It shall be the policy of the town that emergency executive orders shall be orders of last resort, only to be used when it is impossible for the Town Council to effectively exercise the legislative powers granted to it as the duly elected governing body of the town. Any emergency executive order issued by the Executive of the town is subject to the following limitations and requirements.
(A) At the time the Town Executive issues any emergency executive order, he or she shall immediately notify all members of the Town Council of the issuance of the order and the basis for its issuance.
(B) Issuance of any emergency executive order lasting longer than seven days shall require the Town Executive to call a special meeting of the Town Council to be held within seven days of the issuance of the order.
(C) No emergency executive order may remain in effect for more than seven days unless ratified by a majority of the Town Council at a special or regular meeting.
(D) The provisions of division (B) of this section are not applicable if a special meeting is impossible due to the inability of a quorum of the Town Council to be in attendance at the special meeting. In the event of such an impossibility, the emergency executive order must be considered by the Town Council at its next meeting.
(E) No emergency executive order may purport to create a new criminal offense. Violations of valid emergency executive orders shall be treated solely as violations subject to the penalty provided under § 10.99.
(F) Enforcement of violations of emergency executive orders of the town shall be solely through the civil enforcement mechanisms provided under § 10.99.
(G) No emergency executive order may be renewed in any substantially similar form absent the previous ratification of the emergency executive order pursuant to division (C) of this section, unless the impossibility provision of division (D) of this section applies.
(H) Any ratification by the Town Council of an emergency executive order must include a fixed expiration date for the emergency executive order. Any renewal of an emergency executive order beyond the date fixed in the ratification shall require the Town Executive to call a special meeting of the Town Council pursuant to division (B) of this section.
(Ord. 2021-06, passed 5-11-21)