[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of Pierce County by Ord. No. 84-1; amended in its entirety 11-9-1999
by Ord. No. 99-13. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter is adopted pursuant to the authority
granted by §§ 251.04, 251.06, 252.01, 252.02, 252.03,
252.05, 252.06, 252.07, 252.11, 252.18, 252.19, 252.21, 254.59, 254.593
and 254.595, Wis. Stats.
The purpose and intent of this chapter is to
protect the public health, safety and general welfare and to maintain
and protect the environment for the people and communities of Pierce
County and in the process to:
A.
Prevent communicable diseases.
B.
Prevent the continuance of public nuisances.
C.
Assure compliance with county and state air quality
standards.
D.
Assure that insects and rodents do not create a public
nuisance and/or human health hazard.
E.
Assure that surface and ground waters meet county
and state standards and regulations.
F.
Assure that solid waste is handled, stored and disposed
of according to county and state standards and regulations.
G.
Assure that citizens are protected from hazardous,
unhealthy or unsafe substances.
H.
Provide for the administration and enforcement of
this chapter and provide penalties for its violation.
The following definitions apply throughout this
chapter:
Pierce County, Wisconsin.
A structure, all or part of which is designed or used for
human habitation.
All water found beneath the surface of Pierce County located
in sand, gravel, lime rock or sandstone geological formations or any
combination of these formations.
A situation or condition which exists or has the potential
to exist which adversely affects or has the potential to adversely
affect the health of a person and/or the general public.
A substance, activity or condition that is known to have
the potential to cause acute or chronic illness or death if exposure
to the substance, activity or condition is not abated.
A condition which exists or has the potential to exist which
should, in the opinion of the Local Health Officer, be abated or corrected
immediately, or at least within a twenty-four-hour period, to prevent
possible severe damage to human health and/or the environment.
The health officer who is in charge of a local health department.
The Pierce County Public Health Nuisance and Human Health
Hazard Ordinance.
Any of the following:
Any individual, firm, corporation, society, institution,
public body or any other entity.
The contaminating or rendering unclean or impure of the air,
land or waters of the county or making the same injurious to public
health, harmful for commercial or recreational use or deleterious
to fish, bird, animal or plant life.
Affecting or having the potential to affect the people and/or
the environment outside the limits of one's personally owned and/or
occupied structure.
A thing, act, condition or use of property which is dangerous
or has the potential to be dangerous to human life or health and whatever
renders or has the potential to render the soil, air, water or any
article of food or drink unwholesome or impure is a nuisance.
Garbage, refuse and all other discarded or salvageable solid
materials from commercial and agricultural operations and from domestic
use and public service activities, but does not include solids or
dissolved material in wastewater effluent or other common water pollutants.
The State of Wisconsin.
A man-made structure or device having walls and a roof erected
or set upon an individual foundation or slab-constructed base designed
or used for the housing, shelter, enclosure or support of persons,
animals or property of any kind. This definition shall include mobile
homes.
Any chemical and/or biological material that is or has the
potential to create a public health nuisance or human health hazard.
The ordinance codified in this chapter shall
be referred to as the "Pierce County Public Health Nuisance and Human
Health Hazard Ordinance."
The Pierce County Local Health Officer shall
be appointed by the County Board Chairperson, subject to confirmation
by the County Board of Supervisors.
[Amended 5-24-2022 by Ord. No. 22-03]
This chapter shall be administered by the Local
Health Officer or delegated official. The Local Health Officer or
the delegated official shall have the power to ensure compliance with
the intent and purpose of this chapter by any means possible under
the law. This chapter shall not divest the Zoning Administrator or
Solid Waste Operations Manager or other county official of powers
and duties previously delegated elsewhere in the Pierce County Code.
The provisions of this chapter shall be interpreted
to be minimum requirements and shall be liberally construed in favor
of enforcement and shall not be deemed a limitation or repeal of any
power granted by the Wisconsin statutes, Wisconsin Administrative
Code or by the Pierce County Board of Supervisors in other provisions
of the Pierce County Code.
The jurisdiction of this chapter shall include
all air, land and water (both surface and ground) within Pierce County
but shall not apply within the corporate limits of municipalities
that have a local health department in accord with Chapter 251, Wis.
Stats.
A.
Written orders. Compliance with this chapter shall
include compliance with all written orders issued under this chapter
or pursuant to Wisconsin statutes requiring abatement and/or correction
of a public nuisance or human health hazard or to bring any other
situation or condition in noncompliance with this chapter into compliance.
