Ordinances shall be adopted in the following manner:
(A) Upon adoption of a motion requesting the same at any regular or special meeting, the Law Director shall draft the requested ordinance for submission at Council's next meeting.
(B) The Clerk of Council shall distribute a copy of the Law Director's drafted or approved ordinance to each Council Member and to the City Manager, and shall further have copies of the same on file in the Clerk's Office for public examination. In addition, the Clerk shall publish a brief summary of the proposed ordinance in accordance with the publication requirements prescribed by Section 10-8 of this Charter. The Clerk's publication of the proposed ordinance shall state that copies of the proposed ordinances are available at the office of the Clerk of Council for inspection during regular business hours, and shall further specify the time, date, and place for a public hearing thereon.
(C) Not less than one week following such publication of the proposed ordinance, a public hearing shall be held thereof, which public hearing may be held separately from, or in conjunction with, any regular or special meeting of Council. All persons interested in the proposed ordinance shall be given an opportunity to be heard by Council at the scheduled public hearing.
(D) At the public hearing, Council may adopt or reject the proposed ordinance or the proposed ordinance as amended. If the proposed ordinance is amended and adopted, a brief summary of the adopted ordinance as amended shall be published by the Clerk of Council in accordance with the publication requirements prescribed by Section 10-8 of this Charter.
(E) As soon as practical after the adoption of any ordinance, the Clerk of Council shall have a copy of the ordinance, or a summary thereof, as directed by Council, published in accordance with the publication requirements prescribed by Section 10-8 of this Charter, together with a notice of its adoption. The Clerk shall make and retain a certificate as to the time, place, and method by which the legislation is published, which certificate shall be prima facie evidence that the ordinance, or a summary thereof, was published as required herein. Failure to publish any ordinance, or to make and retain the certificate required by this section, shall not invalidate the ordinance. In the event the Clerk of Council discovers that an ordinance was not published, or that the certification required was not prepared as required herein, the Clerk of Council may publish said ordinance and/or prepare the certification at that time.
(F) At no time shall a proposed ordinance be required to be read aloud in its entirety; reference thereto by title alone shall suffice.
(Amended 06/07/1977; 11/02/2021)