American Legal Publishing

12/16/2024

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), a landmark federal regulation that safeguards drinking water. The SDWA was passed in response to the public outcry over contaminated drinking water and polluted waterways. The legislation was successful, making public drinking water safer for individuals and helping communities restore their waterways. The EPA has an informative timeline illustrating the act's history and its changes over the years: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act

Local governments also adopted drinking water legislation, much of it tailored to their specific natural environments and the concerns of their residents. If you search for "drinking water" in the eCodeALP online library - Codelibrary.amlegal.com - you will see legislation covering a wide range of water-related topics, from water source protection and storage to bottled water sales.

Drinking water legislation is just one way federal, state, and local governments work together to improve our overall quality of life. Let's all celebrate with a tall glass of cool, *clean* tap water.

12/13/2024

Congratulations to American Legal Publishing client, Colorado Springs, on earning a Bronze 2025 Military Friendly Employer designation for 2025. This honorary designation acknowledges the city's efforts to bring employment resources to military veterans and their spouses. Nearly 20% of the city's employees are military veterans.

Great job, City of Colorado Springs !

(SPONSORED) — The City of Colorado Springs earned a Bronze 2025 Military Friendly® Employer designation for 2025, bringing more resources to Military personnel and their families to find the perfect job. Myra Romero and Valerie Gallegos with the City of Colorado Springs appeared on Loving Living ...

12/12/2024

In the new issue of Local Focus magazine, we prepare for the 2025 legislative session by taking a look at the LOC's nine legislative priorities and sharing how cities can stay involved in the process. This edition also includes an LOC Annual Conference recap, information on President's Regional Meetings, and more! Read it here: https://www.orcities.org/resources/communications/local-focus

❗ Editor's Note - Final Edition ❗
This is the final issue of Local Focus, concluding its run as LOC’s quarterly magazine. Feedback from members highlighted a preference for quick, efficient updates like the weekly LOC Bulletin and social media, making the magazine format unnecessary. We thank city officials, staff, writers, and Business Partners for their support. Going forward, updates will be delivered through the Bulletin, website, emails, and an enhanced focus on LinkedIn. We appreciate your input as our communications evolve! We look forward to hearing from you as we strive to meet your communications needs!

12/11/2024

The City of Valley, NE has a new, online Code of Ordinances. Check it out at: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/valleyne
City staff and residents will be able to search, share, download, and print their Code any time from their pc, smartphone, or tablet.

Thank you, City of Valley, Nebraska for trusting American Legal!

12/10/2024

Local governments can improve the clarity of their Code of Ordinances by adding pop-up definitions to specific words and phrases. We commonly see the words "may" (permissive) and "shall" (mandatory) defined to prevent confusion for residents, but other terms can be defined as well. This is helpful since not all municipalities use the same definitions for common terms. An example is "mobile" or "manufactured home park". In the image you can see the differences in how Campbell County, KY and Mills River, NC define this common phrase in their respective Codes of Ordinances.

If you'd like to add definition linking to your online Code of Ordinances, please email us at [email protected] or visit amlegal.com to use the contact form.

12/09/2024

Reminder for our clients:
Now is the perfect time to send in your end-of-year materials.

12/06/2024

Municipalities in California may find this list of grant opportunities useful:

By Brittany Maldonado on facebook-f twitter envelope print 140  Municipal Grant Opportunities  ________-Popular Opportunities Cal OES: Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Deadline: Rolling deadline for NOI Amount: Project max is unspecified. $150,000 for single jurisdiction plan, $250,000...

12/05/2024

Buildings don't last forever. When a structure becomes dilapidated or unsafe, local governments may be tasked with addressing the problem through legislation.

While making law, not all municipalities use the same language to describe decaying properties. Calumet, MI has an entire chapter on the topic of "blight" in their Code of Ordinances. It defines blight or blighting factors, provides information on enforcement, injunctive relief, and penalties. Cramerton, NC regulates "abandoned and unsafe buildings" within the Housing Regulations chapter in their code. Trinidad, TX partially defines the word "dilapidated" by including a list of synonyms with phrases like "worse for wear" and "gone to rack and ruin".

If your local government is considering adding ordinances to address blight you can find models for those ordinances at the eCodeALP online library: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/search

Try searching for the terms "blight", "abandoned building", "vacant", "derelict", or "delipidated". Use the "Find synonyms (Thesaurus)" function in the advanced search filters to catch a wider range of results.

11/28/2024

American Legal Publishing's offices are closed November 28-29th, 2024.

11/27/2024

What are you grateful for this holiday season? We're grateful for our amazing clients.

11/26/2024

The 2024-25 United States Supreme Court Term officially kicked off on Monday, October 7. Several significant cases that could impact local governments and their interests are before the court this…

11/25/2024

Thank you, Village of North Lewisburg, Ohio - Government for becoming an American Legal Publishing client. We appreciate your trust in our codification experience.

Check out their website. They have some great vintage photos of their town:: https://www.northlewisburg.com/

11/21/2024

A recent City's Speak podcast discusses how cities can incorporate AI technologies into their operations. Is your municipality considering adopting AI technology to improve city services? How do you think your residents will respond?

Each episode of NLC’s new podcast, CitiesSpeak with Clarence Anthony, dives into a critical issue facing local leaders today, featuring conversations with elected leaders and policy experts from…

11/20/2024

Halloween has passed. Thanksgiving approaches. We all know what comes next. It is time to get our snow shovels out of storage.

Each municipality has its own rules regarding snow shoveling; when and how often it should be done, and what to do with the snow that has been shoveled. If your municipality is an American Legal Publishing client, you can check the eCodeALP online library to see the laws for your area at codelibrary.amlegal.com.

Snow shoveling comes with a risk of injury or heart attack. Here are helpful tips for mitigating that risk: https://www.redcross.ca/blog/2021/2/shovelling-snow-know-the-risks-and-mistakes-to-avoid

11/19/2024

We are excited to add Everett Borough, PA as an American Legal Publishing client. Everett Borough currently hosts and manages its own Code of Ordinances on its municipal website at https://everettboro.com/ordinances/. By contracting with American Legal Publishing, the Borough will relieve itself of the burden of maintaining its online Code and gain access to the powerful search and retrieval features available in the eCodeALP online library.

Everett Borough Ordinances Table of Contents Chapter 1: Administration and Goverment Chatper 2: Animals Chapter 3: Bicycles Chapter 4: Buildings Chapter 5: Code Enforcement Chapter 6: Conduct Chapter 7: Fire Prevention and Fire Protection Chapter 8: Flood Plain Regulations Chapter 9: Grading and Exc...

11/15/2024

The City of Kennedy, MN selected American Legal Publishing to codify its Code of Ordinances. Thank you, City of Kennedy, for trusting our 90+ years of codification experience. We are happy to have you as a client. Check out the City of Kennedy website at: https://www.kennedymn.org/

11/14/2024

American Legal Publishing is pleased to add Kerens, TX to our growing list of Texas clients. You can check them out at:

NOTICE is hereby given to owners of property described or referred to and to all other persons as provided by law that the Kerens City Council acting as the Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 101 So...

11/13/2024

Congratulations to American Legal Publishing client Lake Havasu City, AZ on winning a National Digital Cities Award!

"The city of Lake Havasu has been recognized as the 7th best among the cities in the US with a population of up to 75,000 for its digital government initiatives. The accolade comes from the Center for Digital Government’s 2024 Digital Cities Survey."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 8, 2024 Lake Havasu City Receives National Digital Cities Survey Award The city of Lake Havasu has been recognized as the 7th best among the cities in the US with a p…