[Adopted as Sec. 4.02 of the prior Code]
A. 
No person, partnership, utility or corporation, or their agents or employees or contractors shall make or cause alteration, extension or addition within the road rights-of-way without a permit issued by the Director of Public Works.
[Amended 4-16-2020 by Ord. No. 20-05]
B. 
An application for the permit shall be submitted to the Director of Public Works with a written plan of the proposed alteration, extension or addition, showing its location and details of construction, including specified depth, method of auguring, provisions of restoration and whatever the Town would deem necessary for review and consideration. The Director of Public Works shall approve or deny a permit application within 60 days of receipt of the application. If a permit application is denied, the Director of Public Works shall provide the applicant with a written explanation of the reasons for denial.
[Amended 4-16-2020 by Ord. No. 20-05]
C. 
No openings in the roads, sidewalks or public ways shall be permitted when the ground is frozen except where it is deemed necessary by the Director of Public Works.
[Amended 4-16-2020 by Ord. No. 20-05]
D. 
In any opening or excavation, all paving or ballasting materials shall be removed with the least possible loss of or injury to surfacing materials and together with the excavated materials from the opening shall be placed so as to cause the least practicable inconvenience to the public and permit free flow of water in the rights-of-way.
E. 
Every opening and excavation shall be enclosed with sufficient barriers. Sufficient warning lights shall be kept on from sunset to sunrise. Such lights shall be spaced so as to give adequate warning of the existence of the opening and piled excavated materials. No open flame warning pots shall be used. Except by special permission from the Town, no trench shall be excavated more than 250 feet in advance of pipe or conduit neither laying nor left unfilled more than 500 feet where pipe or conduit has been laid. All necessary precautions shall be taken to guard the public effectively from accidents or damage to persons or property through the period of the work. Each person making such opening shall be held liable for all damages, including costs incurred by the Town in defending any action brought against it for damages, as well as cost of any appeal, that may result from the neglect by such person or his employees of any necessary precaution against injury or damage to persons, vehicles or property of any kind.
F. 
Unless the work shall be commenced within 30 days from the date of approval, permission shall be void, and a new request must be submitted. The Town may extend the time limitation for good cause. The applicant shall have present at the site of construction and during the restoration period a copy of the construction plans and Town's written permission.
G. 
It shall be the duty of the permittee to notify the Director of Public Works and all private individuals, firms and corporations affected by the work to be done at least 24 hours before such work is to commence. The Director of Public Works shall also be notified at least four hours prior to backfilling and/or restoring the surface.
[Amended 4-16-2020 by Ord. No. 20-05]
H. 
During the period of construction and excavation, the utility shall take all reasonable precaution, including following all industry standards, in protecting the safety of all persons, including but not limited to area residents, motorists and Town employees, who are likely to be in the area of construction and/or excavation. The utility shall also take reasonable precaution necessary to protect the environment and prevent erosion.
A. 
All surface monuments or hubs must be removed and replaced as nearly as possible in their original condition or position. Any excavated material, which, in the opinion of the Town, is not suitable for refilling, shall be replaced with approved backfill material. All rubbish shall be immediately removed. In refilling the opening, the earth must be puddled or laid in layers not more than six inches in depth and each layer rammed, tamped or flushed to prevent after-settling. When the sides of the trench will not stand perpendicular, sheathing and braces must be used to prevent caving. No timber, bracing, lagging, sheathing or other lumber shall be left in any trench. The Town may elect to have the opening repaired by the Town, in which case, the cost of making such repair and of maintaining it for one year shall be charged to the person making the road opening.
B. 
The person who does such restoration shall be responsible therefore for two years from the date of the completion of the work and shall file a written guarantee or surety bond to that effect with the Town in the amount of $1,000.
C. 
Whenever the Town shall find that any such work has become defective within two years of the date of completion, it shall give written notice thereof to the contractor or to his surety stating the defect, the work to be done, the cost thereof and the period of time deemed by the Town to be reasonably necessary to complete said work. After receipt of such notice, the contractor or the surety must, within the time specified, repair the defect or indemnify the Town for the cost of doing the work as set forth in the notice.
Written permission shall be issued only upon condition that the applicant submit to the Town satisfactory written evidence that applicant has in force and will maintain during the time the permit is in effect public liability insurance of not less than $100,000 per one person, $300,000 for one accident and property damage coverage of not less than $50,000. The Town shall be listed as a third-party insured on the policy.
Before written permission is issued, the applicant must sign a statement that he will indemnify and hold harmless the Town of Rome and its officers from all liability for accidents and damage caused by any of the work covered by his permit, and that he will fill up and place in good and safe condition all excavations and openings made in the road, and will replace and restore the pavement over any opening he may make as near as can be to the state and condition in which he found it, and keep and maintain the same in such condition, normal wear and tear excepted, to the satisfaction of the Town Board for a period of two years, and that he will pay all fines imposed upon him for any violation of any rule, regulation or ordinance governing road openings or drain laying adopted by the Town Board and will repair any damage done to existing improvements during the progress of the excavation in accordance with the ordinances, rules and regulations of the Town. Such statement shall also guarantee that if the Town shall elect to make the road repair, the person opening the road will pay all costs of making such repair and of maintaining the same for one year.
Pursuant to § PSC 130.05 (Wis. Admin. Code) and under the authority of the Town generally, a utility shall be required to pay the actual cost of functions undertaken by the Town to manage utility access to and use of municipal right-of-way. These management functions include all of the following:
A. 
Registering utilities, including the gathering and recording of information necessary to conduct business with a utility.
B. 
Issuing, processing and verifying excavation or other utility permit applications, including supplement applications.
C. 
Inspecting utility job sites and restoration projects.
D. 
