The following words and phrases, when used in
this article, shall, for the purposes of this article, have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them in this section, unless the context
clearly indicates a different meaning:
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, apartment 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 structures on premises used for
business purposes.
The individual, partnership or corporation that uses or occupies
any business building or part or fraction thereof, whether or not
the actual owner or tenant. In the case of vacant business buildings
or vacant portions thereof, the owner, agent or custodian shall have
the responsibility as occupant.
Any authorized officer or agent of the City.
The actual owner, agent or custodian of the business building,
whether an individual, partnership or corporation. The lessee shall
be construed as the owner for the purpose of this article when business
building agreements hold the lessee responsible for maintenance and
repairs.
The elimination or extermination of rats within buildings
by any or all of the accepted measures, such as poisoning, fumigation,
trapping, clubbing, etc.
Any condition which provides shelter or protection for rats,
thus favoring their multiplication and continued existence in, under
or outside of any structure.
Applies to a form of construction to prevent the ingress
of rats into business buildings from the exterior or from one business
building or establishment to another. It consists essentially of treatment
with material, impervious to rat gnawing, of all actual or potential
openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors, basements, roof
and foundations that may be reached by rats from the ground by climbing
or by burrowing.
The purpose of this article is to prevent and
control the spread of rats and diseases and infection carried by them.
Whenever conditions inside or under business
buildings provide harborage for rats, the City, through its officer,
may require the owner to eliminate such harborage by the installation
of suitable concrete floors in basements or replacement of wooden
first or ground floors with concrete or otherwise abate such conditions
to facilitate rat eradication.
It shall be unlawful for the occupant, owner,
contractor, public utility company, plumber or any other person to
remove and fail to restore in like condition the ratproofing from
any business building for any purpose. It shall be unlawful for any
person or agent to make any new opening in a business building, which
opening is not closed or sealed against the entrance of rats.
It shall be unlawful for any person to construct,
repair or remodel any building, dwelling, stable, market or other
structure whatsoever unless such construction, repair, remodeling
or installation shall render the building or other structure ratproof
in accordance with the regulations prescribed in this article. The
provisions of this section apply only to such construction, repairs,
remodeling or installation as affect the ratproof condition of any
building or other structure.
All food and feed within the City for feeding
chickens, cows, pigs, horses and other animals shall be stored in
rat-free and ratproof containers, compartments or rooms unless stored
in a ratproof building.
