[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Mount Vernon 11-13-1957 as Ch. 17 of the General Ordinances, approved 11-15-1957. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Boilers and other equipment — See Ch. 98.
Fire prevention — See Ch. 131.
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 227.
A. 
It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Public Works to inspect all overhead and underground street constructions, poles, brackets, fixtures, crossarms, subways, wires and electrical constructions of whatever character, and he shall report to the City Council such as are defective or need to be repaired, removed or rebuilt whereby in his judgment life or property is endangered, and it shall be his duty to see that all laws and ordinances now in force or that may hereafter be enacted governing electrical power or the construction or the use or transmission thereof are strictly complied with and that no electrical work is done or is in use which endangers life or property.
B. 
The Commissioner of Public Works or his duly authorized representative shall have the right, during all reasonable hours, to enter any manhole or subway in the discharge of his official duties or for the purpose of making any electrical tests of the electrical apparatus or appliances therein contained, and for that purpose he shall be given prompt access to all manholes and subways upon application to the corporation or individual owning, in charge of or controlling the same. The Commissioner of Public Works shall have the power, in the event of fire within the City limits or upon the occasion of a severe storm or other emergency or in case of any defective electrical construction, to turn off or cause to be turned off any electrical current that in his judgment is dangerous to life or property, and it shall be unlawful to turn on such current without a permit from said Commissioner of Public Works or by ordinance of the City Council. The Commissioner of Public Works shall have authority to remove or cause to be removed all dead wires or poles found in the streets or public places.
The Commissioner of Public Works shall keep a record of all applications for permits to string wires, all certificates of inspection issued by him and all inspections made by him, with the date thereof, and such books and records shall be at all times open for public inspection.
It shall be unlawful for any person to string, add to, change or alter any wire for transmission of electric current or cause the same to be done or to make any electrical construction in any of the streets or public places without first obtaining a permit so to do from the Commissioner of Public Works, but in the event said permit is refused, the City Council may, by ordinance, order the issuance thereof.
No person, except those authorized so to do, shall tamper with the police signal system or cut any wire or break or interfere with any circuit thereof.
All poles now erected or hereafter to be erected within the City to which any wire may be attached or suspended for the purpose of conducting electricity shall be kept painted in some uniform style satisfactory to the City Council.
Every person owning, leasing or operating any wire conducting electricity shall, within 48 hours after notice so to do by the Commissioner of Public Works, begin to make such substitution of or repairs to any post, support, crossarm, stay, subway or conduit as may be required by said Commissioner of Public Works and shall continue and complete the same as speedily as the same can be done, and if default be made in either beginning or completing the same, the Commissioner of Public Works shall forthwith report such default to the City Council and said City Council may require the same to be done by the Commissioner of Public Works or under his direction, and the cost thereof shall be recovered from the person required to do such work, in a civil action to be brought in the name and on behalf of the City.
Upon the request of the Commissioner of Public Works, any person owning or operating any electric or other wires upon, over or under any street shall, within 15 days thereafter, furnish an accurate list of the location of the poles, the number of crossarms thereto affixed and the number of wires thereto attached, the location of subways and manholes and any other information in relation to the method of their operation, together with the location where service is rendered, viz., telegraphic, telephonic or electric lighting (specifying whether are or incandescent), or for electrical power.
No wire or wires or other electrical fixtures shall be attached to any trees upon or along any street, avenue or highway without a permit from the owner of the trees and the Commissioner of Public Works. Where wires are strung through trees where they are liable to come in contact with such trees, they shall be doubly insulated and otherwise protected in an approved manner.
All high-tension wires shall be placed and maintained at least 16 inches in the clear from any and all telephone, telegraph or other wires of lower tension.