Torrance Municipal Code Art. 5 City Council Powers

500 LEGISLATIVE POWERS.

The legislative powers of the City shall be vested in the City Council and the people through the initiative and referendum.

501 REGULAR MEETINGS.

The City Council shall hold regular meetings at least once in each month, at such times as it shall fix by ordinance or resolution, and may adjourn any regular meeting to a date certain, which shall be specified in the order of adjournment, and when so adjourned, each adjourned meeting shall be a regular meeting for all purposes. Any adjourned meeting may likewise be adjourned.

502 ADJOURNMENT.

In the event that any order of adjournment of a regular meeting fails to set the hour at which any adjourned meeting is to be held, such adjourned meeting may be validly held on the day specified in the order of adjournment, if held at the hour set forth in the ordinance or resolution prescribing the time for regular meetings.

503 SPECIAL MEETINGS.

Special meetings may be called at any time by the Mayor, or by a majority of the members of the City Council, upon compliance with the notice requirements for special meetings prescribed by state law; provided, however, that any special meeting of the City Council shall be a validly called special meeting, without the giving of such written notice, as provided, if all members of the City Council shall give their consent, in writing, to the holding of such meeting, and such consent is on file in the office of the City Clerk at the time of holding such meeting. An email, text message, or other electronic communication from a member of the Council consenting to the holding of the meeting shall be deemed to be a consent in writing, within the meaning of the terms as expressed in the foregoing sentences. At any special meeting the powers of the City Council to transact business shall be limited to matters referred to in such written notice or written consent.

504 PLACE OF MEETINGS.

All regular or special meetings of the City Council shall be held within the corporate limits of the City, at such place as may be designated by ordinance or resolution, and shall be open to the public. If, by reason of fire, flood or other disaster or emergency, it shall be unsafe to hold a Council meeting at the designated place, the City Council may meet during such emergency at such place as is designated by the Mayor or by three members of the City Council. The City Council shall have the right and privilege to hold and conduct its meeting in accordance with an agenda and may specify the matters which shall be considered at each meeting and shall have the right to establish a time at which all communications shall be on file in the Office of the City Clerk in order that such communications may be considered at the next regular meeting of the City Council.

505 QUORUM.

At any meeting of the City Council, a majority of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from time to time, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance. In the absence of all of the City Council from any regular meeting or adjourned regular meeting, the City Clerk may declare the same postponed and adjourned to a stated day and hour and must thereupon deliver or cause to be delivered to each member of the City Council a notice of such adjournment. Whenever in this Charter a certain proportion of the Council is required for the performance of any act, it shall mean such proportion of the entire membership of the Council.

506 COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

The City Council shall judge the qualifications of its members and of all election returns, and determine contested elections of all City officers. It may establish rules for the conduct of its proceedings and punish any member or other person for disorderly behavior at any meeting. It shall have the power and authority to examine witnesses under oath and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence before it by subpoena. Such subpoenas shall be issued in the name of the City and be attested by the City Clerk. The disobedience of such subpoenas, or the refusal to testify, shall constitute a misdemeanor for which prosecution may be had in any court of competent jurisdiction. It shall cause the City Clerk to keep a correct record of all its proceedings and at the desire of any member, the City Clerk shall call the roll, and shall cause the ayes and noes taken on any question to be entered in the record journal.

507 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

The City Council and all City boards, commissions, and committees shall operate transparently and in a manner to promote public participation. No person shall be denied the right, personally or through counsel, to present grievances or offer suggestions for the betterment of municipal affairs at any regular meeting, adjourned regular meeting, or special meeting of the City Council, board, commission, or committee if the item is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council, board, commission, or committee or if such item is on the agenda, prior to the item being considered by the City Council, board, commission, or committee. The City Council may, by ordinance or resolution, establish time limitations for speaking and impose other reasonable regulations on the exercise of such right in order to preserve the orderly nature of its proceedings. The Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, or presiding officer may modify the regular rules of order in a nondiscriminatory fashion where large audiences are present and may make necessary orders to prevent disorderly conduct or disruptions when the meeting is being disrupted and preventing the business of the City Council from being completed. All boards, commissions, and committees shall conduct their meetings in a similar fashion consistent with the City Council’s rules of order or with their own procedures so long as the procedures are consistent with the City Council’s rules of order.

508 ORDINANCES; ENACTMENT CLAUSE.

The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be substantially as follows: "The City Council of the City of Torrance does ordain as follows:" Every ordinance must be signed by the Mayor and attested by the City Clerk.

509 ORDINANCES: PUBLICATION.

At the time any ordinance is introduced to the City Council, the City Attorney shall prepare and submit a summary of the ordinance. Upon adoption of an ordinance, the City Council may determine that the summary of the ordinance shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated within the City, or that the full ordinance shall be so published. In the event the City Council shall determine that a summary shall be published, it shall approve the summary as submitted or may modify it.

The City Clerk shall thereafter cause either the ordinance, or the summary thereof approved by the City Council, to be published within fifteen (15) days after its adoption at least once in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated within the City. If there is no such newspaper, then each such ordinance must be posted in at least three (3) public places within the City or published in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the County and circulated in the City.

