(A) Pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 7-63-201 et seq., which authorizes the City Council to designate certain city enforcement officers the authority to issue ordinance summonses in the areas of sanitation, litter control and animal control, the Council designates the police in the Sanitation Department and the animal control forces in the Animal Control Department to issue ordinance summonses in those areas. These enforcement officers may not arrest violators or issue citations in lieu of arrest, but upon witnessing a violation of any ordinance, law or regulation in the areas of sanitation, litter control or animal control, may issue an ordinance summons and give the summons to the offender.
(B) The ordinance summons shall contain the name and address of the person being summoned and other information necessary to identify and give the person summons notice of the charge against him or her, and state a specific date and place for the offender to appear and answer the charges against him or her. The ordinance summons shall also contain an agreement to appear, which shall be signed by the offender. If the offender refuses to sign the agreement to appear, the enforcement officer in whose presence the offense occurred may:
(1) Have a summons issued by the Clerk of the City Court; or
(2) May seek the assistance of a police officer to witness the violation. The police officer who witnesses the violation may issue a citation in lieu of arrest for the violation, or arrest the offender for failure to sign the citation in lieu of arrest. If the police officer makes an arrest, he or she shall dispose of the person arrested as provided in § 6-201 above.
(C) It shall be unlawful for any person to violate his or her agreement to appear in court, regardless of the disposition of the charge for which the ordinance summons was issued.
(1989 Code, § 6-302)