CODE OF ORDINANCES CITY OF CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI

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CONTAINING
THE CHARTER, AS AMENDED, RELATED LAWS
AND
THE GENERAL ORDINANCES
OF THE CITY

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Adopted: November 27, 1962
Effective: December 27, 1962

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Published in 1962 by Order of the Board of Mayor and Commissioners
Republished 2013

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OFFICIALS

of the

CITY OF

CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI

AT THE TIME OF THIS REPUBLICATION

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Henry Espy

Mayor

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Bo Plunk

Grady Palmer

Buster Moton

Edward Seals

City Council

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Cathy Clark

City Clerk

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Curtis Boschert

City Attorney

PREFACE

Part I of this volume contains the Charter of the City of Clarksdale, as amended, the enacting act and comparative table giving the derivation of each section; and Part II contains a revision and codification of all ordinances of a general and permanent nature of the City of Clarksdale which were deemed advisable to be included.

Part II is an entire new codification, and, as expressed in the Adopting Ordinance, supersedes all ordinances not included herein or expressly saved from repeal by the Adopting Ordinance. Special ordinances or ordinances dealing with only a portion of the inhabitants of the city, rather than all of them, or relating to special purposes, such as the ordinances levying special assessments, providing for bond issues, paving, vacating and opening specified streets, changing street names, granting franchises, etc., are not included herein. For more specific enumeration of the type of ordinances which are not included herein, see Section 3 of the Adopting Ordinance.

All the ordinances in Part II, Code, have been classified as to subject matter, edited, revised and in many instances rewritten. As will be noted, the chapters have been conveniently arranged in alphabetical order and the various sections within each chapter have been appropriately catchlined to facilitate usage. Attention is also invited to the appropriate footnotes which tie related sections of the Code together and which also refer to relevant state laws.

The numbering system used in Part II of this Code is the same system used in many state and municipal codes. Each section number consists of two component parts separated by a dash, the figure before the dash referring to the chapter number and figure after the dash referring to the position of the section within the chapter. Thus, the first section of Chapter 1 is numbered 1-1 and the seventh section Chapter 8 is 8-7. Under this system, each section is identified with its chapter and at the same time new sections can be inserted in their proper places, simply by using the decimal system for amendments. By way of illustration: If new material consisting of three sections that would logically come between Sections 4-3 and 4-4 is desired to be added, such new section would be numbered 4-3.1, 4-3.2, 4-3.3, respectively. Section numbers have been reserved at the end of articles to provide for future expansion.

New chapters may be included by the addition of a capital letter after the chapter number, i.e., if the new material is to be included between Chapters 12 and 13, it will be designated as Chapter 12A. Care should be taken that the alphabetical arrangement of chapters be maintained when included new chapters. New articles and new divisions may be included in the same way or, in the case of articles, may be placed at the end of the chapter embracing the subject, and in the case of divisions, may be placed at the end of the article embracing the subject, the next successive number being assigned to the new article or division.

A special feature of this volume to which the attention of the user is particularly invited is the innovation of the looseleaf system of binding and supplemental servicing for the Code. With this new looseleaf system, this volume will be kept up to date periodically. Acts of the State Legislature amending the Charter or pertaining to the City can be inserted after reprinting the pages affected, adding new pages or deleting pages in case of repeal. Likewise, upon the final passage of amendatory ordinances, they will be properly edited and the appropriate page or pages affected will be reprinted for insertion in the Code. The new or reprinted pages will be distributed to the holders of the Codes with instructions for the manner of inserting the new pages and deleting the obsolete pages. The indices will be treated in the same manner. To each such amendment will be attached an amendment or editorial note explaining briefly the effect of the amendment on the section or sections amended and the derivation of such amendment. Each such subsequent amendment, when incorporated into this Code, may be cited as a part hereof as provided in Section 5 of the Adopting Ordinance.

