(a) Definitions.
(1) "Refuse" means such matter of materials as are either in fact noxious or have been refused and abandoned by its owner as worthless, including loose trash, garbage and food waste.
(2) "Rubbish" means and includes wire, chips, shavings, bottles, broken glass, crockery, furniture, tin, cast or wooden ware, rags, dead weeds, paper, paper circulars, handbills, boots, shoes, ashes or any waste material other than garbage or offal.
(3) "Used building materials" means and includes any material, such as wood, lumber, plaster, stone, brick, cement block, or any composition thereof, used or useful in the erection of any building or structure, which have been used previously for such erection or construction or which remain because of destruction, incompletion or deterioration, and have become unusable.
(4) "Motor vehicle in inoperative condition" means and includes any style or type of motor driven vehicle useful for the conveyance of persons or property in an inoperative and unlicensed condition upon public or private property for more than ten consecutive days without being obscured from public view.
(5) "Automobile part " means and includes any portion or part of any motor driven vehicle as detached from the vehicle as a whole.
(6) "Used or abandoned bicycle or part thereof" means and includes used and discarded bicycles in an inoperative condition which have remained in such condition for a period of not less than ten consecutive days.
(7) "Scrap metal" means and includes pieces of or parts of steel, iron, tin, zinc, copper, aluminum, or any alloy thereof, whether covered with porcelain or any other materials, whether intact or in parts, which has served its usefulness in its original form and can no longer be used or useful for its originally intended purpose.
(b) Nuisances Prohibited. Storage, maintenance, or keeping of certain materials and property is hereby declared a nuisance. No owner, lessee or occupant shall openly store, keep or permit to be kept thereon, place or allow to remain, refuse, rubbish, used building materials, automobiles in inoperative condition, motor vehicles unfit for further use, automobile parts, used bicycles or parts, abandoned or scrap metal, on any lot, lots, parts of lots or parcels of land within the corporate limits of the City.
(c) Order for Removal; Violation.
(1) In the event of a violation of subsection (b) hereof, the Mayor or Chief of Police shall give notice to the owner, occupant or person having charge of the premises upon which the violation occurs to cease such violation. Such notice shall be in writing and shall be served upon the owner, occupant or person having charge of the premises either personally or at the usual place of residence of such owner, occupant or person having charge of such premises, or by registered or certified mail addressed to such person's last known place of residence.
(2) If the person served with the notice as provided in subsection (c)(1) hereof fails to cause such violation to cease within ten days of the date upon which the notice was issued, he shall be subject to the penalty provided in subsection (e) hereof, and a separate offense shall be deemed committed upon each day during or on which the violation occurs or continues beyond such ten day period.
(d) Exceptions. Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (b) hereof it shall not be unlawful for any person to purchase used building materials and place or store them on any lot, lots, parts of lots, or parcel of land owned or controlled by such person; provided that such materials shall not remain on the lot, lots, parts of lots or parcel of land, for a period of more than thirty days, unless the construction or erection planned for the use of such materials has commenced; and provided further that such materials are used or consumed in the construction or removal from the premises within a period of four months from the time the materials are first placed on the lot, lots, parts of lots or parcel of land. No person shall move any materials so stored or placed to another location within the City for the purpose of avoiding the intent of this section, except that any such materials may be moved to another lot, lots, parts of lots or parcel of land, when the same has been sold to a bona fide purchaser for value for such purchaser's own use.
(e) Penalty. Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. Each day on which a violation occurs or each repeated violation by the same person shall constitute a separate offense.
(f) Removal of refuse, rubbish, used building materials, motor vehicles in inoperative condition, automobile parts, used bicycles or parts thereof and scrap metal. In the event the owner or tenant does not remove certain prohibited materials or parts thereof, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, then the City Manager is authorized and it is declared to be his duty to have enforced the provisions of this chapter, and to cause the removal of same.
(g) Assessment of costs by Municipality. Whenever any prohibited materials are removed by the Municipality then after the work is done, the Municipality shall give five days’ notice by regular mail, to the owner of such lot or parcel of land, at his last known address, to pay the cost of such removal of prohibited materials or parts thereof, which notice shall be accompanied by a statement of the amount of cost incurred, and in the event the same is not paid within thirty (30) days after the mailing of such notice, then the amount shall be certified to the County Auditor for collection the same as other taxes and assessments are collected.
(Ord. 11-1976. Passed 4-20-76; Ord. 6-11. Passed 6-7-11; Ord. 7-11. Passed 6-7-11.)