[Amended 11-7-1978; 11-7-2000; 11-4-2014]
Every proposed ordinance and amendment to ordinances
shall be filed with the Town Clerk not later than four business days
prior to the date of the meeting at which it is to be introduced.
The Clerk shall review the submission with the Town Manager and prepare
the proposed ordinance or amendment in accordance with the subsequent
sections of this article.
[Amended 11-7-1978]
Every ordinance, other than an emergency ordinance,
shall be read a first time by title and explained by its sponsor at
the meeting at which it is introduced and then referred to a subsequent
regular or special meeting for hearing. A public hearing shall be
held by the Town Council at the regular or special meeting to which
the matter was referred, or any adjournment thereof, and no action
shall be taken on the ordinance until the next regular or special
Town Council meeting held after the conclusion of the hearing.
[Amended 11-7-1978]
Every hearing on an ordinance or amendment to
an ordinance, other than an emergency ordinance, shall be advertised
by publication by the Town Clerk of a notice in a newspaper of general
circulation within the Town once at least five days before the date
of hearing. The notice shall set forth the date, time and place of
hearing and either the text of the proposed ordinance or the amendment
of the ordinance or a digest thereof certified by the Town Solicitor
to the Town Clerk as containing an adequate disclosure of the substance
of the ordinance or amendment.
[Amended 11-7-1978; 11-7-2000]
In an emergency affecting the public peace,
health, safety, comfort and welfare of the inhabitants of the Town
and for the protection of persons and property, the Town Council,
without hearing, by an affirmative vote of three members, may adopt
on the day of its introduction an ordinance containing a declaration
of emergency, which shall take effect upon its passage. No zoning
ordinance or ordinance granting a franchise or creating a personnel
classification system or amendment of any of the same shall be passed
as an emergency ordinance. The nature of the emergency shall be specifically
stated in the ordinance, and such declaration shall be conclusive
as to the existence of such an emergency. Every emergency ordinance
shall automatically stand repealed as of the 90th day following the
date on which it was adopted, but this shall not prevent reenactment
of the ordinance in the manner specified in this section if the emergency
still exists.
The enacting clause of all ordinances shall
be: "The Town Council of the Town of East Greenwich hereby ordains."
