Grass Valley Municipal Code Art. VII Ordinances

The enacting clause of every ordinance adopted by the council shall be: "Be it ordained by the council of the City of Grass Valley." The enacting clause of every ordinance initiated by the people shall be: "Be it ordained by the people of the City of Grass Valley." At least five (5) days must elapse between the introduction and adoption of any ordinance; provided that

(a) amendments germane to the subject of any proposed ordinance may be made when it is brought up for adoption; and

(b) any ordinance declared by the council to be necessary as an emergency measure for preserving the public peace, health or safety and containing the reason for its urgency, may be introduced and passed at one and the same meeting, regular or special, and if passed by a four-fifths (⅘) vote, shall become effective immediately.

A final vote on any other ordinance or any vote on any appropriation must be taken only at a regular, adjourned regular, or special meeting. Every ordinance must be signed by the mayor, attested by the clerk, and published once in summary or in full in an adjudicated newspaper in the city.

Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, every ordinance shall go into effect thirty days after its adoption, unless otherwise provided in the ordinance itself. No ordinances adopted by the council granting any franchise or privilege shall go into effect in less than thirty days from its final passage provided, however, that the following may go into effect at the will of the council:

(a) ordinances ordering or otherwise relating to elections;

(b) ordinances relating to public improvements, the cost of which is to be borne wholly or in part by special assessments;

(c) urgency ordinances authorized by section 1, subdivision (b) of this article; and

(d) ordinances providing for tax levies or appropriations for the usual current expense of the city or the rate of tax to be levied.

No ordinance shall be amended by reference to its title, but the sections or subsections thereof to be amended shall be restated at length as amended; and any amendment passed contrary to the provisions of this section shall be void.

Any or all properly enacted and unrepealed ordinances of the city may be compiled, consolidated, revised, and indexed, including such restatements and substantive changes as are necessary for clarity, in a comprehensive ordinance code, and such code may be adopted by reference by the passage of an ordinance for such purpose. Such code need not be published in the manner required for other ordinances, but a copy thereof shall be filed for use and examination by the public in the office of the city clerk prior to the adoption thereof. Ordinances codified shall be repealed as of the effective date of the code. Subsequent amendments to sections of the code shall be enacted in the same manner as herein required for the amendment of ordinances generally.

Detailed regulations pertaining to subjects which require extensive regulations, after having been arranged as comprehensive codes, may be adopted by reference.