The Local Health Officer or other county official
shall have all the powers necessary to enforce the provisions of this
chapter, without limitation by reason of enumeration, including the
following:
A.
To enter any structure or premises at a reasonable
time for the purpose of performing duties under this chapter and to
secure a court order to accomplish this purpose if necessary.
B.
To order abatement and/or correction of any public
nuisance or health hazard in compliance with this chapter or state
statutes.
C.
To delegate the administration and enforcement of
this chapter to a registered environmental health sanitarian or another
person qualified in the field of public health, except as delegated
elsewhere in the Pierce County Code.
D.
To take any other action authorized under the law
or this chapter to ensure compliance with the purpose, intent and
requirements of this chapter.
No person shall erect, construct, cause, continue, maintain or permit any human or immediate health hazard or public nuisance within the county. Any person who shall cause, create or maintain a human or immediate health hazard or nuisance or who shall in any way aid or contribute to the causing, creating or maintenance thereof shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter and shall be liable for all costs and expense attendant upon the removal and correction of such a human or immediate health hazard or nuisance and to the penalty provided in § 180-18E.
It shall be the responsibility of the property
owner to maintain property in a hazard-free manner and to be responsible
for the abatement and/or correction of any human or immediate health
hazard or public health nuisance that has been determined to exist
on his or her property. In the event that the property is occupied
by a tenant who fails or refuses to abate or correct a human or immediate
health hazard or public health nuisance for which the tenant is responsible,
responsibility for abatement and/or correction will be that of the
property owner.
A.
Any dwelling or dwelling unit found to have any of
the following defects shall be designated as unfit for human habitation:
(1)
One which is so decayed, dilapidated, unsanitary,
unsafe, infested and/or structurally damaged that it creates a serious
hazard to the health or safety of the occupants or of the public.
(2)
One in which water, sewer, heating, electrical or
septic system facilities fail to adequately protect the health or
safety of the occupants or of the public.
(3)
One in which doors and/or windows fail to exclude
rain, snow, low temperatures and wind (inclement weather) or one in
which windows/screens fail to prevent an infestation of flies and/or
other disease-carrying insects and fail to allow adequate air circulation.
(4)
One which is not free of accumulation of solid waste,
garbage, animal waste and other debris, which results in an unhealthy
and unsanitary condition and presents a potential danger to public
health.
(5)
One which is not maintained in a manner so as to prevent
excess damage, decay, dilapidation and vermin infestation which could
result in a serious hazard to the health and safety of the occupants
and to the public.
(6)
One which contains significant structural damage to
the extent that it is a physical hazard to the occupant or to the
public.
B.
Any dwelling or dwelling unit found to have an immediate
health hazard shall be condemned as unfit for human habitation and
shall be so designated as a health hazard and shall be placarded by
the Local Health Officer.
C.
Any dwelling or dwelling unit condemned as unfit for
human habitation and so designated and placarded by the Local Health
Officer shall be vacated within a reasonable time as specified by
the Local Health Officer. No dwelling or dwelling unit which has been
condemned and placarded as unfit for human habitation shall again
be used for human habitation until written approval is secured by
the Local Health Officer upon reinspecting the dwelling or dwelling
unit. The Local Health Officer at this time shall remove such placard
whenever the hazardous condition or situation upon which the condemnation
and placarding were based has been eliminated.
The following are human health hazards and public
nuisances:
A.
Unburied carcasses. Carcasses of animals, bird or
fowl not intended for human consumption or food which are not buried
or otherwise disposed of in a sanitary manner within the time period
specified by the Health Officer or as required by § 95.50,
Wis. Stats.
B.
Manure. Accumulations of the bodily waste from all
domestic animals and fowl that are handled, stored or disposed of
in a manner that creates a health hazard.
C.
Air pollution. The escape of smoke, soot, cinders,
noxious acids, fumes, gases, fly ash, industrial dust or any other
atmospheric pollutants within the county that creates noncompliance
with Chapter NR 445 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
D.
Noxious odors. Any negligent use of property, substances
or things within the county emitting or causing any foul, offensive,
noisome, noxious or disagreeable odor or stenches extremely repulsive
to the physical senses of ordinary persons or a neighborhood as a
whole.
E.
Solid waste. Any solid waste which is stored or disposed
of in a manner which may pose a human health hazard as defined above.
F.
Food or breeding places for vermin, insects, etc.
Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish,
garbage, rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, scrap metal, animal
and human fecal matter or any substance in which flies, mosquitoes,
disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin can breed, live, nest
or seek shelter, except private compost piles.
G.
