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HARRISON
COUNTY ORDINANCE
2004-11
An
ordinance of the Harrison County Health Board creating an Ordinance Violations
Section.
The
purpose of this ordinance is to safeguard public health and assure that food
provided to consumers is safe, unadulterated, and honestly presented.
It establishes a Violations Section for the handling of citations.
Article
1.
Establishment and Designation of Violations Bureau
Section
1. The Harrison County Health Board hereby establishes an Ordinance Violations
Section under Indiana Code 33-6-3 et seq.
Section
2. The Health Department Registrar is designated as the violations clerk to act
as the administrator of the section.
Section
3. The violations clerk or their designee may accept written appearance, waivers
of trial, admissions of violations and payment of civil penalties of not more
than one hundred ($100) dollars in designated ordinance cases.
The violations clerk shall account for and pay to the Corporation all
sums collected as civil penalties for ordinance violations.
Article
2.
Right to Trial and Waiver
Section
1. Persons charged with an ordinance violation of The Code are entitled to a
trial before a court as provided by the law, unless the person waives the right
to trial and enters an admission of the violation with the violations clerk or
their designee.
Section
2. If a person charged with an ordinance violation wants to exercise the right
to a trial, the person shall appear before the violations clerk or their
designee, and deny the violation or enter a written denial with the clerk.
The person's notice to stand trial shall be given by the date indicated
on the citation, which shall not be less than seven days after the issuance of
the citation. Upon receipt of the
person's intent to stand trial, the official having the responsibility to
prosecute ordinance violation cases for the Health Board shall be informed and
commence a lawsuit.
Section
3. If a person charged with an ordinance violation elects to admit to the
violation and waive their right to trial, the clerk or their designee shall
assess and receive from the violator the amount prescribed by the schedule of
civil penalties established under Article Three.
If a person who receives a citation fails to pay the assessed fine by the
date set forth in the citation or fails to give notice of their intention to
stand trial, a civil lawsuit shall be commenced by the
Article
3.
Civil Penalties; Schedule of Ordinance Provisions.
Section
1. Payment of civil penalties may be made by cash, certified or cashier's check,
or money order only, made payable to the "Harrison County Health
Department". Payment of civil
penalties may be made in person or by mail.
Section
2. In determining the seriousness of the violation and the specific amount of
the civil penalty to be sought for each violation, the Health Officer or his
designee will consider, but is not limited to, the following:
(a) The
potential for harm or imminent threat to public health.
(b) The
extent of deviation from statutory or regulatory requirements.
(c) The
degree of willfulness or negligence.
(d) History
of noncompliance.
(e) Whether
the violations are repeat critical violations of current Indiana Food Code.
(f) Whether
the sanitary and operational requirements of a food establishment operation have
been met.
(g) Compliance
with sanitation and other minimum standards.
(h) Whether
non-residential property is/has been properly maintained to prevent a public
health threat.
The absence of direct harm will not result
in assessment of a lower penalty for a violation.
Section 3. Schedule of ordinance
violations subject to admission before the violations clerk and the amount of
civil penalty to be assessed a violator who elects to admit a violation under
this Article. The monetary penalty
for violation of any of the above-listed sections shall be twenty-five ($25) to
one hundred dollars ($100) for each day of each violation.
Penalties shall be assessed according to Schedule of Civil Penalties for
Violations in the current food code.
Article
4.
Citations.
Section
1. A citation may be issued to the person responsible for an ordinance violation
listed in Article 3.
Section 2. The citation shall contain:
(a) Date of violation,
(b) Name of responsible person,
(c) Address of violation,
(d) Ordinance citation,
(e) Nature of violation,
(f) Amount of fine assessed,
(g) Manner and location to enter an admission and to pay fine and date fine
is due, not less than seven days following issuance of the citation,
(h) Notice that each day the violation continues to exist is a new violation,
(i) Statement to violator of right to elect trial, and
(j) Name, business address, and phone number of person issuing citation.
Section 3. Court proceedings against the
person for an alleged ordinance violation will be initiated by the
Section 4. The Health Board may, in
addition, seek equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 5. In proceedings before a court
for ordinance violations, Health Department and/or its legal representative
shall have the burden of proving the ordinance violation by a preponderance of
the evidence.
Section 6. A person adjudged to have
violated The Code shall be liable for court costs and fees.
No costs shall be assessed against the Health Department for having
brought the action.
This ordinance (2004-11) was passed and
adopted by the Harrison County Board of Health this 1st day of September,
2004.
This ordinance (2004-11) was passed and
adopted by the Commissioners of Harrison County, State of