For the purpose of this article,
the following words shall have the meanings respectively ascribed
to them in this section:
Any structure, whether public or private, that is adapted
for occupancy for transaction of business for rendering of professional
service, for amusement, for the display, sale or storage of goods,
wares, or merchandise, or for the performance of work or labor, including
hotels, apartment buildings, tenement houses, rooming houses, office
buildings, public buildings, stores, theaters, markets, restaurants,
grain elevators, abattoirs, warehouses, workshops, factories and all
outhouses, sheds, barns, and other structures on premises used for
business purposes.
The individual, partnership, or corporation that has the
use of or occupies any business building, or a part or fraction thereof,
whether the actual owner or tenant. In the case of vacant business
buildings or any vacant portion of a business building, the owner,
agent, or other person having custody of the building shall have the
responsibility of an occupant of a building.
The actual owner of the business building, whether individual,
partnership, or corporation or the agent of the building or other
person having custody of the building or to whom rent is paid. In
the case of business buildings leased with a clause in the lease specifying
that the lessee is responsible for maintenance and repairs, the lessee
will be considered in such cases as the "owner" for the purpose of
this chapter.
The elimination or extermination of rats within buildings
so that the buildings are completely freed of rats or there is no
evidence of rat infestation remaining, by any or all of the accepted
measures, such as poisoning, fumigation, trapping, and clubbing.
Any condition which provides shelter or protection for rats,
thus favoring their multiplication and continued existence in, under,
or outside of a structure of any kind.
Applied to a form of construction to prevent the ingress
of rats into business buildings from the exterior or from one business
building or establishment to another. It consists essentially of treating
all actual or potential openings in the exterior walls, ground or
first floors, basements, roof and foundations that may be reached
by rats from the ground by climbing or by burrowing with material
impervious to rat gnawing.
It is hereby provided and required
that all business buildings in the City shall be ratproofed and freed
of rats when directed by the Department of Health or as required in
this chapter.
Whenever the Department of Health
notifies the occupant of a business building in writing that there
is evidence of rat infestation of the building, such occupant shall
immediately institute rat eradication measures and shall continuously
maintain such measures in a satisfactory manner until the premises
are rat-free or the Department of Health advises that there is no
evidence of rat infestation. Unless such measures are undertaken within
three days after receipt of notice, the occupant of the business building
shall be deemed guilty of an offense under the provisions of this
chapter.
Whenever the Department of Health
notifies the owner of any business building in writing that there
is evidence of the need for ratproofing of the building, such owner
shall take immediate measures for ratproofing the building. Unless
such work and improvements have been completed by the owner in the
time specified in the written notice, in no event to be less than
15 days, or within the time to which a written extension may have
been granted by the Department of Health, then the owner shall be
deemed guilty of an offense under the provisions of this chapter.
On the failure of a person so notifies to comply with either of the notices in the last two sections mentioned, the Department of Health shall, after the time specified therein, notify the Building Inspector of the City. Upon being so notifies, the Building Inspector shall take the necessary measures for ratproofing of said building and of the extermination of rat, therein; and the reasonable costs and expenses of so doing shall be collected from the owner of said building, and in addition thereto, the reasonable costs and expenses of said ratproofing and extermination shall be a lien upon the real estate affected, as provided in Section 23-109 of Chapter 24 of the Illinois Revised Statutes of 1959;[1] in the event the costs and expenses aforesaid are not paid within 30 days from the completion of the work by the Building Inspector, the same shall be enforced in the manner provided in said Section 23-109 of Chapter 24 of the Illinois Revised Statutes of 1959.[2]
The owners of all ratproofed business
buildings are required to maintain the premises in ratproof condition
and to repair all breaks or leaks that may occur in the ratproofing
without a specific order of the Department of Health and regardless
of the need for other remodeling, repairing, or construction.
The Department of Health is hereby
empowered to make unannounced or announced inspections of the interior
and exterior of business buildings as, in its opinion, may be necessary
to determine full compliance with this chapter. The Department of
Health shall make periodic inspections of all ratproofed buildings
to determine evidence of rat infestation and the existence of new
breaks or leaks in their ratproofing. When any evidence is found indicating
the presence of rats or openings through which rats may again enter
business buildings, the Department of Health shall serve the owners
or occupants or both, with notices or orders to abate the conditions
found.
Whenever conditions inside or under
business buildings provide such extensive harborage for rats that
the Department of Health deems it necessary to eliminate such harborage,
it may require the owner or occupant, or both, to install suitable
rat-impervious floors in basements or to replace wooden first or ground
floors with rat-impervious floors or require the owner or occupant,
or both, to otherwise eliminate such rat harborage within a reasonable
time.
It is hereby made unlawful for the
occupant, owner, contractor, utility company, plumber, repairman,
or any other person to remove the ratproofing from any business building
for any purpose and fail to restore the same in a satisfactory condition
or to make any new openings that are not closed or sealed against
the entrance of rats.
It is hereby made unlawful for any
person to hereafter construct, repair, or remodel any business building,
unless such construction, repair, or remodeling shall render the building
ratproof; provided, that only such repairs or remodeling which affect
the ratproof condition of any such building shall be considered as
subject to the provisions of this section.
All human or animal food or feed
within the City shall be stored in ratfree and ratproof containers,
compartments, or rooms unless stored in a ratproof building.
It is hereby made unlawful for any
person to place, leave, dump, or permit to accumulate on any private
or public premises, improved or vacant, or on any open land, street,
or alley in the City any lumber, boxes, barrels, bottles, cans, containers,
or similar materials unless the same shall be placed on open racks
that are elevated not less than 18 inches above the ground and evenly
piled or stacked so that these materials will not afford harborage
for rats.
Any person violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions of this article shall upon conviction be punished as provided in § 1-106 of this Code.
