For the purposes of this chapter the following definitions shall apply:
(a) "Business buildings" means any structure whether public or private, that is adapted for occupancy, for transaction of business, for rendering of professional service, for amusement, for the display, sale or storage of goods, wares or merchandise, or for the performance of work or labor, including hotels, apartment buildings, tenement houses, rooming houses, office buildings, public buildings, stores, theaters, markets, restaurants, grain elevators, abattoirs, warehouses, workshops, factories and all outhouses, sheds, barns and other structures on premises used for business purposes.
(b) "Ratproofing" applies to a form of construction to prevent the ingress of rats into business buildings from the exterior of one business building or establishment to another. It consists essentially of treatment with material, impervious to rat gnawing, all actual or potential openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors, basements, roof and foundations, that may be reached by rats from the ground by climbing or by burrowing.
(c) “Rat harborage” means any condition which provides shelter or protection for rats, thus favoring their multiplication and continued existence in, under or outside of any structure.
(d) “Rat eradication” means the elimination or extermination of rats within buildings by any or all of the accepted measures, such as poisoning, fumigation, trapping, clubbing, etc.
(e) "Health Commissioner" means the Health Commissioner or any duly authorized representative.
(f) "Owner" means the actual owner, agent or custodian of the business building, whether an individual, partnership or corporation. The lessee shall be construed as the "owner" for the purpose of this chapter when business building agreements hold the lessee responsible for maintenance and repairs.
(g) "Occupant" means the individual, partnership or corporation that uses or occupies any business building or part or fraction thereof, whether the actual owner or tenant. In the case of vacant business buildings or vacant portions thereof, the owner, agent or custodian shall have the responsibility as occupant.
(Ord. 24-1949. Passed 5-10-49.)