The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections
shall constitute and be designated the "Code of Ordinances, City of
Belfast, Maine," and may be cited as the "Belfast Code."
In the construction of this Code, and of all ordinances, the
following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would
be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City council or unless
such construction would be inconsistent with the definition included
within a specific chapter as outlined hereinafter:
The term "City" means the City of Belfast, Maine, and shall
extend to and include its several officers, agents and employees.
Whenever reference is made to a board, committee, commission,
officer, employee or department, etc., it shall mean the same as if
it were followed by the words "of the City of Belfast, Maine."
The term "City council" means the City council of the City
of Belfast.
The term "Code" means the Code of Ordinances, City of Belfast,
Maine.
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by
this Code, the day of the act, event or default from which the designated
period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of
the period so computed shall be included unless it is a Saturday,
Sunday or legal holiday, in which event the period shall run until
the end of the next day which is neither a Saturday, a Sunday nor
a legal holiday. When the period of time prescribed or allowed is
less than seven days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays
shall be excluded in the computation.
The term "county" means the County of Waldo, Maine.
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department
or some other City officer or employee to do some act or perform some
duty, it shall be construed to authorize the head of the department
or other officer or employee to designate, delegate and authorize
subordinates to perform the required act or perform the duty unless
the terms of the provision or section specify otherwise.
A word importing either the masculine or feminine gender
shall extend and be applied to both the masculine and feminine genders,
and to firms, partnerships and corporations.
Words purporting to give authority to three or more officers
or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a
majority of such officers or other persons, unless it is otherwise
declared.
The terms "keeper" and "proprietor" mean and include persons,
firms, associations, corporations, clubs and copartnerships, whether
acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.
The abbreviation "M.R.S.A." means the latest edition or supplement
of the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated.
The term "month" means a calendar month.
The term "municipal officer" means the City council of Belfast,
Maine.
The term "municipal official" means any elected or appointed
member of the City.
A word importing the singular may extend and be applied to
the plural, and vice versa.
The term "oath" shall include an affirmation in all cases
in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and
in such cases the terms "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to
the terms "affirm" and "affirmed."
The word "and" may be read "or," and "or" may be read "and,"
if the sense requires it.
The term "owner," applied to a building or land, includes
any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership,
joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or of a part
of such building or land.
The term "person" shall extend and be applied to associations,
clubs, societies, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate
as well as to individuals.
The term "personal property" includes every kind of property,
tangible and intangible, except real property.
The term "property" includes real, personal and mixed property.
The term "public property" means property owned by the City
and any place subject to the primary control of any public agency,
including but not limited to any park, street, public way, cemetery,
schoolyard or adjacent open space and any lake or stream.
The term "real property" includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
The term "sidewalk" means any portion of a street between
the curbline and the adjacent property line, intended for the use
of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
The term "signature" or "subscription" includes a mark when
the person cannot write.
The term "state" means the State of Maine.
The term "street" includes streets, highways, avenues, boulevards,
roads, City ways, lanes, bridges, and all other public ways dedicated
to public use and shall mean the entire width between abutting property
lines. It shall be construed to include a sidewalk or footpath, unless
the contrary is expressed or unless such construction would be inconsistent
with the manifest intent of the City council.
The terms "tenant" and "occupant," applied to a building
or land, include any person holding a written or oral lease of, or
who occupies the whole or part of, such building or land, either alone
or with others.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future
as well as the past and present.
The term "week" means seven days.
The terms "written" and "in writing" include any representation
of words, letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
The term "year" means a calendar year.
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed
in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents
of the sections and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such
sections, or any part of the sections, nor, unless expressly so provided,
shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines,
are amended or reenacted.
All references in this Code to chapters, articles, divisions
or sections are to the chapters, articles, divisions or sections of
this Code, unless otherwise specified.
The history notes appearing in parentheses after sections of
this Code are not intended to have any legal effect, but are merely
intended to indicate the source of matter contained in the section.
References and editor's notes following certain sections
are inserted as an aid and guide to the reader and are not controlling
or meant to have any legal effect.
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall
affect any offense or act committed or done, or any penalty or forfeiture
incurred, or any contract or right established or accruing, before
the effective date of this Code. The revised Code is a repeal of all
ordinances in conflict with it, but all ordinances enforced before
its adoption continue in force until incorporated hereto by amendment.
