[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Whitpain 9-28-1959 as Ord. No. 30. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Garbage, rubbish and refuse — See Ch. 93.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Health Ordinance
of the Township of Whitpain."
The following terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the meaning
herein indicated, except where the context clearly indicates or requires a
different meaning:
The State Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
An adult citizen or citizens of Whitpain Township experienced or
trained in public health work and the same as a Sanitary Officer.
A board of five adult citizens of Whitpain Township appointed by
the Supervisors.
The Secretary of the Sanitary Board.
The Secretary of Health of the State Department of Health of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Supervisors of Whitpain Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The Township of Whitpain, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
On or after the effective date of this chapter, the health laws in Whitpain
Township shall be administered by a Sanitary Board and such officer or officers
as may be appointed by said Board.
A.Â
The township hereby creates a Sanitary Board composed
of five members to be appointed by the Supervisors, at least one of whom shall
be a reputable physician of not less than two years' experience in the
practice of his profession. The Board members shall serve for terms of five
years, except that of the terms of the members first appointed, one member
shall be appointed so that his term shall expire on the first Monday of January
1960; one member shall be appointed so that his term shall expire on the first
Monday of January 1961; one member shall be appointed so that his term shall
expire on the first Monday of January 1962; one member shall be appointed
so that his term shall expire on the first Monday of January 1963; and one
member shall be appointed so that his term shall expire on the first Monday
of January 1964. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as original
appointments and for the unexpired portion of the term.
B.Â
The members shall serve without compensation, but if
any member of the Board shall be elected to the office of Secretary, he shall
be entitled to receive a salary fixed by the Board for that office.
The members of the Board shall, severally, take and subscribe to the
oath prescribed by the Second Class Township Code[1] and 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. The
Secretary and Sanitary Officer shall receive such salary as may be fixed by
the 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 qualify. They shall, severally, give bond to the township in the sum of
$500 for the faithful discharge of their duties and shall also take and subscribe
to the oath required by members of the Board.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 65101 et seq.
The Secretary of the Board shall keep the 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 Supervisors to the Board and shall present
the same to the President of the Board for his approval; shall render statements
of the expenditures of the Board at each stated meeting or as frequently as
the Board may require; shall prepare, under the directions of the Board, the
annual report 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.
It shall be the duty of the Sanitary Officer to attend all stated and
special meetings of the Sanitary Board and at all times be ready and available
for the prompt performance of his official duties. He shall make sanitary
inspections and shall execute the orders of the Sanitary Board and shall,
in the performance of his duties, have the power and authority of a policeman.
A.Â
The Sanitary Board shall have the power, and it shall
be its duty, to enforce the laws of the commonwealth and the regulations of
the State Department of Health and to make and enforce such additional rules
and regulations for abating and removing all nuisances which the Board shall
deem prejudicial to the public health; to mark infected houses or places;
to prescribe rules for the construction and maintenance of house drains, washpipes,
soil pipes and cesspools; and to make all such other rules and regulations
as shall be deemed necessary for the preservation of the public health.
B.Â
The Board shall also have the power to make, enforce
and cause to be published all necessary rules and regulations, not inconsistent
with law, for carrying into effect the powers and functions with which it
is invested by law and the power and authority relating to the public health
conferred on townships. Such rules and regulations, when 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 necessarily
incurred in carrying such rules and regulations into effect shall be recoverable
for the use of the township in the same manner as penalties for violation
of the ordinances of the township and subject to like limitations as to the
amount thereof.
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 the said Board, to enter at any time upon
any premises in the township upon which there is suspected to be any nuisance
detrimental to the public health for the purpose of examining and abating
the same.
The Sanitary Board may inspect house drains, waste and soil pipes, privies, cesspools, water closets, slaughterhouses, hogpens, stables, stable yards, dumps and any conditions or places whatsoever in the township which may constitute a nuisance or a menace to public health, and whenever any condition or place in the township is found by the Board to be a nuisance or a menace to the health of the people of the township, it shall issue a written order of abatement directed to the owner or agent of the owner or operator of the premises, stating that the conditions specified therein constitute a nuisance or menace to health and ordering an abatement thereof within such time as may be specified by it in such order. In case such order of abatement is not obeyed within the time specified, the 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, or the Sanitary Board may proceed to enforce such other remedy or inflict such penalty as provided in § 50-13 hereof.
It shall be the duty of the Sanitary Board or appointed Sanitary Officer
or Officers to submit annually to the Supervisors, before the commencement
of the fiscal year, an estimate of the probable expenditures of the Board
during the ensuing year, and the Supervisors shall then proceed to make such
appropriations as may be deemed necessary. The Sanitary Board, Sanitary Officer
or 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 or requirements of the township as may be necessary, and the Supervisors
shall publish the same in their official journal.
The township may cooperate with the county or any city, borough or township
as well as with the State Department of Health in the administration and enforcement
of health laws.
[Amended 5-19-1986 by Ord. No. 165; 1-2-1989
by Ord. No. 184]
Any person or persons, firm or corporation who or which shall fail to
comply with any provisions of this chapter, the rules and regulations adopted
thereunder and any abatement or other notices issued by the Sanitary Board
or the Sanitary Officer shall be liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding
$600 and costs of prosecution for each and every offense or, upon default
in payment of the fine and costs, to imprisonment in the county jail for a
period not exceeding 30 days. All prosecutions for violations of this chapter
and the rules and regulations adopted thereunder shall be by summary proceedings
brought in the name and for the use of the Township of Whitpain before a District
Justice in Whitpain Township. All fines and penalties shall be paid to the
Treasurer of Whitpain Township, to be applied to general funds.
