Chapter 1

 

GENERAL PROVISIONS

CODE ADOPTION

1.010   Adoption.  There is hereby adopted the "Lafayette Municipal Code" as published by the city of Lafayette.

1.015   Title--Citation--Reference.  This code shall be known as the "Lafayette Mu­nicipal Code" and it shall be sufficient to refer to the code as the "Lafayette Munici­pal Code" in any prosecution for the viola­tion of any provision thereof or in any pro­ceeding at law or equity.  It shall be suffi­cient to designate any ordinance adding to, amending, correcting or repealing all or any part or portion thereof as an addition to, amendment to, correction or repeal of the "Lafayette Municipal Code."  Further refer­ence may be had to the titles, chapters, sections and subsections of the "Lafayette Municipal Code," and such references shall apply to that numbered title, chapter, sec­tion or subsection as it appears in the code.

1.020   Contents.  This code consists of all the regulatory and penal ordinances and certain of the administrative ordinances of the city of Lafayette, Oregon.

1.025   Reference Applies to All Amend­ments.  Whenever a reference is made to this code as the "Lafayette Munici­pal Code" or to any portion thereof, or to any ordinance of the city of Lafayette, Oregon, the reference shall apply to all amend­ments, corrections and additions heretofore, now or hereafter made.

1.030   Title, Chapter, and Section Head­ings.  Title, chapter and section headings contained herein shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify or in any manner affect the scope, meaning or intent of the provi­sions of any title, chapter or section hereof.

1.035   Reference to Specific Ordin­ances.  The provisions of this code shall not in any manner affect matters of record which refer to, or are otherwise connected with ordinances which are therein specifically designated by number or otherwise and which are included within the code, but such reference shall be construed to apply to the corresponding provisions contained within this code.

1.040   Effect of Code on Past Actions and Obligations.  Neither the adoption of this code nor the repeal or amendment hereby of any ordinance or part or portion of any ordinance of the city shall in any manner affect the prosecution for violations of ordi­nances, which violations were committed prior to the effective date hereof, nor be construed as a waiver of any license, fee, or penalty at said effective date due and unpaid under such ordinances, nor be construed as affecting any of the provisions of such ordinances relating to the collection of any such license, fee, or penalty, or the penal provisions applicable to any violation thereof, nor to affect the validity of any bond or cash deposit in lieu thereof required to be posted, filed or deposited pursuant to any ordinance and all rights and obligations thereunder appertaining shall continue in full force and effect.

1.045   Effective Date.  This code shall be-come effective on 12:00 a.m., July 9 1998.

1.050   Severability.  If any section, sub­section, sentence, clause or phrase of this code is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this code.  The council hereby declares that it would have passed this code, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases had been declared invalid or unconstitutional, and if for any reason this code should be declared invalid or unconstitutional, then the original ordinance or ordinances shall be in full force and effect.

 

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.100   Definitions. The following words and phrases, whenever used in the ordi­nances of the city of Lafayette, Oregon, shall be construed as defined in this section unless from the context a different meaning is intended or unless a different meaning is specifically defined and more particularly directed to the use of such words or phrases:

City.  The city of Lafayette, Ore­gon, or the area within the territorial limits of the city of Lafayette, and such territory outside of the city of Lafayette, over which the city of Lafayette has jurisdiction or con­trol by virtue of any constitutional or statu­tory provision.
City Administrator. The administrative head of the city's government appointed by the city council, or his or her designee.
Council.  The city council of the city of Lafayette, Oregon. "All its members" or "all council members" means the total number of council members holding office.
County.  The county of Yamhill.
Law. Applicable federal law, the Constitution and statutes of the state of Oregon, the ordinances of the city of Lafayette, and, when appropriate, all rules and regulations which may be promulgated thereunder.
May.   Permissive.
Month.   A calendar month.
Must and shall.    Mandatory.
Oath.  Includes an affirmation or declaration in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in such cases the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed."
Owner.  Applied to a building or land, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant, tenant by the entirety, or contract purchaser of the whole or a part of such building or land.
Person.  Includes a natural person, joint venture, joint stock company, partner­ship, association, club, company, corpora­tion, business, trust, organization, or the manager, lessee, agent, servant, officer or employee of any of them.
Personal property.  Includes mon­ey, goods, chattels, things in action and evi­dences of debt.
Preceding and following.  Next be­fore and next after, respectively.
Property.  Includes real and per­sonal property.
Public Works Superintendent.  The head of the public works department of the City under the supervision of the City Administrator.
Real property.  Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
Sidewalk.  That portion of a street between the paved or graveled roadway  (whether improved or not) and the adjacent prop­erty line intended for the use of pedestrians.
State.  The state of Oregon.
Street.  Includes all streets, high­ways, avenues, lanes, alleys, courts, places, squares, curbs, or other public ways in this city which have been or may hereafter be dedicated and open to public use, or such other public prop­erty as designated in any law of this state.
Tenant and occupant.  Applied to a building or land, include any person who occupies the whole or a part of such build­ing or land, whether alone or with others.
Written.  Includes printed, typewrit­ten, mimeographed, multigraphed, or other­wise reproduced in permanent visible form.
Year.   A calendar year.

