§§ 152.275 through 152.349
(A) A public nuisance shall exist if the real estate, dwelling or structure is in such a condition as to endanger the health, safety and welfare of the occupants of the same, or the surrounding residents, or those of the general public, or is otherwise in violation of Chapter 93 of the Municipal Code.
(B) It shall be unlawful and is hereby declared a public nuisance for any dwelling or business lack proper sanitation; municipal, public or private well water supply; or toilet facilities connected to a functional sanitary wastewater collection system.
(C) A water utility provider or sewer utility provider shall be immune from criminal liability under the provisions of this section should a dwelling or business lack proper municipal or public water supply or sewage facilities as a result of late or no payment from the customer if the customer is the owner of the dwelling or business, or the resident or tenant residing therein.
(D) Except as otherwise provided in this division, whoever violates this section shall be guilty of permitting a public nuisance. Whoever violates division (A) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. Whoever violates division (B) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree. For a violation of division (A) or (B) of this section, an affidavit of charge of the same may be filed through the Mayor’s Court or County Court against the owner, resident or tenant, or other person having charge of the real estate, dwelling or structure in violation of this section.
(E) For the purposes of Chapter 152, [§§ 152.275 through 152.284], of the Municipal Code:
(1) “Business” means a building, structure, or otherwise, which is open to the public for the transaction of business or the purchase or sale of goods or services. Business also includes any building, structure, or otherwise, which houses the offices, workspaces and other public common areas of a nonprofit corporation, or a for-profit corporation, incorporated or unincorporated.
(2) “Dwelling” means a structure, or otherwise, in which people or animals temporarily or permanently reside.
(Former § 176.10) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022; Amend. Ord. No. 2023-40, passed 01-09-2024)
No person shall erect, continue, use or maintain a dwelling, building, structure, or place for residence, or for the exercise of a trade employment or business, or for the keeping of an animal which, by occasioning noxious exhalations or noisome or offensive smells becomes injurious to the health, comfort, or property of individuals or of the public. Whoever violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
(Former §176.102) (Ord. No. 2018-11-06, § 4(A), 11-05-2018; Codified by Ord. No. 2023-13, 09-11-2023)
No person shall permit a swimming pool, or any cover thereover, which therein or thereon has stagnant water, and which may facilitate the breeding of mosquitoes, flies or germs. Owners or keepers of swimming pools shall keep water therein treated and circulating so as not to present a stagnant pool. Whoever violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
(Former §176.103) (Ord. No. 2018-11-06, § 7(A), 11-05-2018; Codified by Ord. No. 2023-13, 09-11-2023)
(A) The Mayor may declare any real estate, dwelling or structure to be a public nuisance if such real estate, dwelling or structure is in a condition that endangers the health, safety and welfare of the occupants of the same, or the surrounding residents, or those of the general public, and the Mayor shall cause to have served a written notice of the same upon the owner, resident or tenant, or other person in charge of the premises, or dwelling or structure, ordering the same to correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance, the period of which, except as otherwise provided in division (B) and (C) of this section, shall be that which is prescribed pursuant to Chapter 93 of the Municipal Code.
(B) The period allotted to correct a violation of § 152.275(B) of the Municipal Code shall be fifteen days from the date on which the written notice required pursuant to division (A) of this section is served.
(C) The Mayor, Village Marshal or Village Code Enforcement Officer may extend the periods herein if the extension is deemed reasonable to entirely correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance.
(Former §176.11) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022)
(A) If the Mayor finds that a dwelling or structure satisfies the definition of a dangerous dwelling or structure, as defined in division (C) of this section, and upon certification of the same by a qualified building inspector or other proper health official, he may order such dwelling or structure condemned and the occupancy thereof shall be prohibited pursuant to division (D) and (E) of this section until the cause or causes of the dangerous dwelling or structure are corrected and no longer found to be present in or upon the dangerous dwelling or structure.
