Ordinance No. 4,37860213 -3
ORDINANCE NO. 4378
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 15, - HEALTH AND
SANITATION,- REGULATING LIVE OUTDOOR EXHIBITIONS, PUBLIC
HEALTH HAZARDS AND PUBLIC HEALTH NUISANCES; REPEALING
INCONSISTENT ORDINANCES; CONTAINING A SAVINGS CLAUSE;
PROVIDING A PENALTY OF ONE THOUSAND AND NO /100 ($1,000.00)
DOLLARS; AND PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLICATION AND EFFECTIVE
DATE HEREOF.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS:
Section 1: That Chapter 15, "Health and Sanitation" of the Code of
Ordinances, City of Baytown, Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 15. HEALTH AND SANITATION
Article I. In General
Sec. 15 -1. Definitions.
In this Chapter:
(a) "Weeds" shall include all rank and uncultivated vegetable growth or
matter that has grown more than nine (9) inches in height, or
which, regardless of height, is liable to become an unwholesome
or decaying mass or a breeding place for mosquitoes or vermin.
(b) "Brush" shall include all trees or shrubbery over four (4) feet in
height which are not cultivated or cared for by persons owning
or controlling the premises.
(c) "Rubbish" shall include all refuse, rejected tin cans, old vessels of
all sorts, useless articles, abandoned pipe, mounds of dirt,
discarded clothing, concrete blocks, bricks, textiles of all sorts
and in general all litter and all other things usually included
within the meaning of the other terms used in this article, which
are liable to produce or tend to produce an unhealthy,
unwholesome or unsanitary condition to the premises within the
general locality where the same are situated, and shall also
include any species of ragweed or other vegetable growth which
might or may tend to be unhealthy to individuals residing within
the general locality where the same are situated.
Sec. 15-2. Administration and enforcement.
The City of Baytown police department, fire marshal's office,
inspection department and health department are authorized to enforce
the provisions of this article and to make all necessary inspections,
issue citations, give notice, file applicable charges and otherwise
cooperate in the enforcement hereunder.
Sec. 15 -3. Penalty for violation.
An offense under this Chapter is a misdemeanor and any person
who shall violate any provision of this article shall upon conviction be
punished by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). Each
day of the continuance of such violation shall be considered a separate
offense and each and every day shall constitute a separate violation.
Article II. Live Outdoor Exhibitions
Sec. 15 -5. Live outdoor exhibitions; permit required.
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(a)
A person
commits an
offense if he intentionally
or knowingly
operates
a live outdoor performance, exhibition,
carnival or
circus, of man, machine, or animal where there is
a charge for
admission
without a
permit issued by the City
of Baytown
sanitarian.
(b)
The term of
the permit
shall be fourteen (14) days.
(c)
The permit
fee shall be
twenty -five ($25.00) dollars.
(d)
A permit may be issued
upon tender and approval of:
(1) a completed application form; and
(2) the bond of a good and sufficient corporate surety licensed
to do business in the State of Texas in the amount of one
thousand ($1,000.00) dollars, conditioned upon the
immediate removal of all materials, equipment, trash,
garbage and waste of every kind upon cessation of
operation; or
(3) the personal guarantee of the owner of the real property of
their control over and personal responsibility for immediate
removal of such waste upon cessation of operation.
Article III. Public Health Hazards
Sec. 15 -10. Offense to permit.
An owner, occupant, or the person in charge of a premises
commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly allows or permits
an object, place or condition to remain or exist which constitutes a
possible and probable medium of transmission of disease to or between
human beings.
Sec. 15 -11. Presumption of offense.
In any prosecution authorized by this article it shall be presumed
that the object, place or condition constitutes a possible and probable
medium of transmission of disease to or between human beings if:
(a) It is a breeding place for or infested with flies, mosquitoes or
other vermin;
(b) Foul, decaying or putrescent substance or matter is present in an
obviously offensive or objectionable manner;
(c) Manure is present in an obviously offensive or objectionable
manner;
(d) Wastewater is present in an obviously offensive or objectionable
manner;
(e) Weed growth to the degree that it tends to become a decaying
mass or a breeding place for flies, mosquitoes or other vermin.