1.110   Interpretation of Language.  All 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 the law shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.

1.115   Grammatical Interpretation. The following grammatical rules apply in the ordinances and code of the city of Lafayette, unless it is apparent from the context that a different construction is intended:

            (1)     Gender. Each gender includes the masculine, feminine and neuter genders.

            (2)     Singular and Plural. The singu­lar number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular.

            (3)     Tenses. Words used in the present tense include the past and the fu­ture tenses and vice versa, unless mani­festly inapplicable.

1.120   Acts by Agents. When an act is required by an ordinance, the same being such that it may be done as well by an agent as by the principal, such requirement shall be construed to include all such acts performed by an authorized agent.

1.125   Prohibited Acts Include Causing and Permitting. Whenever in the ordi-nances of the city of Lafayette, any act or omission is made unlawful, it shall in­clude causing, allowing, permitting, aiding, abet-ting, suffering, or concealing the fact of such act or omission.

1.130   Computation of Time. Except when otherwise provided, the time within which an act is required to be done shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last day, unless the last day is Sunday or a holiday, in which case it shall also be excluded.

1.135   Construction. The provisions of the ordinances and code of the city of Lafayette and all proceedings under them are to be construed with a view to effect their objects and to promote justice.

1.140   Repeal Shall Not Revive Any Or­dinances. The repeal of an ordinance shall not repeal the repealing clause of an ordi­nance or revive any ordinance which has been repealed thereby.

 

GENERAL PENALTIES & FEES

1.205   Penalty Designated.   Any person violating any of the provisions or failing to comply with any of the man­datory require-ments of any ordinance of the city, where a specific penalty is not specified in the ordi-nance for the violation, shall be guilty of a Class A Violation. Any person convicted of a Class A Violation under the ordinances of the city where a specific penalty is not elsewhere established, shall be punished by a fine of not to exceed $500.

1.210   Violation Deemed Separate Of­fense. Each such person is guilty of a sepa-rate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provision of the ordinances of the city of Lafayette is committed, continued or per­mitted by any such person, and he is pun­ishable accordingly.

1.215      Establishment and Purpose.

(1)  A procedure to handle viola­tions of city ordinances as civil violations, subject to the provisions set forth in sec­tions 1.215 through 1.270, is established, pursuant to the home rule powers granted the city by Article IV, section 1, and Article XI, section 2 of the Oregon Constitu­tion and by Chapter II and VIII of the Lafayette City Char­ter.
(2)  A civil violations procedure has been established for the purpose of decrim­inalizing penalties for violations of certain ordinances and for the purpose of providing a convenient and practical fo­rum for the civil hearing and determination of cases arising out of said violations.

[Amended by Ord. 566 on Feb. 5, 2004]

1.220      Definitions. For the purpose of sec­tions 1.215 to 1.270, the following defini­tions apply:

(1)     Civil Violations. An offense against the city in the form of a violation of one of the city ordinances or sec­tion thereof designated in section 1.260, constitutes a civil violation and shall be handled in accor­dance with the procedures established by sections  1.215 to 1.270. When a violation is of a continuing nature, a separate violation will be deemed to occur on each calendar day the violation continues to exist and a separate citation may be filed for each such violation.

(2)     Forfeiture—Forfeiture Schedule.  The only penalty to be imposed for a violation is a monetary penalty called a for­feiture. The municipal court shall, however, possess the additional enforcement powers set forth in section 1.250.  The appropriate forfeiture to be assessed for a specific violation will be determined from the forfeiture schedule in section 1.255.  The proce­dure prescribed by sections 1.215 to 1.270 shall be the exclusive procedure for impos­ing forfei­ture; however, this section shall not be read to prohibit in any way any other alterna­tive remedy set out in ordinances covered by this violation procedure which is in­tended to abate or alleviate ordinance violations, nor shall the city be prohibited from recover­ing, in a manner prescribed by law, any expense incurred to it in abating or remov­ing ordi­nance violations pursuant to said ordinances.

