[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Passaic 6-19-1975
by Ord. No. 297-75 as Section 16-5 of Chapter XVI of the
Revised General Ordinances of the City of Passaic, 1975.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall
have the following meanings:
Any condition, such as exposed or unprotected foods, grains, garbage
or liquid which will attract and offer food for rodents.
Any structure, whether public or private, that is adapted for occupancy,
for transaction of business; for rendering of professional service; for amusement;
for the display, sale or storage of goods, wares or merchandise; or for the
performance of work or labor, including hotels, apartments, buildings, tenement
houses, rooming houses, office buildings, public buildings, stores, theaters,
markets, restaurants, grain elevators, abattoirs, warehouses, workshops, factories
and all outhouses, sheds, barns and other stuctures on the premises.
The person who has the use of or occupies any building or a part
or fraction thereof, whether the actual owner or tenant. In the case of vacant
buildings or any vacant portion of a building, the owner, agent or other person
having custody of the building shall have the responsibility of an occupant
of a building.
The actual owner of the building, whether individual, partnership
or corporation, or the agent of the building or other person having custody
of the building or to whom the rent is paid.
Includes all vacant lots, lands, parks, yards, alleys, cellars, docks,
wharves and piers.
The elimination or extermination of rats within buildings or premises
in such a way that the buildings or premises shall be completely freed of
rats or there is no evidence of rat infestation remaining, by any or all the
accepted measures, such as poisoning, fumigation, trapping or clubbing.
Any condition which provides a hiding place, shelter or protection
for rats, thus favoring their multiplication and continued existence in or
upon any building or premises or under or outside of a structure of any kind.
Applies to a form of construction to prevent the ingress of rats
into buildings, apartments, rooms, sheds or other structures on the premises
from the exterior or from one building to another. It shall consist essentially
of treating all actual or potential openings in the exterior walls, ground
or first floors, basements, roofs and foundations that may be reached by rats
from the ground by climbing or burrowing with material impervious to rat gnawing.
A.
All buildings or structures wherein foodstuffs are prepared,
stored, kept, handled, sold, held or offered for sale shall comply with the
ratproof regulations prescribed herein for buildings and structures, and no
license from this city to conduct or carry on such a business shall be issued
to any person until there has been a compliance with the provisions of this
section.
B.
The permitting of any buildings or premises within the
city to be maintained in an insanitary condition and to become infested or
liable to become infested with vermin or rodents is hereby declared to be
a nuisance and unlawful.
C.
The Director of Public Affairs shall be authorized and
empowered to take whatever additional regulations he deems necessary and to
make unannounced and periodic inspections of the interior or exterior of any
building structure or premises to determine compliance with the provisions
of this section. In the event that it shall be determined that a building
or premises is not ratproof or rat, vermin and insect (including roaches)
free or upon which a condition exists which offers harborage for rats or vermin
(including roaches), a written notice or order shall be served on the owner
or occupant to abate and remedy the condition and to take such rat- or vermin-
(including insects and roaches) control measures as may be deemed necessary.
[Amended 1-19-1978 by Ord. No. 457-78]
Upon receipt of a written notice or order from the Department of Health,
the owner or occupant of any building or premises specified therein shall
take immediate measures for correcting the conditions in the buildings or
premises. Unless the work and improvements have been completed in the time
specified in the written notice or within the time which a written extension
may have been granted by the Department, then the owner or occupant shall
be deemed guilty of an offense under the provisions of this section.
In the event the owner or occupant of a building or premises fails,
neglects or refuses to comply with the notice or order of the Health Officer,
the Health Officer shall be authorized and directed to take such steps as
may be necessary to ratproof and free the building or premises from rats or
vermin at the expense of the owner or occupant, and unless the bills are paid
within 10 days after presentation, the Health Officer is hereby authorized
to institute an appropriate court action in the name of the city to recover
the costs from the owner or occupant as the case may be.
The following regulations to control breeding of rats shall apply. No
person shall:
A.
Throw, place or deposit or permit any person under his
control or employment to throw, place or deposit any putrid substance, night
soil, filth of any kind, garbage, rubbish, refuse piles, old lumber or other
rat harborage of any unwholesome material in any building, cellar, yard, vacant
lot, alley, land, sidewalk or street, canal, lake or river or upon any private
lot or public ground within the city.
B.
Accumulate or permit the accumulation of, on any open
lot or other premises, any lumber, boxes, barrels, bricks, stones, scrap metal,
motor vehicle bodies or parts or similar materials or any articles of junk
which provide rat harborage, unless the same shall be placed on open racks
that are elevated not less than 18 inches above the ground, evenly piled or
stacked.
C.
Dump or permit the dumping or placing of, on any land
or on any water or waterway within the city, any dead animal, butcher's
offal, seafood or any waste vegetables, animal matter or any food products
whatsoever.
D.
Keep any food and food for feeding poultry, horses, dogs
and other animals or birds unless it is kept and stored in rat-free and ratproof
containers, compartments or rooms or unless kept in a ratproof building.
E.
Place food in the open for the feeding of any domesticated
fowl, bird or animals, except in such containers as will prevent the scattering
of such food upon the ground. After feeding, such food shall not be allowed
to remain where it is accessible to rats.
F.
Feed wild birds other than in suitable containers for
the food. Containers shall be elevated at least 48 inches above ground level.
G.
Leave, dump or permit to accumulate any garbage, rubbish,
waste or manure in any building or premises in this city so that same shall
or may afford food or harborage or breeding place for rats. Rat burrows and
other exterior harborage shall be treated under methods directed by the Department
of Health.
H.
Place or store, until covered, all garbage or refuse
upon which rats may feed in suitable metal containers fitted with tight covers;
dump or place in any building or upon any premises any garbage and refuse
of any kind not covered as herein specified.
A.
Every building or premises in the city, whether public
or private, vacant or occupied, shall be ratproofed, freed of rats and vermin
within three months from October 25, 1945, and shall be thereafter maintained
in a ratproof and vermin- and rat-free condition.
B.
The owner, agent or occupant of all rat-stopped buildings
or structures shall maintain them in a rat-stopped condition and repair all
breaks or leaks that may occur in the rat stoppage.
C.
No person shall remove the ratproofing from any building
or premises for any purpose without failing to restore it in a satisfactory
condition or to make any new openings that are not closed or sealed against
the entrance of rats.
