[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Jim Thorpe as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 5-11-2000 by Ord. No. 00-2]
The terms in this article which are defined
in the Pennsylvania Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning and Response
Act, 35 P.S. § 6022.101 et seq., or any amendments thereto,
shall have the same meaning as in that Act unless defined differently
herein.
The Borough of Jim Thorpe.
The Jim Thorpe Borough Council.
An occurrence involving a risk of harm and/or imminent threat
to private or public property, life or potential threat to the environment
or public health or safety caused by, related to, or arising from,
the release or threatened release of hazardous materials.
Jim Thorpe Borough Fire Department.
Jim Thorpe EMS (Emergency Medical Services).
Jim Thorpe Borough Police Department.
And similar emergency response agencies from
other municipalities responding to a request for assistance/aid under
a mutual aid agreement and Borough employees responding to an emergency
incident at the request of an emergency response agency.
All direct and indirect costs and expenses incurred/expended
by the Borough and/or any emergency response agency in connection
with any emergency incident including, but not limited to, the following:
The cost of labor calculated by determining
the actual hourly wage rate plus the hourly cost of fringe benefits
(and including overtime rates, if applicable) normally paid by the
Borough to Borough personnel involved in responding to any emergency
incident or, in the case of emergency response agency volunteer personnel,
in accordance with a fee/rate schedule adopted by the Jim Thorpe Borough
Fire Department or Jim Thorpe Borough EMS, as applicable, taking into
account the funds expended to train and properly equip such volunteer,
times the number of hours worked by each such volunteer, less one
hour, in response to any emergency incident.
The cost of all nonreusable materials and all
contaminated or consumed materials utilized in connection with any
emergency incident.
Fifteen percent of the sum of A and B above
to cover the administrative costs and expenses incurred in effectuating
and administering the cost recovery.
Attorney's fees and costs associated with collecting
billing.
The Fire Chief of the Jim Thorpe Borough Fire Department
or his/her appointed designee.
A.Â
The Fire Chief shall assemble/compile a bill of costs
for each emergency incident as follows:
(1)Â
Within 30 days after rendering services in connection
with an emergency incident, or as soon thereafter as possible, the
chief operating officer for each involved emergency response agency
and the Borough Secretary shall submit to the Fire Chief an itemized
bill of costs calculated in accordance with the provisions of this
article.
(2)Â
The Fire Chief shall review all such bills of cost,
correct any errors or duplications and compile a final documented
total bill of cost.
(3)Â
Upon compilation of a complete bill of costs, the
Fire Chief shall, within 45 days of the emergency incident, or as
soon thereafter as possible, render an itemized billing statement
to the responsible party/parties for the total amount of all submitted
bills of cost plus 15% for administrative costs and expenses.
(4)Â
If the responsible party/parties have not paid the
bill of costs within 45 days from the date the same was billed, the
Fire Chief shall take appropriate enforcement/collection action against
the responsible party/parties.
B.Â
As an alternative to the foregoing procedure, the
chief executive officer of any emergency response agency which responded
to an emergency incident, or the Borough Secretary, may prepare, or
cause to be prepared, an itemized bill of costs compiled in accordance
with this article for his or her emergency response agency only, or
the Borough, whichever is applicable, and submit the same directly
to any responsible party/parties for payment or submission for third-party
payment. However, any emergency response agency, or the Borough, whichever
is applicable, which elects this alternative procedure, shall not,
without the consent of the Fire Chief, thereafter be entitled to submit
such cost billing to the Fire Chief for collection efforts in the
event of nonpayment, partial payment or dispute concerning responsibility
for payment or the amount of the cost billing.
C.Â
Neither any emergency response agency nor the Borough
shall seek recovery for itself pursuant to this article for emergency
service costs for which it is fully compensated by some person or
entity other than the responsible party/parties. This provision is
intended to prevent any emergency response agency or the Borough from
a "double" recovery of all or any part of its emergency service costs.
Nothing in this article is intended, nor shall it be construed to
control or in any way interfere with or adversely affect a person
or entity making a third-party payment from recovering from the responsible
party/parties any amount paid to an emergency response agency or the
Borough, either in said person or entity's own name or in the name
of the appropriate emergency response agency or the Borough.
All monies received/recovered by the Fire Chief
under the provisions of this article in connection with an emergency
incident shall be deposited in the Fire Department's general fund,
and upon completion of the cost recovery effort, the Fire Chief shall
disburse the funds recovered as follows:
A.Â
Fifteen percent of the total monies actually received/recovered
shall be retained by the Fire Department for the administrative costs
incurred in effectuating and administering the cost recovery.
B.Â
If the Fire Chief refers a bill of costs to a lawyer
for collection, the Fire Dept. shall be reimbursed, in addition to
the aforesaid 15% of the total monies actually received/recovered,
the full amount of all costs and fees incurred in connection with
the legal services performed by its lawyer.
C.Â
The Fire Chief shall distribute the balance between
the emergency response agencies and the Borough, in accordance with
the amount claimed by each emergency response agency and the Borough.
And, in the event there are insufficient monies received/recovered
to pay all claims in full, the monies received/recovered shall be
paid in pari passu by and between the various claimants.
D.Â
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the foregoing,
the Fire Chief may disregard all or any portion of a claim made by
an emergency response agency or the Borough for which monies were
not received/recovered or for which the Fire Chief reasonably believes,
monies were not received/recovered.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to
conflict with state or federal laws requiring persons causing or responsible
for releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials from engaging
in remediation activities or paying the costs and expenses thereof,
or both.
