This codification of ordinances by and for the municipality of Harker Heights shall be designated as the Code of Harker Heights and may be so cited.
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.
All provisions of Title I compatible with future legislation, shall apply to ordinances hereafter adopted amending or supplementing this code unless otherwise specifically provided.
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.
(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) CITY, MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, or MUNICIPALITY. CODE, THIS CODE or THIS CODE OF ORDINANCES. COUNTY. MAY. MONTH. OATH. OFFICER, OFFICE, EMPLOYEE, COMMISSION, or DEPARTMENT. PERSON. PRECEDING or FOLLOWING. SHALL. SIGNATURE or SUBSCRIPTION. STATE. SUBCHAPTER. 2004 ANNEXATION AREA. WRITTEN. YEAR.
For the purpose of this code, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
The City of Harker Heights, Texas.
This municipal code as modified by amendment, revision, and adoption of new titles, chapters, or sections.
Bell County, Texas.
The act referred to is permissive.
A calendar month.
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.”
An officer, office, employee, commission, or department of this municipality unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
Extends to 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 shall mean the partners or members thereof, and as applied to corporations, the officers or agents thereof.
Next before or next after, respectively.
The act referred to is mandatory.
Includes a mark when the person cannot write.
The State of Texas.
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 subchapters.
1,155 acres of land, more or less, located south of F.M. 2410, and annexed into the city by Ordinance 2004-22.
Any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
A calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; equivalent to the words “year of our Lord.”
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)
AND or OR.
Either conjunction shall include the other as if written “and/or,” if the sense requires it.
(B)
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.
(C)
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.
(D)
General term.
A general term following specific enumeration of terms is not to be limited to the class enumerated unless expressly so limited.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The official time, as established by applicable state/federal laws, shall be the official time within this municipality for the transaction of all municipal business.
(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.
This code, from and after its effective date, shall contain all of the provisions of a general nature pertaining to the subjects herein enumerated and embraced. All prior ordinances pertaining to the subjects treated by this code shall be deemed repealed from and after the effective date of this code.
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.
All ordinances passed by the legislative body requiring publication shall take effect from and after the due publication thereof, unless otherwise expressly provided. Ordinances not requiring publication shall take effect from their passage, unless otherwise expressly provided.
(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 due publication of the ordinance repealing or modifying it when publication is required to give effect thereto, 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.
(A)
If the legislative body shall desire to amend any existing chapter or section of this code, the chapter or section shall 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.
(A)
As histories for the code sections, the specific number and passage date of the original ordinance, and the most recent three amending ordinances, if any, are listed following the text of the code section. Example: (Ord. 10, passed 5-13-60; Am. Ord. 15, passed 1-1-70; Am. Ord. 20, passed 1-1-80; Am. Ord. 25, passed 1-1-85).[1]
[1]
Editor’s Note: As of 2025, all amendments will be noted in histories, not just the most recent amendments. Also, the formatting of histories is changed to include just the ordinance number and adoption date for space considerations.
(B)
(1)
If a statutory cite is included in the history, this indicates that the text of the section reads substantially the same as the statute.
Example: (Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat., Art. 6252-17a) (Ord. 10, passed 1-17-80; Am. Ord. 20, passed 1-1-85).
(2)
If a statutory cite is set forth as a “statutory reference” following the text of the section, this indicates that the reader should refer to that statute for further information.
(A)
In any prosecution filed under a provision of this code or any ordinance of the city which expressly requires proof that the actor engaged in conduct intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence, then a person does not commit an offense unless he or she is shown to have engaged in such conduct as the definition of the offense requires.
(B)
Whenever in this code or in any ordinance of the city an act or a failure to act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, and such provision does not expressly require proof of a culpable mental state, proof of a culpable mental state is not required for conviction of such offense, it being the intent of the City Council to dispense with the requirement of any culpable mental state in prosecutions filed under such provisions of this code and other ordinances of the city; provided, however, that if such offense is punishable by a fine exceeding the amount authorized by Tex. Penal Code § 12.23, a person does not commit such offense unless he is shown to have recklessly engaged in such conduct as the definition of the offense requires.
(C)
Proof of a higher degree of culpability than that charged constitutes proof of the culpability charged.
(D)
The change in the law made by this section applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this section. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this section if any element of the offense occurs before the effective date. An offense committed before the effective date of this section is covered by the law in effect when the act was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(Ord. 2002-25, 11-12-2002; Ord. 2005-31, 9-27-2005)
(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 this code or ordinance the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any such provision of this code or any such ordinance shall be punished by:
(1)
A fine not to exceed $2,000 in all cases arising under municipal ordinances that govern fire safety, zoning, and public health and sanitation other than vegetation and litter violations;
(2)
A fine not to exceed $2,000, if a motor vehicle is used in illegal dumping or an offense under the law or city ordinance violated for illegal dumping;
(3)
A fine not to exceed $500 in all other cases, provided, however, that no penalty shall be greater or less than the penalty provided for the same or a similar offense under the laws of the state.
(B)
Each day any violation of this code or any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ord. 2000-35, 10-24-2000)