The successful maintenance of this Code up-to-date at all times will depend largely upon the holder of the volume. As revised sheets are received it will then become the responsibility of the holder to insert the amendments according to the attached instructions. It is strongly recommended by the publishers that all such amendments be inserted immediately upon receipt to avoid misplacing them, and that all deleted pages be saved and filed for historical reference purposes.

The indices have been prepared with the greatest care. Each item has been placed under several headings, some of the headings being couched in lay phraseology, others in legal terminology and still others in language generally used by city officials and employees. There are numerous cross references within the indices themselves which stand as guideposts to direct the user to the particular item in which he is interested.

The source of the section is included in the history note in parentheses at the end thereof. The absence of such a note indicates that the section is new and was adopted for the first time with the adoption of this Code.

Time and effort have not been spared in the preparation of this Code and the publishers are most grateful to Messrs. Vincent J. Brocato and Charles L. Brocato, attorneys, to Honorable W. S. Kincade, Mayor, Honorable Hudson Bell and J. W. McKellar, Commissioners, and to T. C. Fox, City Clerk.

The publication of this Code was under the direct supervision of George R. Langford, President and David N. Hirsch and C. Julian Manson, Editors of the Municipal Code Corporation, Tallahassee, Florida. Credit is gratefully acknowledged also to the other members of the publisher's staff for their sincere interest and able assistance throughout the project.

This Code is presented for the use and benefit of the citizens of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi.

MUNICIPAL CODE CORPORATION
Tallahassee, Florida

December 1962

ORDINANCE NUMBER 544

An Ordinance Adopting and Enacting a New Code of Ordinances of The City of Clarksdale, Mississippi; Establishing the Same; Providing for the Repeal of Certain Ordinances Not Included Therein, Except as Herein Expressly Provided; Providing for the Manner of Amending Such Code of Ordinances; Providing a Penalty for the Violation Thereof; and Providing When This Ordinance Shall Become Effective,

WHEREAS, Section 3374-76 of the Mississippi Code of 1942, Annotated and Recompiled, provides that a municipality may authorize the revision and codification of the ordinances of the municipality and the publication of such ordinance in book form, and said Section 3374-76 of said Code further provides that said book of ordinances may be adopted by ordinance as the official code of the municipality without compliance with the requirements pertaining to the passage of ordinances; and

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the governing authority of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, to avail itself of the provisions of Section 3374-76 of said Code in order to adopt a new revision and codification of the Ordinances of the City of Clarksdale; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Mayor and Commissioners has authorized the revision and codification of the Ordinances of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and the publication thereof in pamphlet or book form; and

WHEREAS, said revision and codification has been made and said ordinances have been revised, arranged, classified and codified in said book form;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF CLARKSDALE, COAHOMA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, IN REGULAR MEETING ASSEMBLED:

Section 1. That the Code of Ordinances, consisting of Chapters 1 to 23, each inclusive, is hereby adopted and enacted as "The Code of Ordinances of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi," and shall be treated and considered as a new and original comprehensive ordinance which shall supersede all other general and permanent ordinances of the City passed on or before July 16, 1962, to the extent hereinafter provided.

Section 2. That all provisions of such Code shall be in full force and effect thirty days from the passage of this ordinance.

Section 3. That the repeal provided for in Section 5 hereof shall not affect any offense or act committed or done of any penalty or forfeiture incurred or any contract or right established or accruing before the effective date of this ordinance; nor shall such repeal affect any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the city, or authorizing the issuance of any bonds of the City or any evidence of the City's indebtedness, or any contract or obligations assumed by the City; nor shall such repeal affect the administrative ordinances or resolution of the City not in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of such Code; nor shall such repeal affect any right or franchise granted by the Board of Mayor and Commissioners of the City to any person, firm or corporation nor shall such repeal affect any ordinance dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the City; nor shall such repeal affect any appropriation ordinance or resolution; nor shall such repeal affect any ordinance establishing and prescribing the street grades of any street in the City; nor shall such repeal affect any ordinance providing for local improvements or assessing taxes therefor; nor shall such repeal affect any ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat or subdivision in the City; nor shall such repeal affect any zoning ordinance of the City; nor shall such repeal affect ordinances prescribing traffic regulations for specific locations, prescribing through streets, parking limitations, parking prohibitions, one-way traffic, limitations on loads of vehicles, or loading zones, not inconsistent with such Code; nor shall such repeal affect any ordinance enacted after July 16, 1962; nor shall such repeal be construed to revive any ordinance or part of ordinance that has been repealed by a subsequent ordinance which is repealed by this ordinance.