(B) If the Mayor orders a dangerous dwelling or structure condemned, he shall cause to have served written notice of the same and the cause or causes thereof upon the owner, resident or tenant, or other person in charge of the dangerous dwelling or structure by certified United States mail with return receipt, or in person to the owner, resident or tenant, or other person in charge of the dangerous dwelling or structure to the current or last known address of the same as provided upon the tax duplicate, and public notice of such condemnation shall be published for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality, on the official website and social media accounts of the Municipality, and in five conspicuous places within the corporation limits of the Municipality, the issuance of such public notice certified by the Village Clerk-Fiscal Officer. If the written notice required pursuant to this division is returned undeliverable, and if the owner, resident or tenant, or other person in charge of the dangerous dwelling or structure is unavailable at the time of issuance in person, the public notice given pursuant to this division shall be considered sufficient notice to the owner, resident or tenant or other person in charge of the dangerous dwelling or structure. A placard shall be posted upon the dangerous dwelling or structure that reads as follows:
“NOTICE: THIS DANGEROUS DWELLING OR STRUCTURE HAS BEEN CONDEMNED BY ORDER OF THE MAYOR PURSUANT TO SECTION 152.279 OF THE RUTLAND MUNICIPAL CODE. THE SALE, LEASING, TRANSFERRING OR OCCUPANCY OF THE SAME SHALL BE STRICTLY PROHIBITED, UNLESS OTHERWISE AUTHORIZED, UNTIL THE CAUSE OR CAUSES OF THE CONDEMNATION ARE REMEDIATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE RUTLAND MUNICIPAL CODE; AND THE MAYOR CERTIFIES THE SAME AND ACCORDINGLY RESCINDS SUCH ORDER.”
(C) Any dwelling or structure, including without limitation, a single- or multi-family dwelling, and business, or parts thereof, which may have any of the following defects, shall be deemed a dangerous dwelling or structure and may be condemned as unfit for human habitation or occupancy:
(1) Those whose interior or exterior bearing walls or other vertical structural members list, lean or buckle to such an extent as to weaken the structural support they provide.
(2) Those which, exclusive of the foundation, show damage or deterioration of one-third or more of the supporting member or members, or one-half or more of damage or deterioration of the non-supporting enclosing or outside walls or covering.
(3) Those which have improperly distributed loads upon floors or roofs in which the same are overloaded, or which have insufficient strength to be reasonably safe for the purpose used.
(4) Those which have been damaged by fire, wind or other causes so as to no longer provide shelter from the elements and have become dangerous to life, safety, morals or the general health and welfare of the occupants or surrounding residents of the municipality.
(5) Those which have become or are dilapidated, decayed, unsafe, unsanitary or vermin-infested or which fail to provide the facilities essential to decent living or occupancy and are likely to cause sickness or disease or injury to the health, morals, safety or general welfare of those living therein or of the surrounding residents or of people at large.
(6) Those lacking proper light, air, sanitation or sewage facilities to protect the health, morals, safety or general welfare of human beings who live or occupy or may live or occupy therein.
(7) Those which have parts thereof which are so detached that they may fall and injure occupants or the general public or property.
(D) When an occupied dangerous dwelling or structure is condemned pursuant to this section, the occupants thereof shall have three calendar days to vacate the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure from the effective date of the order issued pursuant to this section. Upon service of the written notice required pursuant to division (B) of this section, the Marshal or his deputies, or the Code Enforcement Officer, or in their absence, the Mayor, shall provide to the occupants the address and telephone number of each homeless shelters within a ninety mile radius of the address of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure as well as the address and telephone number of the Meigs County Public Transit Authority.
(E) Whoever knowingly enters or occupies a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure beyond the vacating period provided for in division (D) of this section shall be guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor, except that this division shall not apply to persons entering or occupying a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, for the purposes of complying with § 152.282 of the Municipal Code, or for the purpose of completing an inspection by the Mayor, Fire Chief, Village Code Enforcement Officer, or otherwise an architect, engineer, building official, public health official, or the agents thereof.
(Former §176.12) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022; Amend. Ord. No. 2023-40, passed 01-08-2024)
(A) Upon an order to condemn a dangerous dwelling or structure, pursuant to § 152.279 of the Municipal Code, the Mayor shall cause to have filed an affidavit of the same with the County Recorder and such action to condemn shall be recorded in the Office of the County Recorder and cross referenced to the deed of the property.
(B) Except as otherwise provided, it shall be unlawful for any person to sell, lease, or transfer any condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, or the property upon which the same exists. This division shall not apply to a person selling, leasing or otherwise transferring any condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, or the property upon which the same exists, to the Meigs County Land Reutilization Corporation, or the Meigs County Community Improvement Corporation, or any other development agency authorized by the village council, for the purposes of abatement, or restoration of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 152 of the Municipal Code.
(C) Whoever violates division (B) of this section shall be guilty of selling, leasing, or transferring condemned property, a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(Former §176.13) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022)
(A) If any owner, resident or tenant, or other person in charge of the real estate, dwelling or structure declared by the Mayor as a public nuisance fails to abate the cause or causes of the public nuisance, the Village Council may employ and obtain labor, machinery and equipment to correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance. The Mayor may order any department or official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality, to enter upon the property to correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance.
