GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article I. The Municipal Code of Methuen
Sec. 1-1. How Code designed and cited; continuation of existing
ordinances
Sec. 1-2. Repeal of ordinances
Sec. 1-3. Acts, rights, penalties and pending litigation
not affected
Sec. 1-4. Effect of adoption on terms and duties of officers
Sec. 1-5. Effective date of ordinance
Sec. 1-6. Rules for construction of ordinances
Sec. 1-7. Reserved
Sec. 1-8. Severability of parts of volume
Sec. 1-9. Forms of expression by City Council
Article II.
Ordinances
Division 1. Generally
Sec. 1-10. Definition; enacting style
Sec. 1-11. Definition of terms; construction of ordinances
Sec. 1-12. Licensing power
Sec. 1-13. Recordation
Sec. 1-14. City Solicitor's determining legality
Division 2. Passage, Amendment and Repeal
Sec. 1-15. Majority vote required
Sec. 1-16. How passed on petition
Sec. 1-17. Effect of Repeal
Sec. 1-18. Repeal not to affect act done, right accruing,
etc.
Division 3. Fines, Penalties and Limitation of Prosecutions
Sec. 1-19. Penalties for violation
Sec. 1-20. General penalty
Sec. 1-21. Fines and penalties inure to use of City
Sec. 1-22. Limitation of prosecutions
Article III. The City Seal
Sec. 1-23. City Seal
Sec. 1-24. Custody and use of City seal
Article IV. Time for Performance
Sec. 1-25. Time for performance of acts performable on Sunday
or holiday
Article V. Reorganization
Sec. 1-26. Rules governing reorganization plans by Mayor
CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article I. The Municipal Code of Methuen.
Section 1-1. How Code Designed and Cited; Continuation of Existing Ordinances
The ordinances contained in this chapter and in the following chapters shall be designated and cited as "The Municipal Code of Methuen, 2000", and, so far as their provisions are the same in effect with those of previously existing ordinances, they shall be construed as continuations thereof.
Section 1-2. Repeal of Ordinances
All ordinances of the City heretobefore in force are hereby repealed, subject, however, to the foregoing limitation and to the provisions of the next two sections, but this repeal shall not apply to or affect any ordinances heretofore adopted or passed, accepting or adopting the provisions of any statute of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Section 1-3. Acts, Rights, Penalties and Pending Litigation Not Affected
The adoption of this Code and the repeal of all ordinances of the City heretofore in force shall not affect any act done, any right accrued, any penalty or liability incurred, any suit, action, prosecution, or proceeding pending, nor shall the repeal of any ordinance hereby have the effect of reviving any ordinance heretofore repealed or superseded.
Section 1-4. Effect of Adoption on Terms and Duties of Officers
Any person lawfully holding office at the time when this Code shall take effect shall, unless otherwise provided in such Code, continue to hold his office for the time for which he shall have been appointed or elected, or until removed or suspended, or another person shall be appointed or elected in his stead. Any officer to whom are assigned under this Code the same or substantially the same duties as were assigned to any officer under another designation under previously existing ordinances, shall be regarded as the same officer, and with the same rights and powers under orders, grants or contracts heretofore made or granted by the City Council.
Section 1-5. Effective Date of Ordinance
An ordinance passed as an emergency measure shall become effective immediately, or at any later date as may be specified in the ordinance. An ordinance which is exempted from the referendum procedures, by section 9-12(k) of the Charter, shall become effective immediately, or at any later date as may be specified in the ordinance. An ordinance which may be made the subject of a referendum proceeding shall not become effective until thirty days have elapsed following its passage. If at the expiration of the said thirty days, a validated referendum petition has not been filed, the ordinance shall thereupon become effective. If a validated petition is filed within twenty days following the passage of an ordinance protesting against such ordinance or part thereof from taking effect, the effective date shall be suspended pending a determination under the procedures which are provided by section 8-3 of the Charter.
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.04)
Section 1-6. Rules for Construction of Ordinances
In construing ordinances, the following rules shall be observed, unless their observance would involve a construction inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City Council or repugnant to the context of the ordinance:
Repeal not to revive any previous ordinance
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any previous ordinance, except in case of the repeal of an ordinance after it has become law, by vote of the people upon its submission by referendum petition.
Repeal not to affect penalties, etc. previously incurred
The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment, penalty or forfeiture incurred before the repeal takes effect, or any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal for any offense committed, or for the recovery of a penalty or forfeiture incurred, under the ordinance repealed.
Words and phrases; construction
Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.
Number and Gender
Words importing the singular number may extend and be applied to several persons or things, words importing the plural number may include the singular, and words importing the masculine gender may include the feminine and neuter.
Joint Authority
Words purporting to give a joint authority to, or to direct any act by, three or more public officers or other persons, shall be construed as giving authority to, or directing such act by, a majority of such officers or persons.
