(a) Definitions. For the purpose of this section the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
(1) “Aircraft” means any contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used, or designated for navigation or for flight in the air. The word “aircraft” includes helicopters and lighter than air dirigibles and balloons.
(2) “Authorized private receptacle” means a litter storage and collection receptacle as required and authorized in Chapter 955.
(3) “Commercial handbill” means any printed or written matter, any sample or device, circular, leaflet, pamphlet, paper, booklet, or any other printed or otherwise reproduced original copies of any matter of literature:
A. Which advertises for sale any merchandise, product, commodity or thing.
B. Which directs attention to any business or mercantile or commercial establishment, or other activity, for the purpose of either directly or indirectly promoting the interest thereof by sales.
C. Which directs attention to or advertises any meeting, theatrical performance, exhibition or event of any kind, for which an admission fee is charged for the purpose of private gain or profit.
D. Which, while containing reading matter other than advertising matter, is predominantly and essentially an advertisement, and is distributed or circulated for advertising purposes, or for the private benefit and gain of any person so engaged as advertiser or distributor.
(4) “Garbage” means putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, and consumption of food.
(5) “Litter” means garbage and rubbish, as defined herein, and all other waste material which, if thrown or deposited as herein prohibited, tends to create a danger to public health, safety, and welfare. As a verb, “litter” means to throw or deposit garbage or rubbish as herein prohibited.
(6) “Noncommercial handbill” means any printed or written matter, any sample, device, circular, leaflet, pamphlet, paper, booklet, or any other printed or otherwise reproduced original or copy of any matter or literature not included in the aforesaid definition of a commercial handbill, and not a newspaper, magazine or book.
(7) “Park” means a park, reservation, playground, recreation center, or any other public area in the City, owned or used by the City and devoted to active or passive recreation.
(8) “Person” means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind.
(9) “Private premises” means any dwelling, house, building, or other structure, designed or used either wholly or in part for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant, and includes any yard, grounds, walk, driveway, porch, steps, vestibule, or other mailbox belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling, house, building or other structure.
(10) “Public place” means any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys, or other public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds, and buildings.
(11) “Rubbish” means all refuse, including putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes (except body wastes), and including but not limited to ashes, street cleaning, dead animals, abandoned automobiles, solid market and industrial wastes, paper, wrappings, cigarettes, cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, leaves, wood, glass, bedding, crockery, and similar materials.
(b) Litter in Public Places. No person shall throw or deposit litter in or on any street, sidewalk, or other public place within the City except in public receptacles, in authorized private receptacles for collection, or in official City dumps.
(c) Placement of Litter in Receptacles so as to Prevent Scattering. Persons placing litter in public receptacles or in authorized private receptacles shall do so in such a manner as to prevent it from being carried or deposited by the elements on any street, sidewalk, or other public place or on private property.
(d) Sweeping Litter into Gutters Prohibited. No person shall sweep into or deposit in any gutter, street, or other public place within the City the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons owning or occupying property shall keep the sidewalks in front of their premises free of litter.
(e) Owners’ and Occupants’ Duty to Keep Sidewalks, Parking Lots, and Access Drives Free of Litter. No person owning or occupying a place of business shall sweep into or deposit in any gutter, street, or other public place within the City the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or any public or private sidewalk, parking lot or driveway. Persons owning or occupying places of business within the City shall keep the sidewalk in front of their business premises, together with parking areas and access drives, free of litter.
(f) Litter Thrown by Persons in Vehicles. No person, while a driver or passenger in a vehicle, shall throw or deposit litter on any street or other public place within the City, or on private property.
(g) Vehicle Loads Causing Litter. No person shall drive or move any truck or other vehicle within the City unless such vehicle is so constructed or loaded so as to prevent any load, contents, or litter from being blown or deposited on any street, alley or other public place.
(h) Litter in Parks. No person shall throw or deposit litter in any park within the City except in public receptacles and in such a manner that litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited by the elements on any part of the park or on any street or other public place. Where public receptacles are not provided, all such litter shall be carried away from the park by the person responsible for its presence and properly dispose of elsewhere as provided herein.