The repeal of an ordinance or portion of this Code shall not
revive any ordinance or portion of this Code in force before or at
the time the provision repealed took effect. The repeal of an ordinance
or a portion of this Code shall not affect any punishment or penalty
incurred before the repeal took effect, or any suit, prosecution or
proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for an offense committed
under the provision repealed.
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall
be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of
the following when not inconsistent with this Code:
(1)
Any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture
incurred before the effective date of this Code.
(2)
Any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment
of money for the City or authorizing the issuance of any bonds of
the City, or any evidence of the City's indebtedness, or any
contract, right, agreement, lease, deed or other instrument or obligation
assumed by the City.
(3)
Any administrative ordinances of the City not in conflict or inconsistent
with the provisions of this Code.
(4)
Any right or franchise granted by any ordinance.
(5)
Any ordinance dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating,
opening, paving, widening, repairing, vacating, etc., any street or
public way in the City.
(6)
Any appropriation ordinance.
(7)
Any ordinance levying or imposing taxes.
(8)
Any ordinance regarding traffic or motor vehicle parking or operation.
(9)
Any rezoning ordinance or amendment to the zoning map.
(10)
Any ordinance establishing and prescribing the street grades of any
street in the City.
(11)
Any ordinance providing for local improvements and assessing taxes
for such improvements.
(12)
Any ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat or subdivision in
the City.
(13)
Any ordinance establishing or setting salaries of City officers and
employees.
(14)
Any ordinance regarding salaries.
(15)
Any temporary or special ordinances.
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All such ordinances are recognized as continuing in full force
and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this Code.
The ordinances are on file in the City Clerk's office.
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The provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they are in
substance the same as the provisions of ordinances existing at the
time of the effective date of this Code, shall be considered as continuations
and not as new enactments.
(a)
Any and all additions and amendments to this Code, when passed in
such form as to indicate the intention of the City to make the addition
or amendment a part of this Code, shall be deemed to be incorporated
in this Code, so that reference to the Code shall be understood and
intended to include such additions and amendments.
(b)
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code which amend, repeal
or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with
the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion in this
Code. When subsequent ordinances repeal any chapter, article, division,
section or subsection or any portion of such material, such repealed
portions may be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted
pages.
(c)
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code may be made by amending
such provisions by specific reference to the section number of this
Code in substantially the following language: "That section __________
of the Code of Ordinances, City of Belfast, Maine, is hereby amended
to read as follows: . . . ." The new provisions shall then be set
out in full as desired.
(d)
If a new section not theretofore existing in the Code is to be added,
the following language may be used: "That the Code of Ordinances,
City of Belfast, Maine, is hereby amended by adding a section to be
numbered __________, which section reads as follows: . . . ." The
new section may then be set out in full as desired.
(e)
All sections, divisions, articles, chapters, or provisions desired
to be repealed must be specifically repealed by section, division,
article or chapter number, as the case may be.
(a)
By contract or by City personnel, supplements to this Code shall
be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the City.
A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and
general parts of ordinances as passed by the City council or adopted
by initiative and referendum during the period covered by the supplement
and all changes made by the supplement in the Code. The pages of a
supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the
Code and will, where necessary, replace pages that have become obsolete
or partially obsolete; and the new pages shall be so prepared that,
when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the
date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
(b)
In preparing a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code
which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by their
omission from reprinted pages.
(c)
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier, meaning the
person authorized to prepare the supplement, may make formal, nonsubstantive
changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement,
insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified
code. For example, the codifier may:
(1)
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions.
(2)
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections
and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and
make changes in catchlines, headings and titles.
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to
be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material,
change existing section or other subdivision numbers.
(4)
Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same meaning to
"this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case
may be, or to "sections __________ through __________." The inserted
section numbers will indicate the sections of the Code which embody
the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code.
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original
meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code, but in no case
shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance
material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.
It is declared to be the intention of the City council that
the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code
are severable; and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section
of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional, invalid or unenforceable,
such unconstitutionality, invalidity or unenforceability shall not
affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs
and sections of this Code.
Unless otherwise provided, whenever in this Code or in material
adopted by reference by this Code any act is prohibited or made or
declared to be unlawful, or whenever in this Code or in material adopted
by reference by this Code the doing of any act is required or the
failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific
penalty is provided, the violation of such provision shall be punishable
by a fine of not more than $100 plus costs, plus attorneys' fees.
This penalty shall not be deemed to be exclusive of any other appropriate
legal or equitable action, including but not limited to temporary,
preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief. Each day any violation
of this Code occurs or continues shall constitute a separate offense.
