[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Madison 8-11-1975 by Ord. No. 22-75 (Art. 64A of the 1970 Revised Ordinances). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Housing standards — See Ch. 113.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 145.
[Amended 5-8-1978 by Ord. No. 16-78]
There is hereby established the Madison Property Maintenance Emergency Committee, hereinafter referred to as the "Committee." Its members shall be appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the Council and shall serve for a term of one year terminating December 31 of each year, or until their successors qualify. The membership of the Committee shall consist of the Health Officer, the Building Inspector, two members of the Board of Health of the Borough of Madison and one member of the Borough Council of the Borough of Madison, who shall be the Chairman. The Council representative to the Board of Health shall not be Chairman. Any conduct or action of the Committee authorized by this chapter shall be deemed valid and effective when taken by any three members of the Committee. At any meeting of the Committee, a quorum shall consist of a majority of the membership of the Committee.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
EMERGENCY CONDITION
Any condition dangerous or injurious to the health or safety of the occupants of a building or the occupants of neighboring buildings, which arises out of any of the following circumstances or conditions:
A. 
Lack of adequate ventilation or light.
B. 
Lack of adequate and properly functioning sanitary facilities.
C. 
Lack of adequate and healthful water supply.
D. 
Structural, mechanical or electrical defects which increase the hazards of fire, accident or other calamity.
E. 
From October 1 of each year until the next succeeding May 1, failure to maintain every unit of dwelling space and every habitable room therein at a temperature of at least 68° F. whenever the outside temperature falls below 55° F. during the daytime hours of 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., or failure to maintain every unit of dwelling space and every habitable room therein at a temperature of at least 55° F. whenever the outside temperature falls below 40° F. during the nighttime hours of 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. In meeting the aforesaid standards, the owner shall not be responsible for heat loss and the consequent drop in the interior temperature arising out of action by the occupants in leaving open windows or doors to the exterior of the building.
The duties of the Committee shall consist of the following:
A. 
Administering and expending funds allocated pursuant to the terms of this chapter relative to any rented dwelling unit.
B. 
Examining those circumstances and conditions alleged to constitute emergency conditions and declaring, where applicable, an emergency condition to exist.
C. 
Arranging, in accordance with the terms of this chapter, for the prompt repair, maintenance, supply or replacement of those items of structure, equipment or supplies which are necessary to correct, eliminate or alleviate the emergency condition.
There is hereby established a fund to be known as the "Property Maintenance Emergency Fund." The amount of dollars allocated to said fund is limited to the following:
A. 
Those sums of money specifically appropriated in the Borough's annual budget or by emergency resolution or otherwise for this purpose.
B. 
All sums paid to the Borough by any property owner to reimburse the Borough for expenditures made or authorized from said fund under the provisions of this chapter.
A. 
The Committee shall be authorized to expend the moneys from the fund appropriated to correct, eliminate or alleviate an emergency condition only when:
(1) 
It has examined those circumstances and conditions alleged to constitute an emergency condition and has declared an emergency condition to exist.
(2) 
The remedying of such emergency condition is the owner's responsibility.
(3) 
The owner or the owner's agent, servant, employee or joint venturer has received notice of the circumstances or conditions constituting the emergency condition from either the Committee in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, telegram or telephone conversation. Where such notice is by telephone conversation, said notice shall be confirmed by regular mail addressed to the owner and mailed within 24 hours after said telephone notice.
(4) 
No work has been commenced by the owner or the owner's agent, servant, employee or joint venturer to correct, eliminate or alleviate the emergency condition within 24 hours after the owner or the owner's agent, servant, employee or joint venturer has received notice, as described in Subsection A(3) of this section, of the circumstances and conditions constituting the emergency condition.
(5) 
Where work was commenced within the twenty-four-hour period referred to in Subsection A(4) of this section, but such work has not been reasonably completed within 72 hours after the work was commenced, and such work, under the applicable circumstances and in the opinion of the Health Officer or the Building Inspector, could have been completed within 72 hours.
B. 
Any such authorization for funds by the Committee shall require the signatures of any two members of the Committee.
A. 
The Borough Council shall from time to time adopt a resolution authorizing the Committee to act in its behalf in order to remedy any emergency condition contemplated to be corrected under the provisions of this chapter. The resolution shall specifically provide that all costs of such municipal action shall be charged to the owner of the property and that the expenditure of municipal funds for such purposes, if not reimbursed within 10 days of the date of submitting said charge, shall be charged as a lien against the premises and collectible in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.12f.
B. 
In the event that the Committee authorizes the expenditure of money or spends money from the fund as authorized by this chapter and a resolution or resolutions of the Council, thus reducing the amount of money in the fund, the Committee shall immediately notify the owner in the same manner as notification is given in § 36-5A(3) of this chapter of the amount of money necessary to pay for said authorized expenditure or fully reimburse the fund for moneys already spent, as the case may be. Within 10 days thereafter, the owner shall deposit with the fund said required sum necessary to fully reimburse it for the costs of such emergency repairs.
C. 
In addition to all expenditures authorized from the fund under the terms of this chapter, there shall also be charged against said fund the reasonable cost of all municipal services performed directly by municipal employees to correct any emergency condition contemplated by this chapter, and said cost for the time of any municipal employee shall be charged at a rate of 2 1/2 times his salary rate in order to cover the cost of said employee's time plus the reasonable overhead attributed to him.
D. 
In the event that the Committee authorizes the expenditure of money or spends money from the fund, the owner of the premises may appeal to the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Madison for a hearing.
(1) 
Such hearing shall concern solely the issues of:
(a) 
Did an emergency condition exist.
(b) 
Was the amount expended to remedy the emergency condition reasonable.
(2) 
If such appeal is desired, the owner shall, within 10 days of receiving notice of the amount spent, file with the Borough Clerk of the Borough of Madison a letter requesting such appeal.
(3) 
The Mayor and Council of the Borough of Madison shall hold a hearing considering the aforementioned issues not less than 10 nor more than 30 days after the Borough Clerk has received the request from the owner, and it shall render its decision within 14 days after the hearing has been concluded. By mutual consent between the Mayor and Council and an aggrieved party, the time limitation herein stated may be extended.
Nothing herein shall be construed to waive any requirements of the New Jersey Local Public Contracts Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:11-1 et seq., and no contract shall be made nor authorization for work given which exceeds the available funds appropriated for this purpose or which violates any provision of the New Jersey Local Budget Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:4-1 et seq.
[Amended 8-14-2000 by Ord. No. 35-2000; 5-8-2006 by Ord. No. 19-2006]
Any person, firm, association of persons or corporation found guilty of violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by one or more of the following in the discretion of the Judge: a fine of not to exceed $2,000; or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days; or by a period of community service not exceeding 90 days. In the event that a fine is imposed, pursuant to this section, such fine shall be no less than $100. Each day that a violation occurs shall be considered a separate offense.