(A) Because emergency repairs can be disruptive to the community, including planned business activities of residents, a registrant shall notify the city within two business days from discovery of the emergency, via telephone, facsimile, text, email or in-person communication with a city official, of any event regarding its facilities already located within the right-of-way that it considers to be an emergency. The registrant may proceed to take whatever actions are necessary to respond to an emergency. Within three business days of the discovery of the emergency, the registrant shall have applied for any necessary permit and provided the city with a written notification of said emergency, which notice shall include, at a minimum, the time, date, location and extent of any excavation or other work performed. If the city becomes aware of an emergency regarding a registrant’s facilities, the City Manager or his or her designee shall attempt to contact that registrant immediately.
(B) If the city determines that the right-of-way associated with a surface cut has been degraded or caved in more than one-half inch below grade, and within two years after any surface cut, it shall notify the party or parties responsible for such degradation or cave-in of this determination and, in the case of a clear and immediate danger or hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic, the city shall order the party or parties responsible to take immediate precautionary measures to direct vehicular or pedestrian traffic around and away from the degradation or cave-in. In addition, the city shall order the party or parties responsible to make necessary corrections and repairs, which may be temporary in nature, to cure the immediate danger or hazard within two days and perform any additional work consistent with the issuance of any necessary permit. The city shall thereafter order the party or parties responsible to make all necessary permanent corrections and repairs within 90 days.
(C) In all other cases of degradation or cave-in, the city shall order the party or parties responsible for such degradation or cave-in to take immediate precautionary measures to direct vehicular or pedestrian traffic around and away from the degradation or cave-in, and shall order the party or parties responsible to make all necessary corrections and repairs within 30 days.
(D) In the event the city orders corrections or repairs pursuant to this section, and the party responsible fails to respond within the time allotted, the city shall cause the necessary corrections and repairs to be made, and shall submit a statement for the costs incurred by the city in making such corrections and repairs to the responsible party, which statement shall include an additional administrative fee of $500. In that event, and if the said statement of costs and fees is not paid by the responsible party within 45 days, the city shall suspend the issuance of all future permits to the responsible party until such time as the costs are paid.
(E) This section shall not be interpreted to preclude the city from taking any and all reasonable protective measures with respect to the right-of-way and the health and safety of the general public, including, but not limited to, blocking the general public’s access to the area, temporarily repairing the right-of-way, or removing any facility that constitutes an immediate health or safety concern. The city shall not undertake to repair or remove a facility unless all other reasonable methods of response to the emergency have been exercised.
(F) Any other provision in this section notwithstanding, the City Manager may extend any time period under this section for good cause, and the requested extension upon a showing of good cause by the applicant, shall not be unreasonably withheld or denied. Good cause shall include, but not be limited to, inclement weather, natural disasters and similar emergencies, including natural disasters and emergencies in other regions where a utility has sent local crews to provide assistance.
(1984 Code, § 96.38) (Ord. O-04-20, passed 1-28-2020)