05-08-1989 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elected Officials, City Councils, and Advisory Bodies al<r> look to their own charter provisions for or dinance enactment. The title. Every ordinance should have a title which describes its contents briefly, but adequate ly. The phrases: "repealing ordinances inconsistent herewith" and "providing penalties for the violation thereof* should be omitted from the title. The nomber. Each ordinance should have an identifying number as a part of its title. The enacting clause. All ordinances, after a suitable title, should b' gin substantially in this form: T*he City Council cf_______ordains." The body of the ordinance. The text of the or dinance itself should be in clear and brief terms. If definitions are helpful, they should be in a single beginning section. The sections should be short to make subsequent amendments easier and cheaper. All sections and subsections should have a number and an identifying one word or short title. The penalty section. This section is for enforce ment purposes. Cities may impose maximum penalties of a $700 fine, or 90 days in jail, or both. However, the petty misdemeanor law limits this authority by setting a fine limit of $100 for certain traffic offenses. ^ The dty should use proper wording in the penalty clause. The closing section. Thi.i should read: "Passed by the (Name of City) Council this_______day of ,19 .If the council wants an effec- tive date later than the diite of publication, this section should state the effective date. Maps. If the ordinance refers to maps and they are an integral part of the ordinance, the or dinance must include them. Because the publication of maps is expensive, some cities omit all reference to the map in the ordinance, and rely instead upon word descriptions. The city then prepares a separate, unofficial map. Deliberation. The council should discuss the or dinance according to the council’s rules before passing it, even though failing abide by these rules probably would not invalidate an ordinance if it meets statutory requirements. The statutes do not specify that an irdinance must have a certain number of reading, nor do they re quire the council to consider it a. more than one meeting. Unless the council has rules to the con trary, it may pass an ordinance at the meeting at which it is introduced. Passage. Except where the statutes require a larger majority, ordinances in statutory cities must get a majority of votes of the whole council to pass. This means, in effect, that at least three council members must vote in favor of an or dinance. Both the clerk in standard plan cities, and the mayor have the power to vote on or dinances. The mayor has no veto power. Attestation. After the council passes ordinances, the m:«yor and the clerk must sign them. Although the law docs not require it, the clerk should also atfix the city seal. If either official refuses to sign the ordinance, a court order can require them to do so. If there is a question of legality, the court will rule on that issue before issuing an order. Effective date. Unless they specify otherwise, ordinances automatically become effective on the day following their publication in the official newspaper. Ordinance book. Each statutory city must main tain an ordinance book containing copies of all or dinances. This book is a public record and is evidence in court. The book may be bound or looseleaf and the record may be in ink, typewriter, or carbon. The clerk may use printed copies of the ordinance, clipped from the newspaper. The printer’s affidavit should be attached to each or dinance in the book. The city should have a numbering system ade quate for indexing its ordinances. In most small cities where the number of ordinances is not great, chronological order is satisfactory. When the nuna- ber of ordinances is large or when the city is recodifying its ordinances, a more complicated sys tem of decimal numbers might be advisable. Publication of Ordinances The following publication requirements apply to statutory cities. To be valid, the city must publish at least a sum mary of the ordinance in the official newspaper of the city. To qualify as an official newspaper, the newspaper must be a legal newspaper under state statute and the council must have designated it as such. Cities usually publish ordinances Page 112 Handbook for Minnesota Cities