[Amended 11-6-1995 by Ord. No. 1043]
The Borough of Catasauqua, through its Pretreatment
Officer (or in his absence, the Borough Manager), may assess a civil
penalty in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per day for each violation,
regardless of jurisdictional boundaries. Civil penalties may be assessed
against:
A. Any user of the system who violates any provision
of this article, or Ordinance No. 852, as amended.
B. Any pretreatment permit holder who violates any condition
of its permit including, but not limited to, its effluent discharge
limits.
Each violation for each separate day shall constitutes
a separate and distinct offense.
The civil penalty may be assessed whether or
not the violation was willful or negligent.
Notice of assessment of civil penalty shall
state the appeal process to be followed including the name, address
and telephone number of the person responsible for accepting such
appeal. Said notice shall also contain the date or dates of violation,
the permit requirement that was violated and the amount of civil penalty
assessed. The notice shall state the time frame for appeal. It shall
be served personally on the violator or shall be sent by certified
mail to the address of the permit holder as noted on the permit.
The civil penalty shall be assessed in accordance with §
210-39 which sets forth the Borough of Catasauqua's assessment policy considering damage to air, water, land or other natural resources, cost of restoration and abatement, saving resulting to the person for the violation, history of past violations, deterrence of future violations and other relevant factors.
All civil penalties collected shall be placed
in a restricted account and shall only be used by the Borough of Catasauqua
(operator) or with permission of the Borough of Catasauqua, the Catasauqua
Borough Authority (owner) to repair damage and provide for additional
maintenance and costs as a result of violations, to pay penalties
imposed by state or federal government for violation of pretreatment
standards, for the costs of investigation and enforcement of action
resulting in penalty for monitoring of discharges in the pretreatment
program and for capital improvement to the treatment works including
sewage collection lines.
The Borough of Catasauqua shall retain the power
to use all other available remedies provided by law to enforce its
pretreatment ordinance including injunctive relief.
Each permit holder shall keep the Borough apprised
in writing of any change in mailing address. The address on the permit
shall be used to send all correspondence and notice of civil assessment
to permit holders. The sending of a notice of civil assessment to
a permit holder's address on permit shall conclusively be presumed
to be valid service; thus, if the certified mail sent to such address
is not accepted or picked up by permit holder, the date of service
shall be the date that the certified mail was rejected or returned
unclaimed.
[Amended 11-6-1995 by Ord. No. 1044]
The Borough shall charge all costs for establishing
the operation of the public owned treatment works after a violation
to said violator. These costs shall be paid by the violator within
10 days after notice of assessment of civil penalties. Any violator
not timely paying said assessment shall pay an additional penalty
of 5% per month or any part thereof.