(A) Purpose. In order to protect the village from incurring extraordinary expenses resulting from the utilization of the Fire Department’s resources to respond to an incident involving hazardous materials, the Village Council authorizes the imposition of charges to recover reasonable and actual costs incurred by the Fire Department in responding to calls for assistance in connection with a hazardous materials release.
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. Includes, but is not limited to, a chemical that is a combustible liquid, a flammable gas, explosive, flammable, an organic peroxide, an oxidizer, pyrophoric, unstable reactive, or water reactive.
RELEASE. Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment.
RESPONSIBLE PARTY. Any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, commercial entity, consortium, joint venture, government entity, or any other legal entity that is responsible for a release of a hazardous material, either actual or threatened, or is an owner, tenant, occupant, or party in control of property onto which or from which hazardous materials release.
(C) Charges imposed upon responsible party. When the Fire Department responds to a call for assistance in connection with a hazardous materials release, actual costs incurred by the Fire Department responding to such a call shall be imposed upon responsible parties including, but not limited to:
(1) Three hundred dollars per hour, or fraction thereof, for each unit required, in the opinion of the officer in command, to stand by at the hazardous material incident. For each hour, or fraction thereof, that the pumps are activated, an additional sum of $100 per hour shall be charged;
(2) A $15 per hour, per firefighter, or fraction thereof, in the opinion of the officer in command, to be utilized in responding to the hazardous materials incident;
(3) All personnel-related costs incurred by the Fire Department as a result of responding to the hazardous materials incident. Such costs may include, but are not limited to, wages, salaries, and fringe benefits and insurance for full-time and part-time firefighters, full-time and part-time municipal employees, and elected officials acting in their official capacity, overtime pay and related fringe benefit costs for hourly employees, and fire run fees paid to on-call firefighters. Such personnel-related charges shall commence after the first hour that the Fire Department has responded to the hazardous materials incident, and continue until all personnel have concluded hazardous materials incident-related responsibilities;
(4) Other expenses incurred by the Fire Department in responding to the hazardous materials incident including, but not limited to, rental or purchase of machinery, equipment, labor, consultants, legal and engineering fees, medical and hospitalization costs, and the replacement costs related to any contaminated equipment, extinguishing agents, supplies, water purchased from municipal water systems, and meals and refreshments for personnel while responding to the hazardous materials incident;
(5) Charges to the Fire Department imposed by any local, state, or federal government entities related to the hazardous materials incident; and
(6) Costs incurred in accounting for all hazardous material incident-related expenditures, including all bill and collection costs.
(D) Billing procedures.
(1) Following the conclusion of the hazardous materials incident, the Fire Chief shall prepare a detailed listing of all known expenses and invoice the responsible party for payment. The invoice shall demand full payment within 30 days of receipt of the bill.
(2) Any additional expenses that shall become known to the Fire Chief following the transmittal of the bill to the responsible parties shall be billed in the same manner on a subsequent bill to the responsible party. For any amounts due that remain unpaid after 30 days, the Fire Department shall impose a late charge of 1% per month, or fraction thereof.
(E) Other remedies. The village may pursue any other remedy, or may institute any appropriate action or proceeding, in a court of competent jurisdiction, to collect any charges imposed under this section. The recovery of charges imposed under this section does not limit liability of responsible parties under local ordinance or state or federal law, rule, or regulation.
(F) Effective date. This section took effect 30 days after publication.
(Ord. 1996-2, passed 2-10-1997)