(a) The Director and/or other authorized personnel, bearing proper credentials and identification, may enter and inspect all properties for regular inspections, periodic investigations, monitoring, observation measurement, enforcement, sampling and testing, to effectuate the provisions of this article and of the SWMP programs. The Director shall duly notify the owner of said property or the representative on site and the inspection shall be conducted at reasonable times.
(b) Upon refusal by any property owner to permit an inspector to enter or continue an inspection, the inspector shall terminate the inspection or confine the inspection to areas concerning which no objection is raised. The inspector shall immediately report the refusal and the grounds to the Director. The Director and/or other authorized personnel shall promptly seek appropriate compulsory process.
(c) In the event that the Director or the designee reasonably believes that discharges from the property into the Greenville County MS4 may cause an imminent and substantial threat to human health or the environment, the inspection may take place at any time and without notice to the owner of the property or a representative on site. The inspector shall present proper credentials upon reasonable request by the owner or representative.
(d) Inspection reports shall be maintained in a permanent file located in the Land Development Division office.
(e) At any time during the conducting of an inspection or at such other times as the Director or his designee may request information from an owner or representative, the owner or representative may identify areas of its facility or establishment, material or processes which contains or which might reveal a trade secret. If the Director or his designee has no clear and convincing reason to question such identification, all material, processes and all information obtained within such areas shall be conspicuously labeled “CONFIDENTIAL - TRADE SECRET.” The trade secret designation shall be freely granted to any material claimed to be such by the owner or representative unless there is clear and convincing evidence for denying such designation. In the event the Director does not agree with the trade secret designation, the material shall be temporarily designated a trade secret and the owner or representative may request an appeal of the Director’s decision in the manner in which all such appeals are handled in this article.
(f) All trade secret material which are prepared or obtained by or for the Director shall be marked as such and filed in a secure place separate from regular, non-secret files, and documents. Reports from samples prepared or obtained by or for the Director or Appeal Board or submitted for laboratory analysis shall be marked as such and treated in the same manner as other trade secret material. Trade secret material shall not be divulged by the Director to anyone other than:
(1) Other employees of the County or employees of the State or Federal governments engaged in an inspection or enforcement proceeding involving the designated material; and
(2) To administrative or judicial courts upon order to so divulge the material to the court.
(1976 Code, § 8-102) (Ord. 3551, passed 11-11-2001; Ord. 4281, passed 5-5-2009; Ord. 4698, passed 5-5-2015)