The chapters, articles, divisions and sections embraced in this code of ordinances shall constitute and be designated as the “code of the town of Mesilla, New Mexico” and may be so cited.
(Prior code § 1-1-1)
A. 
In the construction of all ordinances of this code, the following definitions and rules of construction shall be observed unless inconsistent with the manifest intent of the ordinance:
1. 
“Agent”
means a person acting on behalf of another;
2. 
“Board of trustees”
means the governing body of the town of Mesilla;
3. 
“Chief of police”
means town marshal;
4. 
“Code”
means the Code of the Town of Mesilla, 1978 Compilation;
5. 
“Code 1971”
means the Code of the Town of Mesilla, 1971 Compilation, as amended;
6. 
“County”
means Dona Ana County, New Mexico;
7. 
“Day”
means the period of time between any midnight and the midnight following;
8. 
“Daytime”
means the period of time between sunrise and sunset;
9. 
Delegation of Authority.
Whenever a provision appears in this code requiring an officer of the municipality to do some act or make certain inspections, it is to be construed to authorize such 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 expressly states otherwise;
10. 
“Employee”
means some person hired by the town of Mesilla;
11. 
“Fee”
means a sum of money charged by the municipality for the carrying on of a business, profession, or occupation;
12. 
“Following”
means next after;
13. 
“Law”
means any statute, ordinance or regulation promulgated by the United States, the state of New Mexico, the county of Dona Ana, the town of Mesilla or agency or department thereof, as well as the rules and regulations of other bodies politic that may be appropriate;
14. 
“May”
means discretionary (as opposed to “shall”);
15. 
“Minor”
means any person under 18 years of age with respect to all offenses, except those involving alcoholic beverages;
16. 
“Month”
means a calendar month;
17. 
“Municipality”
means the town of Mesilla;
18. 
“Nighttime”
means the period of time between sunset and sunrise;
19. 
“NMSA 1978”
means New Mexico Statutes Annotated, 1978 Compilation;
20. 
Number.
Any word importing the singular number shall include the plural and any word importing the plural number shall include the singular;
21. 
“Oath”
includes 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” or “affirmed”;
22. 
Official Time Standard.
Whenever certain hours are named in this code they shall mean standard time or daylight saving time as may be in current use in the municipality;
23. 
“Owner”
when applied to a building or land means any corporation, part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of the whole of a part of such building or land;
24. 
“Person”
means an individual, organization, club, society, or group acting as a unit, as well as any other legal entity;
25. 
“Personal property”
means money, goods, chattels, evidence of debt;
26. 
“Preceding”
means next before;
27. 
“Property”
means real, tangible and intangible personal property, and mixed property;
28. 
“Public place”
means any public way, park cemetery, school yard or open space adjacent thereto; any public lake or waterflow; and any place of business open to the use of the public in general, open to public view or to which the public has access;
29. 
“Public way”
means any street, alley, boulevard, parkway, highway, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare;
30. 
“Publish” or “publication”
means printing in a newspaper than maintains an office in the municipality and is of general circulation within the municipality or, if such newspaper is a nondaily paper that will not be circulated to the public in time to meet publication requirements or if there is no newspaper that maintains an office in the municipality and is of general circulation within the municipality, then “publish” or “publication” means posting in six public places within the municipality on the first day that publication is required in a newspaper that maintains an office in the municipality and is of general circulation within the municipality. Once of the public places where posting shall be made is the office of the municipal clerk who shall maintain the posting during the length of time necessary to comply with the provisions relating to the number of time publication is required in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality. The municipal clerk, may, in addition to posting, publish one or more times in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality;
31. 
“Real property”
means lands, tenements and hereditaments;
32. 
“Reasonable notice and reasonable time”
means such time or notice as may be necessary for the prompt performance of such duty, or compliance with such notice;
33. 
“Residence”
means a place of habitation to which a person has an intention of returning whenever he/she is absent. Whenever a person eats at one place and sleeps at another, the person where such person sleeps shall be deemed her/his residence;
34. 
“Roadway”
means that portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic;
35. 
“Shall”
means mandatory;
36. 
“Sidewalk”
means 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;
37. 
“Signature or subscription”
means a person’s name written by himself or herself or a mark if the person cannot write if the person’s name is written near the mark and if the mark is witnessed by a person who writes her/his own name as witness;
38. 
“State”
means the state of New Mexico;
39. 
“Street”
means any thoroughfare that can accommodate pedestrian or vehicular traffic, is generally open to the public, and is under the control of the municipality;
40. 
“Tenant” or “occupant,”
when applied to a building or land, includes any person who occupies the whole or part of such building or land, whether alone or with others;
41. 
Tense.
Words used in the past or present tense shall include the future as well as past or present;
42. 
“Writing or written”
means any mode of representing words, letters, or figures, whether by printing or otherwise; and
43. 
“Year”
means a calendar year.
B. 
All words and phrases shall be construed and understood according to the common and approved usage of language; but technical words and phrases as they may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.
C. 
All references to chapters, articles or sections are to the chapters, articles and sections of this code unless otherwise specified.
D. 
If the provisions of different chapters of this code conflict with or contravene each other, the provisions of each chapter shall prevail as to all matters and questions growing out of the subject matter of such chapter.
