979.01 DEFINITIONS.

   In the interpretation of this chapter, the following words and phrases, unless the context clearly shows another sense to be intended, shall be held to have the meanings hereinafter stated:

   (a)    "CUSTOMER" shall mean any person or household within the City that has an open water account.

   (b)    "CITY ISSUED CART'' shall mean a trash cart provided to the customer by the City of Youngstown. City issued carts shall remain the property of the City of Youngtown and will be assigned to a particular address. If the customer vacates the property, the City issued cart must remain with the property.

   (c)    "SOLID WASTE REFUSE" shall mean garbage and rubbish placed and stored together in a standard refuse container as required by this chapter. "GARBAGE" shall mean all putrescible animal or vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food in any private dwelling house.

   (d)    "RUBBISH" shall mean all cardboard, plastic, metal or glass food containers, wastepaper, rags, sweepings, small pieces of wood, excelsior, rubber, leather, and similar waste materials that ordinarily accumulate around a home.

   (e)    "BULK ITEM" shall mean Stoves, water tanks, washing machines, appliances, furniture, bags not to exceed 35 lbs, and other waste materials that are permitted to be disposed of but will not fit into the City Issued Cart.

   (f)    "SOFT YARD WASTE" shall mean grass, weeds, and leaves. Soft yard waste must be placed in the City issued cart whenever possible. Soft yard waste is not considered a BULK ITEM.

   (g)    "HARD YARD WASTE" shall mean shrubbery, trimmings and tree branches. Hard yard waste must be placed in the City issued cart whenever possible. Hard yard waste is not considered a BULK ITEM.

      (Ord. 16-266. Passed 7-13-16.)

979.02 GARBAGE RECEPTACLES.

   (a)    The City of Youngstown will issue one trash cart at no cost to all customers.

   (b)    City issued carts shall remain the property of the City of Youngtown and will be assigned to a particular address. No person shall remove a City owned cart from the address that it is registered to.

   (c)   If the customer vacates the property, the City issued cart must remain with the property or be returned to the City.

   (d)   No person shall be in possession of a City issued cart that is not registered to their property.

   (e)   No person shall remove a City issued cart from the City of Youngstown.

   (f)   Additional City issued carts may be purchased from the City of Youngstown Department of Public Works. Additional Carts cannot be removed from the property to which they were purchased for without the prior approval of the Deputy Director of Public Works or his or her designee.

   (g)   City issued carts found to have been removed from the location to which they are registered shall be subject to repossession by the City.

   (h)   Every person maintaining a garbage receptacle(s) shall be required to keep such receptacle(s) in the rear area of his residence, except for a period of twelve hours prior to collection and twenty-four hours subsequent to collection. In the event the rear area is adjacent to any public way, such receptacle shall be kept at least twenty-five feet away from such adjacent public way.

   (i)   Any person who violates one or more of subsections (b) - (f) is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. (Ord. 18-94. Passed 4-18-18.)

979.03 MATERIALS PROHIBITED IN GARBAGE RECEPTACLES.

   No person maintaining a receptacle for garbage, and as defined in Section 979.01(a) shall deposit or permit to be deposited therein any glass, bottles, broken dishes, tin cans or such other incombustible substance as does not come under the definition "garbage". (1967 Code §93.03)

979.04 VIOLATIONS.

   The authorized collector of garbage, whenever he finds in any such receptacle for garbage such articles which are prohibited in Section 979.03, he shall not remove or empty such garbage receptacle but shall report the same to the Commissioner of Engineering, stating the kind of articles found in such receptacle, and the Commissioner is authorized to take such action as is necessary to correct such condition, and if such condition is not corrected and is permitted to occur again, the same shall be considered as a violation of this provision of this chapter and shall be punished as provided in Section 979.99. (1967 Code §93.04)

979.05 EXCESSIVE QUANTITY OF WASTE FOR COLLECTION.

   (a)    No person, whether an owner, lessee, agent, tenant, or business entity, having charge of any lot of land within the City shall set out for collection on their property or other designated place for collection, in a manual collection zone, a quantity of garbage, rubbish, bulk items, soft yard waste, or hard yard waste, as described in Section 979.01 and herein collectively referred to as Waste, in an amount in excess of 20 cubic yards. Construction Debris is not to be considered as Waste under Section 979.01.

   (b)    The Sanitation Supervisor shall have authority to determine what constitutes an excessive amount of Waste, which exceeds the parameters, as set forth in section (a), through reasonable inspection and shall be responsible for documentation and recording of relevant information concerning such violations.

   (c)    Applicability. The offenses established in this section are applicable without regard to whether the offender:

      (1)    Sets the Waste out due to an eviction, a home or garage cleanout, or for any other reason;

      (2)    Uses or intends to use a public or private vendor or entity for its disposal;

      (3)    Sets out the Waste for the purposes of staging it for eventual disposal.

   (d)    Cost of Removal.

      (1)    The costs of removal or abatement of a public nuisance described in Section 1749.01 shall become the personal obligation of the owner of the property from which such public nuisance has been removed or abated by the City or its contractors pursuant to Section 1749.03. Such cost shall be the total cost of removal or abatement, at a minimum service charge of five hundred dollars ($500.00) per occurrence.

      (2)    The City of Youngstown may certify the total costs, together with a proper description of the lands, to the County Auditor who shall place the costs upon the tax list and duplicate. The costs are a lien upon such lands from and after the date the costs were incurred. The costs shall be collected as other taxes and returned to the City of Youngstown. The placement of the costs on the tax list and duplicate relates back to, and is effective in priority, as of the date the costs were incurred, provided that the City of Youngstown or its duly retained agent or attorney at law certifies the total costs within one year from the date the costs were incurred. Such certification shall not, however, preclude other methods of recovery of such cost as may be authorized generally by law and/or;

      (3)   The City of Youngstown or a duly retained agent or attorney at law may commence a civil action to recover the total costs from the owner.

   (e)    Penalty. In addition to any applicable penalties set forth in Section 979.99, any violation of this Section will be deemed a nuisance per se pursuant to Section 1749.01, and as such the City may enter said lot of land to abate the nuisance without issuing or posting notice in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of the general public.

(Ord. 19-114. Passed 4-17-19.)