Red Bluff Municipal Code Div. 1 Rules of Construction

This codification of ordinances by and for the City of Red Bluff shall be designated as the “Code for the City of Red Bluff” 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 this chapter, 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, 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) Specific definitions. For the purpose of this code, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

CALENDAR YEAR. From January 1 through December 31 of any given year.

CITY, MUNICIPAL CORPORATION or MUNICIPALITY. The City of Red Bluff, California.

CODE, THIS CODE or THIS CODE OF ORDINANCES. This municipal code as modified by amendment, revision and adoption of new titles, chapters or sections.

COUNCIL. The City Council of the City of Red Bluff.

COUNTY. Tehama County, California.

DAY. A calendar day unless otherwise expressed.

FISCAL YEAR. From July 1 of any given year through June 30 of the following year.

MAY. The act referred to is permissive.

MONTH. A calendar month.

OATH. 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.

OFFICER, OFFICE, EMPLOYEE, COMMISSION or DEPARTMENT. An officer, office, employee, commission or department of the city unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

OWNER. Applied to a building or land, any part owner, joint owner, tenant, tenant in common or joint tenant of the whole or a part of the building or land.

PERSON. 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.

PERSONAL PROPERTY. Money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt.

PRECEDING or FOLLOWING. Next before or next after, respectively.

PROPERTY. Both real and personal property.

QUARTERLY. When used to designate a period of time, the first three calendar months of any given year or any succeeding period of three calendar months.

REAL PROPERTY. Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.

SHALL. The act referred to is mandatory.

SIGNATURE or SUBSCRIPTION. Includes a mark when the person cannot write.

STATE. The State of California.

STREET. All streets, highways, avenues, boulevards, alleys, courts, places, squares or other public ways in the city which have been or may hereafter be dedicated and open to public use or other public property so designated in any law of the state.

SUBCHAPTER.

(a) 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.

(b) Not all chapters have SUBCHAPTERS.

TENANT or OCCUPANT. Applied to a building or land, the terms shall include any person who occupies the whole or part of the building or land, whether alone or with others.

WRITTEN. Any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.

YEAR. A calendar year unless otherwise expressed.

The construction of all ordinances of the city shall be by the following rules unless the 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, the requisition shall be satisfied by the performance of an act by an authorized agent or deputy.

(C) Gender and 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, the 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 city 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.

(A) 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 the intent, the spelling shall be corrected and the 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.

(B) No alteration shall be made or permitted if any question exists regarding the nature or extent of the error.

The official time, as established by applicable state and federal laws, shall be the official time within the city 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 the act or the giving of the 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.

(A) Ordinances take effect 30 days after their final passage.

(B) An ordinance takes effect immediately, if it is an ordinance:

(1) Relating to an election;

(2) For immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, containing a declaration of the facts constituting the urgency and is passed by a four-fifths vote of the City Council;

(3) Relating to street improvement proceedings;

(4) Relating to taxes for the usual and current expenses of the city; or

(5) Covered by particular provisions of law prescribing the manner of its passage and adoption.

(California Government Code § 36937)

(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 ordinance repealing or modifying it becomes effective 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 the chapter or section. In addition to the 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 5-13-1960; Am. Ord. 15, passed 1-1-1970; Am. Ord. 20, passed 1-1-1980; Am. Ord. 25, passed 1-1-1985)

(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: (California Penal Code § 314) (Ord. 10, passed 1-17-1980; Am. Ord. 20, passed 1-1-1985).

(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.

Example:

The city shall make available to any person for inspection or copying all public records unless otherwise exempted by state law.

Statutory reference: Inspection of public records, see California Government Code §§ 6250 et seq.

(C) If a section of this code is derived from the previous code of ordinances of the city published in 1961 and subsequently amended, the 1961 code section number shall be indicated in the history by “(`61 Code, § 3.1).”

