Powers and duties of city engineer.
Section 54
SEC. 54. Powers and duties of city engineer.—There shall be a city engineer, who shall be in charge of the department of engineering and public works. He shall also have charge of all surveying and engineering work of the city, and shall perform such services in connection with public improvements, or any work entered upon or proposed by the city, or any department thereof, as may require the skill and experience of a civil engineer. He shall ascertain, record, and establish the monuments for the city survey and from thence as points of departure establish the limits, locate, establish, and survey all city property, and also private property abutting the same, whenever directed by the Mayor; shall prepare and submit plans, maps, specifications, and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks, and other public works, and supervise the construction and repair of the same; shall make such tests and inspections of engineering materials used in construction and repair as may be necessary to protect the city from the use of material of poor and dangerous quality; shall inspect and report to the Mayor upon the condition of public property and public works; shall have the care and custody of all public buildings, when erected, including markets and slaughterhouses and all buildings rented for city purposes, and shall also have the care of any system established for lighting the streets, public places and public buildings of the city; shall prevent the encroachment of buildings and fences on the streets and public places of the city; shall inspect and supervise the construction, repair, removal, and safety of private buildings, and regulate and enforce the numbering of houses, in accordance with the city ordinances; shall have the care of all public streets, parks and bridges; shall maintain, clean, sprinkle and regulate the use of the same for all purposes as provided for by ordinance; shall direct the collection and disposal of all garbage, refuse, the contents of closets, vaults, and cesspools, and all other offensive and unsanitary substances within the city; shall have the care and custody of all public landing places, docks, wharves, piers, and levees; shall have general supervision and inspection of all private docks, wharves, piers, levees, and landing places, and other property bordering on the bay, river, esteros, and waterways of the city, and shall issue permits for the construction, repair, or removal of the same, and enforce all ordinances relating to the same; shall have the care and custody of the public system of waterworks and sewers, and all sources of water supply, and shall control, maintain, and regulate the use of the same, in accordance with the ordinances; shall inspect and regulate, subject to the approval of the Mayor, the use of all private systems for supplying water to the city and its inhabitants, and all private sewers and their connections with the public sewer system. He shall file and preserve all maps, plans, survey notes, and other papers and documents pertaining to his office. He shall supervise the laying of mains and connections for the purpose of supplying gas to the inhabitants of the city. He shall have power, subject to the approval of the Mayor, to cause buildings dangerous to the public to be made secure or torn down, and shall supervise and regulate the location and use of engines, boilers, forges, and other manufacturing and heating appliances in accordance with law and ordinance relating thereto. He is authorized to charge, at rates to be fixed by the Board, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, for sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by his Department. With the previous approval of the Mayor in each case, he may order the removal of buildings and structures erected in violation of the ordinances, or the removal of the materials employed in the construction or repair of any building or structure made in violation of said ordinances.