Ordinance No. 11021 •
1 ORDINANCE NO. 1102
2
3 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
4 VERNON AMENDING CHAPTER 1 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY
OF VERNON, CALIFORNIA, 1959, BY AMENDING SECTION
5 1.8 OF SAID CODE REGARDING CODE VIOLATIONS AND
REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN
6 CONFLICT THEREWITH
7
8 WHEREAS, the City of Vernon (the "City") is a municipal
9 corporation and a chartered city of the State of California organized
10 and existing under its Charter and the Constitution of the State of
11 California; and
12 WHEREAS, Section 1.8 of the Vernon City Code establishes the
13 general penalty for violations of any provision of the Vernon City
14 Code; and
15 WHEREAS, Section 1.8 of the Vernon City Code needs to be
16 amended to allow any violation to be treated as an infraction, at the
17 discretion of the prosecutor and establishing the fine for non -serious
18 or first time offenders and increasing the penalty for misdemeanors;
19 and
20 THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VERNON HEREBY ORDAINS:
21 SECTION 1: The ,City Council of the City of Vernon hereby
22 finds and determines that the recitals contained hereinabove are true
23 and correct.
24 SECTION 2: Section 1.8 of the Code of the City of Vernon,
25 California, 1959, is hereby amended to read as follows:
26 Sec. 1.8 General penalty; continuing violations.
27 (a) Misdemeanors. It shall be unlawful for any person to
28 violate or fail to comply with any of the requirements or provisions of
1 this Code. Any person failing to comply with any of the requirements
2 of this Code or violating any of its provisions shall be guilty of a
3 misdemeanor, unless that failure or violation is declared to be an
4 infraction in this Code. Infractions shall be tried and punished
5 pursuant to Section 19.6 of the Penal Code.
6 For every offense that is prosecuted as a misdemeanor, the
7 penalty for which is not otherwise prescribed by ordinance or in this
8 Code, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars
9 ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment in the County jail for not more than six
10 (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
11 (b) Any violation of this Code designated to be a
12 misdemeanor may be charged as a misdemeanor or infraction by the
13 prosecuting agency, when such reduction is deemed to be in the best
14 interests of the City and of Justice.
15 (c) Each person shall be guilty of a separate offense for
16 each and every day, or portion thereof, for any violation or provision
17 of this Code that is committed.
18 (d) Infractions. Every violation determined to be an
19 infraction is punishable by (1) a fine not exceeding one hundred
20 dollars ($100) for a first violation; (2) a fine not exceeding two
21 hundred dollars ($200) for a second violation of the same ordinance
22 within one year; (3) a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500)
23 for each additional violation of the same ordinance within one year.
24 (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a violation
25 of local building and safety codes determined to be an infraction is
26 punishable by (1) a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for a
27 first violation; (2) a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500)
28 for a second violation of the same ordinance within one year; (3) a
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fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each additional
violation of the same ordinance within one year of the first violation.
SECTION 3: POSTING. There being no newspaper printed,
published or circulated in the City of Vernon, the City Clerk is hereby
directed to certify to the passage of this Ordinance and shall post the
same, or cause the same to be posted, within fifteen (15) days after
its passage in accordance with Section 36933 of the Government Code, in
three (3) of the most public places in the City of Vernon, to wit: the
northwest corner of 38th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, the northeast
corner of Leonis Boulevard and Pacific Boulevard, and on the bulletin
board in the lobby of the City Hall of said City, located at 4305 Santa
Avenue, all in the City of Vernon, County of Los Angeles, State of
California.
SECTION 4: SEVERABILITY. If any section, subsection,
subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this
Ordinance or any part thereof is for any reason held to be void or
unconstitutional or invalid or ineffective by a court of competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity or
effectiveness of the remaining portions of this Ordinance or any part
thereof; it being the intention of the City Council of the City of
Vernon to have passed and adopted this ordinance and each section,
subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase thereof
irrespective of the fact that one or more of the sections, subsections,
subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases thereof may be
declared to be unconstitutional or invalid or ineffective.
SECTION 5: Any ordinance, part of an ordinance, or code
section in conflict with this Ordinance is hereby repealed.
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SECTION 6: EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall go into
effect and be in full force and operation from and after thirty (30)
days after its final passage and adoption.
APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 1st day of September, 2004.
ATTEST:
BRUCE V. MALKENHORST, City Clerk
:92tz�4-�' eA' nIvAl"
THOMAS A. YBARRA, Mayor Pro Tem
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STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
) ss
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES )
I, BRUCE V. MALKENHORST, City Clerk of the City of Vernon,
do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance, being Ordinance No.
