From the Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: What are the public notice requirements when a Borough is considering a new ordinance?

A: Under the Borough Code, any proposed ordinance must be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the borough not more than 60 days nor less than 7 days prior to passage. The public notice must include either the full text of the ordinance or the title and a brief summary setting forth all of the provisions in reasonable detail. If only a summary is provided: 1) the public notice must identify a place in the borough where copies of the proposed ordinance may be publicly examined; 2) a copy of the ordinance must be provided to a newspaper of general circulation in the borough at the time the notice is published; and 3) a copy of the proposed ordinance must also be filed in the county law library or other county office.

If the ordinance is substantially amended after publication, the borough council must re-advertise the proposed ordinance within 10 days in one newspaper of general circulation in the borough. That public notice must include a brief summary setting forth all of the provisions in reasonable detail, along with a summary of the amendments.

All borough ordinances must, within one month after their enactment, be recorded by the borough secretary in an ordinance book. That book must be open to the public at all times.

The Borough Code has slightly different procedures when a borough is consolidating, codifying, or revising existing borough ordinances as a single ordinance. When that occurs, the ordinance must be introduced at least 30 days before its final enactment. A public notice setting forth the ordinance’s general nature and listing its table of contents, must be placed in a newspaper of general circulation in the borough at least 15 days before its final enactment. When such consolidation, codification or revision has been enacted, the borough must publish a notice stating that the ordinance was enacted.

Use this link to the Headlines & Deadlines archive of Teri Henning's weekly 'From the Hotline' columns. 

[HOTLINE ARCHIVE]