Oath or acknowledgment, before whom taken; dispensed with when
Whenever any writing is required to be sworn to or acknowledged, such oath or acknowledgment shall be taken before a Justice of the Peace or Notary Public, or such oath may be dispensed with if the writing required to be sworn to contains or is verified by a written declaration under the provisions of Section one A of Chapter two hundred sixty-eight of the General Laws.
Publication where no newspaper in City
Whenever publication is required in a newspaper published in the City, it shall be sufficient, when there is no newspaper published therein, if the publication is made in a newspaper published in the county where the City is situated; and for this purpose a newspaper which by its title page purports to be printed or published in the City or county and which has a circulation therein, shall be deemed to have been published therein.
Penalty etc. for each offense
Wherever a penalty or forfeiture is provided for a violation of law, it shall be for each such violation.
(1973 Ord, Sec. 1.06)
Section 1-8. Severability of Parts of Volume
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this volume or of any amendments or additions thereto are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this volume or such amendments or additions thereto shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this volume, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation in this volume of any such unconstitutional or invalid phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
Section 1-9. Forms of Expression by City Council
Whenever the City Council expresses anything by way of command, the form of expression shall be "ordered"; and whenever such board expresses opinions, principles, facts, requests, directives or purposes, the form shall be "resolved".
Division 1. Generally
Section 1-10. Definition; Enacting Style
All ordinances passed by the City Council, or by the qualified voters thereof
at a special or annual City election, shall be termed "ordinances",
and the enacting style, which shall be but once recited in each ordinance, shall
be: "Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Methuen as follows".
(1973 Ord., Section 1.01 revised; amended by Ord. #244, Eff. Dec. 3rd, 1986)
Section 1-11. Definitions of Terms; Construction of Ordinances
In General
In construing ordinances, the following words shall have the meanings herein given, unless a contrary intention clearly appears:
Charter
"Charter" shall mean the Methuen Home Rule Charter adopted by the voters on April 3rd, 1977, as amended by Chapter 332 of the Acts and Resolves of 1993, and any amendments to it made conformable to law.
Fiscal Year
"Fiscal Year" shall mean the year beginning with July first and ending with the following June thirtieth.
Highway, Etc.
"Highway", "cityway", "public way" or "way" shall include a bridge which is a part thereof.
In Books
"In books", when used relative to the records of the City, shall not prohibit the making of such records on separate leaves, if such leaves are bound in a permanent book upon the completion of a sufficient number of them to make an ordinary volume.
Inhabitant
"Inhabitant" may mean a resident of the City.
Lands and Real Estate
The words "lands" and "real estate" shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein; and "recorded" as applied to plans, deeds or other instruments affecting land, shall, as affecting registered land, mean filed and registered.
Legal Holiday
"Legal Holiday" shall include January the first, Martin Luther King Day, Washington's Birthday, Patriots' Day, Employee Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, or the day following when any of said days occur on Sunday.
Month and Year
"Month" shall mean a calendar month, and "Year", a calendar year.
Oath
"Oath" shall include affirmation in cases where by law an affirmative may be substituted for an oath.
Ordinance
"Ordinance" shall be synonymous with by-law.
Person and Whoever
"Person" or "Whoever" shall include corporations, societies, associations and partnerships.
Preceding and Following
"Preceding" or "following", used with reference to any section of the ordinances, shall mean the section last preceding or next following, unless some other section is expressly designated in such reference.
Public Records
"Public records" shall mean any written or printed book, or paper, any map or plan of the City which is the property thereof, and in or on which any entry has been made or is required to be made by law, or which any officer or employee of the City has received or is required to receive for filing, any official correspondence of any officer or employee of the City, and any book, record or copy mentioned in section twenty-three A of Chapter thirty-nine or sections five to eight, inclusive, and three of Chapter sixty-six of the General Laws, including public records made by photographic process as provided in section three of said Chapter.
Salary
"Salary" shall mean annual salary.
Swear
"Swear" shall include affirm in cases in which an affirmation may be substituted for an oath. When applied to public officers who are required by the constitution to take oaths therein prescribed, it shall refer to those oaths; and when applied to any officer, it shall mean sworn to the faithful performance of his official duties.
Town
The words "Town" and "City" shall be synonymous.
(Ord. #244, Eff. Dec. 3rd, 1986)
Written and in writing
"Written" and "in writing" shall include printing, engraving, lithographing and any other mode of representing words and letters; but if the written signature of a person is required by law, it shall always be his own handwriting or, if he is unable to write, his mark.
Population, inhabitants
"Population", when used in connection with the number of inhabitants shall mean the population as determined by the last preceding state or national census.
Registered Mail
"Registered Mail", when used with reference to the sending of notice or of any article having no intrinsic value shall include certified mail.
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.07)
Whenever in this Code, or in any ordinance hereafter passed, anything is prohibited to be done without the permission or license of some officer, officers or board, such officer, officers or board shall be deemed to have the power to permit or license such thing to be done.