In the event the summary is published, the names of the Council Members voting for and against shall be shown.

510 CODIFICATION OF ORDINANCES.

Any and all ordinances of the City which have been enacted and published in the manner required at the time of their adoption, and which have not been repealed, may be compiled, consolidated, revised, indexed, including such re-statements and substantive changes as may be necessary in the interest of clarity and arranged as a comprehensive ordinance code, and such code may be adopted by reference by the passage of an ordinance for such purpose which ordinance shall be required to be adopted and approved in the manner provided in this Charter for the passage of ordinances of the City. The ordinance code itself need not be published in the manner required for other ordinances, but not less than three (3) copies of such code shall be filed, for use and examination by the public, in the office of the City Clerk, prior to the adoption thereof. After the code has been adopted, all ordinances thereafter adopted shall be amendatory and revisory of the code, and no section of the code shall be revised or amended by reference but the section revised or amended shall be readopted and published at length as revised or amended.

511 ADOPTION OF CODE BY REFERENCE.

Detailed regulations pertaining to any subject, including, but not limited to, the California Building Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations) or any successor provision, or other subjects which require extensive regulations, after having been arranged as a comprehensive code, may be adopted by reference by the passage of an ordinance for such purposes; which ordinance may be adopted in the same manner as specified for the adoption of a comprehensive ordinance code. Maps, charts, and diagrams also may be adopted by reference.

512 ADOPTION OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS.

No ordinance of any kind shall be passed by the City Council on the day of its introduction, nor within five (5) days thereafter, nor at any time other than a regular or adjourned regular meeting. At the time that an ordinance or resolution is up for final passage, it shall be read in full, unless after the reading of the title thereof, the further reading thereof is waived by motion of the City Council regularly made and approved by the unanimous vote of those present. In the event that any ordinance is materially altered after its introduction, the same shall not be finally adopted except at a regular or adjourned regular meeting held not less than five (5) days after the date upon which such ordinance was so altered. The correction of typographical or clerical errors shall not constitute the making of an alteration within the meaning of the foregoing sentence.

No resolution or any order for the payment of money shall have any validity or effect unless passed by the votes of at least four (4) members of the City Council, and no ordinance shall have any validity or effect unless passed by the votes of at least four (4) members of the City Council.

All ordinances and resolutions shall be signed by the Mayor, attested by the City Clerk and approved to legal form by the City Attorney. The Mayor shall sign all ordinances and resolutions within 30 days of passage or adoption. The signature of the Mayor on a ordinance or resolution is a ministerial act. The failure of the Mayor to sign an ordinance or resolution does not invalidate that ordinance or resolution and does not prevent that ordinance or resolution from taking effect. If the Mayor does not sign an ordinance or a resolution within 30 days of its passage, it will take effect in the same manner as if the Mayor had signed it. The Mayor Pro Tem may sign ordinances and resolutions if the Mayor is unable to sign due to being out of town or due to disability.

513 ORDINANCES; WHEN EFFECTIVE.

No ordinance shall become effective until thirty (30) days from and after the date of its final passage, except an ordinance

(a) calling or otherwise relating to an election.

(b) to a street improvement proceeding taken under some law.

(c) ordinance determining the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation or fixing the rate of taxes to be levied.

(d) an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, which contains a declaration of facts constituting its urgency, and is passed by a five-sevenths vote of the City Council. An ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety which contains a declaration of the facts constituting its urgency and is passed as aforesaid, may be introduced and passed at one and the same meeting and the requirement that no less than five (5) days shall intervene between the introduction and final passage shall not apply to such an ordinance.

(e) as otherwise provided by State law.

514 ORDINANCE VIOLATION: MISDEMEANOR OR INFRACTION.

A. A violation of any ordinance of the City may be prosecuted by the authorities of the City either as a misdemeanor or an infraction, as the City Council may determine, in the name of the People of the State of California, or may be redressed by civil action, or both, at the option of the authorities.

B. For any ordinance of the City adopted after the effective date of this amended section, the City Council shall declare at the time of adoption whether the violation of such ordinance shall be a misdemeanor or an infraction or alternatively, a misdemeanor or infraction pursuant to Section 17(d) of the California Penal Code.

C. For each ordinance adopted before the effective date of this amended section, the City Council may determine, by the adoption of an ordinance or ordinances that the violation of any such previously adopted ordinances shall be an infraction, or alternatively a misdemeanor or an infraction pursuant to Section 17(d) of the California Penal Code.

515 ORDINANCE PENALTY.

The maximum fine or penalty for any violation of this Charter or for any violation of an ordinance of this City which is a misdemeanor, shall be the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1000), or a term in the County Jail or in the City Jail for a period not exceeding six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, or as otherwise provided in Section 36901 of the California Government Code. The maximum fine or penalty for violation of any ordinance of this City which is an infraction, or which is charged as an infraction, shall be provided in Section 36900 of the California Government Code. The City may also provide for the issuance of administrative citations and administrative fines for violations of any provisions of this Charter or any provisions of the Municipal Code.