1102, was duly and regularly introduced at a regular meeting of the
City Council of the City of Vernon, held on Wednesday, August 18,
2004, and thereafter finally adopted at a regular meeting of the City
Council held on Wednesday, September 1, 2004, and thereafter was duly
signed by the Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Vernon, by the following
vote:
(SEAL)
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAINED:
ABSENT:
Councilmen: Ybarra, GonzalOs, Davis, and
McCormick
Councilmen: None
Councilmen: None
Councilmen: Malburg
BRUCE V. MALKENHORST, City Clerk
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CITY COUNCIL
LEONIS C. MALBURG
Mayor
THOMAS A. YBARRA,
Mayor Pro -Tern
WM. 'BILL" DAVIS
Councilman
H. "LARRY" GONZALES
Councilman
W. MICHAEL McCORMICK
Councilman
BRUCE V. MALKENHORST
City Administrator/City Clerk
Chief Executive Officer of
Light & Power
FAX: (323) 826-1438
ERIC T. FRESCH
City Attorney
FAX: (323) 826-1439
KEVIN WILSON
Director of Community Services & Water
FAX: (323) 826-1435
STEVEN E. PARKER
Fire Chief
FAX: (323) 826-1407
SOL BENUDIZ
Police Chief
FAX: (323) 826-1481
CITY HALL
LEWIS J. POZZEBON
4305 SANTA FE AVENUE, VERNON, CALIFORNIA 90058
Director of Environmental Health
TELEPHONE (323) 583-8811
FAX: (323) 588-4320
September 13, 2004
Coded Systems
120 Main Street
Avon, New Jersey 07717
Attn: Mary Beth Smith
Dear Ms. Smith:
Enclosed herewith is a copy of Ordinance No. 1102 to be incorporated
into the Vernon Municipal Code.
Prior to the final incorporation of this supplement, please FAX or
mail a draft for our review to ascertain that there are no
discrepancies between the actual ordinance and your interpretation of
same. We will notify you immediately if we are in concurrence, or of
any discrepancies.
After final review, forward 67 sets of the supplement to my attention.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Very truly yours,
4Go ia Molleda
Deputy City Clerk
CITY COUNCIL
LEONIS C. MALBURG
Mayor
THOMAS A. YBARRA
Mayor Pro—Tem
WM. 'BILL" DAVIS
Councilman
H. "LARRY" GONZALES
Councilman
W. MICHAEL McCORMICK
Councilman
BRUCE V. MALKENHORST
City Administrator/City Clerk
Chief Executive Officer of
Light & Power
FAX: (323) 826-1438
City Council
City of Vernon
Honorable Members:
CITY HALL
4305 SANTA FE AVENUE, VERNON, CALIFORNIA 9005
TELEPHONE (323) 583-8811
August 12, 2004
ERIC T. FRESCH
City Attorney
FAX: (323) 826-1439
KEVIN WILSON
Director of Community Services & Water
FAX: (323) 826-1435
STEVEN E. PARKER
Fire Chief
FAX: (323) 826-1407
SOL BENUDIZ
Police Chief
FAX: (323) 826-1481
LEWIS J. POZZEBON
8 Director of Environmental Health
FAX: (323) 588-4320
Wk
Cc�r►
At this time it is necessary that the City adopt an ordinance amending
Chapter 1 Section 1.8 of the Vernon City Code. This will allow any
violation of the Vernon City Code to be treated as an infraction, at
the discretion of the prosecutor, for a maximum fine of $250.00 to
non -serious or first time offenders, and increase the penalty for
misdemeanors from $500.00 to $1,000.00.
This has been reviewed by the City Attorney and it is hereby
recommended that the City adopt an ordinance to approve the
aforementioned.
Very,. truly yours,
Bruce V. Malkenhorst
City Administrator/City Clerk
BVM/gm
w • CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
INTER -DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM
DATE: August 11, 2004
TO: Bruce V. Malkenhorst, City Administrator/City Clerk
FROM: Eric T. Fresch, City Attorney
RE: Adoption of an Ordinance Imposing Penalties for
Infractions and Increasing the Fine for Misdemeanors
Dear Bruce:
I recommend that the City adopt an ordinance amending Chapter l
Section 1.8 of the Vernon City Code to allow any violation of the
Vernon City Code to be treated as an infraction, at the discretion
of the prosecutor, for a maximum fine of $250 to non -serious or
first time offenders and increasing the penalty for misdemeanors
from $500 to $1,000.
I look forward to discussing this matter with you at your earliest
convenience.
Memorandum
To: Bruce Malkenhorst, City Administrator
From: Willard G. Yamaguchi, Deputy City Attorney
Date: August 2, 2004
Re: City Code/Infractions
Due to the recent budget problems facing the county court system, the South Gate Court house
will no longer be handling infraction violations of the city code for the City of Vernon. All
COV infractions will now be heard at the Huntington Park Court. (Misdemeanor violations
will be heard in the East L:A Court.)
Recently, the Huntington Park Court Clerk requested a list of code sections and corresponding
bail amounts for infractions. However, it appears that our city code does not have a provision
for infractions. City Code Section 1.8 states the general principles for ` unlawf iP' or
"prohibited" acts. The penalty portion of the code goes on to state that the penalty shall be "a
fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months,
or both such fine and imprisonment:"
Penal Code section 19.8 states that the maximum penalty for an infraction is $250 (two
hundred fifty dollars). Further, Penal Code section 19.6 states that an infraction is not
punishable by imprisonment. Therefore, the COV city code is not applicable to infractions
because the code has both a monetary punishment exceeding $250 and jail punishment.
By amending the city code to allow infractions, it will provide prosecutors the flexibility to
impose a monetary fine (plus penalty assessment or "ta)Cof 200%) to non -serious or first time
offenders.
Therefore, the City Attorney requests permission to amend the City Code to allow any
violation of a city code to be treated as an infraction, at the discretion of the prosecutor.
Although it may not be well received or viewed as "business friendly," consideration should
be given to increase the penalty for misdemeanors from $500.00 to $1,000.00 as in other
cities. The current maximum fine of $500 has been in the codes from at least 1993.
OK
Cc: Eric Fresch