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JUSTICE GARMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

In August 1996, plaintiff City of Charleston (City) filed complaints against defendants, Ben Huddleston, Ralph Witmer II, Doyle Johnson, and Stephen Witmer, alleging that they had allowed billboard signs to be placed on their property in areas where signage was prohibited by a City ordinance. Defendants' property is located within the "Corridor Development District" (District) that lies along the right-of-way of Illinois Route 16. Following a consolidated bench trial, defendants were found guilty of the violations and fines were imposed. Defendants now appeal, arguing (1) the ordinances annexing Route 16 into the City in 1965 are void, (2) the City failed to comply with statutory notice requirements when the ordinance creating the District was enacted and the ordinance is invalid because it lacks an ordaining clause, and (3) the fines assessed are unconstitutional. We reverse.

Route 16 extends perpendicularly west from the City. In August 1965, the City enacted ordinance No. 65-O-27, which annexed portions of the Route 16 right-of-way, beginning from the western city limits and extending due west for a distance of 2.78 miles. In September 1965, the City adopted ordinance No. 65-O-33, which annexed an additional 1.85 miles of the Route 16 right-of-way beginning at the west edge of the land annexed in August 1965.

On July 8, 1992, the City published notice of a public hearing to be held on July 23, 1992, by the Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning (Zoning Board) to consider creating a new zoning district on land previously annexed along Route 16, to be known as the District. This hearing was not held on that date because the meeting of the Zoning Board was canceled. At a hearing on November 5, 1992, the Zoning Board approved the creation of the District. The City adopted the District on April 6, 1993, as ordinance No. 93-O-18. This ordinance stated its statutory authority as section 7-1-10 of the Illinois Municipal Code (Code) (65 ILCS 5/7-1-10 (West 1996)).

No action was taken by the City on its complaints against defendants until late 1997, when defendants were given notice of hearing. All defendants were represented by the same attorney. In their statement of defenses to the charge, defendants alleged that the City lacked authority to enforce ordinance No. 93-O-18 because (1) it purported to create the District and did not purport to amend the City's zoning ordinance; thus, the ordinance is not part of the City's zoning ordinance; (2) the ordinance was not properly enacted, as statutory notice was not properly given; and (3) the land purportedly annexed in 1965 was not contiguous to the City and was an improper strip annexation.

Prior to the bench trial, the parties stipulated that (1) the real estate and signs are within the geographic boundary of ordinance No. 93-O-18 and (2) the signs are not in compliance with the ordinance.

At trial, Jeffrey Finley, city planner for the City, was the only witness to testify. He stated that the meeting of the Zoning Board scheduled for July 23, 1992, was canceled prior to the meeting date, either because of lack of a quorum or because the City's consultant was unable to assemble the necessary information for the meeting. No one was present on the date and time stated in the public notice. The meeting was rescheduled for September 3, 1992. Finley testified that his staff told him a notice was placed on the meeting room door stating that the July 23, 1992, meeting was continued to September 3, 1992. Defense counsel's hearsay objection was sustained. In later questioning, Finley testified the City had a practice of posting such notices and this was the practice that was followed in 1992. The agenda for the September 3, 1992, meeting would have been mailed to the Zoning Board members and the media. There was no other public notice given of that meeting.

The trial court entered a written order on March 26, 1998. It held that proper notice of the continuation of the July 23, 1992, Zoning Board meeting (to September 3, 1992) was given by posting notice on the meeting room door. The court held no further publication was required. The court also found that defendants' defense of void annexation was barred because, while the property annexed was not contiguous to the City in 1965, subsequent annexations of parcels that are contiguous to the Route 16 right-of-way have rendered the property contiguous. The court found defendants guilty of the ordinance violations.

At a sentencing hearing on May 7, 1998, the trial court imposed the minimum fine of $25 per day. Defendants filed a motion to reconsider, making a new argument that ordinance No. 93-O-18 lacks an ordaining clause required by statute and is therefore merely a resolution that one cannot be fined for violating. The motion alleged that the trial court had no jurisdiction to enforce an invalid ordinance. The motion also objected to the court's determination that the property annexed in 1965 is now contiguous to the City, stating that this has been accomplished only through subsequent annexations of parcels adjacent only to the Route 16 right-of-way, which is itself not contiguous to the City.

Defendants also filed an objection to the fines assessed by the trial court, noting that the applicable statute (65 ILCS 5/1-2-1 (West 1996)) allows a maximum fine of $750 for an ordinance violation. They further alleged that any fine in excess of $750 would violate the proportionate penalties clause of the Constitution of the State of Illinois (Ill. Const. 1970, art. 1,