Section 134-19 ADMINISTRATIVE ENFORCEMENT REMEDIES
A. NOTIFICATION
OF VIOLATION - Whenever
the Administrator finds that any domestic user or any industrial user
has
violated or is violating this Article, a wastewater permit or order
issued
hereunder or any other pretreatment requirement, the Administrator, or
his
agent, may serve upon said user a written notice of violation.
Within
five (5) days of the receipt of this notice, an explanation of the
violation
and a plan for the satisfactory correction and prevention thereof, to
include
specific required actions, shall be submitted to the Administrator.
Submission
of this plan in no way relieves the user of liability for any
violations
occurring before or after receipt of the notice of violation. Nothing
in this
section shall limit the authority of the Town to take emergency action
without
first issuing a notice of violation.
B. CONSENT
AGREEMENTS - The Administrator is hereby
empowered to enter into consent agreements, assurances of voluntary
compliance
or other similar documents establishing an agreement with any domestic
or
industrial user responsible for the noncompliance. Such
agreements will
include specific action taken by the industrial user to correct the
noncompliance within a time period also specified by the agreement.
Consent agreement shall be judicially enforceable.
C. SHOW
CAUSE HEARING
1.
The Administrator may order any domestic or
industrial user which causes or contributes to violation(s) of this
Article,
wastewater permits or agreements hereunder or any other pretreatment
requirement to appear before the Administrator and show cause why a
proposed
enforcement action should not be taken. Notice shall be
served on
the user specifying the time and place for the meeting, the
proposed
enforcement action, the reasons for such action and a request
that the
user show cause why this proposed enforcement action should not be
taken.
The notice of the meeting shall be mailed by first class mail to
the last
known address of the user as stated on the permit application.
Such notice
may be mailed to any authorized representative of an industrial user.
Immediate
enforcement action may be taken by the Administrator following the
hearing,
whether or not the user appears. A show cause hearing shall not be a
bar
against, or prerequisite for, taking any other action against the user.
(Ord.
No. 2-05 Amended 12-20-04-Effective Upon Passage)
2.
An administrative appeal of any show
cause hearing may be made to the Town Manager in accordance with the
same terms
and conditions set forth herein for appeals of wastewater permit
application
decisions. An appeal from the Town Manager's decision on a show
cause
hearing may be made to the Circuit Court of Warren County in accordance
with
the same terms and conditions set forth for appeals from the Town
Manager's
decisions on wastewater permit application appeals.
D.
JUDICIAL REMEDIES
1.
The Town may enforce violation of or
deviation from the standards of this Article by suit for injunction or
other
appropriate legal action or suit.
2.
The Town may seek to recover by legal
action or suit from any industrial user monetary compensation for
damages to
its public sanitary sewage system, and the POTW's treatment system,
caused by
the industrial user's violation of or deviation from the standards of
this
Article.
3.
A person who violates the provisions of
this Article shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and upon
conviction is
punishable by a maximum fine up to two thousand five hundred ($2,500)
dollars
per violation per day and confinement in jail for not more than twelve
(12)
months, either or both. In the event of a violation, the Town shall
also have
the right to terminate the sewer and water connections.
4.
In addition to the proceedings under
the authority of subsection (c) of this section the Town is entitled to
pursue
all other criminal and civil remedies to which it is entitled under
authority
of state statues or other ordinances of the Town against a person
conducting a
prohibited discharge or violating a pretreatment standard or
requirement,
including, without limitation, injunctive relief.
5.
Any person who
knowingly makes and false statements, representations, or
certifications in any
application, record, report, plan or other document files required to
be
maintained pursuant to this Article, or wastewater permit, or who
falsifies,
tampers with, or knowingly renders inaccurate any monitoring devices or
method
required under this article shall, upon conviction, be punishable by a
maximum
fine up to two thousand five hundred ($2,500) dollars per violation per
day and
confinement in jail for not more than twelve (12) months, either or
both.
