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When used in this article, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section, provided that, unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this article shall be interpreted so as to give them the same meaning as they have in common usage, and so as to give this article its most reasonable application.
Brush.
All uncultivated shrubs, bushes and small trees.
Earth and construction materials.
Earth, rocks, bricks, concrete, other similar materials and waste materials resulting from construction or remodeling.
Garbage.
Rubbish, trash, kitchen and household waste, ashes, bottles, cans, rags, paper, food, food containers, lawn trimmings, tree trimmings, hedge trimmings, leaves, grass, weeds and refuse, and all decayable wastes, including animal and vegetable matter.
Hazardous waste.
Solid or liquid waste, in any amount, which is defined, characterized, identified or designated as hazardous by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or appropriate state agency by or pursuant to federal or state law, or waste, in any amount, which is regulated under federal or state law, including motor oil and radiator, engine crankcase, transmission or differential fluid, gasoline, paint, paint cans, toxic or corrosive materials or any material found harmful to personnel or equipment as determined by the city administrator or his or her designee.
Junk.
All worn-out, worthless and discarded material, in general, including, but not limited to, scrap iron, scrap tin, scrap brass, scrap copper, scrap lead or scrap zinc and all other scrap metals and their alloys, and bones, rags, glass, paper, cordage, cloth, rubber, rope, tinfoil, bottles, old cotton, machinery, tools, construction materials, appliances, furniture, fixtures, utensils, boxes or crates, pipe or pipe fittings, automobile or airplane tires, dismantled motor vehicles, boats, boat trailers, boathouses or travel trailers or parts thereof, or other manufactured goods or odds and ends that are worn out, worthless, deteriorated, obsolete, discarded material or other wastes, especially those that are unusable in their existing condition.
Litter.
Any quantity of non-containerized paper, metal, plastic, glass, or miscellaneous solid waste which may be classed as trash, debris, rubbish, refuse, garbage, or junk not placed in a solid waste container.
Lot.
Any tract, block or other parcel of land, or portion thereof, located within the city limits.
Motor vehicle.
Every vehicle, car, boat or similar vehicle that is, or was originally, designed to be self-propelled.
Person.
An individual human, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, limited liability partnership or other partnership or other such company, joint venture, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, association or corporation or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, and the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
Refuse.
Shall mean “garbage.”
Rubbish.
All refuse, junk, rejected tin cans, old vessels of all sorts, useless articles, abandoned pipe, waste wood, wood products, tree trimmings, grass cuttings, dead plants, weeds, leaves, dead trees or branches thereof, chips, shavings, sawdust, printed matter, paper, pasteboard, rags, straw, used and discarded clothing, used and discarded shoes and boots, combustible waste, pulp and other products used for packaging or wrapping crockery and glass, ashes, cinders, floor sweepings, glass, mineral or metallic substances, textiles and objects of all sorts, and in general all litter. The words “any and all objectionable or unsanitary matter,” not included within the meaning of the other terms as herein used, means those which are liable to produce or tend to produce an unhealthy, unwholesome or unsanitary condition to the general locality where the same are situated.
Sewage or wastewater.
A combination of waterborne wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and commercial and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface and storm waters as may be present.
Solid waste.
Household garbage and refuse and commercial garbage and refuse, brush cuttings and weeds.
Solid waste service.
The collection and hauling of residential and business solid waste, e.g., garbage, trash and refuse, for disposal at a state-licensed landfill, and the actions and services directly related thereto or necessary for the provision of such services to consumers or customers in the city.
Structure.
Shall mean the same thing as it does in chapter 3 of the city Code of Ordinances (building code).
Trash.
Shall mean “garbage.”
Unwholesome matter.
All stagnant water, filth, carrion, impure matter and any condition liable to produce, harbor or spread disease or germs or cause noxious, foul and offensive odors, including foodstuffs or byproducts thereof of any animal nature, or any fruit, vegetable or other thing which may become tainted, diseased, fermented or decayed or otherwise unwholesome or unclean.
Waste.
Rejected, unutilized or superfluous substances in liquid, gaseous or solid form resulting from domestic, agricultural, commercial, or industrial activities.
Weeds.
All rank and uncultivated vegetable growth or matter which is liable to become an unwholesome or decaying mass or breeding place for flies, mosquitoes, snakes, rats or other vermin.
(Ordinance 112106-C, sec. 4, adopted 11/21/06)
(a) 
Abatement.
Whenever an immediate danger to the health, life or safety of any person exists as a result of garbage, rubbish, junk, trash, unwholesome matter, sewage or toxic waste discharge, storage of airtight containers in an unsafe location, or weeds which have grown to a height, at any point on the property, of greater than 48 inches, the city may abate the nuisance without notice to the owner. In the event the city abates the nuisance under this subsection, the city shall forward notice to the owner within seven (7) days in the manner set forth in subsection (c).
(b) 
Right to inspect.
The code enforcement authority or designee is authorized to inspect any property within the corporate limits of the city, at any reasonable time, subject, however, to the requirements for obtaining the permission of the occupant, or obtaining a warrant for the entry and inspection of private residences.
(c) 
Violations and notices.
(1) 
If an officer charged with the enforcement of this article shall determine that a person has violated any provision of this article, such officer may request that the police issue a citation or may file a complaint with the municipal court and request that the violator be summoned to answer the complaint.
(2) 
If an officer charged with the enforcement of this article shall determine that a situation exists which immediately affects or threatens the health, safety and well-being of the general public, and that immediate action is necessary, such officer may take such action as shall be necessary, including issuing citations for violations of the terms and provisions hereof to the owner and/or occupant of the property upon which such condition exists, as may be deemed appropriate and necessary.