All ordinances hereafter passed shall be recorded in the order of passage by the City Clerk, in a book kept for that purpose, with proper margins and index, to be lettered "Record of Ordinances, City of Methuen", which book shall be kept in the office of the City Clerk, subject to the inspection of the citizens. Proper distinction between the different classes of ordinances recorded shall be maintained by writing the words "Passed by the City Council on petition", or Passed by the qualified voters at the election of ............." (inserting the date), as the case may be, after each ordinance recorded. However, if the ordinance is passed by the City Council in the normal procedure, no such writing is necessary.
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.02 Revised)
Section 1-14. City Solicitor's Determining Legality
All ordinances passed by the City Council, or passed by the City Council on petition, or those submitted to the qualified voters of the City at any special or annual City election, shall be referred to the City Solicitor for his opinion as to their legality.
Division 2. Passage, Amendment and Repeal
Section 1-15. Majority Vote Required
It shall require a majority vote of the whole membership of the City Council to pass, annul, change, amend, alter or repeal any ordinance of the City emanating from the City Council.
Section 1-16. How Passed on Petition
No ordinance, amendment or repeal of an ordinance passed by the qualified voters at any election shall be repealed or amended except by the qualified voters at an annual or special City election or by a majority vote of the City Council.
Section 1-17. Effect of Repeal
When any ordinance repealing a former ordinance, clause or provision shall be itself repealed, such repeal shall not be construed to revive such former ordinance, clause or provision, unless it shall be therein expressly provided for.
Section 1-18. Repeal Not to Affect Act Done, Right Accruing, Etc.
The repeal of any ordinance shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued or established, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil case before the time when such repeal shall take effect, nor any offense committed, nor any penalty or forfeiture incurred, nor any suit or prosecution pending at the time of such repeal for any offense committed, or for the recovery of any penalty or forfeiture incurred under any of the provisions so repealed; and all persons who, at the time when such repeal shall take effect, shall hold any office under any of the ordinances or provisions so repealed, shall continue to hold the same according to the tenure thereof, excepting those offices which may have been abolished, and those as to which a different provision shall have been made by following ordinances.
Division 3. Fines, Penalties and Limitation of Prosecution
Section 1-19. Penalties for Violation
Any ordinance passed by the City Council on petition, or any ordinance passed by the qualified voters at a special or annual City election may prescribe, or have prescribed for it, such penalty for its violation as the City Council has the right to prescribe for the violation on a similar ordinance.
Whoever violates a provision of any ordinance of the City, either of this Code or of any hereafter enacted, shall, unless it is otherwise provided by law or ordinance, be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for each offense.
Section 1-21. Fines and Penalties Inure to Use of City
All fines and penalties for the violation of any ordinance, or of any order of the City Council, shall, when recovered, inure to the use of the City and be paid into the City treasury, unless it be otherwise provided by law or ordinance.
Section 1-22. Limitation of Prosecutions
No person shall be prosecuted for any offense against any of the provisions of this Code unless complaints for the same shall have been instituted and commenced within a period prescribed by state statute from the time any such offense is alleged to have been committed.
The design of the City seal shall be circular in design containing the words "City of Methuen, Massachusetts" in the foremost upper circular rindge, and the word "incorporated" with the year "1726" in the foremost lower circular rindge. The center of the circular rindge shall depict a crest with three (3) wolves' heads erased upon the breast of a double-headed eagle, the heads of said eagle being faced in opposite directions, supporting a crown in the center having as supporters on either side of the crest two (2) fiery lynxes, reguardant, collared, with a line passing between the forelegs, reflexed over their backs. The motto entitled "Virtus invidae scopus", meaning "Courage is the target of envy", appearing in ribbon form, immediately beneath the crest, eagle and lynxes, all as depicted in the drawing of the seal as shown below:
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.13)
Section 1-24. Custody and Use of the City Seal
The City Clerk shall be the custodian of the City Seal. All deeds and other documents made, given or entered into by the City, requiring a seal, shall be sealed with the City Seal.
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.14)
Article IV. Time for Performance.
Section 1-25. Time for Performance of Acts Performable on Sunday or Holiday
Except as otherwise provided, when the day or the last day for the performance of any act, including the making of any payment or tender or payment, authorized or required by ordinance or by contract, falls on Sunday or a legal holiday, the act may, unless it is specifically authorized or required to be performed on Sunday or on a legal holiday, be performed on the next succeeding business day.
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.07)
Section 1-26. Rules Governing Reorganization Plans by the Mayor
Any plans presented to the City Council by the Mayor purporting to be a reorganization plan as provided for under Section 6-2 of the Charter which does not contain a provision in which is incorporated such amendments or repeals of existing ordinances as will accomplish the desired reorganization, shall not be deemed to be a reorganization plan within the meaning of said Section 6-2.
(1973 Ord., Sec. 1.05 Revised)