
The repeal of an ordinance or portion of this Code shall not revive any ordinance or portion of this Code in force before or at the time the provision repealed took effect. The repeal of an ordinance or a portion of this Code shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for an offense committed under the provision repealed.
(b)
This section shall extend to all repeals, either by express words or implication, whether the repeal is in the ordinance making any new provisions upon the same subject or in any other ordinance.
(a)
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of the following when not inconsistent with this Code:
(1)
Any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture incurred before the effective date of this Code.
(2)
Any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the city, or authorizing the issue of any bonds of the city, or any evidence of the city's indebtedness, or any contract, right, agreement, lease, deed or other instrument or obligation assumed by the city.
(3)
Any administrative ordinances or resolutions of the city not in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of this Code.
(4)
Any right or franchise granted by any ordinance.
(5)
Any ordinance or resolution dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, repairing, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the city.
(6)
Any appropriation ordinance.
(7)
Any ordinance levying or imposing taxes.
(8)
Any ordinances prescribing through streets, parking and traffic regulations, speed limits, one-way traffic, limitations on load of vehicles, or loading zones.
(9)
Any land use or rezoning ordinance or amendment to the zoning map.
(10)
Any ordinance establishing and prescribing the street grades of any street in the city.
(11)
Any ordinance providing for local improvements and assessing taxes therefor.
(12)
Any ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat or subdivision in the city.
(13)
Any ordinance annexing territory or excluding territory or any ordinance extending the boundaries of the city.
(14)
Any ordinance establishing positions, classifying positions, setting salaries of city officers and employees or any personnel regulations.
(15)
Any temporary or special ordinances.
(16)
Any ordinance calling an election.
(17)
Any ordinance authorizing street maintenance agreements.
(18)
Any ordinance levying a fee, rate, deposit or charge.
(b)
All such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this Code. All ordinances are on file in the city secretary's office.
(Ordinance 1966-22, § 3, adopted 7/18/1966)
(a)
Any and all additions and amendments to this Code, when passed in such form as to indicate the intention of the board of commissioners to make such additions or amendments a part of this Code, shall be deemed to be incorporated in this Code, so that reference to the Code shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments.
(b)
All ordinances passed subsequent to the adoption of this Code which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion therein. When subsequent ordinances repeal any chapter, section or subsection or any portion thereof, such repealed portions may be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted pages. The subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed, or omitted in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time that this Code and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new Code by the board of commissioners.
(c)
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code shall be made by amending such provisions by specific reference to the section number of this Code in the following language: "That section _____ of the Code of Ordinances, City of McAllen, Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows: …." The new provisions shall then be set out in full as desired.
(d)
If a new section not then existing in the Code is to be added, the following language shall be used: "That the Code of Ordinances, City of McAllen, Texas, is hereby amended by adding a section, to be numbered _____, which said section reads as follows: …." The new section shall then be set out in full as desired.
(1966 Code, § 1-4)
(a)
By contract or by city personnel, supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the city. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the board of commissioners or adopted by initiative and referendum during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code, and shall also include all amendments to the Charter during the period. 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 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 the omission thereof from reprinted pages.
(c)
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier, meaning the person 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 sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and make changes in catchlines, headings and titles;
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers;
(4)
Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same meaning to "this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case may be, or to "sections _____ through _____." The inserted section numbers will indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code; and
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance 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.
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the board of commissioners 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 judgement 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 board of commissioners without the incorporation in this Code of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
(1966 Code, § 1-6)
(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 such Code or ordinance the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, the violation shall be punished by a fine of not to exceed $500.00, and it is further provided that anywhere in this Code or any ordinance wherein a fine of more or less than $500.00 is provided for violation thereof, notwithstanding such designation, the maximum fine shall be $500.00 for any violation unless State law specifically provides for a required fine less than $500.00 in which case the State law fine shall be observed. Each day any violation of this code or any violation of any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(b)
Whenever in this Code, or any ordinance of the city, an act is prohibited, or the doing of a specific act is required, and in the event of the committing of an act which is prohibited or the failure to correspond to an act which is required, such act or omission constitutes an offense and unlawful conduct and is hereby declared to be against the peace and dignity of the state and the city. All such violations of this Code are punishable by a fine as provided for in this section and shall be under the jurisdiction of the municipal court in and for the city.
(1966 Code, § 1-5; Ordinance 2005-92, § 1, adopted 11/14/2005)
Except as otherwise specified, a culpable mental state is not required for the commission of an offense under this Code or any ordinance of the city, or under any rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to or under the authority of this Code or of any ordinance of the city.
(Ordinance 2003-55, § 1, adopted 7/28/2003)
A code enforcement officer or registered sanitarian is authorized to enforce any and all of the provisions of this Code through such means as making inspections, giving notice of violations, issuing citations and filing charges with the city attorney.
(Ordinance 2009-03, § II, adopted 1/26/2009; Ordinance 2020-46, § I, adopted 9/14/2020)
(a)
A person issued a citation by a non-peace officer city employee for a violation of the Code of Ordinances of the City of McAllen shall, on or before the appearance date indicated on the citation, enter a plea to each charge indicated on the citation in accordance with chapter 34 of this Code or Article 27.14 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
(Ordinance 2009-76, § I, adopted 11/23/2009)