[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Richland 9-1-1979 by Ord. No. 107. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
The Richland Township Sanitary Board is hereby created
under the terms of this chapter.
B.
Five residents of Richland Township, one of whom shall
be a reputable physician of not less than two years' experience in the practice
of his profession, shall be appointed by the Richland Township Supervisors.
C.
One member shall be appointed to serve for one year,
one member for two years, one member for three years, one member for four
years and one member for five years. Thereafter, one member shall in like
manner be appointed each year to serve for a period of five years.
D.
The members of the Sanitary Board shall serve without
compensation, provided that if any member of the Board shall be elected to
the office of Secretary, hereinafter provided for, he shall be entitled to
receive a salary fixed by the Sanitary Board for that office.
F.
The Sanitary Board shall annually organize by electing
a President from among the members of the Board, a Secretary who may or may
not be a member of the Board and a Sanitary Officer who shall not be a member
of the Board.
G.
The Secretary and the Sanitary Officer shall receive
such salaries as may be fixed by the Sanitary Board and ratified by the Township
Supervisors, and shall serve for a period of one year or until such time thereafter
as their successors may be elected and qualified.
H.
The Secretary and the Sanitary Officer shall, severally,
give bond to the township in such sums as may be fixed by the Township Supervisors
for the faithful discharge of their duties, and shall also take and subscribe
to the oath required by members of the Board.
A.
The Secretary of the Sanitary Board shall keep minutes
of the proceedings of the Board, shall keep accurate accounts of the expenditures
of the Board, shall draw all requisitions for the payment of moneys on account
of the Sanitary Board from appropriations made by the Township Supervisors
to the Board and shall present the same to the President of the Board for
his approval.
B.
The Secretary of the Sanitary Board shall render statements
of the expenditures to the Board at each stated meeting or as frequently as
the Board may require, shall prepare under the directions of the Board the
annual reports to the Township Supervisors, together with the estimate of
appropriation needed for the ensuing year, and shall make such other reports
and perform such other duties as the Board may require.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Sanitary Officer to attend
all stated and special meetings of the Sanitary Board and at times be ready
and available for the prompt performance of his official duties.
B.
He shall make sanitary inspections and shall execute
this chapter for the Sanitary Board and shall, in the performance of his duties,
have the power and authority of a policeman.
A.
The Sanitary Board shall have the power and it shall
be its duty to enforce the laws of the commonwealth, the regulations of the
State Department of Health and other agencies, boards and commissions of state
government pertaining to public health.
B.
The Sanitary Board shall also make and enforce such additional
rules and regulations for abating and removing all nuisances which the Sanitary
Board shall deem prejudicial to the public health.
C.
The Sanitary Board shall mark infected houses or places.
D.
The Sanitary Board shall prescribe rules for the construction
and maintenance of house drains, wash pipes, soil pipes, and cesspools and
septic systems.
E.
The Sanitary Board shall make all other rules and regulations
that shall be deemed necessary for the preservation of the public health.
F.
Rules and regulations of the Sanitary Board must be approved
by the Township Supervisors and, when advertised in the same manner as ordinances,
shall have the force of ordinances of the township and all penalties or punishment
prescribed for the violation thereof, as well as the expenses actually and
necessary incurred in carrying such rules and regulations into effect, shall
be recoverable for the use of Richland Township in the same manner as penalties
for violation of the ordinances of Richland Township and subject to like limitations
as to the amount thereof.
G.
The Sanitary Board shall have the power as a body or
by committee, as well as the Sanitary Officer, together with their assistants,
subordinates and workmen under and by order of said Board, to enter at any
time upon any premises in the Township of Richland upon which there is suspected
to be any nuisance detrimental to the public health for the purpose of examining
and abating the same.
H.
The Sanitary Board may inspect house drains, waste and
soil pipes, cesspools, water closets, septic systems, slaughterhouses, hog
pens, stables, stable yards and any conditions or places whatsoever in the
township which may constitute a nuisance or a menace to the public health.
A.
Whenever any condition or place in the Township of Richland
is found by the Sanitary Board to be a nuisance or a menace to the health
of the people of the township, the Sanitary Board shall issue a written order
of abatement directed to the owner or agents of the owner of the premises
stating that the conditions specified therein constitute a nuisance or a menace
to health, and ordering an abatement thereof within such time as may be specified
by the Sanitary Board in such order.
B.
In case such order of abatement is not obeyed within
the time specified therein, the Sanitary Board shall thereupon issue a further
written order to the Sanitary Officer directing him to remove or abate the
same, which order shall be executed by him and his subordinates and workmen,
and the expense thereof shall be recoverable from the owner of the premises
upon or from which the nuisance or menace to health is abated or removed in
the same manner as debts of like character are now collected by law.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Sanitary Board of Richland
Township or its officers to submit annually to the Richland Township Supervisors,
before the commencement of the fiscal year, an estimate of the probable expenditures
of the Board during the ensuing year.
B.
The Richland Township Supervisors shall then proceed
to make such appropriations as may be deemed necessary.
C.
The Sanitary Board or its officers shall, in the month
of January of each year, submit a report, in writing, to the Supervisors of
its appropriation and expenditures for the preceding year, together with such
other information on subjects relative to the sanitary conditions and requirements
of the Township of Richland as may be necessary, and the Supervisors of Richland
Township shall publish the same in their official journal.
Richland Township may cooperate with the County of Cambria or any other
municipality, as well as with the State Department of Health, in the administration
and enforcement of health laws.
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this chapter shall,
upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced
by the township before a District Justice, pay a fine of not more than $600,
plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred by the
township in the enforcement of this chapter. No judgment shall be imposed
until the date of the determination of the violation by the District Justice.
If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the township
may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable Rules of Civil Procedure.
Each day a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. Further,
the appropriate officers or agents of the township are hereby authorized to
seek equitable relief, including injunction, to enforce compliance herewith.