(i) Litter in Rivers and Streams. No person shall throw or deposit litter in any fountain, pond, stream, river, or any other body of water in a park or elsewhere within the City.
(j) Throwing or Distributing Commercial Handbills in Public Places. No person shall throw or deposit any commercial or noncommercial handbill in or on any sidewalk, street, or other public place within the City. However, it shall not be unlawful on any sidewalk, street or other public place within the City for any person to hand out or distribute, without charge to the receiver thereof, any noncommercial handbills.
(k) Placing Commercial and Noncommercial Handbills on Vehicles. No person shall throw or deposit any commercial or noncommercial handbill in or on any vehicle. However, it shall not be unlawful for in any public place for a person to hand out or distribute without charge to the receiver thereof, a noncommercial handbill to any occupant of a vehicle.
(l) Depositing Commercial and Noncommercial Handbills on Uninhabited or Vacant Premises. No person shall throw or deposit any commercial or noncommercial handbill in or on any private premises which are temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant.
(m) Distributing Commercial and Noncommercial Handbills at Inhabited Private Premises.
(1) No person shall throw, deposit, or distribute any commercial or noncommercial handbills in or on private premises which are inhabited except by placing or depositing the same so as to secure or prevent such handbill from being blown or drifted about such premises or sidewalks, streets, or other public places; provided, however, that mailboxes may not be so used when so prohibited by federal postal law or regulations.
(2) Exemptions for mail and newspapers. The provisions of this section do not apply to the distribution of mail by the United States, nor to newspapers except that newspapers shall be placed on private property in such a manner as to prevent their being carried or deposited by the elements on any street, sidewalk or other public place or on private property.
(n) Dropping Litter from Aircraft. No person in an aircraft shall throw out, drop or deposit within the City any litter, handbill, or any other object.
(o) Litter on Occupied Private Property. No person shall throw or deposit litter on any occupied private property within the City, whether owned by such person or not, except that the owner or person in control of private property may maintain authorized private receptacles for collection in such a manner that litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited by the elements on any street, sidewalk or other public place or on any private property.
(p) Owner to Maintain Premises Free of Litter. The owner or person in control of any private property shall at all times maintain the premises free of litter; provided, that this section shall not prohibit the storage of litter in authorized private receptacles for collection.
(q) Litter on Vacant Lots. No person shall throw or deposit litter on any open or vacant private property within the City, whether owned by the person or not.
(r) Clearing of Litter from Open Private Property by City.
(1) Notice to remove. The City Manager is authorized and empowered to notify the owner of any open or vacant private property within the City or the agent of such owner to properly dispose of litter located on such owner’s property. Such notice shall be by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to such owner at his last known address.
(2) Action on noncompliance. On the failure, neglect or refusal of any owner or agent so notified, to properly dispose of litter within five days after receipt of written notice provided for in division (r)(1) above, or within ten days after the date of such notice in the event the same is returned to the City post office because of its inability to make delivery thereof, provided the same was properly addressed to the last known address of such owner, or agent, the City Manager is authorized and empowered to pay for the disposing of such litter or to order its disposal by the City.
(3) Charge included in tax bill. When the City has effected the removal of such litter or has paid for its removal, the actual cost thereof, plus 8% per annum from the date of the completion of the work, if not paid within 30 days after the disposal of such litter, as provided for in division (r)(1) and (2) hereof, shall be certified by the Director of Finance to the County Auditor, together with a statement of the costs and expenses incurred for the work, the date the work was done, and the location of the property on which the work was done. Such amounts shall be entered on the tax duplicate and shall constitute a lien on the property from the date of entry and shall be collected as other taxes and returned to the City’s General Fund.
(s) Penalty. Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. Each day such violation is committed or permitted to continue shall constitute a separate minor misdemeanor offense. All such offenses may be stated in a single complaint, as separate counts, and the degree of the offense shall not be charged by reason of the number of separate counts stated in any complaint. (Ord. 1981-7. Passed 3-10-81.)