Sec. 15-12. Presumption of knowledge.
In any prosecution authorized by this article the actor's intent or
knowledge shall be presumed if actual notice is shown or ten (10) days
have elapsed after notice was mailed by regular U. S. Mail to the
owner or occupant of the premises.
Article IV. Public Health Nuisances
Sec. 15 -20. Conditions creating a public nuisance.
Whenever any condition described in this Chapter or other
weeds, brush, rubbish and all other objectionables and unsanitary matter
of whatever nature shall exist, covering or partly covering the surface
of any lots or parcels of real estate, or where there are holes in the
ground which could fill with and hold stagnant water, or if from any
other cause such real estate shall be in a condition to cause disease or
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produce, harbor or spread disease or to render the surrounding
atmosphere unhealthy, unwholesome or obnoxious, such conditions on the
real estate are hereby declared a public nuisance, and prompt
abatement is declared to be public necessity. Any such nuisance shall
be removed from such premises or otherwise disposed of.
Sec. 15 -21. Maintenance of premises.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person owning, occupying or having
supervision or control of any real property, occupied or
unoccupied, within the corporate limits of the city, to permit or
allow any stagnant or unwholesarne water, sinks, filth, carrion,
weeds, rubbish, brush refuse, impure or unwholesome matter of
any kind or objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary matter of
whatever nature to accumulate or remain thereon, or to be
carried by wind currents to nearby property.
(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor and punishable by
a fine not to exceed one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars.
Sec. 15 -22. Notice to clean up premises.
Whenever conditions described in this Chapter are found to exist,
the city health officer shall give actual notice to the owner of the
offending premises or shall send notice by first class mail to the last
known address of the owner of the offending premises. Such notice
shall be sufficient if it generally describes the offending premises,
gives notice of the objectionable conditions, advises of the time allowed
to cure the conditions, and the consequences of failure to cure.
Sec. 15 -23. Charges for city removal of offending conditions.
On failure to comply with the notice as set out in Section 15 -22
within ten (10) days, the city shall enter onto such premises and shall
remove and eliminate such offending conditions, in addition to the filing
of any applicable charges. The owner of such premises will be charged
the actual cost of such removal and elimination, plus an administrative
charge of fifty (50) per cent of the actual cost, such administrative
charge to be not less than twenty -five ($25.00) dollars nor more than
one hundred ($100.00) dollars.
Sec. 15 -24. City to have lien on property until charges are paid.
Until all such charges as described in Section 15 -23 are paid,
such property shall be subject to a lien in favor of the city. Such lien
shall be superior to all other levys except tax liens and liens for street
improvement, and shall accrue interest at the rate of ten (10) per cent
per annum.
Section 2: All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent with the terms
of this ordinance are hereby repealed, provided however, that such repeal shall be
only to the extent of such inconsistency and in all other respects this ordinance
shall be cumulative of other ordinances regulating and governing the subject matter
covered by this ordinance.
Section 3: If any provision, section, exception, subsection, paragraph,
sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance or the application of same to any
person or set of circumstances, shall for any reason be held unconstitutional, void or
invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of
this ordinance or their application to other persons or sets of circumstances and to
this end all provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable.
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Section 4: Any person who shall violate any provision of this ordinance shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine
of not more than One Thousand and No /100 ($1,000.00) Dollars.
Section 5: This Ordinance shall take effect from and after ten (10) days from
its passage by the City Council.
The
City Clerk
is
hereby directed to give notice
hereof by causing the caption of
this
ordinance
to
be published in the official
newspaper of the City of Baytown at least twice within ten (10) days after the
passage of this ordinance.
INTRODUCED, READ, and PASSED by the affirmative vote of the City
Council of the City of Baytown, this the 13th day of February, 1986.
O. HUT O, Mayor
ATTEST:
a
EILEEN P. HALL, City Clerk
APPROVED:
AND ALL B. STRONG, C� IJ�ttorney