       (3)     Person.  As used in sections 1.215 to 1.270, shall be construed to include any person, firm, partner­ship, cor­poration, or association of persons.

[Amended by Ord. 566 on Feb. 5, 2004]

1.225   Application. The civil violation proce­dure prescribed by sections 1.215 to 1.255 applies to those code sections listed in section 1.260.

1.230   Violation Procedure‑‑Reporting.  All reports of violations covered by sections 1.215 to 1.270 will be made to the city administrator or a sworn officer of the law.

[Amended by Ord. 566 on Feb. 5, 2004]

1.235      Violation Procedure‑‑Uniform Violation Citation and Complaint.

(1)     A uniform violation citation and complaint signed by the city administrator, a sworn officer of the law, a code enforcement officer or a citizen of the city may be filed with the munici­pal court, charging the recipient with a civil violation and setting a date for said person to appear be­fore the municipal court to ans­wer said complaint.

(2)     The city administrator shall pre­scribe the form of the uniform violation citation and complaint but it shall consist of at least three parts. Additional parts may be inserted for administrative purposes by those charged with the enforcement of the ordin­ances. The required parts are:

       (a)   The complaint;

       (b)   The city department re­cord;

       (c)   The summons.

(3)     Each of the three parts shall contain the following information:

       (a)   The name of the court and the court's file number.

       (b)   The name of the person or persons cited;

(c)  The violation with which the person is charged, the date, time and place the violation oc­curred, or if the violation is of a continuing nature, the date, time and place the violation was ob­served by the city administrator, sworn law enforce-ment officer, code enforcement offi-cer or a citizen of the city, the date on which the citation was is­sued, and the name of the complain­ant;

(d)   The scheduled forfeiture for the alleged viola­tion;

(e)  The time and place at which the person cited is to appear in court;

(4)   The complaint shall contain either:

(a)   A signed statement that the city administrator has reasonable grounds to believe, and does be­lieve, that the person cited commit­ted the violation; or

(b)   A signed statement that the citizen of the city has reason­able grounds to believe, and does be­lieve, that the person cited com­mit­ted the violation, which shall be signed and sworn to before a not­ary public or the court or city clerk.

(5)   A summons shall also con­tain notice to the person cited that a civil com­plaint will be filed in the municipal court of the city.

1.240      Violation Procedure‑‑Answer to Summons.

(1)     A person who receives a sum­mons for a violation shall answer such summons by personally appearing to an­swer at the time and place specified therein, except an answer may be made by mail or personal delivery to be received by the court prior to the time to appear as specified on the summons, as provided in sub­sections (2) and (3) of this section.

(2)     If a person alleged to have committed a violation admits the violation or otherwise desires to pay the forfei­ture without appearing in municipal court, he may complete the appropriate answer on the back of each summons and forward the summons to the municipal court.  Payment in full of the amount of the forfeiture for the violation alleged as shown on the face of the summons shall also be submit­ted with the answer.

(3)  If the person alleged to have committed the violation denies part or all of the violation, he may request a hearing by completing the appropriate answer on the back of the summons and forwarding the summons to the municipal court. Upon re­ceipt, the answer shall be entered and a hearing date established by the municipal court. The municipal court shall notify the person alleged to have committed the violation by mail of the date of the hearing.(4)  The court may, in any case, after notice, require the cited person to appear for a hearing.

1.245      Violation Procedure‑‑Hearing.

(1)     Every hearing to determine whether a violation has occurred shall be held before the municipal court without a jury.

(2)     The hearing shall be limited to production of evi­dence only on the violation alleged in the complaint.

(a)   Oral Evidence. Oral evi­d­ence shall be taken only upon oath or affirmation.

(b)   Hearsay Evidence. Hear­say evidence may be used for the pur­pose of supplementing or ex­plaining any direct evidence, but shall not be sufficient in itself to support a finding unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions in courts of competent jurisdiction in this state.

(c)   Admissibility of Evidence. Any relevant evidence shall be ad­mitted if it is the type of evidence on which responsible persons are ac­customed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule which might make improper the admission of such evid­ence over objection in civil ac­tions in courts of competent jurisdic­tion in this state.

(d)  Exclusion of Evidence. Irre­levant and unduly repetitious evi­dence shall be excluded.

(3)  The defendant shall have the right to present evi­dence and witnesses in his favor, to cross‑examine witnesses who testify against him and to submit rebuttal evidence.

