(a) No owner or occupant of any premises within the City shall maintain such premises in a vermin or rat-infested condition or permit any such premises to become infested with rodents or vermin.
(b) No building or structure shall be erected, repaired, altered or extended in the City unless provision is made for rat-proofing such structure.
(c) It shall be the duty of the Director of Health to cause an inspection of any premises in the City which he has good reason to believe is not in a ratproof condition. If such premises is found to be vermin or rat-infested, a notice in writing bearing the date of issue and signed by the Director of Health, or his duly authorized representative, shall be served upon the owner or occupant thereof. Such notice shall state the conditions of such premises and the required corrections to be made.
Any such notice may be served by any employee of the Department of Health or Police, or may be served by depositing the notice, enclosed in a postpaid envelope addressed to the person to be notified, in the post office of the City.
(d) After the owner or occupant of any premises has been so notified by the Director of Health, or his duly authorized representative, that such premises are vermin or rat-infested, it shall be the duty of such owner or occupant to take immediate measures to remedy such condition.
(e) No person shall remove, damage or destroy any part of any building or other appurtenance of improved real estate premises intended to protect such premises against ingress of rats, or in any other way intended to create a condition by which ingress of rats is made possible. This subsection shall not apply where the interference with the ratproofing is made necessary in connection with a lawful construction which is promptly restored.
(f) No person shall throw, place or deposit, or permit any person under his control or employment to throw, place or deposit, any putrid substance, night soil, filth of any kind, garbage, rubbish, refuse piles, old lumber or other rat harborages or any unwholesome material, in or upon any vacant lot, alley, lane, sidewalk or street, canal, lake or river or upon any private lot or public ground within the City without the consent of the Department of Health.
(Ord. 8176-75. Passed 2-24-75.)
(g) Whoever violates subsection (f) hereof shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($ 1,000) or imprisoned not more than six months, or both, but no person shall be imprisoned for his or her first offense of subsection (f) hereof and the prosecution shall always be as and for the first offense unless the affidavit upon which the prosecution is instituted contains an allegation that the offense is a second or repeated offense. Whoever violates any subsection of this section, other than subsection (f), is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.
(Ord. 10724/94. Passed 10-26-94.)