An emergency ordinance or resolution is an ordinance or resolution necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, or providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department, and shall take effect immediately upon passage by Council. Ordinances or resolutions providing for the appropriation of money, or annual tax levy, or for improvements petitioned for by owners of a majority of the front footage of the property benefited and to be specially assessed thereon, may be passed on emergency. Ordinances and resolutions may be elevated to emergency status only by an affirmative vote of five (5) or more members of Council. The reasons for declaring such ordinance or resolution to be an emergency measure shall be set forth in the preamble or in one section of the ordinance or resolution. Any ordinance or resolution that shall have been elevated to emergency status shall be passed upon final reading by the affirmative vote of five (5) or more members of Council and shall take effect immediately upon passage or by the affirmative vote of four (4) members of Council in which event such ordinance or resolution shall become effective thirty (30) days after its passage. No ordinance or resolution granting, renewing, or extending a franchise or other special privilege, regulating a rate to be charged for its services by any privately, or municipally, owned public utility, nor any ordinance or resolution changing the boundaries of the Municipality or the surrender or joint exercise of its powers, may be passed on emergency.
(Amended November 4, 2014)