Toxic and hazardous materials or waste. Any chemical
and/or biological material or waste that is stored, used or disposed
of in such quantity or manner that it is, or has the potential to
create, a public health hazard.
H.
Wastewater. The presence of wastewater or sewage effluent
from buildings on the ground surface, backing up into the building
and/or running into a surface water body, caused by a damaged, malfunctioning,
improperly constructed or inadequately maintained private sewage system
or private sewage lateral; also any wastewater or sewage effluent
that is not handled and disposed of in compliance with all applicable
county and state codes.
I.
Surface water pollution. The pollution of any stream,
lake or other body of surface water within the county that creates
noncompliance with Chapters NR 102 and NR 103 of the Wisconsin Administrative
Code.
J.
Groundwater pollution. Addition of any chemical and/or
biological substance that would cause groundwater to be unpalatable
or unfit for human consumption. These substances include but are not
limited to the chemical and/or biological substances listed in Chapter
NR 809 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
K.
Holes or openings. Any hole or opening caused by an
improperly abandoned cistern, septic tank, dug well or any other improperly
abandoned, barricaded or covered up excavation.
L.
Nonfunctioning and maintenance of public building
fixtures.
M.
Unhealthy or unsanitary condition. Any condition or
situation which renders a structure or any part thereof unsanitary,
unhealthy and unfit for human habitation, occupancy or use or renders
any property unsanitary or unhealthy.
No owner or occupant shall allow any other human
health hazard or public health nuisance as determined by the Local
Health Officer to exist in any dwelling or dwelling unit.
The Local Health Officer or designated representative
shall investigate all potential public nuisances and human health
hazards and shall determine whether or not they exist.
Abatement, correction and enforcement of public
nuisances and human health hazards will be in accord with this chapter.
A.
Written order. When a violation of this chapter is
encountered, the Local Health Officer or other county official shall
issue the violator a written order. This order shall specify the following:
(1)
The nature of the violation and the steps needed to
abate and/or correct it.
(2)
The time period in which the violation must be corrected
and/or abated.
(3)
The penalty or penalties the violator would be subject
to if the apparent violation is not abated and/or corrected within
the cited time period.
B.
Exceptions to written order. In extreme cases where a violation poses an immediate health hazard as determined by the Local Health Officer or other county official or in the case of repeating occurrences of the same violation by the same person, the action(s) specified in Subsection C below may be initiated immediately.
C.
Noncompliance with order.
(1)
If a person does not comply with a written order from
the Local Health Officer or other county official, the person may
be subject to one or more of the following actions and/or penalties:
(a)
The issuance of a citation.
(b)
Commencement of legal action against the person
seeking a court-imposed forfeiture and/or imprisonment.
(c)
Commencement of legal action against the person
seeking an injunction to abate the violation and/or correct the damage
created by the violation.
(d)
Any other action authorized by this chapter
or by other applicable laws as deemed necessary by the Local Health
Officer or other county official.
(2)
The initiation of one action or penalty under this
section does not exempt the apparent violator from any additional
actions and/or penalties.
D.
Ordered abatement of certain nuisances and health hazards. Where a nuisance or human health hazard as defined in this chapter and § 254.59(1), Wis. Stats., is encountered which may require ordered abatement and/or correction as per § 254.59, Wis. Stats., the Local Health Officer or other county official shall serve upon the responsible person a written order under Subsection A(1) above. A copy of this order shall be forwarded to the local governing body. If the nuisance is not abated and/or corrected within the time period specified in the order, the local governing body shall enter upon the property and abate and/or correct the nuisance or cause it to be abated and/or corrected. If the local governing body fails to abate and/or correct the nuisance or cause it to be abated and/or corrected, the county may enter on the property and do the same. The cost of such abatement and/or correction is to be recovered by the local governing body, and if not the local governing body the county, either directly from the responsible person or as a special tax assessment on the property as per § 254.59(2), Wis. Stats.
E.
Penalties. In case any person is convicted of violating
any of the provisions of this chapter, judgment shall be entered for
a forfeiture in the amount set by the County Board, plus court costs.
In default of payment of the judgment the person shall be imprisoned
in the county jail until such time as the forfeiture and costs are
paid, but not to exceed 90 days. Each day that a violation continues
shall be considered as a separate offense.
F.
Initiation of legal action. Legal action shall be
initiated against a violator as requested by the Local Health Officer
or other county official. The County Corporation Counsel shall be
responsible for all cases where an injunction to correct and/or abate
a violation is being sought and for all cases where a court-imposed
forfeiture is being sought.
[Amended 7-27-2010 by Ord. No. 10-03]