(3) 
If an officer charged with enforcement of this article determines a situation constitutes an immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare, and the owner or occupant of the property is absent or fails to immediately remedy the violation, the city council may, at a regular session or at an emergency session called for the purpose of considering the issue, upon evidence heard, determine that an emergency exists and order such action as may be required to protect the public health, safety and welfare. In such event, the city may prosecute an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover its costs.
(4) 
If any owner or occupant shall fail or refuse to remedy any of the conditions prohibited by this article within seven (7) days after notice to do so, the city may do such work or cause the same to be done, and pay and charge the expenses in doing or having such work done or improvements made to the owner(s) of the property, and such charge shall be a personal liability of such owner to the city.
(5) 
Notices required pursuant to this article shall be in writing. Such notices may be served upon such owner and/or occupant as follows: in person by an officer or employee of the city; by letter addressed to such owner or occupant at his/her post office address; or, if personal service may not be had, or the owner or occupant’s address be unknown, then notice may be given by publishing a brief summary of such order at least once in the official newspaper of the city or by posting a notice on or near the front door of each building on the property to which the violation relates, or, if no building exists, by posting notice on a placard attached to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the violation relates. The notice shall state “sanitary improvements,” “to whom it may concern” and a brief statement of the violation(s). Service of the notice by any one of the above methods, or by a combination thereof, shall be deemed sufficient notice.
(6) 
If an owner is mailed a notice in accordance with subsection (5) and the United States Postal Service returns the notice as “refused” or “unclaimed” the validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is considered as delivered.
(7) 
Notices provided by mail or by posting as set forth in subsection (5) may provide for year-round abatement of the nuisance and inform the owner that should the owner commit any other violation of the same kind that poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the first anniversary of the date of the notice, the city, without further notice, may abate the violation at the owner’s expense and assess the costs against the property.
(8) 
Persons littering, in violation of division 2 of this article, or causing or creating a prohibited nuisance in the presence of a person authorized to enforce this article may be cited; or a complaint filed for such violation without notice of the violation, or warning, and such citation or complaint shall be filed in the municipal court of the city.
(d) 
Costs and appeals.
In addition to any other remedy provided in this article and cumulative thereto, the code enforcement authority, after giving to the owner of the property seven (7) days notice in writing, as provided in subsection (c) above, may cause any of the work or improvements mentioned in this article to be done at the expense of the city, and charge the utility bill of the property on which such work or improvements are done, and cause all of the actual cost to the city to be assessed on the real estate or lot on which such expenses occurred; provided that the owner of any such real estate may appeal to the board of adjustments from the order of the code enforcement authority by filing a written statement with the code enforcement authority within seven (7) days after receipt of the notice provided for above, stating that such real estate complied with the provision of this article before the expiration of a seven-day period. The board of adjustments shall set a date, within thirty (30) days from the date of the appeal, for hearing the appeal to determine whether the real estate complied with the provisions of this article before the expiration of such seven-day period. The authority of the code enforcement authority to proceed to cause such work to be done shall not be suspended while an appeal from the order is pending. If it shall be determined by the board of adjustments that the premises complied with the provisions of this article before the expiration of the seven-day period, then no personal liability of the owner shall arise nor shall any lien be created against the premises upon which such work was done.
(e) 
Cost of abatement constitutes lien.
Cumulative to the city’s remedy by fine, as set forth herein, the city may do such work or cause the same to be done to remedy such condition to remove such matter from such owner’s premises at the city’s expense and charge the same to the utility bill of such property and assess the same against the real estate or lot or lots upon which such expense is incurred.
(1) 
Expenditures plus ten (10) percent per annum interest on the expenditures from the date of such payment by the city shall be added to the next billing cycle for utility bills for the real estate or lot or lots, if not already paid. Payment shall be due and payable in full by the owner or occupant at the time of payment of such utility bill. If the property is unoccupied, no utilities shall be furnished to the property where the work occurred until such obligation, as herein set out, payable to the city for abatement of any nuisance described herein is paid in full.
(2) 
Upon filing with the county clerk of a statement by the city secretary or designee of such expenses, the city shall have a privileged lien upon said real estate or lot or lots, second only to tax liens and liens for street improvements, to secure the expenditure so made and ten (10) percent per annum interest on the amount from the date of such payment so made by the city.
(3) 
The city may, additionally, institute suit and recover such expenses and foreclose such lien in any court of competent jurisdiction, and the statement so filed with the county clerk or a certified copy thereof shall be prima facie proof of the amount expended in any such work or improvements to remedy such condition or remove any such matter.
(f) 
Enforcement.
The civil and criminal provisions of this article shall be enforced by the persons or agencies designated by the city, including, but not limited to, the county sheriffs department, the police department, the building official, and the code enforcement officer. It shall be a violation of this article to interfere with a code enforcement officer, or other person authorized to enforce this article, in the performance of his or her duties.
(g) 
Penalties.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this article, or shall fail to comply therewith, or with any of the requirements thereof, within the city limits shall be deemed guilty of an offense and shall be liable for a fine not to exceed the sum of two thousand dollars ($2000.00). Each day the violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. Such penalty shall be in addition to all the other remedies provided herein.
(h) 
Remedies.
All remedies cited herein are in addition to and not in lieu of all remedies permitted to the city by law.
(Ordinance 112106-C, sec. 4, adopted 11/21/06)
All owners or persons in charge of public buildings, filling stations, camps, and other places of public assemblage shall provide clean and sanitary, sufficient and suitable, and well-lighted and ventilated toilet accommodations for each sex. Such accommodations must be kept in a thoroughly clean and sanitary condition.
(Ordinance 112106-C, sec. 4, adopted 11/21/06)