TITLE 5
HEALTH AND SANITATION

CHAPTER 1
NUISANCES

SECTION:

5-1-1: Enumeration Of Nuisance Conditions

5-1-2: Examination Of Premises

5-1-3: Notice Of Nuisance Condition; Abatement

5-1-4: Nuisance On Unoccupied Premises; Abatement By City

5-1-5: Dangerous Nuisances; Immediate Abatement By City

5-1-6: Liability For Abatement Costs

5-1-7: Judgment Against Violator; Penalty

5-1-1: ENUMERATION OF NUISANCE CONDITIONS:

   A.   Offensive Premises: Any person who shall suffer or permit any drain, sewer, yard, grounds or premises belonging to or controlled by him, as agent, tenant or otherwise, either within the city or within three (3) miles thereof, to become nauseous, foul, offensive or injurious to the public health, or unpleasant and disagreeable to adjacent residents or persons passing by, shall be deemed guilty of committing a nuisance.

   B.   Burial Of Human Bodies: Any person who arranges burial of or buries the body of a deceased person shall bury the body only within property designated by the city council as a cemetery. Any person who buries a dead human body in any property within the city not designated as a cemetery by the city council is guilty of committing a nuisance.

   C.   Manure Or Garbage Piles; Permit For Burning: Any person who throws out, piles, or deposits any waste or refuse materials within the city limits shall follow the rules and regulations prescribed by the county board of health, unless such materials are piled or deposited for immediate removal. Any person who burns any straw, hay, paper, wood, boards, boxes, manure or other substance or material in any street or alley in the city, shall obtain a permit from the county board of health. Any person who fails to abide by the rules and regulations prescribed by the county board of health or who fails to obtain a burning permit from the county board of health shall be guilty of committing a misdemeanor.

   D.   Offensive Substances Or Businesses:

      1.   Any person who conducts any business or occupation that is dangerous or hazardous to public health within three (3) miles of the city is guilty of maintaining a nuisance. Such businesses or occupations that are dangerous or hazardous to public health include businesses or occupations that:

         a.   Agitate or expose any lime, ashes, coal, dry sand, hair, feathers, or other substance or material that is liable to be blown by the wind in the city; or

         b.   Boil any offal, swill, bones, or fat in the city in ordinary cooking; or

         c.   Conduct the business of bone crushing, bone boiling, frying, or rendering the lard or tallow, gut cleaning, or make other products from dead animals.

      2.   Any person violating this subsection, upon conviction thereof, shall be deemed guilty of maintaining a public nuisance. (Ord. 8.00; amd. 2006 Code)

   E.   Obstructing Flow Of Water: Any person who places or deposits any dirt, soil, or other material into or upon any streets or alleys of the city in such manner, place, or quantity as to obstruct the free flow of water along the natural or established grade of said street or alley, or who refuses or neglects to remove the same within twenty four (24) hours after notice, either oral or written, by the street commissioner or city superintendent, is guilty of committing a nuisance. (Ord. 8.00; amd. Ord. 2.32; 2006 Code)

   F.   Killing Or Slaughtering Animals: It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to kill or slaughter any animals within the city limits or within three (3) miles thereof, or use or occupy any building for such purpose without a special permit from the city council and under such rules and regulations as the county board of health may provide.

   G.   Water Flowing From Premises: Any person who throws, allows, or permits any water or other liquid to run or flow from or off of any premises owned, occupied or controlled by such person, except the lawful sprinkling of lawns or streets, into or upon any sidewalk or streets or alleys or adjacent premises shall be deemed guilty of committing a nuisance. (Ord. 8.00; amd. 2006 Code)

   H.   Accumulation Of Junk Items And Rubbish:

      1.   Prohibited; Nuisance Declared: It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation to allow, suffer or permit the accumulation of old discarded automobile bodies, old discarded furniture, old discarded appliances, old lumber, old paper, and other rubbish upon any property owned, occupied or controlled by such person or corporation within the city limits, and accumulation of materials and rubbish above named shall be deemed a nuisance. (Ord. 8.32)

      2.   Penalty; Abatement By City: Any person who refuses or fails to remove all nuisance materials and remedy any nuisances within thirty (30) days of receiving notice as provided in section 5-1-3 of this chapter from any property owned, occupied, or controlled by him shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 5-1-7 of this chapter. As an additional and concurrent remedy, the city may remove the nuisance materials and assess the cost of such removal against the property, to be added to the next annual assessment roll and paid as other taxes and assessments. (Ord. 8.32; amd. 2006 Code)

5-1-2: EXAMINATION OF PREMISES:

For the purpose of carrying the provisions of this chapter into effect, it shall be the duty of the county board of health, chief of police, police officers, or street commissioner or city superintendent to make, from time to time, a thorough and systematic examination of the city, under the rules adopted or to be adopted by the county board of health, and ascertain and report to the proper authority for prosecution all violations of this chapter, and for such purpose, said officers shall be permitted during reasonable hours to visit and enter into and upon any building, lot, ground or premises within the jurisdiction of the city to make an investigation and examination thereof. (Ord. 8.00; amd. Ord. 2.32; 2006 Code)

5-1-3: NOTICE OF NUISANCE CONDITION; ABATEMENT:

   A.   Issuance Of Notices: In all cases wherein no specific provision is set out in this code defining what are nuisances and how the removal of the same may be effected, abated or prevented, in addition to what is declared to be such herein, those offenses known to the common law of the land as nuisances may, in the event that the same exist within the city or within three (3) miles thereof, be considered and treated as nuisances and proceeded against as in this chapter provided. It shall be the duty of the county board of health, police officers, street commissioner or city superintendent, or a member of the city council, when so required, to notify the author of any nuisance within the city limits or within three (3) miles thereof, either by verbal or written notice, to abate and remove such nuisance, provided such notice shall be required preliminary to the commencement of the prosecution of same. (Ord. 8.00; amd. Ord. 2.32; 2006 Code)

   B.   Failure To Abate; Filing Of Complaint: If such nuisance is not abated within twenty four (24) hours after the notice aforesaid, then it shall be the duty of the chief of police, police officers or county board of health to forthwith file a complaint under oath, before the city judge, setting forth the facts constituting the nuisance, to abate or remove the nuisance and enforce the provisions and penalties herein contained. (Ord. 8.00; amd. 2006 Code)

5-1-4: NUISANCE ON UNOCCUPIED PREMISES; ABATEMENT BY CITY:

In the event that there is any nuisance upon, in or about any unoccupied lot or premises within the jurisdiction of the city, such lot or premises being owned by an unknown or absent person or by a person whom the officers cannot find, the county board of health, chief of police, or police officer may cause such nuisance to be removed or abated, the same to be done at the expense of the owner. If suit for the recovery of costs for abating or removing such nuisance against the owner of the property or authority of the nuisance, the city council may, by proper action and procedure, assess such costs to the property, and such costs shall be lien against the property and collected as a tax. (Ord. 8.00; amd. 2006 Code)