Section 4. That whenever in such Code an act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, or whenever in such Code the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any such provision of such Code shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or by imprisonment or hard labor for not more than thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, as provided in Section 1-8 of such Code.

Section 5. That any and all additions and amendments to such Code when passed in such form as to indicate the intention of the Board of Mayor and Commissioners to make the same a part thereof shall be deemed to be incorporated in such Code so that reference to "The Code of Ordinances of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi" shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments.

Section 6. That in case of the amendment of any section of such Code for which a penalty is not provided, the general penalty as provided in Section 4 of this ordinance and Section 1-8 of such Code shall apply to the section as amended; or, in case such amendment contains provisions for which a penalty, other than the aforementioned general penalty, is provided in another section in the same chapter, the penalty so provided in such other section shall be held to relate to the section so amended, unless such penalty is specifically repealed therein.

Section 7. That a copy of such Code shall be kept on file in the office of the City Clerk preserved in looseleaf form, or in such other form as the City Clerk may consider most expedient It shall be the express duty of the City Clerk, or someone authorized by her, to insert in their designated places all amendments or ordinances which indicate the intention of the Board of Mayor and Commissioners to make the same a part of such Code when the same have been printed or reprinted in page form, and to extract from such Code all provisions which may be from time to time repealed by the Board of Mayor and Commissioners. This copy of such Code shall be available for all persons desiring to examine the same.

Section 8. That it shall be unlawful for any person to change or alter by additions or deletions, any part or portion of such Code, or to insert or delete pages or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the City of Clarksdale to be misrepresented thereby. Any person violating this section shall be punished as provided in Section 1-8 of The Code of Ordinances of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and in Section 4 of this ordinance.

Section 9. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are, to the extent of such conflict, hereby repealed.

Section 10. The Code herein adopted is on file in the office of the Clerk of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and shall be kept as a permanent record in the office of said Clerk of said City who shall not be required to transcribe and record the same in the Ordinance Book as other ordinances.

Section 11. Notice of the adoption of the Code referred to herein shall be given by the Clerk of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, by publication in the Clarksdale Press-Register for one time, said notice to be in substantially the following form:

"Notice is hereby given that the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, on the 27th day of November, 1962, adopted a Code of Ordinances which is now on file in the office of the Clerk of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and shall go into effect thirty days after its passage."

Section 12. That this ordinance shall become effective thirty days from its passage in accordance with law.

PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Mayor and Commissioners on this the 27th day of November, 1962.

W. S. KINCADE
Mayor

ATTEST:
T. C. FOX
City Clerk

CERTIFICATE

I, T. C. Fox, Clerk of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, do hereby and herewith certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of that certain ordinance of the like tenor and effect passed on the 27th day of November, 1962, by the Board of Mayor and Commissioners of the City of Clarksdale and as now appears duly recorded in Minute Book 16 at page 610, of the Minutes of the Proceedings of the said Board in the office of the City Clerk.

WITNESS my signature on this the 28 day of November, 1962.

/s/ T. C. FOX
City Clerk

CERTIFICATE

I, T. C. Fox, Clerk of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, do hereby and herewith certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of that certain ordinance of the like tenor and effect passed on the 27th day of November, 1962, by the Board of Mayor and Commissioners of the City of Clarksdale, and as now appears duly recorded in the Minutes of the Proceedings of the said Board in the office of the City Clerk.

WITNESS my signature on this the 2nd day of January, 1963.

T. C. FOX