The City Commissioners shall meet at such time as the ordinance or resolution prescribes, but at least once a month at 5:30 p.m. The Mayor, two City Commissioners, or the City Manager (hereinafter provided) may call extraordinary meetings of the City Commission at any time deemed appropriate. The City Commission will establish by ordinance how an item can be placed on the agenda. All meetings of the City Commission shall be public, except for executive sessions as may be provided by law, and any citizen shall have access to the minutes and records of meetings at all reasonable times in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, the Public Information Act, and/or any other applicable law, all as amended in the future. The City Commission shall determine its own rules and agenda and shall keep a journal of its proceedings. However, if the City Commission has not determined its own rules and agenda for any matter, then parliamentary procedures will be followed in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order.
(Resolution 79-R-7, adopted 2/24/1979; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006; Resolution 2024-57 adopted 11/14/2024)
A majority of the voting members of the entire City Commission shall constitute a quorum to deal with matters of the case. The City Commission shall conduct its business by adopting or rejecting ordinances, resolutions, or motions.
(Ordinance 73-30, adopted 11/7/1973; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006; Resolution 2024-57 adopted 11/14/2024)
The City of Harlingen shall have the power to enact and enforce all ordinances necessary to protect health, life and property, and to prevent and summarily abate and remove all nuisances, and to preserve and enforce the good government, order and security of the City and its citizens, and to enact and enforce ordinances on any and all subjects, except that no ordinance shall be enacted inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter or the general laws or Constitution of the State of Texas.
(Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006)
The style of all ordinances of the City of Harlingen shall be: "Be It Ordained by the City of Harlingen," but the same may be omitted when published in book or pamphlet form by the City of Harlingen.
Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be in writing or printed when presented to the City Commission. Each ordinance will have a title in summary form and will generally indicate the provisions included. Ordinances shall be adopted on their first presentation by reading the title only, and resolutions shall be adopted by abbreviated oral description, except when the reading of an ordinance or resolution in its entirety is supported by a four-fifths vote of the City Commission. To be adopted, an ordinance must be introduced and approved at two (2) separate meetings of the City Commission. To pass any ordinance or adopt any resolution shall require the vote of a majority of the members of the City Commission present and voting, unless a greater number is required by Texas State Law, or otherwise specified in this Charter. Motions may be approved by a simple majority. However, an ordinance declared as an emergency measure may ultimately be adopted at the meeting at which it is presented and presented, with the favorable and supportive vote of four-fifths of the City Commission. Promulgation of ordinances, resolutions, and motions, providing that the City Commissioners and the Mayor, when required to vote, shall not abstain from voting for or against any ordinance, resolution, or motion submitted to the City Commission for determination, except in the case of the existence of a conflict of interest as that term is defined in this Charter and by any applicable state law. For purposes of this section, a conflict of interest shall be deemed to exist when the result of a vote on an ordinance, resolution, or motion results in a direct pecuniary benefit or loss to a City Commissioner or Mayor or to any entity, firm, or corporation owned by a City Commissioner or Mayor, partner or shareholder. In the event of such a conflict of interest, the affected City Commissioner or Mayor shall abstain from voting for or against the ordinance, resolution, or motion.
(Ordinance 73-30, adopted 11/7/1973; Resolution 79-R-7, adopted 2/24/1979; Ordinance 82-97, Amend. Nos. 1, 2, adopted 1/15/1983; Ordinance 84-83, Amend. No. 8, adopted 12/5/1984; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006; Resolution 2024-57 adopted 11/14/2024)
An emergency measure is an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety and providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department, in which the emergency is set forth and defined. Ordinances making a grant, renewal, extension of a franchise, or other special privileges, or regulating the rate to be charged for its service by any public utility shall never be passed as an emergency measure.
(Ordinance 73-30, adopted 11/7/1973; Ordinance 84-83, Amend. No. 9, adopted 12/5/1984; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006)
The City Clerk shall give notice of the passage of each ordinance imposing a penalty, fine, imprisonment, or forfeiture for violation of its provisions, by causing the title or legend of such ordinance to be published in any City of Harlingen daily newspaper, on the City's website, and on social media used by the City for that purpose in English and Spanish, at least once within ten (10) days after the passing of the ordinance, and shall note in each such ordinance, the title of which is required to be published, and in the record, the fact that the same has been published as required by the Charter, and the date of publication, that it will be prima facie evidence of the publication; provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply to the revision and codification of City ordinances, as the City Commission may adopt from time to time. Any ordinance or resolution, when it enters into force, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and authenticated by the signature of the mayor and the party exercising the functions of municipal secretary.
(Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006; Resolution 2024-57 adopted 11/14/2024)
Every ordinance or resolution, upon its becoming effective, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and shall be authenticated by the signature of the mayor and the party exercising the duties of City Secretary.
(Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006)
The citizens of the City reserve the power of direct legislation by initiative, and in the exercise of such power may propose any ordinance, not in conflict with this Charter, the state constitution, or the state laws, except an ordinance appropriating money or authorizing the levy of taxes. Any initiated ordinance may be submitted to the City Commission by a petition signed by at least fifteen (15) percent of the qualified voters of the city.
