Borough of Waldwick, NJ: Definitions.

Any intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of hazardous substances, sewage, or sewage sludge into the waters, air, land public or private, within the municipal boundaries of the Borough of Waldwick or outside the Borough when damage may result to the waters, air, or land inside the Borough.

EXPENDABLE ITEMS

Any items used to extinguish or prevent any fire or stop, contain or otherwise mitigate a discharge or any items used to provide for the immediate and/or temporary care of persons affected by such event which cannot be reused or replenished without cost after that particular incident. These "expendable items" include but are not limited to, fire-fighting foam, chemical extinguishing agents and absorbent materials, sand, recovery drums and any protective equipment and clothing to include but not be restricted to chemical protective suits, chemical protective gloves and goggles. Also items necessary to provide for the immediate and/or short term care of persons affected by the incident to include but not be restricted to emergency medical supplies and equipment, foodstuffs and any other items owned or requested by the Borough of Waldwick, the Waldwick Police Department, the Waldwick Fire Department, and Waldwick Office of Emergency Management or their employees, officers, agents and/or officials.

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE

Any material, solid, liquid or gas, listed as such under the N.F.P.A. Guide of Hazardous Materials, the Department of Transportation Guide Book, the list of hazardous substances adopted by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pursuant to Section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendment of 1972, as amended by the Clean Water Act of 1977 (33 USC 1251, et seq.), the list of toxic pollutants designated by Congress or the EPA, pursuant to Section 307 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and all elements and compounds as set forth in N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11b as amended, and in this chapter, except that sewage and sewage sludge shall be considered "Hazardous Substances" for the purpose of this article.

PERSON

Any individual, public or private corporation, company, association, society, firm, partnership or joint stock company.

VEHICLE

Any motorized equipment, registered or unregistered, including but not limited to, a passenger car, motorcycle, truck, tractor-trailer, construction equipment, farm machinery, watercraft, aircraft and trains.

VESSEL

Any container, drum, box, cylinder, or tank used to hold, contain, carry or store any hazardous substances whether or not said container was manufactured for the containment of hazardous substances.

§ 38-2 Purpose.

It is the policy of the Borough of Waldwick that reimbursement for, or the replacement of, any and all equipment, supplies, or monies utilized, expended, lost, destroyed or otherwise rendered unusable by the Borough of Waldwick, without regard to ownership, for the purpose of mitigating, controlling, or containing any discharge or where the potential thereof exists or the prevention of the same is necessary or for the protection of the public health, safety or welfare of the residents of the Borough of Waldwick.

It is also the policy of the Borough of Waldwick that reimbursement for the expenses incurred by the township for the wages (regular and overtime) and applicable benefit costs paid to and on behalf of its employees, agents or servants as a result of an incident involving a discharge be provided.

Any person who shall cause, be responsible for or otherwise create the discharge, shall reimburse the Borough of Waldwick for all expendable items, and associated costs as listed in Subections 2A and 2B used by the Borough or any of its employees, agents, servants, officers or officials in stopping, containing, controlling or mitigating any discharge. Such reimbursement shall occur in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter 38.

§ 38-3 Reimbursement for expendable items.

Any person who shall cause a discharge to occur or create the potential for the occurrence of a discharge shall make reimbursement to the Borough for any fees incurred by the Borough and for all expendable items used in connection with the mitigation, control, containment or prevention of the discharge.

§ 38-4 Reimbursement for services.

Any person responsible for the occurrence of a discharge or for creating the potential thereof shall reimburse the Borough of Waldwick for services rendered by any recovery company, towing company, hazardous materials response unit or any technical assistance called for by the Borough to handle such incident. In the event of a vehicle having been responsible for an incident, such vehicle may be impounded until such time as it has been deemed safe to proceed by the Incident Commander or Officer in Charge in consultation with Borough emergency services officials and until such time as arrangements have been made to reimburse the Borough and the towing company for expenses incurred pursuant to the terms of this chapter of the Code of the Borough of Waldwick.

§ 38-5 Time limit for payment of required reimbursement.

The person or entity responsible for any discharge or for creating the potential thereof shall reimburse the Borough the full cost of expendable items used to extinguish such fire or stop, contain, control or otherwise mitigate such discharge and any associated costs as listed in § 38-2A, B and § 38-4 within thirty (30) days after receipt of a statement from the Borough of Waldwick setting forth the amount of reimbursement required.

§ 38-6 Hearing upon reasonableness of assessment.

Upon receipt of an assessment for expendable items and associated costs as set forth in § 38-5 the person assessed may, within ten (10) days of receipt of such assessment, make a request for a hearing before the Borough of Waldwick Council; said hearing to be solely and exclusively upon the issue of the reasonableness of the amount assessed.

§ 38-7 Liabilities for attorney's fees and collection costs.

The person responsible for the discharge shall be liable for all reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in the collection of costs as listed in § 38-2A, B and § 38-4, in the event the assessment remains unpaid thirty (30) days after receipt of said assessment.

§ 38-8 Violations and penalties.

Any person responsible for any discharge of hazardous materials who fails to reimburse the Borough of Waldwick within the time set forth in this chapter shall be subject to a fine of not less than fifty ($50) dollars nor more than five hundred ($500) dollars per day or to imprisonment for a period of not more than six (6) months, or both.