[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Madison 8-11-1975
by Ord. No. 22-75 (Art. 64A of the 1970 Revised Ordinances).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 5-8-1978 by Ord. No. 16-78]
There is hereby established the Madison Property Maintenance Emergency
Committee, hereinafter referred to as the "Committee." Its members shall be
appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the Council and shall
serve for a term of one year terminating December 31 of each year, or until
their successors qualify. The membership of the Committee shall consist of
the Health Officer, the Building Inspector, two members of the Board of Health
of the Borough of Madison and one member of the Borough Council of the Borough
of Madison, who shall be the Chairman. The Council representative to the Board
of Health shall not be Chairman. Any conduct or action of the Committee authorized
by this chapter shall be deemed valid and effective when taken by any three
members of the Committee. At any meeting of the Committee, a quorum shall
consist of a majority of the membership of the Committee.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any condition dangerous or injurious to the health or safety of the
occupants of a building or the occupants of neighboring buildings, which arises
out of any of the following circumstances or conditions:
Lack of adequate ventilation or light.
Lack of adequate and properly functioning sanitary facilities.
Lack of adequate and healthful water supply.
Structural, mechanical or electrical defects which increase the hazards
of fire, accident or other calamity.
From October 1 of each year until the next succeeding May 1, failure
to maintain every unit of dwelling space and every habitable room therein
at a temperature of at least 68° F. whenever the outside temperature falls
below 55° F. during the daytime hours of 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., or failure
to maintain every unit of dwelling space and every habitable room therein
at a temperature of at least 55° F. whenever the outside temperature falls
below 40° F. during the nighttime hours of 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. In
meeting the aforesaid standards, the owner shall not be responsible for heat
loss and the consequent drop in the interior temperature arising out of action
by the occupants in leaving open windows or doors to the exterior of the building.
The duties of the Committee shall consist of the following:
A.
Administering and expending funds allocated pursuant
to the terms of this chapter relative to any rented dwelling unit.
B.
Examining those circumstances and conditions alleged
to constitute emergency conditions and declaring, where applicable, an emergency
condition to exist.
C.
Arranging, in accordance with the terms of this chapter,
for the prompt repair, maintenance, supply or replacement of those items of
structure, equipment or supplies which are necessary to correct, eliminate
or alleviate the emergency condition.
There is hereby established a fund to be known as the "Property Maintenance
Emergency Fund." The amount of dollars allocated to said fund is limited to
the following:
A.
Those sums of money specifically appropriated in the
Borough's annual budget or by emergency resolution or otherwise for this
purpose.
B.
All sums paid to the Borough by any property owner to
reimburse the Borough for expenditures made or authorized from said fund under
the provisions of this chapter.
A.
The Committee shall be authorized to expend the moneys
from the fund appropriated to correct, eliminate or alleviate an emergency
condition only when:
(1)
It has examined those circumstances and conditions alleged
to constitute an emergency condition and has declared an emergency condition
to exist.
(2)
The remedying of such emergency condition is the owner's
responsibility.
(3)
The owner or the owner's agent, servant, employee
or joint venturer has received notice of the circumstances or conditions constituting
the emergency condition from either the Committee in person or by certified
mail, return receipt requested, telegram or telephone conversation. Where
such notice is by telephone conversation, said notice shall be confirmed by
regular mail addressed to the owner and mailed within 24 hours after said
telephone notice.
(4)
No work has been commenced by the owner or the owner's agent, servant, employee or joint venturer to correct, eliminate or alleviate the emergency condition within 24 hours after the owner or the owner's agent, servant, employee or joint venturer has received notice, as described in Subsection A(3) of this section, of the circumstances and conditions constituting the emergency condition.
(5)
Where work was commenced within the twenty-four-hour period referred to in Subsection A(4) of this section, but such work has not been reasonably completed within 72 hours after the work was commenced, and such work, under the applicable circumstances and in the opinion of the Health Officer or the Building Inspector, could have been completed within 72 hours.
B.
Any such authorization for funds by the Committee shall
require the signatures of any two members of the Committee.
A.
The Borough Council shall from time to time adopt a resolution
authorizing the Committee to act in its behalf in order to remedy any emergency
condition contemplated to be corrected under the provisions of this chapter.
The resolution shall specifically provide that all costs of such municipal
action shall be charged to the owner of the property and that the expenditure
of municipal funds for such purposes, if not reimbursed within 10 days of
the date of submitting said charge, shall be charged as a lien against the
premises and collectible in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.12f.
B.
In the event that the Committee authorizes the expenditure of money or spends money from the fund as authorized by this chapter and a resolution or resolutions of the Council, thus reducing the amount of money in the fund, the Committee shall immediately notify the owner in the same manner as notification is given in § 36-5A(3) of this chapter of the amount of money necessary to pay for said authorized expenditure or fully reimburse the fund for moneys already spent, as the case may be. Within 10 days thereafter, the owner shall deposit with the fund said required sum necessary to fully reimburse it for the costs of such emergency repairs.
C.
In addition to all expenditures authorized from the fund
under the terms of this chapter, there shall also be charged against said
fund the reasonable cost of all municipal services performed directly by municipal
employees to correct any emergency condition contemplated by this chapter,
and said cost for the time of any municipal employee shall be charged at a
rate of 2 1/2 times his salary rate in order to cover the cost of said
employee's time plus the reasonable overhead attributed to him.
D.
In the event that the Committee authorizes the expenditure
of money or spends money from the fund, the owner of the premises may appeal
to the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Madison for a hearing.
(2)
If such appeal is desired, the owner shall, within 10
days of receiving notice of the amount spent, file with the Borough Clerk
of the Borough of Madison a letter requesting such appeal.
(3)
The Mayor and Council of the Borough of Madison shall
hold a hearing considering the aforementioned issues not less than 10 nor
more than 30 days after the Borough Clerk has received the request from the
owner, and it shall render its decision within 14 days after the hearing has
been concluded. By mutual consent between the Mayor and Council and an aggrieved
party, the time limitation herein stated may be extended.
Nothing herein shall be construed to waive any requirements of the New
Jersey Local Public Contracts Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:11-1 et seq., and no contract
shall be made nor authorization for work given which exceeds the available
funds appropriated for this purpose or which violates any provision of the
New Jersey Local Budget Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:4-1 et seq.
[Amended 8-14-2000 by Ord. No. 35-2000; 5-8-2006
by Ord. No. 19-2006]
Any person, firm, association of persons or corporation found guilty
of violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction
thereof, be punishable by one or more of the following in the discretion of
the Judge: a fine of not to exceed $2,000; or by imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 90 days; or by a period of community service not exceeding 90 days.
In the event that a fine is imposed, pursuant to this section, such fine shall
be no less than $100. Each day that a violation occurs shall be considered
a separate offense.
