(a) Authority. This section is enacted under the authority of the Ohio Revised Code, Section 3745.13-Costs of dealing with unauthorized spill, releases or discharge.
(b) Purpose. This section is enacted to protect the City of Salem from incurring extraordinary expenses from the utilization of the Fire Department's resources and other City governed agencies to respond to an incident involving hazardous materials.
The City of Salem authorizes the imposition of charges to cover reasonable and actual costs incurred by it in responding to calls for assistance in connection with a hazardous materials release.
(c) Definitions. The following terms or phrases shall be defined to mean:
(1) Hazardous substance or materials: For the purpose of this section hazardous materials include but are not limited to, a chemical that is a combustible liquid, flammable gas, an explosive, a flammable and organic peroxide, an oxidizer, a pyrophoric, an unstable reactive or water reactive substance, petroleum and/or petroleum by-products, a flammable solid, a poisonous or infectious material, a radioactive material, a corrosive, or any other material that may be defined as hazardous by the U. S. Department of Transportation in Tile 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations or by any hazardous materials laws of the State of Ohio.
(2) Release: Means the accidental or intentional, sudden or gradual spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers and other receptacles containing any hazardous material or substance or waste or pollutant or contaminant) whether such release occurs from a fixed facility or while the materials are being transported.
(3) Responsible Party: A responsible party is any individual, firm, facility, corporation, association, partnership, commercial entity, consortium, joint venture, government entity, motor carrier, railroad, aircraft, or other transportation conveyance, or any other legal entity that is responsible for a release of a hazardous material, either actual or threatened, or as an owner, tenant, occupant, or a party in control of the property onto which or from which a hazardous material is released or the owner, possessor or party in control of the hazardous substance immediately prior to said release.
(4) Emergency Response: Means any response by the Fire Department, Police Department, Street/Road Department, Water/Sewage Department or other local governmental agency, or other entity operating at the request of the Fire Department to any call for assistance from any person, property owner, governmental agency, emergency service provider, or other entity.
(5) Fire Chief's Authority: Means the chief operational officer of the Fire Department or in his absence the senior fire officer in charge at the scene of a hazardous materials incident per the authority of the Ohio Revised Code, Section 3737.80-Chief of fire department responsible for primary coordination in emergency situation.
(6) Cleanup: Means the management, control, containment, recovery, removal or neutralization of any released hazardous material for the purpose of promoting or protecting public health or safety.
(d) Duty To Report. Any person who causes or has knowledge of any discharge or release of hazardous materials from their safe container, in any manner which poses an actual or potential threat to people, animals, wildlife, vegetation, property, or the environment, shall immediately report the incident to the City of Salem Fire Department.
Whoever violates this Section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree and shall also be subject to civil penalties as outlined in Section 1501.99
(b)(1) and (2).
(e) Cleanup. The user or transporter of a hazardous material, who is deemed the responsible party, which is intentionally or accidentally discharged or released within the City of Salem shall, in addition to reporting the accident as required in Section (d), shall take immediate action to cause the discharge or release to be cleaned up in an environmentally safe and scientifically sound manner, and to restore the incident site and surrounding environment to the best of its original state. The responsible party of an intentionally or accidentally discharged or released hazardous materials incident within the City of Salem, shall take full financial responsibility for all costs associated with the cleanup of the incident.
(f) Cost Recovery of Expenses.
(1) Those persons or entities whose actions cause or create, in whole or in part, a hazardous materials emergency within the boundaries of the City of Salem are financially liable to the City of Salem for all costs and expenses incurred in or arising from response to such hazardous materials emergency by the City of Salem and any other political subdivision, agency, or cooperative entity. The City of Salem shall have all rights under the law to recover all such costs and expenses including reasonable attorney fees, litigation expenses and court costs incurred in, related to or arising out of, all cost recovery efforts and enforcement of the terms of this section.
(2) In the event that other personnel and equipment from other emergency responders, political subdivisions, governmental entities, specialized agencies or cooperative entities are requested to respond to assist with the hazardous materials emergency, then the City of Salem shall make every effort to document their operational expenses and include them on the City of Salem cost recovery billing to the responsible party.
(3) All costs and expenses incurred by the emergency response to the hazardous materials incident are recommended to be billed at the current rate established and approved by resolution of the Columbiana County Fire Chiefs Association in cooperation with the Columbiana County Emergency Management Association and the Columbiana County Local Emergency Planning Committee who serve as the hazardous materials billing agency for Columbiana County. By option of the Fire Department whose jurisdiction the hazardous materials incident has occurred, the Columbiana County Hazardous Materials billing agency may be utilized. For haz-mat incidents occurring within the City of Salem or for which the City of Salem is the only haz-mat responder, the City of Salem, at the discretion of the Fire Chief, may bill directly for all costs and expenses incurred by the emergency response at the rates established by the hazardous materials billing agency for the County as outlined above. Submission of all cost recovery expenses must be submitted within fourteen (14) days of the incident.
(4) Upon recovery of costs and expenses from the responsible party, the City of Salem is authorized to reimburse such other emergency responders, political subdivisions, government entities, specialized agencies or cooperative entities for their actual costs incurred in responding to the hazardous materials emergency.
(5) All personnel used on scene of the hazardous materials incident must show documentation of having met the OSHA 1910.120 minimum training requirements for hazardous materials response. Failure to meet OSHA regulations may result in fines or penalties administered by that agency if so audited.
(g) Action to Recover Costs. In the event the responsible party fails or refuses to pay any or all of the costs and expenses determined by the City of Salem related to or arising out of the response to the hazardous materials emergency within thirty (30) days after the assessment, the City of Salem may initiate a legal action to recover such costs, including reasonable attorney fees and costs. Nothing herein shall be construed to limit any other rights or actions, legal or otherwise, to which the City of Salem may otherwise be entitled due to a hazardous materials emergency. (Ord. 080902-60. Passed 9-16-08.)