§ 3.11. Procedure for passing ordinances.

Any ordinance may be introduced by any member of the council or by the city manager at any regular meeting of the council or at any special meeting when the subject thereof has been included in the notice for such special meeting or been approved by the unanimous consent of all members of the council. Upon introduction, the ordinance shall receive its first reading and, provided it shall receive an affirmative vote of the majority of members present at this meeting, and provided further, it is not a matter that by this charter or some other provision of law requires more than a majority vote, a time, not less than three days after such introduction, and place shall be set at which the council will hold a public hearing concerning it. If all members of the council present at such introduction have received a copy of the proposed ordinance not less than twenty-four hours before said introduction, then only the item as it appears on the docket of matters to be considered by city council need be read for the first reading, otherwise the ordinance shall be read verbatim. The hearing may be held at a regular or special meeting of the council and may be adjourned from time to time. It shall be the duty of the city clerk to cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, not later than the fifth day following the introduction of the ordinance, a notice containing the time and place of the hearing and the title of the proposed ordinance. It shall also be his duty to have the title or the full text of the proposed ordinance printed in sufficient numbers to supply copies to meet request or to cause it to be published as a paid advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. It shall also be the duty of the city clerk to place a copy of the ordinance in a file provided for each member of the council for this purpose. A proposed ordinance, unless it be an emergency ordinance, may be finally passed upon its second reading at either a regular or special meeting of the council following the introduction, publication and conclusion of the public hearing thereon.

Amendments or additions to an ordinance may be made at any time after introduction and further publication of an amendment is not necessary, except that if said amendments or additions introduce an entirely new subject matter and radically change the overall purpose of said ordinance, then they shall be handled separately and introduced as a new ordinance. At the second reading only the item as it appears on the docket of matters to be considered by the city council need be read, unless amendments or additions have been made subsequent to the introduction, in which case said amendments or additions shall be read in full prior to passage. (Acts 1956, ch. 262, Sec. 1; Acts 1966, ch. 12, Sec. 1: Acts 1966, ch. 83, Sec.1; Acts 1971, Ex. Sess., ch. 166, Sec. 1; Acts 1976, ch. 669; Acts 1988, ch. 157)