[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.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
General penalty — See Ch. 1, Art. II.
Garbage, rubbish and refuse — See Ch. 157.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 219.
Public Health Nuisance Code — See Ch. 223.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
ATTRACTION FOR RATS
Any condition, such as exposed or unprotected foods, grains, garbage or liquid which will attract and offer food for rodents.
BUILDING
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.
OCCUPANT
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.
OWNER
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.
PREMISES
Includes all vacant lots, lands, parks, yards, alleys, cellars, docks, wharves and piers.
RAT ERADICATION
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.
RAT HARBORAGE
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.
RATPROOFING
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.