6.
The Town has the
authority and procedures (which shall include notice to the affected
industrial
users and an opportunity to respond) to halt or prevent any discharge
to the
system which presents or may presents an endangerment to the
environment or
which threatens to interfere with the operation of the system. The
Director of
the Department of Environmental Quality or an authorized representative
shall
have authority to seek judicial relief and may also use administrative
penalty
authority when the Town has sought a monetary penalty which the
Director
believes to be insufficient.
(Ord.
No. 2-05 Added (D)(1-6) 12-20-04-Effective Upon Passage)
E. OTHER ACTIONS
1.
The Town shall be authorized to implement
such other program and enforcement mechanisms as are consistent with
regulatory
guidelines and are deemed appropriate.
2.
The Town shall publish annually, in
any daily newspaper published in the municipality where the POTW is
located, a
list of users which, during the previous twelve (12) months were in
significant
noncompliance with applicable pretreatment standards and requirements.
The term
significant noncompliance shall mean:
a.
Chronic violations of wastewater discharge
limits, defined here as those in which sixty-six (66) percent or more
of
wastewater measurements taken during a six month period exceed the
daily
maximum limit or average limit for the same pollutant parameter by any
amount.
b.
Technical review criteria (TRC) violations,
defined here as those in which thirty three (33) percent or more of
wastewater
measurements taken for each pollutant parameter during a six month
period
equals or exceeds the product of the daily maximum limit or the average
limit
multiplied by the applicable criteria (1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oils and
grease,and 1.2 for all other parameters except pH);
c.
Any other discharge violation that the Town
believes has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges,
interference or pass through, including endangering the health of POTW
personnel or the general public;
d.
Any discharge of pollutants that has caused
imminent endangerment to the public or to the environment, or has
resulted in
the Town's exercise of it's emergency authority to halt or prevent such
discharge;
e.
Failure to meet, within ninety (90)
days of the scheduled date, a compliance schedule milestone contained
in a
wastewater discharge permit or enforcement order for starting
construction,
completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
f.
Failure to provide within ninety (90)
days after the due date, any required reports, including baseline
monitoring
reports, reports on compliance with categorical pretreatement standard
deadlines, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance
with the
compliance schedules;
g.
Failure to
accurately report noncompliance; or
h.
Any other violation which the Town
determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the
local
pretreatment program.
3.
Supplemental Enforcement Action
a.
Performance Bonds - The Administrator may
decline to issue or reissue a wastewater discharge permit to any user
who has
failed to comply with any provision of this Article, a previous
wastewater
discharge permit, or other issued hereunder, or any other pretreatment
standard
or requirement, unless such user first files a satisfactory bond
payable to the
Town, in a sum not to exceed a value determined by the Administrator to
be
necessary to achieve consistent compliance.
b.
Liability insurance - The Administrator may
decline to issue or reissue a wastewater discharge permit to any user
who has
failed to comply with any provision of this Article, a previous
wastewater
discharge permit, or other issued hereunder, or any other pretreatment
standard
or requirement, unless such user first submits proof that it has
obtained
financial assurances sufficient to restore or repair damage to the POTW
caused
by it s discharge.
c.
Water supply severance - Whenever a user
has violated or continues to violate any provisions of this Article, a
wastewater discharge permit, or order issued hereunder, or any other
pretreatment standard or requirement, water service to the user may be
severed.
Service will only recommence, at the user's expense, after it has
satisfactorily
demonstrated its ability to comply.
4.
Availability of Records - Effluent
data provided to the DEQ or to the Town shall be available to the
public
without restriction. Industrial users shall comply with all public
access
requirements of 40 CFR Par t403.14, incorporated by reference.
(Ord.
No. 4-92 Amended Entire Section 4-27-92-Effective Upon
Passage)
(Ord. No. 2-05Added (E)(1-4)
12-20-04-Effective Upon Passage)