[Adopted 9-18-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-7]
This article is adopted pursuant to the authority granted town
boards under § 60.55(2)(b), Wis. Stats., which allows towns
to recover the costs of fire calls made to property within the Town.
This article supersedes and replaces Ordinance No. 95-1.
The Town of Pacific, Columbia County, Wisconsin, hereby imposes
a charge for each fire call made within the limits of the Town of
Pacific. Such fee shall be equal to the actual cost to the Town for
the fire call. If the call is to real estate located within the Town,
the charges shall be imposed on all owners of the real estate to which
the particular fire call is made. In the event that a fire call is
not made to real estate located within the Town, but is instead made
to personal property, such as a vehicle, the charges provided for
under this article shall be imposed on all owners of such personal
property.
The fire call charges provided for in this article shall be
paid in full to the Clerk of the Town of Pacific no later than 60
days after the date of the fire call. Failure to pay the bill within
60 days will result in interest being charged at the rate of 1 1/2%
per month from the date of the bill. Those bills for fire calls to
real estate, including interest, that remain outstanding for more
than 90 days, as of November 1 of any year, shall become a lien against
the real estate and shall be placed on the tax roll as a delinquent,
special charge under § 66.0627, Wis. Stats.
The Town of Pacific contracts with the Portage Fire Department
to provide fire protection services in the Town. Any property owner
requesting fire protection directly from any fire department, other
than the department contracted to serve that portion of the Town,
shall be responsible for the full costs billed to the Town resulting
from the fire call. This section shall not apply to the costs of any
other fire department responding at the request of an authorized department
under a mutual aid agreement.
When the Town incurs a charge for a fire department responding
to a fire call regarding a vehicle fire on any road located within
the Town, then a fee equal to the amount of that charge is hereby
imposed upon the person to whom the fire call was provided. The Town
may then proceed against that person and that person's insurer, as
provided in § 60.557, Wis. Stats., and as otherwise provided
under Wisconsin law, to collect that fee. That fee shall be paid in
full no later than 60 days after the Town submits a billing covering
the fee owed to the Town.
[Adopted 10-16-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-1]
The purpose of this article is to provide for fire inspections
and for the enforcement of regulations and orders relating to fire
prevention.
Annual fire prevention inspections. Except as otherwise provided
in this article, all public buildings, structures and premises shall
be inspected semiannually or annually as provided by law (as defined
by § 101.01, Wis. Stats.), by the fire department with which
the Town contracts for fire protection services (hereinafter the "Fire
Department") for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected
any conditions liable to cause fire or any violation of any laws or
lawful orders relating to fire prevention.
A. In the event a public building, structure or premises must be reinspected
as a result of deficiencies identified in the annual fire prevention
inspection, the property owner shall be charged a fee for the reinspection
and subsequent reinspection(s) based upon a fee schedule adopted by
resolution of the Town Board from time to time which establishes the
fees for the reinspections.
B. The reinspection fee shall constitute a special charge against the
property under § 66.0627, Wis. Stats., and shall be placed
on the annual tax roll for collection as a special charge. All rules
and regulations related to the collection of real estate taxes shall
apply.
C. All buildings, structures and premises owned by the Town of Pacific,
County of Columbia, the State of Wisconsin, or the United States government
shall be exempt from this fee.
Should any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause,
phrase or work of this article be declared for any reason to be invalid
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the Chapter shall not be affected
thereby and shall continue in full force and effect.