E. 
If conflicting provisions be found in different sections of the same chapter the provisions of the section which is last in numerical order shall prevail unless such construction would be inconsistent with the meaning of such chapter.
(Prior code § 1-1-2; Ord. 2003-11 § 1)
Any additions or amendments to this code shall be adopted as ordinances as required by law, and when passed in such form as to indicate the intention to make a part thereof, shall be incorporated into this code so that reference to it as the “code of the town of Mesilla, New Mexico” shall be understood as including such additions or amendments.
(Prior code § 1-1-3)
The provisions of this code are hereby declared to be severable, and if any section, provision, or part thereof shall be held unconstitutional or invalid, the remainder of this code shall continue in full force and effect, it being the legislative intent that this code would have been adopted even if such unconstitutional matter had not been included therein. It is further declared that if any provision or part of this code or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of this code and the application thereof to other persons shall not be affected thereby.
(Prior code § 1-1-4)
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature adopted by the municipality before the effective date of this code, are hereby repealed; provided, however, that any ordinances establishing salaries, establishing any contract right, authorizing the issuance of any bonds or evidence of indebtedness of the municipality relating to the annual appropriation of the annual tax levy, granting any franchise, annexing territory to the municipality, naming streets or alleys, creating or assessing any local improvement district, or authorizing the sale, purchase or lease of property by the municipality, shall not be considered to be ordinances of a general and permanent nature and the same are not hereby repealed.
(Prior code § 1-1-5)
The repeal of any provision of this code shall not affect any right which has accrued, any duty imposed, any penalty incurred, nor any action or proceedings as commenced under or by virtue of the provision repealed, nor the tenure of an office of any person holding office at the time when such repeal shall take effect. The repeal of any provision of this code shall not revive any provision of any ordinance theretofore repealed or superseded.
(Prior code § 1-1-6)
The corporate seal for the municipality shall be available for public review and examination in the office of the town clerk-treasurer.
(Prior code § 1-1-7)
A. 
Maximum Penalty. Whenever in this code or any other ordinance or resolutions of the municipality or any rule or regulation promulgated under the provisions of this code any act is prohibited or declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, where no specific penalty is provided therefor, any person who shall be convicted of the violation of any such provision of this code or other ordinance or resolution of the municipality hereafter enacted or of such rules or regulations shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500.00 or by imprisonment in jail not exceeding 90 days or by both such fine and imprisonment. Every day any violation of this code or any other ordinance or resolution of the municipality or any rule or regulation promulgated under the provision of this code shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
B. 
Mandatory Fees Collected Upon Conviction. In addition to any fine or imprisonment described in subsection (A) of this section, there is imposed upon any person convicted of violating any municipal ordinance the penalty for which carries a potential jail term or any ordinance relating to the operation of a motor vehicle the following mandatory fees:
1. 
A corrections fee of $20.00;
2. 
A judicial education fee of $3.00; and
3. 
A court automation fee of $6.00.
As used in this chapter, “convicted” means the defendant has been found guilty of a criminal charge by the municipal judge, either after trial, a plea of guilty or a plea of nolo contendere, or has elected to pay a penalty assessment in lieu of trial.
C. 
Disposition and Use of Fees Collected.
1. 
All corrections fees collected shall be deposited in a special corrections fund in the municipal treasury and shall be used only for municipal jailer training, for construction planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the municipal jail, for paying the costs of housing the municipality’s prisoners in other detention facilities in the state, or for complying with match or contribution requirements relating to jails.
2. 
All judicial education fees collected shall be remitted monthly to the state treasurer for credit to the judicial education fund and shall be used for the education and training, including production of benchbooks and other written materials, of municipal judges and other municipal court personnel.
3. 
All court automation fees collected shall be remitted monthly to the state treasurer for credit to the municipal court automation fund and shall be used for the purchase and maintenance of court automation systems in the municipal courts. The court automation systems shall have the capability of providing, on a timely basis, electronic records in a format specified by the judicial information system council.
(Prior code § 1-1-8; Ord. 94-05; Ord. 98-03 § 1; Ord. 2003-07 § 1; Ord. 2009-06 § 1)
Prosecution for violations of municipal ordinances instituted prior to the effective date of this code shall be governed, prosecuted and punished under the ordinances existing at the time the violation occurred.
(Prior code § 1-1-9)
Citations to NMSA 1978, the Code 1971 and other citations at the end of sections indicate the authority or source of wording for that section and the text cited may or may not be changed by this code. Reference matter is for information only and is not a part of this code.
(Prior code § 1-1-10)
It shall be unlawful for any person to change or amend by additions or deletions, any part or portion of this code, or to insert or delete pages, or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the municipality to be misrepresented thereby; provided, that supplementation of this code by authorized persons shall be permitted.
(Prior code § 1-1-11)
A. 
The imposition of a penalty under the provisions of this code shall not prevent the revocation or suspension of any license, franchise or permit issued or granted under the provisions of this code.
B. 
In the event any violation of this code is designated as a nuisance under the provisions of this code, such nuisance may be summarily abated by the municipality in addition to the imposition of a fine or imprisonment or both.
(Prior code § 1-1-12)