19.020 Construction of Ordinances – Rules for.

In the construction of the ordinances and the Municipal Code of the City of Manitowoc the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the Common Council, that is to say:

(1) General Rule. All words and phrases shall be construed and understood 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.

(2) Singular and Plural Numbers – Males and Females. Every word importing the singular number only may extend and be applied to several persons or things as well as to one person or thing, and every word importing the plural number only may extend and be applied to one person or thing as well as to several persons or things, and every word importing the masculine gender only may extend and be applied to females as well as to males.

(3) Joint Authority, How Exercised. All words purporting to give a joint authority to three or more public officers or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such officers or persons unless it shall be otherwise expressly declared in the laws giving the authority.

(4) Highway – Street. The word highway or street may be construed to include all public ways and thoroughfares and all bridges upon the same.

(5) Month – Year. The word month shall be construed to mean a calendar month unless otherwise expressed; and the word year a calendar year unless otherwise expressed; and the word year alone shall be equivalent to the expression “Year of Our Lord.”

(6) Person. The word person extends and applies to a corporation, association, firm, partnership or body politic as well as to an individual.

(7) Preceding – Following. The words preceding and following, when used by way of reference to any sections of any ordinance, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which said reference is made, unless when some other section is especially designated in such reference.

(8) Acts by Agent. When an ordinance requires an act to be done which may by law as well be done by an agent as by the principal, such requisition shall be construed to include all such acts when done by an authorized agent.

(9) Tenses. The use of any verb in the present tense shall include the future when applicable.

(10) Time, How Computed. The time within which an act is to be done as provided in any ordinance, when expressed in days, shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last, except that if the last day be Sunday or a legal holiday, it shall be excluded; and when any such time is expressed in hours, the whole of Sunday and of any legal holiday, from midnight to midnight, shall be excluded.

(a) Holidays. City holidays shall include the following days:

January 1st (New Year’s Day)

The Friday before Easter (Good Friday)

The last Monday in May (Memorial Day)

July 4th (Independence Day)

The first Monday in September (Labor Day)

The 4th Thursday in November (Thanksgiving Day)

December 24th (Christmas Eve)

December 25th (Christmas Day)

Whenever any of the above holidays falls on Sunday, the succeeding Monday shall be the legal holiday.

(11) Week. The word week shall be construed to mean seven days; but publication in the newspaper of any notice or other matter indicated to be for a stated number of weeks shall be construed to mean one insertion in each week, unless specifically stated to be for each day of the week or for more than one day in each week and all publications heretofore made in accordance with the terms of this subsection are hereby validated.

(12) Titles – Chapters – Sections.

(a) References. All references to titles, chapters or sections are to the titles, chapters or sections of these revised ordinances, unless otherwise stated.

(b) Conflict of Chapters. If the provisions of different chapters of these ordinances conflict with or contravene each other, the provisions of each chapter shall prevail as to all matters and questions growing out of the subject matter of such chapter.

(c) Conflict of Sections. If the provisions be found in different sections of the same chapter, the provisions of the section which is last in numerical order shall prevail unless such construction be inconsistent with the meaning of such chapter.

(13) Repeal and Revival. When any ordinance repealing a former ordinance or any part thereof shall be itself repealed, such repeal shall then not be construed to revive such former ordinance or part thereof unless it shall be therein expressly so provided.

(14) Reasonable Time. In all cases where any ordinance shall require any act to be done in a reasonable time or reasonable notice to be given to any person, said reasonable time or notice shall be deemed to mean such time only as may be necessary for the prompt execution of such duty, or compliance with such notice.

(15) Costs of Prosecution. When a fine is imposed as the whole or any part of the punishment of any offense, or when a penalty or forfeiture is recovered for doing any act or neglecting to do any act, by virtue of any of the provisions of the ordinance, the Court shall also sentence the defendant to pay, and shall give judgment for, the costs of prosecution, whether the ordinance under which said prosecution or proceeding is had shall specifically so direct or not.

(16) Oath and Sworn. The word oath shall be construed to include affirmation in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath; and in like cases the word sworn shall be construed to include the word affirmed.

(17) Oath – Affirmation. When any oath or affirmation is required to be taken by any person, it imports that such oath or affirmations shall be taken before and administered by some officer authorized by the laws of this State to administer oaths, at the place where the same is required to be taken or administered, unless otherwise expressly directed, and, when necessary, duly certified by such officer.

(18) Liability of Sureties. When an officer is declared to be liable on his official bond for any act, it imports that his sureties shall also be liable.

(19) Code and Ordinance References. When the code or an ordinance refers, by number, to more than one chapter, section, subsection or paragraph of the code or ordinance, the references include both the first and the last numbers mentioned.

(20) Qualified. The word qualified, when applied to any person elected or appointed to office, shall mean the performance by such person of those things which are required by law to be performed by him previous to his entering upon the duties of his office.

[Ord. 19-543 § 1, 2019. Prior code § 19.02]