Legal Documents of Jefferson City

Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated, § 7-63-201, et seq., which authorizes the city council to designate certain city enforcement officers the authority to issue ordinance summonses in the areas of sanitation, litter control and animal control, the board designates the building inspector in the building department to issue ordinance summonses in those areas. The enforcement officer 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. If the violation is a misdemeanor under state law, the police officer who witnesses the violation may issue a citation to general sessions court 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 § 6-201 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. (Ord. #98-21, Nov. 1998)