SALEM — The city council approved updates to several ordinances in its Feb.3 meeting.

Council voted unanimously to approve updates to the city’s ordinances governing garage and yard sales, and the city’s housing code which were first discussed in a Jan. 21 meeting of the committee of the whole. The updates to the city’s garage sale ordinance modify the wording of section two of the ordinance, which previously stated that “any such sales should not exceed five days on each occasion with such five days occurring Monday through Saturday,” to instead conclude “Monday through Sunday.”

At that rules and ordinances committee meeting City Councilman and Committee Chairman Jeff Stockman explained that this section of the ordinance was originally intended to designate that Sunday was “a free day” but had instead been interpreted as meaning garage sales are not permitted on Sundays, and that the updated language was intended to eliminate any misunderstandings.

The changes to the housing code implement sweeping language updates to correct what Stockman referred to as lingering “clerical errors,” which were not addressed when the ordinance was previously updated on Jan. 6 to separate the city’s housing and health department. Those changes also placed oversight of any matters concerning the housing code and its enforcement with the board of housing appeals rather than the board of health as in recent years.

The update also makes language changes which more clearly align with the city’s updated occupancy license applications, including the elimination of language requiring landlords to submit to an inspection before an occupancy license is issued for a unit.

Stockman also made a motion to authorize City Law Director Brooke Zellers’ appointment of Alec Beach as deputy law director retroactive to Jan. 1, which was approved unanimously by the city council.

Other matters approved included a routine ordinance authorizing City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello to advertise for bids and enter contracts for the purchase of gasoline and diesel to be used by the city of Salem for up to a one-year period, and a resolution authorizing Cappuzzello to enter an agreement with an electricity supplier through Aspen Energy Corp. to supply the City of Salem’s electricity aggregation program.

The city council will meet next at 7 p.m. on Feb. 17.