Maintaining, supporting, protecting or moving utility equipment located within a municipal right-of-way during highway, street and right-of-way work undertaken by or at the direction of the Town. In lieu of payment of the actual cost, a utility may perform the duties.
E. 
Undertaking restoration work inadequately performed by a utility after providing notice and the opportunity to correct the work.
F. 
Revoking utility permits.
G. 
Maintenance of databases.
H. 
Scheduling and coordinating, when possible, highway, street and right-of-way work relevant to a utility permit. In lieu of payment of the actual cost, a utility may perform the duties enumerated in Subsection D above.
Pursuant to § PSC 130.09 (Wis. Admin. Code), the Town may require a utility, at its expense, to permanently relocate transmission or distribution facilities in a municipal right-of-way when necessary for health, safety or public welfare.
A utility shall notify the Town of the utility's intent to abandon transmission or distribution facilities and the utility shall provide the Town a map, at the utility's expense, depicting the location of any facility within the Town that the utility intends to abandon.
[Amended 4-16-2020 by Ord. No. 20-05]
A utility shall submit to the Town of Rome Director of Public Works its future construction or excavation work plans in a time frame that will allow the Town to coordinate work within a municipal right-of-way.
In this article, the definition of terms shall be as set for in § PSC 130.01 (Wis. Admin. Code); provided, however, the term "utility" as used in this article shall include an interim cable television operator and a video service provider.
ALLEY
A public right-of-way, which normally affords a secondary means of vehicular access to abutting property.
CUL-DE-SAC
A street having but one end open to traffic and the other end being terminated in a vehicular turnaround.
EROSION
The detachment and movement of soil, sediment or rock fragments by water, wind, ice or gravity.
EROSION CONTROL
A practice or a combination of practices implemented to prevent or reduce erosion and the resulting deposition of soil, sediment or rock fragments into waters of the state, public sewers or off the owner's land. These procedures include, but are not limited to, silt or filter fences, straw or hay bales, tarps or riprap, berms, sediment basins or vegetative strips.
FINE
Shall be the equivalent of the word "forfeiture," and vice versa.
GARBAGE
All waste, animal, fish, fowl or vegetable matter incidental to and resulting from the use, preparation and storage of food for human consumption.
GRADE
The average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of the building or structure.
LOT
A parcel of land. A lot may be a parcel designated in a plat or described in a conveyance recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds, or any part of a large parcel when such part complies with the requirements of this Code as to width and area for the district in which it is located.
OCCUPANT
Any person occupying or having use of a building, structure, premises of any part thereof.
OPERATOR
Any person who has charge, care or control of a building, structure or premises or part thereof.
OWNER
Includes the plural as well as the singular and may mean either a natural person, firm, association, partnership, private corporation, public or quasi-public corporation, or combination of these who shall hold title to a building, structure or property, or who shall be in actual possession of, or have charge, or control of building, structure, or property as agent of the title holder, or who shall be trustee or guardian of the estate or person of the title holder.
PARK
All grounds, structures and watercourses which are or may be located within any area dedicated to the public use as a park, parkway, public boat landing, public lake access, recreation facility or conservancy district in the Town.
PERSON
Includes a corporation, firm partnership, association, organization and any other group acting as a unit as well as individuals, including a personal representative, receiver or other representative appointed according to law. Whenever the term "person" is used in any section of this article prescribing a penalty or fine, as to partnerships or associations, the work shall include the partners or members thereof, and as to corporations, shall include the officers, agents or members thereof who are responsible for any violation of such section.
PLAT
The map, drawing or chart on which the subdivider's plat of subdivision is presented to the Town for approval.
PUBLIC WAY
Any sidewalk, street, alley, highway, or other public thoroughfare.
RUBBISH
The miscellaneous waste material, combustible and noncombustible, resulting from housekeeping and ordinary mercantile enterprises, and includes boxes, cartons, excelsior, paper, ashes, cinders, tin cans, bottles and broken glass, rubber, grass clippings, brush, leaves, garden plants, and animal waste.
SIGN
Any medium, including its structure, words, letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names or trademarks by which anything is made known and which are used to advertise or promote an individual, firm, association, corporation, profession, business, commodity or product and which is visible from any public street or highway.
STREET
Any public highway or alley and shall mean the entire width between the boundary lines of any public way where any part thereof is open to the public for purposes of vehicular traffic.
STRUCTURE
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a more or less permanent location in or on the premises, or any other attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground, which includes, but is not limited to, objects such as buildings, mobile homes, gas or liquid storage tanks, bridges, culverts, decks, fences, satellite dishes or swimming pools.
TOWN
The Town of Rome, Adams County, Wisconsin, or any duly appointed designate thereof, including, but not limited to, the Town Board and Town committees.
TOWN BOARD or BOARD
The present governing body of the Town or any successors to the legislative power of said body, or any duly appointed designate thereof.
UTILITIES
Public and private facilities, such as water wells, water and sewage pumping stations, water storage tanks, electrical power substations, static transformer stations, telephone and telegraph exchanges, microwave radio relays and gas regulation stations, inclusive of associated transmission facilities, but not including sewage disposal plants, municipal incinerators, warehouses, shops, storage yards and power plants.
VEHICLE
A motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer or mobile home, whether or not such vehicle is registered under Wisconsin Law.
VISION TRIANGLE
A triangular space which permits an unobstructed view at the inter section of highways or streets with other highways, streets or roads to or at the intersection of highways or streets with railroads.
WASTE
Garbage, refuse, and all other discarded or salvageable material, including materials resulting from industrial, commercial, and agricultural operations and from domestic use and public service activities.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to excavation work done by Town employees or contractors performing work under contract with the Town, except that the safety precautions in this article shall be complied with.