(4)  The defendant may be repre­sented by counsel, but counsel shall not be provided at public expense. If defense coun­sel is to appear, written notice shall be pro­vided to the municipal court ten days prior to the hearing date, exclud­ing weekends and holidays.

(5)  The city shall have the burden of proving the alleged ordinance violation by a preponderance of the evidence.

(6)     After due consideration of the evidence and argu­ments presented at the hearing, the court shall determine whether the violation as alleged in the complaint has been established. When the violation has not been established, an order dismiss­ing the complaint shall be entered in the municipal court records. When a determina­tion is made that a violation has been established or if an answer admitting the violation has been received, or the forfei­ture other­wise paid by the defendant, an appropriate order shall be entered in the municipal court records.

(7)     Unless otherwise provided by ordinance, upon a finding that a violation has occurred, the court shall assess a forfei­ture not to exceed the maximum permissible forfeiture for the specific violation estab­lished in accor­dance with sections 1.215 to 1.260 plus court costs.

(8)     There shall be no administra­tive appeal or legal review from a determina­tion by the municipal court of a viola­tion.

1.250      Enforcement.

(1)  If a cited person fails to answer the summons or appear at a scheduled hearing as pro­vided in sections 1.215 to 1.260, the municipal court may enter a default judgment for the scheduled forfei­ture appli­cable to the charged violation.

(2)     After a hearing and determina­tion by the municipal court that a violation has occurred, the court shall assess the sche­duled forfeiture applicable to the deter­mined viola­tion.

(3)  Delinquent forfeitures and those brought to default judgment which were assessed for violations occurring on real property or for improper use of real property may be held as city liens against said real property and collected in the same manner as other such debts owing to the city.

(4)     Nothing in this section shall limit the city from revoking or denying any city license or permit held or de­sired by a person owing a forfeiture to the city.

(5)     Nothing in this section shall limit the inherent power of the municipal court to impose criminal penalties for con­tempt of court in cases where it deems such sanctions appropriate.

1.255      Schedule of Forfeitures.

(1)  Violations are classified for the purpose of determining forfeitures into the following categories:

(a)  Class A violations;

(b)  Class B violations;

(c)  Class C violations;

(d)  Class D violations.

(2)  Forfeitures for the above violations shall not exceed the following:

(a)  Five hundred dollars for a Class A violation;

(b)  Two hundred fifty dollars for a Class B viola­tion;

(c)  One hundred dollars for a Class C violation;

(d)  Fifty dollars for a Class D violation.

[Amended by Ord. 566 on Feb. 5, 2004]

1.260   Schedule of Applicable Code Sec­tions.  The civil violation procedure pre­scribed by sections 1.215 to 1.270 applies to the code section or sections listed below.  The class of violation for violation of the code section or sections is also indicated below.

(1)  Sections 3.250 to 3.280, Street Contractors - Class B Violation;

(2)   Sections 5.650 to 5.725, Explosives - Class A Violation;

(3)   Sections 5.750 to 5.785, Blasting - Class A Violation;

(4)   Sections 6.300 to 6.305, Off-Road Vehicles - Class A Violation;

(5)   Sections 6.400 to 6.405, Motor Vehicles - Class B Violation;

(6)  Sections 7.000 to 7.080, Busi­ness Licenses - Class A Violation;

(7)   Section 8.175-8.180, Uniform Fire Code - Class A Violation;

(8)   Sections 8.200 to 8.255, Moving of Buildings - Class A Violation;

(9)  Sections 8.300 to 8.330, Fenc­es - Class B Violation.

[Amended by Ord. 566 on Feb. 5, 2004 and Ord. 601 on Oct. 8, 2009]

[Sections 1.205-1.260 amended by Ordinance 589 on Dec. 14, 2006]

1.270           Municipal Court Fees.

(1)  The schedule of fees for certain municipal court matter shall be as follows:

(a)   Payment Contract Fee (to be collected whenever any fine is not paid in full on the same day it is imposed by the judge) shall be $25 (twenty five dollars).

(b)   Check Return Fee:   $25

[Added by Ord 527 on July 13, 2000]

[Amended by Ord. 566 on Feb. 5, 2004, Ord. 572 on Oct. 14, 2004, by Ord. 588 on Dec. 14, 2006, and by Ord. 601 on Oct. 8, 2009]

(2)  Any municipal court fee may be reduced or waived by the Judge in appropriate cases.     

[Added by Ord 516 on July 8, 1999]