Local Ordinances

For more than 50 years, our firm has been preparing and updating local ordinances for municipal clients. We have unique expertise in subjects such as the Michigan Vehicle Code, the Uniform Traffic Code, the Motor Carrier Act, Michigan’s marihuana laws, the Liquor Control Act, the Penal Code, the Property Maintenance Code, the International Fire Code, and the Michigan Building Code. O'Reilly Rancilio’s attorneys are also familiar with state laws, technical codes, and administrative regulations that impact many local ordinances.

In addition, our lawyers have been at the forefront of innovation regarding topics of unique interest to individual municipalities, such as the creation of the first Corridor Improvement Authority, licensing of hotels and motels, regulating pawnbrokers, regulating body art facilities, licensing massage establishments, and regulation of the use and sale of fireworks. We have handled the regulation of potentially dangerous animals, implemented a false alarm recovery ordinance, required computerized reporting of secondhand goods transactions and fire alarm inspections required electronic reporting of dog vaccinations, and implemented a model voluntary curbside recycling program.

We have serve as ordinance prosecutors for many municipalities, currently including Sterling Heights, Fraser, the Village of Armada, Grosse Pointe Shores, Harper Woods, Dearborn Heights, and Richmond Township. We have successfully prosecuted hundreds of trials and defended innumerable motions and evidentiary hearings. We train and prepare police officers for the unique experience of testifying at such proceedings, and we maintain a voluminous "brief bank" covering nearly every ordinance prosecution topic imaginable. We know and understand all of the nuances of police work, including the community caretaking doctrine, the police team theory, probable cause, search warrants, administrative warrants, and the administrative rules governing blood and alcohol testing.

In addition to criminal ordinances, we have also prepared model ordinances allowing municipalities to "decriminalize" certain violations through the use of municipal civil infractions. We have also created a model nuisance abatement process, which ensures the efficient handling of property maintenance and other nuisance conditions within the community without the need for issuing citations that proceed too slowly through the court process.

The experience of the firm's attorneys in drafting and prosecuting local ordinances is unparalleled, and the firm is uniquely qualified to serve any and all ordinance-related legal needs that may arise.