In the construction of this code and of all ordinances of the City, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City Council, or the context clearly requires otherwise:
1. 
"City."
The words "the City" or "this City" shall be construed as if followed by the words "of Livermore."
2. 
"Code."
The Livermore Municipal Code, together with the Livermore Development Code, which pertains to zoning and land use, are collectively the governing code for the City.
3. 
"Computation of Time."
The time in which any 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.
4. 
"Council"
means the City Council of the City of Livermore.
6. 
"Day"
means the period of time between any 12:00 midnight and the 12:00 midnight following.
7. 
"Daytime"
means the period of time between sunrise and sunset.
8. 
"Gender."
The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.
9. 
"In the City"
means and includes all territory over which the City now has, or shall hereafter acquire, jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers.
10. 
"Joint Authority."
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.
11. 
"Month"
means a calendar month.
12. 
"Nighttime"
means the period of time between sunset and sunrise.
13. 
"Number."
The singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular.
14. 
"Oath"
includes affirmation.
15. 
"Officer, Office, Employee, Board, Commission or Department."
Whenever any officer, office, employee, board, commission or department is referred to, it means an officer, office, employee, board, commission or department of the City, unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
16. 
"Official Time."
Whenever certain hours are named in this code, they mean Pacific Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time, as may be in current use in the City.
17. 
"Or, And." "Or"
may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or," if the sense requires it.
18. 
"Owner."
The word "owner," applied to a building or land, includes 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.
19. 
"Person"
means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation or company.
20. 
"Personal property"
means every species of property, except real property, as defined in this section.
21. 
"Preceding, Following." "Preceding" and "following"
mean next before and next after, respectively.
22. 
"Process"
means and includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature.
23. 
"Property"
means real and personal property.
24. 
"Real property"
means lands, tenements and hereditaments.
25. 
"Shall, May." "Shall"
is mandatory, and "may" is permissive.
26. 
"Signature" or "subscription"
means and includes a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names thereto.
27. 
"State." "The state" or "this state"
means the state of California.
28. 
"Superintendent of Streets"
shall mean the City Engineer or their duly authorized designee.
29. 
"Tenant" or "occupant,"
applied to a building or land, means any person holding a written or an oral lease of, or who occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
30. 
"Tenses."
The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future includes the present.
31. 
"Writing"
means any form of a recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement or record is required or authorized by this code, it shall be made in writing in the English language, unless it is expressly provided otherwise.
32. 
"Year"
means a calendar year, except where otherwise provided.
(1960 code § 1.2; Ord. 2065 § 1(A), 2018; Ord. 2082 § 1(A), 2019; Ord. 2148 § 1, 2023)
A. 
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinance in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
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 any offense committed under the ordinance repealed.
(1960 code § 1.4)
The catchlines of the several sections of this code, printed in boldface type, are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the sections and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, nor as any part of the sections; nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
(1960 code § 1.6)
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 is declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this code.
(1960 code § 1.5; Ord. 2065 § 1(A), 2018)