(A) Whenever a notice is required to be given under this code unless different provisions are otherwise specifically made in the code, the notice may be given either by personal delivery thereof to the person to be notified or by deposit in the United States mail in a sealed envelope, postage prepaid, addressed to the person to be notified at his or her last known business or residence address as the same appears in the public records of the city or other records pertaining to the matter to which the notice is directed. Service by mail shall be deemed to have been completed at the time of deposit in the Postal Service.

(B) Proof of giving any notice may be made by the certificate of any officer or employee of the city or by affidavit of any person over the age of 18 years, which affidavit shows service in conformity with this code or other provisions of law applicable to the subject matter concerned.

(A) Not less than three copies of this code shall be filed for use and examination by the public in the Office of the City Clerk. At least three additional copies, duly certified by the City Clerk, shall be maintained on file in his or her office as the official copies of the code. Additional copies of the code shall be distributed to the departments and divisions of the city, as shall be prescribed by the City Manager.

(B) Upon the adoption of any amendment or addition to this code or upon the repeal of any of its provisions, the City Clerk shall certify thereto and shall make an appropriate notation in the official volumes of this code of the taking of the action, noting the number and date of the ordinance pursuant to which the action is taken.

(C) Duly certified copies of each ordinance making changes in the code shall be filed in the Office of the City Clerk in books for the purpose, duly indexed for ready reference.

(D) At least quarterly, the City Clerk shall cause the loose leaf pages of this code in which changes have been made to be reproduced, including the notation as to the ordinance number and date pursuant to which the change is adopted, and distributed in order that the loose leaf copies of the code, prepared for the use and convenience of the officers and employees of the city and the general public, may be brought up-to-date.

(A) Prohibited acts. Whenever in this code any act or omission is made unlawful, it shall include causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, suffering or concealing the fact of the act or omission.

(B) Imposition of penalty. The provisions of this code which declare certain crimes to be punishable, as therein mentioned, devolve a duty upon the court authorized to pass sentence to determine and impose the punishment described.

(C) Determination of punishment. Whenever in this code the punishment for a crime is left undetermined between certain limits, the punishment to be inflicted in a particular case shall be determined by the court authorized to pass sentence, within the limits as may be prescribed by this code.

(A) Every person found guilty of violating any of the provisions of this code and sentenced to imprisonment shall be imprisoned in the City Jail, County Jail or other authorized facility.

(B) All designations, previous references to, and prior use, if any, of the portion of the building described as the City Jail of, in and for the city are hereby approved, ratified and confirmed by the Council as being in fact true and correct.

(A) (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision or to fail to comply with any of the requirements of this code or the provisions of any code adopted by reference by this code. Any person violating any of these provisions or failing to comply with any of the requirements of this code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor unless by the provisions of this code a violation is declared to be an infraction.

(2) Each person shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provisions of this code or of a city ordinance is committed, continued or permitted by the person and shall be punished accordingly.

(B) Unless otherwise specifically provided in this code, any person convicted of a misdemeanor under the provisions of this code shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, by imprisonment in the City Jail or County Jail for a period not exceeding six months or by both the fine and imprisonment.

(C) Unless otherwise specifically provided in this code or by California Vehicle Code § 42002, every person convicted of an infraction shall be punished upon a first conviction by a fine not exceeding $100, for a second conviction within a period of one year by a fine not exceeding $200 and for a third or any subsequent conviction within a period of one year by a fine not exceeding $500.

(D) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, when a person under the age of 18 years is charged with a violation of this code and a peace officer issues a notice to appear in Superior Court to that minor, the charge shall be deemed an infraction unless the minor requests that a petition be filed under California Welfare and Insurance Code §§ 601 or 602.

(2) The amount of the fine imposed shall be set by the court.

Statutory reference:

Imprisonment, see California Government Code §§ 36903 and 36904

Penalties for infractions, see California Government Code §§ 36900 and 36901

Penalties for misdemeanor violations, see California Penal Code § 19