COUNTY ORDINANCES DRAFTED IMPROPERLY SINCE 2007

In 2002 Georgia enacted a law requiring counties to compile and publish a code of ordinances no later than January 1, 2002. O.C.G.A. § 36-80-19 (2014). The law also requires that subsequently enacted ordinances be drafted in the same format as the code of ordinances. Fannin county has routinely violated the law since 2007.

It appears that the only time Fannin County complied with the law was in 2007 when the county codified its ordinances and published a code. The 2007 code of ordinances was done by Municipal Code Corporation, a company that codifies city and county ordinances, prints codes of ordinances and publishes them on its website, www.municode.com. In preparing the 2007 code, Municipal Code Corporation used the following number­ing scheme:

                     Chapter 1

                            Article I

                                  Section 1-1

                                       (a)

                                            (1)

                                                  a.

The law requires Fannin County to update its code of ordinances every year by incorporating subsequent amendments to the code. O.G.C.A. § 36-80-16(b)(3).

Fannin County ordinances drafted after 2007 not only fail to follow the numbering scheme of the 2007 code, but fail to follow any consistent numbering scheme. Here are some examples:

Alarm Ordinance (2009):    Section 1

                                                    Section 2

                                                         (a)

                                                         (b)

Animal Control Ordinance (2008): Section 1-1

                                                                  Section 1-2

                                                                        (a)

                                                                        (b)

Beer and Wine Pouring Ordinance (undated): 1.010

                                                                                      1.020

                                                                                            (a)

                                                                                            (b)

                                                                                       2.010 

Prepaid Wireless Fee Ordinance:    Section I

                                                                 Section II

911 Addressing Ordinance (2011):   Article I

                                                                       Section 101

                                                                       Section 102

                                                                  Article II 

As you can see, there is no consistency in the numbering of these ordinances, and certainly there is no attempt to number the ordinances consistent with the 2007 code of ordinances.

It is extremely poor drafting practice to write an ordinance without indicating which sections of the code of ordinances are being created or amended and without using the common numbering scheme of the adopted code of ordinances. More significantly, failing to use the numbering scheme of the existing code of ordinances violates the law. O.G.C.A. § 36-80-16(c) states: 

Following publication of the first code under this Code section and at all times thereafter, the ordinances and amendments shall be printed in substantially the same style as the code currently in effect in such unit of local government and shall be suitable in form for incorporation therein. (Emphasis supplied.)

This means that after Fannin County codified its ordinances in 2007, all subsequent ordinances and ordinance amendments must be drafted in a style consistent with the 2007 codification so that they can be incorporated into the code. At a minimum, this requires that an adopted ordinance designate where it should be placed in the code and use the numbering system of the code. Any ordinance drafted after 2007 that failed to do this violated the law.

Most city and county ordinances are drafted by or reviewed by the city or county attorney before they are enacted. Any city or county attorney worth his or her salt should know how to draft an ordinance properly and that means using the numbering scheme of the existing code of ordinances and designating which code sections are being amended or where the new ordinance should go in the code. This is true regardless of whether there is a statute that requires that ordinances be drafted that way.

Lynn Doss has been the Fannin County Attorney since 1999. I do not know whether she has any hand in drafting Fannin County ordinances. Nor can I say for a fact that she is aware of the 2007 code of ordinances, but it is impossible to believe that she is ignorant of the existence of the 2007 code. After all, she’s the county attorney, and she must have consulted the code on some occasion in the last eight years.

If she is responsible for drafting county ordinances, there is no excuse for having drafted an ordinance after 2007 without referencing the code sections being created or amended and using the 2007 code numbering scheme. If she is not responsible for drafting county ordinances, it is inconceivable that since 2007 she has not seen a proposed ordinance that failed to comply with the numbering scheme of the 2007 code of ordinances, in which case she should have made sure that the ordinance was drafted properly and in compliance with the law.

It sure looks like she’s not doing her job. If and when the county complies with the statute by publishing an updated code of ordinances, unnecessary additional time and possible expense will be incurred in redrafting post-2007 ordinances to comply with the 2007 code numbering scheme and in determining where the ordinances should go in the code.