(a) Approval. A legal opinion on all ordinances, resolutions and contract documents shall have been rendered as to form and legality by the Director of Law or his authorized representative, before passage by Council.
(b) Introduction and Passage of Ordinances and Resolutions.
(1) Ordinances and resolutions shall be introduced and sponsored by a member of Council or the Mayor; otherwise they shall not be entertained by Council. However, upon the unanimous vote of Council, a resolution may be sponsored by the entire Council and the Mayor.
(Ord. 105-75. Passed 11-11-75.)
(2) No ordinance or resolution requiring more than one reading shall be put on its final passage on the same day on which it was introduced, except emergency legislation. Consistent with the provisions of the Municipal Charter at Article X, Section X-2, an emergency measure 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 in in which the emergency is set forth and defined in a preamble and/or section to the ordinance or resolution. Each emergency measure shall contain a statement of the necessity for such emergency action and in addition shall state in precise terms exactly what the emergency is, and shall require the affirmative vote of five (5) members of Council for its enactment as an emergency measure. No action of the Council authorizing any change in the boundaries of the Municipality or the surrender or ioint exercise of any of its powers, or granting, renewing or extending any franchise or other special privilege, or contracting for the supply to the Municipality or its inhabitants of the products or service of any utility, whether municipality owned or not, or regulating the rate to be charged for its services, shall be enacted as an emergency measure. A legislative measure, as opposed to an administrative measure, that is not an emergency shall go into effect thirty (30) days after its passage by the Council and signature by the Mayor, or upon its passage after disapproval by the Mayor, as the case may be and as provided by the Municipal Charter.
(3) All ordinances and resolutions, except emergency legislation, shall have three separate readings on three separate days. When the committee to which an ordinance or resolution has been referred reports such ordinance or resolution to Council, the ordinance or resolution shall stand for final action in accordance with the report of the committee, notwithstanding that such committee reports may report an amended or a substituted ordinance or resolution, provided that such amendment or substitution is germane to the ordinance or resolution originally referred to such committee.
(4) No ordinance or resolution shall relate to more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, and no ordinance or resolution, or section thereof shall be amended or repealed unless the new ordinance or resolution contains the title of the ordinance or resolution, or section amended or repealed. When practicable, ordinances or resolutions shall be introduced as amendments to existing ordinances or resolutions, or sections thereof.
(5) An ordinance or resolution, after reference to a committee and report thereon received, may be re-referred to the committee at any time previous to its final passage.
(6) The rule requiring that an ordinance or resolution shall be read on three different days, in subsection (b)(3) of this section, may be dispensed with upon the affirmative vote of five of the members of Council and the legislation may be read by title only prior to its passage.
(7) The Presiding Officer may, on his own initiative, refer proposed legislation to a Standing Committee of Council for their report and recommendation, except that Council, upon the affirmative vote of five members, may suspend the rules and call for a vote on the proposed legislation. Once referred to Committee, the legislation shall be discussed, studied and amended, if necessary, and brought back to the floor for final consideration. A majority of Council at any time, by simple motion, may remove the proposed legislation from a Committee and bring it back to the floor for action by the entire Council.
(Ord. 2-2022. Passed 1-25-22.)