The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated the "Code of Ordinances, Town of Vernon, Connecticut," and may be so cited.
In the construction of this Code and of all ordinances, the following rules shall be observed, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
The word "Charter" shall mean the Charter of the Town of Vernon printed in Part I of this volume.
Reference to "this Code" or "the Code" shall mean the Code of Ordinances, Town of Vernon, Connecticut, as designated in section 1-1.
Reference to "the council" or "council" shall be construed to mean the town council of Vernon, Connecticut.
The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean the County of Tolland, in the State of Connecticut.
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department or officer of the town to do some act or make certain inspections it is to be construed to authorize the head of the department or officer to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the required act or make the required inspection unless the terms of the provision or section designates 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 words "keeper" and "proprietor" shall mean and include persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and co-partnerships, whether acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.
A word importing the singular number only may extend and be applied to several persons and things as well as to one (1) person and thing.
The title of any officer or employee used herein shall be construed as if the words "of the town" followed it, and shall include his duly authorized representative.
The word "owner" applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, 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 communities, societies, associations, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
The term "personal property" shall include every species of property except real property, as herein defined.
The word "property" shall include real and personal property.
The term "public place" shall include any and all streets, highways, boulevards, alleys or other publicly owned or controlled ways and any and all publicly owned or controlled parks, squares, spaces, grounds and buildings.
The term "real property" shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
"Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
The words "the state" or "this state" shall be construed to mean the State of Connecticut.
The terms "state law, general law or general statutes" shall refer to the General Statutes of Connecticut, Revision of 1958, as amended.
The word "street" shall be construed to embrace all accepted streets, avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other public ways.
The word "tenant" or "occupant" applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or oral lease of, or who occupies, the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past and present.
All times prescribed in this Code shall be Eastern Standard Time, except that when daylight saving time is being observed in the State of Connecticut, such times shall be Eastern Daylight Time.
The words "the town" shall mean the Town of Vernon in the County of Tolland and the State of Connecticut.
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.
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code of Ordinances which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code of Ordinances, may be numbered sequentially and shall make reference to the portion of this Code intended to be affected and shall be printed for inclusion herein. In the case of repealed chapters, articles, divisions, sections and subsections or any part thereof, by subsequent ordinances, such repealed portions may be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted pages affected thereby.
(a)
By contract or by town personnel, supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the town council. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the town council 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 the 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 the 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 such 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 _____ to _____" (inserting section numbers to 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.
(a)
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect, unless expressly stated.
(b)
The repeal of an ordinance 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 ordinance repealed.
If any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared invalid or unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court, such invalidity or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining provisions of this Code.
It shall be unlawful for any person to change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part of this Code of Ordinances or any ordinance of the town, or to insert or delete pages or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever with intent that any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the town shall be misrepresented, or with intent to commit a fraud thereby.
[Ord. No. 325, 8-20-2024]
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate or fail to comply with any provision of this Code, and where no specific penalty is provided therein, the violation of any provision of this Code shall be punishable by a fine up to the highest amount permitted by the Connecticut General Statutes. Each day any such violation shall continue shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as such.
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:
(1)
Any ordinance promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the town, or any evidence of the town's indebtedness;
(2)
Any appropriation ordinance or ordinance providing for the levy of taxes or for an annual budget;
(3)
Any ordinance annexing territory to the town or excluding territory as a part of the town;
(4)
Any ordinance granting any franchise, permit or other right;
(5)
Any zoning ordinance or regulations;
(6)
Any subdivision ordinance or regulations;
(7)
Any ordinance creating a special services district;
(8)
Any ordinance approving, authorizing or otherwise relating to any contract, agreement, lease, deed or other instrument;
(9)
Any ordinance adopting a preliminary plan or development plan;
(10)
Any temporary or special ordinance;
and all such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length herein.