TITLE 1
GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 1
TITLE OF CODE

Chapter 1
Name of Code

1-1-1

Name of Code. This codification of ordinances by and for the County of DeKalb, State of Indiana, shall be designated as the "DeKalb County Code of 1999" and may be so cited.

Chapter 2
Effective Date

1-1-2

Effective Date. This Code takes effect on January 1, 1999 and upon its required publication. The application of a section or amendment may be delayed by its terms.

Chapter 3
Preservation of penalties, offenses, rights and liabilities

1-1-3

Preservation of penalties, offenses, rights and liabilities. All offenses committed under ordinances in force prior to the effective date of this Code shall be prosecuted and remain punishable as provided by those laws. This Code does not affect any rights or liabilities accrued, penalties incurred, or proceedings begun prior to the effective date of this Code. The liabilities, proceedings and forfeitures shall be enforced and imposed as if this Code had not been adopted. In particular, any agreement granting permission to utilize county highway right-of-ways, the approval or vacation of subdivision plats or replats, the renumbering of lots, the establishment of any county fund, the adoption of any memorial resolution, the acceptance, establishment or vacation of any county highway, ditch or navigable waterway, the incorporation of any city or town or an annexation to or disannexation from any city or town, the approval of the constitution and by-laws of any association, any action taken under Indiana Code 16-12.2-5 concerning any hospital, and the approval of any change of name for any city, town, county highway, bridge, or street shall remain valid in all respects, as if this Code had not been adopted.

Chapter 4
General Penalty

1-1-4

General Penalty. Whoever violates any provision of this Code for which another penalty is not specifically provided shall be fined not more than $2,500.00 for each offense. (IC 36-1-3-8)

ARTICLE 2
DEFINITIONS

Chapter 1
General Rule

1-2-1

General Rule. Words and phrases shall be taken in their plan or ordinary and usual sense. Technical words and phrases which have a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be understood according to their technical import.

Chapter 2
Words and Phrases

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Words and Phrases. For the purposes of this Code, unless otherwise specifically provided, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings ascribed to them respectively:

1. The word "County" means the County of DeKalb, State of Indiana.
2. The word "Board" means the Board of Commissioners of the County of DeKalb, State of Indiana.
3. The word "Council" means the County Council of the County of DeKalb, State of Indiana.
4. The word "highway" includes the alley, bridge, road, and street unless otherwise expressly provided.
5. The word "month" means one (1) calendar month, and the word "year" means one (1) calendar year, unless otherwise expressly provided.
6. The words "preceding" and "following" referring to sections or subsections in this Code refer to the sections or subsections next following or next preceding that in which the words occur, unless some other section is designated.
7. The word "State" means the State of Indiana.
8. The words "written" and "in writing" including lithographing, printing, or other modes of representing words and letters. Where the written signature of a person is required, the proper handwriting of that person, or his or her mark, shall be valid for that purpose.
9. The word "shall" means that the act referred to is mandatory.
10. The word "may" means that the act referred to is permissive.
11. The word "person" means and extends to any person, persons, firm, corporation, partnership, trustee, lessee, or receiver. Whenever used in any clause which prescribes an imposes a penalty, the terms "person" or "whoever" as applied to any unincorporated entity shall mean the partners or members thereof, and as applied to corporations, the officers thereof.

Chapter 3
Official Time

1-2-3

Official Time. The official time, as established by applicable state and federal law, shall be the official time within the county for the transaction of all county business.

Chapter 4
Reasonable Time

1-2-4

Reasonable Time. In all cases where an ordinance requires an act to be done in a reasonable time or required reasonable notice to be given, reasonable time or notice shall be deemed to mean the time which is necessary for a prompt performance of the act or the giving of the notice. The time within which an act is to be done, as herein provided, shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last. If the last day is Sunday, it shall be excluded.

ARTICLE 3
RULES OF INTERPRETATION

Chapter 1
General Rules of Construction

1-3-1

General Rules of Construction. The construction of all ordinances of DeKalb County, State of Indiana shall be by the following rules, unless the construction is plainly repugnant to the intent of the legislative body or of the context of the same ordinance:

