DESCRIPTION: The city council in each of Utah's incorporated cities exercises its legislative powers by passing ordinances. Ordinances regulate all activity within the community (Utah Code, 1988, 10-3-701-707). At the time of incorporation the Kanab town board (as the city council was formerly called) compiled and adopted a set of ordinances as a basis for the city government. These ordinances set the town boundaries; established positions for a number of appointed city officials and defined their responsibilities; established rules of conduct; and set requirements for conducting business. The Kanab city council compiled and updated sets of complete city ordinances periodically thereafter. This series includes some of those sets of revised ordinances.

Earlier revised ordinances focus on the duties of appointed city officials, regulating business within the community, and monitoring the conduct of residents. For example, ordinances prohibit profanity, vandalism, unnecessary noise, drunkenness, hoodlumism, indecent exposure, animal abuse, buying or selling on Sunday, and abusive threats or insults. The most recently revised set of Kanab ordinances is much broader in scope and also includes regulations for elections, courts, taxation, municipal improvements, public utilities and services, new construction, public transportation, safety, and the management of public property, as well as planning and zoning laws. This series also includes a handful of loose ordinances passed 1913-1916. These deal with Sabbath breaking, prohibition, and fly control.