6-1-8: RESPONSIBILITIES:
Every person shall have the duty of maintaining premises or equipment under his supervision, or of maintaining containers or disposal areas, in compliance with the requirements of this chapter, Lewis and Clark County health regulations, and all applicable provisions of state law.
Every owner remains liable for violations imposed upon him by this code even though an obligation is also imposed on the occupants of his buildings, and even though the owner has, by agreement, imposed on the occupants the duty of complying with all the requirements of this chapter.
   A.   All commercial refuse generators shall maintain their alleys and keep the area surrounding the refuse and garbage containers free from refuse, garbage and other potential hazards to the public health, safety or welfare.
   B.   Those commercial establishments using city owned containers shall bear the complete responsibility of keeping the containers in a sanitary condition at all times. No building permit for a commercial establishment shall be issued without provision having been made for refuse and garbage container storage and sanitation.
   C.   Containers for the receipt of accumulation of refuse and garbage may be placed in parks, recreation areas, places of public assembly and along public ways, subject to the approval of the director of public works. Refuse and garbage containers in such places shall be placed only in designated locations acceptable to the director of public works.
   D.   Public markets, all food service establishments producing putrescible waste and all business areas shall provide adequate and sufficient storage containers to hold all waste accumulated between collections, without creating a public hazard.
   E.   Refuse and garbage shall be placed for collection and collected at a frequency which precludes the possibility of unsightly, unclean and unhealthy premises or the occurrence of a nuisance, and in no event shall placement and collection be less than once every two (2) weeks.
   F.   Every tenant and/or owner of the places or occupancies referred to above shall be responsible for the regular collection of refuse and garbage from said places of occupancy by authorized collectors of refuse and garbage, and they shall also be responsible for the payment of all services by said authorized collectors for said collection from said places of occupancy.
   G.   No person shall remove or permit the removal of any refuse and garbage placed in containers or placed in an approved manner for collection except by an authorized collector.
The collector shall transfer the contents of all containers into the vehicles provided therefor, without spilling the contents of said containers on stairs, walks, yards or streets.
The collector shall clean up any spillage occurring during collection and shall completely empty containers. (Ord. 2339, 4-2-1984)
   H.   No person shall throw or deposit any refuse, garbage, rubbish, waste matter, dead animal, or tires or cause the same to be thrown or deposited upon any street, alley, gutter, park or other public way or throw or deposit the same in or upon any premises or vacant lot or in any water or waterway thereto, or store or keep the same except in containers required by this chapter. (Ord. 2339, 4-2-1984; amd. Ord. 2749, 9-25-1995)
No person shall store, deposit or keep refuse in any place or in any manner where rodents can have access to or feed thereon, or can use such refuse as a harborage, nest or breeding place.
   I.   No person shall deposit or cause to be deposited any refuse in any place not authorized as a disposal area by the director of public works.
When acceptable to the director of public works, the owner of a premises or any public agency having jurisdiction, may place rubbish and waste matter in low areas and low lots when properly filled, leveled and covered, and when such practice is not likely to create an unsanitary condition or nuisance.
The owner of the property receiving such deposit will be held responsible for any unsanitary condition or nuisances resulting from such deposit.
   J.   Every vehicle used for the collection of refuse and garbage shall be of a design and type suitably constructed for the intended use, and acceptable to the director of public works.
   K.   Each person engaged in the construction, repair or demolition of any building or structure or part thereof, shall remove and dispose of in an authorized manner, from any street, alley, gutter, park, sidewalk, curbing, curb space, any public way or any premises not owned by him, all waste matter or rubbish deposited thereon in connection with that portion of the repair, construction or demolition work under his special or general supervision.
Such refuse, waste matter and rubbish shall be cleaned up, removed and disposed of in a sanitary manner within seven (7) days of the final cessation of work on such building or structure or part thereof, and the area shall be restored to its original condition by the person conducting said work, unless otherwise specifically authorized by the director of public works.
   L.   No person may pick over, sort, segregate or salvage any garbage or refuse deposited in an authorized disposal area.
   M.   No person, who is the owner, agent or occupant of a lot or premises whereon a building of any kind may exist or of a vacant lot, shall allow any collection of refuse, garbage, rubbish, waste matter or filth of any description to remain on such lot or premises longer than three (3) days, or any shorter period of time specified by the director of public works, after the date of a written notice issued by the director of public works to remove the offending material.
   N.   No refuse, garbage, rubbish, waste matter or manure shall be transported along any public street, alley or public way unless such vehicle is so constructed and loaded that no such material can fall through or out of such vehicle.
   O.   Every person who is the owner or custodian of any animals, fowl, livestock, or game which has died (other than by slaughter for food), any animal offal from slaughterhouses, slaughter pens, or any offal or putrescible waste from any place where meat, fish, poultry, game, or fowl are sold, handled or discarded as unfit for food, or spoiled or condemned, shall dispose of the remains, carcasses, parts, or entrails thereof within the next available period of daylight, after such death or accumulation, in a sanitary manner and in conformance with all requirements and orders of the director of public works.
   P.   All dead animals, or parts thereof, which are found on or in any public street, alley, parkway, public way, or on public property, shall be reported to the Helena police department who shall be responsible for the collection, within the day reported, of the carcass of such animal.
   Q.   All persons owning, occupying or being in control of property fronting on an alley of this city shall keep the portion of said alley between the center line thereof and the property line of such property, and fronting on such property, free from refuse, garbage, rubbish, and waste matter.
   R.   No refuse or garbage shall be collected which is not contained in the manner set forth in this chapter. Special collections shall be arranged with the city by the refuse generator. (Ord. 2339, 4-2-1984)