(B) The Mayor may order windows and doorways of any vacant dwelling or structure to be covered by plywood or other suitable means so that such dwelling or structure is not an attractive nuisance, or that entry into such dwelling or structure is deterred.
(C) No person shall impede the entrance of any department, official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality, or any other persons employed thereby, upon any property that has been declared to be a public nuisance, for the purpose of correcting the cause or causes of the same.
(D)
(1) Pursuant to division (D)(2) of this section, the cost of labor, machinery and equipment involved to correct a public nuisance shall be billed to the property owner upon completion of the work, and if such costs are not paid by such person within thirty days of the issuance of such bill, such costs shall be certified to the County Treasurer and County Auditor to be placed as a lien upon the tax duplicate against the lot or land involved.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in § 152.283 of the Municipal Code, if any department, official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality enters upon the premises to correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance thereon, the Village Fiscal Officer shall prepare a bill for the property owner or other person in charge of the premises, which shall have the following charges enumerated thereupon:
(a) A fee of twenty five dollars per hour, per official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality required to correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance;
(b) A fee of one hundred fifty dollars for each machinery or item of equipment utilized by an employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality to correct the cause or causes of the public nuisance.
(E) Whoever violates division (C) of this section shall be guilty of impeding abatement of a public nuisance, a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(Former §176.14) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022)
(A) The Mayor may order the owner, resident or tenant, or other person having charge of a dangerous dwelling or structure, condemned or otherwise, to repair such dangerous dwelling or structure and correct the cause or causes of the same.
(B)
(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(2) of this section, the Mayor may order the owner in charge of a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure to raze the same, if the Mayor finds that the same is in a such a state of disrepair that it would be unreasonable to repair the same; or if the Mayor finds that the owner in charge such dangerous dwelling or structure has failed to take action to correct the conditions set forth in division (C)(1), (C)(2), (C)(3), (C)(4), (C)(5), or (C)(7) of § 152.279 of the Municipal Code.
(2) If the Mayor finds that a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure is in such a state of disrepair that it would unreasonable to repair the same, in lieu of ordering the owner in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure to raze the same, the Mayor may recommend to the Village Council the passage of a municipal ordinance employing and obtaining labor, machinery and equipment, or entering into a contractual agreement or partnership with the county land reutilization corporation, to raze the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure. Notice of the same shall be provided pursuant to § 152.283(A) of the Municipal Code.
(C) If the Mayor orders a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure to be razed by the owner, he shall cause to have served written notice of the same and the cause or causes thereof upon the owner, or other person in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, excluding a tenant, by certified United States mail with return receipt, or in person to the owner or other person in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure[, excluding a tenant] to the current or last known address of the same as provided upon the tax duplicate, and public notice of such order shall be published for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality, on the official website and social media accounts of the Municipality, and in five conspicuous places within the corporation limits of the Municipality, the issuance of such public notice certified by the Village Clerk-Fiscal Officer. If the written notice required pursuant to this division is returned undeliverable, and if the owner, resident or tenant, or other person in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure is unavailable at the time of issuance in person, the public notice given pursuant to this division shall be considered sufficient notice to the owner, resident or tenant or other person in charge of the dangerous dwelling or structure
(D) Any owner in charge of the premises or dangerous dwelling or structure, excluding a tenant, for which an order to raze has been issued shall cause such dangerous dwelling or structure to be razed not more than forty-five calendar days from the date of the issuance of such order.
(E)
(1) Except when an appeal has been granted pursuant to § 152.284 of the Municipal Code, and except as otherwise provided pursuant to division (E)(2) of this section, whoever violates division (D) of this section shall be be fined administratively not more than one hundred dollars for every seven calendar days the dangerous dwelling or structure remains, beginning the day immediately following the compliance date set forth upon the order to raze.
(2) No person shall be fined administratively for a violation of division (D) of this section if an injunction to stay the order to raze has been lawfully issued by a court of competent authority to the extent such injunction remains in effect.
