(a) All provisions expressly identified as criminal prohibitions within this chapter shall be construed as strict liability offenses. Whoever violates any criminal provision of this chapter shall be punished as follows:
(1) Violations by residential owners or occupants. If the violator is an owner or occupant of a residential structure, such violator shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) and not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) for the first offense, and not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) and not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each subsequent violation.
(2) Violations by commercial and/or industrial owners, operators or managers. If the violator is a commercial and/or industrial owner, operator or manager, and such entity is the depositor of trash, such violator shall be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for the first offense, and not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each subsequent offense.
(3) Violations by waste collectors and/or haulers.
A. If the violator is an individual, partnership, corporation or other business entity engaged in the business of collecting and/or hauling waste, such violator shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500.00) for the first offense, and one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each subsequent offense. Only the waste collector/hauler's proprietor or the business entity itself, and not the individual employees of the waste collector/hauler, shall be subject to these stated penalties.
B. Upon discovering a violation of any provision of this chapter by any waste collector and/or hauler, any City police officer shall immediately take into physical custody the violator's waste collection and/hauling vehicle used to commit any offense under this chapter. This vehicle shall be towed and impounded by the City or its agents. If the vehicle is impounded already contains waste materials, the City shall have the vehicle brought to the nearest dump facility and, for sanity reasons, emptied. The City or its agents shall retain exclusive custody of such vehicle as evidence of the violation. The City or its agents shall only be required to return said vehicle upon the conclusion of the underlying criminal case, or upon court order.
C. As it relates exclusively to waste haulers, in addition to the fine and penalty hereinabove described, the City Manager may revoke the commercial and/or industrial license or exclusive residential waste franchise agreement of any person or business entity convicted under any section of this chapter.
D. In the event the waste collector/hauler is convicted of any provision of this chapter where the trash collecting or hauling vehicle was used to commit the offense, in addition to imposing the mandatory fine, the court shall order the immobilization of the vehicle used to commit the offense for a period of 30 days. The immobilization of such vehicle shall be in the custody of the City or its agents. The costs of the towing, storage, immobilization and/or emptying of the contents of the vehicle used to commit any offense under this chapter shall be paid for by the convicted violator prior to the return of such vehicle.
E. In the event the waste collector/hauler is acquitted or the underlying criminal chares, or the City voluntarily dismisses the underlying charges without an agreement as to which party will pay the costs associated with the towing, storage, immobilization and/or emptying of the contents of the seized vehicle, the City shall be responsible for paying the costs associated with each action. The City shall not be responsible for any incidental or lost business expenses associated with the vehicle not being in the owner's possession during the period of immobilization.
(b) No Jail Time; No Right to Jury Trial; Speedy Trial Rights. All penalties provided for under this section shall be construed to exclude the possibility of jail time upon conviction. As such, any person alleged to have violated any provision of this chapter shall not be entitled to a jury trial. For purposes of speedy trial rights under Ohio R.C. 2945.71 through 2945.73, the maximum dollar amount of the possible fine attached to the charged violation under this section shall equate with the maximum dollar amount chargeable for the various degrees of misdemeanors under Section 698.02, which in turn shall determine the speedy trial period for each offense.
(Ord. 2799. Passed 7-4-03.)