a. The Town Council of the Town of Schererville, Lake County, Indiana, shall have general charge and responsibility of administering this ordinance, and said administration responsibility is delegated to the Board's designee, the Building Commissioner.
b. Duties and Policies.
It shall be the duty and policy of the Board or its designee to:
1. Prescribe the form of registrations and issue same, provided that all such registrations while in force, shall be under the supervision and control of the Board, by and through its designee, the Building Commissioner.
2. Issue registrations as contractors to any person who qualifies and complies with the provisions of this ordinance and pays the required registration fee.
3. It shall be the responsibility of the Board or its designee, to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations for the conduct of its business consistent with the guidelines and provisions of this ordinance and do all things necessary to effect the provisions of this ordinance.
4. Whenever any contractor's registration issued under the provisions of this Ordinance is revoked by the Board or its designee, shall deliver the bond of the offending registrant to the Town Attorney who shall institute proceedings to forfeit the bond.
5. Upon receipt of an application for renewal by an applicant, who during the proceeding registration period, has violated any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules promulgated by the Board of its designee, the Board or its designee, shall make such investigation as it deems necessary to determine the fitness of the applicant for renewal of his registration. In the event the Board or its designee, determines after said investigation, that a questions exists as to whether the application hereunder consideration should be renewed, they or he shall so advise the applicant and he shall thereafter, within thirty (30) days, show cause to the Board or its designee, determines that said registration should not be renewed, they or he shall notify the applicant and said applicant thereafter may seek remedies under the laws of the State of Indiana.
6. No registration shall be renewed during any period a registrant is under citation by the Board or its designee, for violation of any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules promulgated by the Board or its designee;however, the Board or its designee, in their or his discretion, may temporarily extend the applicant's current registration for a period or periods of time not to exceed thirty (30) days, or until the act complained of shall be heard by the Board or its designee, and during any period of appeal provided for by this Ordinance.
7. In the event a registrant shall have been convicted in this state or any other state of obtaining money under false pretenses, extortion, forgery, embezzlement, or criminal conspiracy to defraud, or other like offenses, and a duly certified or exemplified copy of the record int he proceeding is filed with the Board or its designee, the Board or its designee, shall revoke the registration issued to the registrant In the event of the revocation or suspension of the registration issued to any member of a co-partnership, association, or corporation, or an employee thereof, the registration issued to the other co-partner, member or members of the firm, association, or corporation, shall be revoked unless, within the time fixed by the Board or its designee, where a co-partnership or association, the connection of the member or employee whose registration has been suspended (or revoked), shall be severed and his interest in the co-partnership or association, or his employment thereby in the case of any employee, be terminated, and his share in its activities brought to an end, or where a corporation, the offending officer or employee shall be discharged and shall have no further participation in the corporation activities.
c. Violation and Enforcement Procedures.
The Board or its designee may, upon their own motion, and shall, upon the verified complaint in writing of any person setting forth specifically the wrongful act or acts complained, of investigate any action or business transaction of any registrant and shall have the power to suspend, or revoke, a registration issued by the Board or its designee, under the provisions of this Ordinance, if, after due proceedings, as set forth in the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant hereto, it shall find the holder to have been guilty of the performance or attempt to perform any of the following prohibited acts or conduct:
1. Negligent or deliberate disregard or the applicable construction codes and ordinances of the Town of Schererville, State of Indiana, or any rules promulgated pursuant thereto;
2. Aiding or abetting any unregistered person to evade the provisions of this Ordinance or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto;
3. Knowingly combining or conspiring with unregistered persons with the intent to evade the provisions of this Ordinance or the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto;
4. Acting the capacity of a contractor under any registration issued hereunder except in the name of the registrant as set forth on the issued registration;
5. Diversion of funds or property received from prosecution or completion of a specified construction project or operation, whereas a result of the diversion, the contractor is or will be unable to complete or fulfill the terms of his obligation to contract;
6. In the case of a contractor being adjudicated a bankrupt, or the making by a contractor of a composition with creditors or the anointment of a receiver for the registrant's business;
7. Paying compensation in money or other valuable consideration to any person other than a registered contractor for rendering services or doing any act required by this Ordinance to be performed by a registered contractor holding a registration;
8. No violation of any provisions of this Ordinance by an agent or employee of any registered contractor shall be grounds for the suspension or revocation of the registration of the employer. For the purpose of the preceding sentence, a course of dealing shown to have been consistently followed by an employee shall constitute prima facie evidence of knowledge on the part of the employer;
9 Any person aggrieved by any action by the Board or its designee, in suspending, revoking, or failing to renew a license may seek judicial review thereof;
10. The record of the Board or is designee, or a duly certified copy thereof, shall be admissible in any proceedings at law or in equity in any court of competent jurisdiction in this or any other state in which the applicant or registrant charged or under investigation is a party, and where the issues involved in the proceedings are pertinent to the inquiry before the Board or its designee, and the verdict or judgment of the court in any action at law or the decree of the court in any proceeding in equity shall be prima facie evidence of the facts at issue in the proceedings and necessarily adjudicated therein;
11. The verdict any prosecution in a court of record of this or any state in which the applicant registrant charged shall have been the defendant, shall be conclusive as to the facts charged and at issue in such prosecution;
12. After the revocation of any registration, no new registration shall be issued to the same registrant within a period of a least one (1) year subsequent to the date of the revocation;
13. Whenever a new registration is issued by the Board or its designee, to any person whose registration has been previously revoked, the issuance shall be treated as an initial issuance and the applicant shall be required to pay the fees, and in the case of contractors, shall be required to submit to the examination required of all other initial applicants;
14. Any person who acts as a contractor, without first obtaining a registration from the Board or its designee, as provided herein, or any person who continues to act as a contractor after his registration has been suspended or revoked, shall be deemed to have violated this Ordinance and shall be fined in an amount not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00); and
15. Any person who fails to renew his registration and continues to act as a contractor after the same has expired shall be deemed to have violated this Ordinance and shall be fined in an amount not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00).
d. Exceptions and Exclusions.
This Ordinance does not apply to:
1. An authorized employee of the United States, the State of Indiana, County of Lake, or any political subdivision thereof, so long as the employee does not hold himself out for hire and is acting within the scope of his employment;
2. Public utilities, where construction, maintenance, and development work is performed by their own forces and incidental to their business;
3. The owner occupant of a dwelling of a two (2) or less residential unit when said owner occupant is installing, altering or repairing said residential unit;
4. Any construction, alteration, improvement, or repair of improvements located on any site and project where state and federal law supersedes this article; and
5. Any individual who is employed or acts as a maintenance man at his place of employment.
e. Legal Proceedings.
Where in any proceeding before the Board of its designee, any contractor or witness shall fail or refuse to attend a request issued by the Board of its designee, or appearing shall refuse to testify or shall refuse to provide any information or data, the production of which is called for by the Board or its designee, shall constitute legal action to be taken by the Board or its designee, and shall be enforced by any court of this state.
f. Authorization.
The Board or its designee, is authorized and empowered to adopt, fix and establish all rules and regulations necessary for the proper administration of the provisions of this Ordinance.
g. Effective Date.
The effective date of this Ordinance is January 1, 1997, and shall become and be effective upon that date upon its passage, approval, and publication in the manner prescribed by law.
(Ord. No. 1212B, § 2, 12-11-96)