This codification of ordinances by and for the municipality of Desert Hot Springs shall be designated as the Municipal Code of Desert Hot Springs and may be so cited.
(Prior code § 10.01)
Unless otherwise provided herein, or by law or implication required, the same rules of construction, definition, and application shall govern the interpretation of this Code as those governing the interpretation of State law.
(Prior code § 10.02)
All provisions of Title 1 compatible with future legislation, shall apply to ordinances hereafter adopted amending or supplementing this Code unless otherwise specifically provided.
(Prior code § 10.03)
Headings and captions used in this Code other than the title, chapter, and section numbers are employed for reference purposes only and shall not be deemed a part of the text of any section.
(Prior code § 10.04)
A. 
General Rule. Words and phrases shall be taken in their plain, or ordinary and usual sense. However, technical words and phrases having a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be understood according to their technical import.
B. 
Definitions. For the purpose of this Code, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
"Article"
means a division of a chapter, designated in this Code by a heading in the chapter analysis and a capitalized heading in the body of the chapter, setting apart a group of sections related by the subject matter of the heading. Not all chapters have articles.
"Chief of Police"
means the Chief of the Police Department of the City.
“City, Municipal Corporation, or Municipality”
means the City of Desert Hot Springs, California.
“Code, municipal code, this Code, or this municipal code”
means this municipal code as modified by amendment, revision, and adoption of new titles, chapters, or sections.
"Computation of time"
means the time in which an act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday and then it is also excluded.
"Council” or “City Council”
means the City Council of the City.
“County"
means Riverside County, California.
"Day”
means the period of time between any midnight and the midnight following.
“Daytime"
means the period of time between sunrise and sunset.
"In the City"
means and includes all territory over which the City now has, or shall hereafter acquire, the jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers.
"Joint authority"
means all words giving a joint authority to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
“May”
means the act referred to is permissive.
“Month”
means a calendar month.
"Nighttime"
means the period of time between sunset and sunrise.
“Oath”
means 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.”
"Officer, office, employee, commission or department"
means an officer, office, employee, commission or department of this municipality unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Owner"
when applied to a building or land, means and includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant, tenant in common, or joint tenant of the whole or a part of such building or land.
“Person”
means and includes person, persons, firm, corporation, copartnership, trustee, lessee, or receiver. Whenever used in any clause prescribing and imposing a penalty, the terms “person” or “whoever” as applied to any unincorporated entity means the partners or members thereof, and as applied to corporations, the officers or agents thereof.
“Personal property”
means every species of property, except real property, as defined in this section.
“Police Department”
means the Police Department of the City.
"Preceding” or “following"
means next before or next after, respectively.
"Process"
means and includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature.
"Property"
means and includes real and personal property.
“Real property”
means and includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
“Shall”
means the act referred to is mandatory.
“Signature” or “subscription”
means and includes a mark when the person cannot write.
“State”
means the State of California.
"Street"
means all streets, highways, avenues, lanes, alleys, courts, places, squares, sidewalks, parkways, curbs or other public ways in this City which have been or may hereafter be dedicated and open to public use, or such other public property as designated in any law of the state.
"Tenant” or “occupant"
as applied to a building or land means and includes any person who occupies the whole or part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
"Territorial jurisdiction"
means this Code shall refer only to the omission or commission of acts within the territorial limits of the City and to that territory outside of the City over which the City has jurisdiction or control by virtue of the Constitution or any law of the state, or by reason or control of property.
Week.
A week consists of seven consecutive days.
"Written"
means any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
"Year"
means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed.
(Prior code § 10.05)
The construction of all ordinances of this municipality shall be by the following rules, unless such construction is plainly repugnant to the intent of the legislative body or of the context of the same ordinance:
A. 
Acts by Assistants. When a statute or ordinance requires an act to be done which, by law, an agent or deputy as well may do as the principal, such requisition shall be satisfied by the performance of such act by an authorized agent or deputy.
B. 
Gender—Singular and Plural—Tenses. Words denoting the masculine gender shall be deemed to include the feminine and neuter genders; words in the singular shall include the plural, and words in the plural shall include the singular; the use of a verb in the present tense shall include the future, if applicable.
C. 
General Term. A general term following specific enumeration of terms is not to be limited to the class enumerated unless expressly so limited.
(Prior code § 10.06)
If any provision of this Code as now or later amended or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
(Prior code § 10.07)
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.
(Prior code § 10.08)
Reference to a public office or officer shall be deemed to apply to any office, officer, or employee of this municipality 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.
(Prior code § 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.
(Prior code § 10.10)
The official time, as established by applicable state/federal laws, means Pacific Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time, as may be in current use in the City.
(Prior code § 10.11)
A. 
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.
B. 
The time within which an act is to be done, as herein provided, shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last. If the last day be Sunday, it shall be excluded.
(Prior code § 10.12)
The provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they are in substance the same as those of ordinances existing at the time of the effective date of this Code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments.
(Prior code § 10.13)
All ordinances of a temporary or special nature and all other ordinances pertaining to subjects not embraced in this Code shall remain in full force and effect unless herein repealed expressly or by necessary implication.
(Prior code § 10.14)
All ordinances passed by the legislative body shall take effect as provided by California Government Code Section 36937.
(Prior code § 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 ordinance repealing or modifying it becomes effective, 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.
(Prior code § 10.16)
A. 
If the legislative body shall desire to amend any existing chapter or section of this Code, the chapter or section may be specifically repealed and a new chapter or section, containing the desired amendment, substituted in its place.
B. 
Any ordinance which is proposed to add to the existing code a new chapter or section shall indicate, with reference to the arrangement of this Code, the proper number of such chapter or section. In addition to such indication thereof as may appear in the text of the proposed ordinance, a caption or title shall be shown in concise form above the ordinance.
(Prior code § 10.17)
A. 
History Notes. At the end of each code section, there is an “ordinance history note,” which lists the ordinances that added and later amended that section. Ordinances are listed by number, section (if applicable) and year of passage, as in this example: (Ord. 513 § 1, 2009). This note is updated when a section is amended, with the most recent amending ordinance being listed first in the note.
B. 
Statutory References. The statutory references found at the end of this Code direct the code user to state statutes that are applicable to the local laws found in this Code. These references are updated annually.
C. 
If a section of this Code is derived from the previous municipal code of the city published in 1968 and subsequently amended, the 1968 code section number shall be indicated in the history note and in the middle column of the Prior Code Table by “(68 Code, § ___ ).”
(Prior code § 10.18; Amended during 2010 recodification)
In addition to the remedies set forth in this Code, the City Council is authorized to bring a legal action in a court of competent jurisdiction for the recovery of any monies expended by it in order to enforce the provisions of this Code. In the event that legal action is brought by the City against any individual, corporation, association or entity, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs shall constitute a debt owing by the individual, corporation, association or entity to the City. After the action is brought and the service of the summons and complaint has been made upon the individual, corporation, association or entity and a judgment has been obtained by the City, the City may enforce the judgment by execution and sale in accordance with the procedures set forth by law for the enforcement of judgments. The judgments shall bear interest at the rate of 10 percent per year and shall include reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of suit. The remedy as set forth in this section shall be nonexclusive and the City may pursue any or all of the remedies as contained in this Code for the enforcement of this Code.
(Prior code § 10.19)