(a) Authority to Establish and Maintain a Sewer. For State law as to authority of the City to establish and maintain a sewer system and sewage treatment and disposal system and to acquire property necessary therefore, see W.Va. Code Sections 8-12-5 and 8-20-1. As to authority of the City to make improvements including construction, renewing and preparation of storm, sanitary and combined sewers; to levy assessments for sewer improvements and to regulate sewer connections see W.Va. Code Sections 8-18-22 and 8-20-1 et. seq. As to requirement that method of drainage and system for excreta disposal conform to plans specifications and instructions of State Department of Health, see W.Va. Code Section 16-1-9.
(b) Declaration of Necessity.
(1) The use of the sewer system of the City is determined and declared to be essential for the protection and preservation of the public health, comfort, safety, economy and general welfare of the inhabitants of the City of Keyser and of the area served thereby.
(2) The owner, tenant or occupant of premises which abut on a street, easement or other public way containing a sewer service, or which, in the judgment of the Utility Board is located within such a distance thereof that sewer service is reasonably available thereto and upon which premises a building or other inhabitable structure has been or shall be erected for residential, commercial, or industrial use, or where persons are employed or congregate or are intended to be employed or congregate, shall be required to connect the building or structure to the sewer system or to such part of the sewer system as may from time to time be extended or become reasonably available, and shall thereafter refrain from using or cease to use any other method in place of the sewer services which are now, or may hereafter become available; and shall thereafter pay all the charges, rates or fees as herein, or may hereafter be, provided for. All such connections shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations which shall be adopted from time to time by the Utility Board and such rules and regulations may provide for reasonable charges, fees or deposits required for making such connections.
(3) For provisions as to authority of the Utility Board to compel owners, etc., of property abutting on or near the street in which public sewer is laid and upon which any building, etc., is erected, to connect such property to the sewer; see W.Va. Code, 8-18-22.
(c) Application for Sewer Service Required.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person, including public bodies, as well as natural persons, to make an initial cut-in or connection with the City sewer system and use that system without first making written application for such connection and service to the Utility Board and paying all costs, charges, fees and deposits incident thereto. Such application shall be made on forms prescribed and furnished by the Board, and shall constitute an agreement by the applicant with the City to abide by all provisions of this article and such applicable rules and regulations of the State of West Virginia in regard to the use of the sewer system. Such application for service by firms, partnerships, associations, and corporations shall be submitted only by their duly authorized agent, and the official title of such agent shall be signed to the application.
(2) The application upon approval by the Utility Board, shall grant or cause to be granted to the applicant the right to connect to the City sewer system. Duly authorized employees of the City shall have access at all reasonable hours to the premises of the applicant for the purpose of installing or removing any of its property, examining pipes or fixtures, or for any purpose incidental to the rendering of sewer service.
(d) Permit for Connection: Tapping Charge. It shall be unlawful for any person, whether property owner, drainlayer or otherwise, to connect with or tap a City sewer, either directly or indirectly, without first having a permit from the Utility Board and having paid the tapping or maintenance charge fixed by law. In all cases, the tapping and maintenance charges for tapping a City sewer shall be as specified from time to time by the Utility Board in an appropriate schedule, which shall be maintained on file in City Hall; and until such a schedule is prescribed by the Utility Board pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section, the tapping and maintenance charges for City sewers shall be those in effect immediately prior to the effective date of this article. (Ord. 252. Passed 9-9-99.)