The citizens reserve the power to approve or reject at the polls any legislation enacted by the City Commission which is subject to the initiative process under this Charter, except an ordinance which is enacted for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, which contains a statement of its urgency, and which is adopted by the favorable votes of four or more of the City Commissioners. Prior to the effective date of any ordinance which is subject to referendum, a petition signed by qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least fifteen (15) percent of the qualified voters of the City may be filed with the City Secretary requesting that any ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the people. When such a petition has been certified as sufficient by the City Secretary, the ordinance specified in the petition shall not go into effect, or further action thereunder shall be suspended if it shall have gone into effect, until and unless it is approved by the voters as provided in the Charter.
(Ordinance 75-44, adopted 11/11/1975; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006)
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed legislation in the form of an ordinance including a descriptive caption. The signature to the initiative or referendum petition need not all be appended to one paper, but each signer shall sign his or her name in ink or indelible pencil and shall add to his or her signature his or her place of residence by street and number. One of the signers of each separate petition shall make an affidavit that he or she only, personally circulated such petition and that each signature appended thereto was made in his or her presence and is the genuine signature of the person whose name is on the page and each person represented to him or her that he or she was a registered and qualified voter of the City of Harlingen.
Within 30 days after an initiative or referendum petition is filed, the City Secretary shall determine whether the petition is signed by the requisite number of qualified voters. The City Secretary shall declare void any petition paper which does not have an affidavit attached to it as required. In examining the petition, the City Secretary shall write the letters "D.V." in red ink opposite the names of signers found not qualified to vote.
After completing examination of the petition, the City Secretary shall certify the result to the City Commission at its next regular meeting, stating the number of persons found on the petition who are qualified to vote and the number of persons found on the petition who are not qualified to vote. If the certificate of the City Secretary shall show an initiative or referendum petition to be insufficient, the City Secretary shall notify the person filing the petition, and it may be amended within ten days from the date of the notice by filing a supplementary petition with additional papers signed and filed as provided for an original petition. Within fifteen (15) days after the amendment is filed, the City Secretary shall examine the amended petition and certify as to its sufficiency. If the amended petition is found to be insufficient, the City Secretary shall return the petition to the person filing it, without prejudice to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
When the City Commission receives an authorized initiative petition certified by the City Secretary to be sufficient, the City Commission shall either: (a) pass the initiated ordinance without amendment within sixty (60) days after the date of the certification to the City Commission; or (b) submit the initiated ordinance without amendment to a vote of the qualified voters of the City at a regular or special election to be held within ninety (90) days after the date of the certification to the City Commission; or (c) at the election, submit to a vote of the qualified voters of the City the initiated ordinance without amendment, and an alternative ordinance on the same subject proposed by the City Commission.
When the City Commission receives an authorized referendum petition certified by the City Secretary to be sufficient, the City Commission shall reconsider the referred ordinance, and, if upon the reconsideration the ordinance is not repealed, it shall be submitted to the voters at a regular or special election to be held not more than ninety (90) days after the date of certification to the City Commission. Special elections on initiated or referred ordinances shall not be held more frequently than once each six (6) months, and no ordinance on the same subject as an initiated ordinance which has been defeated at any election may be initiated by the voters within two years from the date of such election.
The ballot used in voting upon an initiated or referred ordinance shall state the caption of the ordinance and below the caption shall be listed on separate lines the words, "For the Ordinance," and "Against the Ordinance."
Where an initiated ordinance or an alternative ordinance proposed by the City Commission is submitted, the ballot shall state the caption of each ordinance, clearly designating them "Ordinance No. 1" and "Ordinance No. 2," respectively, and shall list below the captions on separate lines the words "For Ordinance No. 1," "For Ordinance No. 2" and "Against Both Ordinances." Where an initiated ordinance and an alternative ordinance are submitted, each voter shall vote "For" only one ordinance or "Against Both Ordinances," and a vote for one ordinance shall be counted as a vote against the other ordinance.
Any number of ordinances may be voted on at the same election in accordance with the provisions of this article. If a majority of the votes cast is in favor of a submitted ordinance, it shall immediately be effective as an ordinance of the city. An ordinance so adopted may be repealed or amended at any time after the expiration of two years by a four-fifths (⅘) vote of the City Commission. A referred ordinance which is not approved by a majority of the votes cast shall be deemed immediately repealed.
(Ordinance 75-44, adopted 11/11/1975; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006)
The City Secretary shall have all general ordinances of the City compiled and printed in code form; the City Commission is empowered to thereafter recodify the general ordinances as may be deemed necessary, from time to time. For the purpose of this section, general ordinances shall be deemed to be those ordinances of a permanent or continuing nature which affect the citizens of the City at large. Every general ordinance enacted subsequent to the original codification provided for above shall be enacted as an amendment to the code. When adopted by the City Commission, the printed codes of general ordinances contemplated by this section shall be in full force and effect without the necessity of the codes or any part being published in any newspapers.
An ordinance of the City of Harlingen may be proved prima facie by a printed code of ordinances purporting to be printed by authority of the city, or by a copy of the ordinance certified by the City Secretary to be a true copy, or by the City Secretary's official record.
(Ordinance 75-44, adopted 11/11/1975; Ordinance 06-14, adopted 3/1/2006; Resolution 06R-19, adopted 5/17/2006)