(a) Private scavengers, pushcart operators and private garage collectors are hereby prohibited from engaging in the business of transporting or disposing of raw or prepared garbage and refuse containing organic wastes, putrid matter and wastes or excreta subject to putrification, subject to the exceptions hereinafter set forth in subsection (d) hereof.
(b) No person except the City shall engage in or conduct the business of collection, removal or disposal of refuse, ashes, raw garbage or prepared garbage within the corporate limits of the City, and all residents, business houses, firms or corporations residing in or doing business within the City shall be required to subscribe to, take and pay for the service provided by the City, subject to the exceptions hereinafter set forth in subsection (d) hereof.
(c) No person shall neglect or refuse to subscribe to such service and to pay for the same at the rates established by Council for the type of service furnished each such person, subject to the exceptions hereinafter set forth in subsection (d) hereof.
(d) Any business within the City may apply in writing to Council for permission to dispose of its garbage and refuse by private means. Before Council grants any such permission, it must find that each of the following requirements has, or will be met by the applicant:
(1) That such business generates such an abnormally large volume of garbage or refuse that the City sanitation department cannot adequately meet such individual's or businesses sanitation needs.
(2) That such individual or business will have located at the service location a self-contained seepage free packer container with a minimum capacity of thirty-two cubic yards.
(3) That the private means of disposal proposed by the business be an operator licensed by the Public Service Commission of the State of West Virginia to handle garbage and refuse, with authority to operate within the City, and that such operator properly dispose of the garbage or refuse so collected in accordance with all State and Federal requirements. Further, such operator shall be subject to City privilege taxes for all business conducted in the City.
(4) Cost for inspection, processing and application fee shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) per customer per year, which fee shall be pro-rated on a twelve month basis.
(5) As used herein, the term "business" shall mean one business location. It is not permissible for more than one business to combine on one application to meet the requirements set forth in paragraph (d) hereof.
(e) Each property owner of a residential or apartment dwelling unit shall be responsible to pay to the City all fees for the payment of services rendered at the residential or apartment dwelling for the sanitary removal and disposal of all garbage and rubbish, whether such services are rendered to the owner of the premises or another person or persons occupying the premises with the owner’s express or implied permission.
(Passed 7-19-99.)
(1) All fees shall be billed to the owners of each and every residential or apartment dwelling unit. However, if within fifteen days of occupancy the occupant of any residential or apartment dwelling unit, files with the City Clerk an appropriate affidavit showing his/her status, acceptance of responsibility for payment to the City for sanitation fees and accepts legal responsibility for payment of same, the bill shall then be rendered to the occupant.
(2) Futhermore, the foregoing fees are to be paid for any residential or apartment dwelling unit which has been occupied for one day or more during any billing cycle. A signed affidavit will be required from any property owner who wishes to have a property exempted due to non-occupancy. A charge of ten dollars ($10.00) to cover administrative costs shall be charged to any property owner who does not file said affidavit within thirty days of any non-occupancy.
(3) If no affidavit is filed by the occupant, as herein above set forth, then the owner of such residential or apartment dwelling unit shall be liable for the payment for the sanitation fees.
(Passed 1-6-91.)
(f) The City shall not collect, remove or dispose of the following types of refuse: raw garbage, offal, sewage, animal excreta, the carcasses of animals, tree or shrub trimmings or material resulting from the demolition, repair, alteration or erection of buildings or structures.
(g) If the fee, rate or charge for any of the foregoing services shall not be paid within thirty days after the due date, the amount thereof may be recovered by the City in any appropriate action; and the fees, rates and charges for the service mentioned above in this section shall, if not paid when due, constitute a lien upon the premises served, which lien may be foreclosed against the lot, parcel of land or building served, in accordance with the laws of the State relating to the foreclosure of liens on real property: The City shall file in the office of the Clerk of the County an itemized statement, duly verified by a proper municipal officer of the City, which shall be recorded in the judgment lien book in the County Court Clerk's office. Upon the failure of any person receiving such service to pay for the same when due, the City may discontinue such service without notice.
(h) The City shall have the right to deny standard refuse service to any person whose refuse requirements are sufficiently abnormal or different, in the opinion of the County Health Officer, as to justify special handling, in which case a special charge will be made. This shall include those buildings or dwellings not readily accessible to refuse collectors, or in cases where refuse is not found in standard containers.
(i) The City Clerk, after first executing bond in the penal sum fixed by order of Council, with surety to be approved by Council, conditioned upon the faithful accounting of all funds which may come into his hands, shall promptly collect all charges. The City Clerk shall keep in his office proper records showing all collections made and received by him and shall prepare and deliver to Council, on the first day of each month, a detailed statement, in writing, setting out all moneys received for all services during the immediately preceding month, and show by names and in other details the persons paying for services, the amounts paid for the several services, and the names of the persons who have not paid. The City Clerk shall also promptly report to Council or other duly authorized officer all persons in default for services, together with the respective amounts thereof. Council shall prescribe such forms and records as shall be proper and necessary for the collections and accounting of all moneys for any and all services under this article, and the Mayor shall, at least once a year, cause such accounts to be properly audited by a competent auditor. The report of such auditor shall be open for inspection at all times to any taxpayer, citizen of the City, any person receiving service under the provisions of this article, any holder of bonds issued under the provisions of this article or anyone acting for and on behalf of such taxpayer, citizen or bond holder.
(Passed 6-30-47.)
(j) “Refuse containers” and/or “refuse” to be collected by the Sanitation Department, or, if applicable, a designated independent contractor, shall be placed for collection at curbside no earlier than twelve (12) hours prior to 6:00 AM on the day of collection.
(Ord. 237. Passed 11-3-97.)