1. The use of the conjunctions "and" or "or" shall include the other as if written "and/or" if the sense requires it.
2. When a statute requires an act to be done which, by law, an agent or depute as well may do as the principal, the requisition shall be satisfied by the performance of the act by an authorized agent or depute. (IC 1-1-4-1)
3. Words denoting the masculine gender shall be deemed to include the feminine and neuter genders; words in the singular shall include the plural, and words in the plural shall include the singular (IC 1-1-4-1); the use of a verb in the present tense shall include the future, if applicable.
4. A general term following a specific enumeration of terms is not to be limited to the class enumerated unless expressly so limited.
5. Words importing joint authority to three or more persons shall be construed as authority to a majority of these persons, unless otherwise declared in the law giving the authority. (IC 1-1-4-1)
6. Unless otherwise provided herein, or by law or implication required, the same rules of construction, definition, and application shall govern the interpretation of this Code as those governing the interpretation of the Indiana Code.
7. Where a section of this Code is followed by a reference to the Indiana Code, the reference indicates that a section is analogous or similar to the cited sections in the Indiana Code. Footnotes, cross-references, and other comments are by way of explanation only and should not be deemed a part of the text of any section.
8. All provisions of this Code are limited in application to the territorial boundaries of the municipal corporation although the provisions may not be so limited specifically.
9. Reference to a public office or officer shall be deemed to apply to any office, officer, or employee of the county exercising the powers, duties, or functions contemplated in the provision, irrespective of any transfer of functions or change in the official title of the functionary.
10. Whenever in one section reference is made to another section hereof, the reference shall extend and apply to the section referred to as subsequently amended, revised, recodified, or renumbered unless the subject matter is changed or materially altered by the amendment or revision.

Chapter 2
Application of Future Ordinances.

1-3-2

Application of Future Ordinances. All provisions of the Code which are not incompatible with future legislation shall apply to ordinances hereafter adopted which amend or supplement this Code unless otherwise specifically provided.

Chapter 3
Captions.

1-3-3

Captions. Headings and captions used in this Code other than the title, chapter and section numbers are employed for reference purposes only and shall not be deemed a part of the text of any section.

Chapter 4
Name Designations.

1-3-4

Name Designations. Whenever any ordinance, order or resolution of the Board refers to any board, bureau, commission, division, department, officer, agency, authority, or instrumentality of any government, and that name designation is incorrectly stated, or at the time of the effective date of that ordinance or subsequent thereto, the rights, powers, duties, or liabilities placed with that entity are or were transferred to a different entity, then that named board, bureau, commission, department, division, officer, agency, authority or instrumentality, whether correctly named in that ordinance at its effective date or not, means that correctly named entity, or the entity to which those duties, liabilities, powers and rights were transferred.

Chapter 5
Limitation Periods.

1-3-5

Limitation Periods. The running of any period of limitations or any requirement of notice contained in any law, whether applicable to civil causes or proceedings, or to the prosecution of offenses, or for the recovery of penalties and forfeitures, contained in an ordinance repealed and reenacted by this Code shall not be affected by the repeal and adoption, but all suits, proceedings, and prosecutions for causes arising or acts committed prior to the effective date of this Code may be commenced and prosecuted with the same effect as if this Code had not been adopted.

Chapter 6
Severability.

1-3-6

Severability. If any section of this Code now adopted or subsequently amended or its application to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other sections that can be given effect without the invalid section of application.

Except in the case of a section or amendment to this Code containing a nonseverability provision, each subsection or part of every section is severable. If any portion or application of a section is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect the remainder of the section unless:

1. the remainder is so essentially and inseparably connected with and so dependent upon the invalid provision or application that it cannot be presumed that the remainder would have been adopted without the invalid provision or application; or
2. the remainder is incomplete and incapable of being executed in accordance with the legislative intent without the invalid provision or application.

This section applies to every section of this Code regardless of whether a section was enacted concurrently with or following the enactment of this Code.

Chapter 7
Errors and Omissions.

1-3-7

Errors and Omissions. If a manifest error is discovered consisting of the misspelling of any words, the omission of any word or words necessary to express the intention of the provisions affected, the use of a word or words to which no meaning can be attached, or the use of a word or words when another word or words was clearly intended to express this intent, the spelling shall be corrected and such word or words supplied, omitted, or substituted as will conform with the manifest intention, and the provisions shall have the same effect as though the correct words were contained in the text as originally published. No alternation shall be made or permitted if any question exists regarding this nature or extent of the error.

ARTICLE 4
EFFECT OF CODE

Chapter 1
Ordinances Repealed

1-4-1

Ordinances Repealed. This Code, from and after its effective date, shall contain all of the provisions of a general nature pertaining to the subjects herein enumerated and embraced. All prior ordinances pertaining to the subjects treated by this Code shall be deemed repealed from and after the effective date of this Code.

Chapter 2
Effect of Repeal

1-4-2

Effect of Repeal. When a section of this Code is repealed which act repealed a former section or ordinance adopted prior to the adoption of this Code, the former section or ordinance is not revived unless it so expressly provides. The repeal of any section shall not extinguish or release any forfeiture, liability, or penalty incurred under that section, unless the repealing section so expressly provides. That section shall remain in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper action or prosecution for the enforcement of that forfeiture, liability, or penalty.

Chapter 3
Ordinances Unaffected

1-4-3

Ordinances Unaffected. All ordinances of a temporary or special nature and all other ordinances pertaining to subjects not embraced in this code shall remain in full force and effect unless herein repealed expressly or by necessary implication.