Legal Documents of Baxter

Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated, § 7-63-201, et seq., which authorizes the board of mayor and councilmen to designate certain city enforcement officers with the authority to issue ordinance summonses in the areas of sanitation, litter control and animal control, the board will designate an appointee in the sanitation department and the health officer in the animal control department to issue ordinance summonses in those areas. These enforcement officers may not arrest violators or issue citations in lieu of arrest, but upon witnessing a violation of any ordinance, law or regulation in the areas of sanitation, litter control or animal control, may issue an ordinance summons and give the summons to the offender.

The ordinance summons shall contain the name and address of the person being summoned and such other information necessary to identify and give the person summoned notice of the charge against him, and state a specific date and place for the offender to appear and answer the charges against him.

The ordinance summons shall also contain an agreement to appear, which shall be signed by the offender. If the offender refuses to sign the agreement to appear, the enforcement officer in whose presence the offense occurred may:

1. Have a summons issued by the clerk of the city court; or
2. May seek the assistance of a police officer to witness the violation.

The police officer who witnesses the violation may issue a citation in lieu of arrest for the violation, or arrest the offender for failure to sign the citation in lieu of arrest. If the police officer makes an arrest, he shall dispose of the person arrested as provided in § 6-301 above.

It shall be unlawful for any person to violate his agreement to appear in court, regardless of the disposition of the charge for which the ordinance summons was issued.