(3) Whoever fails to remit payment of the administrative fine assessed pursuant to division (E)(1) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
(Former §176.15) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022; Amend. Ord. No. 2023-40, passed 01-08-2024)
(A) If any owner in charge of a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, for which an order to raze the same has been given by the Mayor, and notice of the same has been issued pursuant to § 152.282(C) of the Municipal Code, fails to comply with such order, the Village Council may pass a municipal ordinance employing and obtaining labor, machinery and equipment, or entering into a contractual agreement or partnership with the county land reutilization corporation, to raze the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, and appropriate public funds for the same. Public notice of such municipal ordinance or a municipal ordinance passed as provided in § 152.282(B)(2) of the Municipal Code shall be provided for a period of not less than thirty days upon passage in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality, on the official website and social media accounts of the Municipality, and in five conspicuous places within the corporation limits of the Municipality, the issuance of such public notice certified by the Village Clerk-Fiscal Officer, and written notice of the same shall be issued to the owner in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, and the resident or tenant residing therein, if applicable by certified United States mail with return receipt, or in person to the owner in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, and the resident or tenant residing therein, to the current or last known address of the same as provided upon the tax duplicate. If the written notice required pursuant to this division is returned undeliverable, and if the owner in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, or the resident or tenant residing therein is unavailable at the time of issuance in person, the public notice given pursuant to this division shall be considered sufficient notice to the owner in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, and the resident or tenant residing therein.
(B) No person shall impede the entrance of any department, official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality, or any other persons employed thereby, upon any property for which a municipal ordinance has been duly passed by the Village Council employing and obtaining labor, machinery and equipment to raze a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure located upon the property.
(C)
(1) Pursuant to division (C)(2) of this section, the cost of such labor, machinery and equipment involved pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be billed to the property owner in charge of the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure upon completion of the work, and if the costs are not paid by such person within ninety days of the issuance of such bill, such costs shall be certified to the County Treasurer and County Auditor to be placed as a lien upon the tax duplicate against the lot or land involved.
(2) If any official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality enters upon the premises to raze the dangerous dwelling or structure which has been condemned and for which an order to raze has been issued, the Village Fiscal Officer shall prepare a bill for the property owner or other person in charge of condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, excluding a tenant, which shall have the following charges enumerated thereupon:
(a) A fee of fifty dollars per hour, per official, employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality required to raze such dangerous dwelling or structure;
(b) A fee of two hundred fifty dollars for each machinery utilized by an employee, police officer or auxiliary police officer of the municipality to raze such dangerous dwelling or structure.
(D) Whoever violates division (B) of this section shall be guilty of impeding abatement of a condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, a misdemeanor of the third degree, except that no person shall be charged for a violation of division (B) of this section if an injunction to stay the order to raze has been lawfully issued by a court of competent authority to the extent such injunction remains in effect.
(Former §176.16) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022; Amend. Ord. No. 2023-40, passed 01-08-2024)
(A) Any owner in charge of a dangerous dwelling or structure for which an order to condemn or raze has been given, or for which a municipal ordinance has been passed by the Village Council employing and obtaining labor, machinery and equipment, or entering into a contractual agreement or partnership with the county land reutilization corporation, to raze the condemned dangerous dwelling or structure, may appeal such order, or municipal ordinance, to the Village Council not more than ten days from the date of issuance of such order, or the date of passage of such municipal ordinance, by submitting in writing to the Village Clerk-Fiscal Officer a notice to appeal such order or municipal ordinance.
(B) Upon receiving the notice to appeal, the Village Clerk-Fiscal Officer shall forthwith transmit the same to the Mayor, who shall convene the Village Council within seven calendar days of receiving the notice to appeal, with public notice given thereof, and written notice of the same shall be given to the appellant by certified United States mail with return receipt.
(C) The President Pro Tempore of the Village Council shall call the hearing to order and preside over the same, and shall administer an oath or affirmation to the Mayor and the appellant, and to any witnesses who may testify, that the same will testify truthfully. The Village Council shall receive testimony from the Mayor, and any witnesses for the same, who shall testify his reason for the issuance of an order to condemn or raze, and shall likewise receive testimony from the appellant, and any witnesses for the same. Equal time for cross examination shall be given. Upon hearing testimony from the Mayor, appellant and witnesses who have an interest in the appeal, the Village Council shall, by at least a majority vote of the same, uphold or rescind the order to condemn or raze.
(D) The decision of the Village Council shall be final, Provided: This division shall not preclude any right under the color of law to the appellant from filing with a court of competent jurisdiction a motion for injunction and prayer for relief from the provisions of §§152.275–152.284 of the Municipal Code, or any municipal ordinance or resolution passed thereunder.
(Former §176.17) (Ord. No. 2022-08, passed 08-16-2022; Amend. Ord. No. 2023-40, passed 01-08-2024) §§176.10–176.19