(a)The board or corporation may do all acts
necessary or reasonably incident to carrying out the purposes of this
chapter, including the following:
(1)As a municipal corporation, sue and be sued in any court with
jurisdiction.
(2)To serve as the exclusive local board of health and local
department of health within the county with the powers and duties
conferred by law upon local boards of health and local
departments of health.
(3)To adopt and enforce ordinances consistent with Indiana law
and administrative rules for the following purposes:
(A)To protect property owned or managed by the corporation.
(B)To determine, prevent, and abate public health nuisances.
(C)To establish isolation and quarantine regulations in
accordance with IC 16-41-9.
(D)To license, regulate, and establish
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(a) The board or corporation may do all acts
necessary or reasonably incident to carrying out the purposes of this
chapter, including the following:
(1) As a municipal corporation, sue and be sued in any court with
jurisdiction.
(2) To serve as the exclusive local board of health and local
department of health within the county with the powers and duties
conferred by law upon local boards of health and local
departments of health.
(3) To adopt and enforce ordinances consistent with Indiana law
and administrative rules for the following purposes:
(A) To protect property owned or managed by the corporation.
(B) To determine, prevent, and abate public health nuisances.
(C) To establish isolation and quarantine regulations in
accordance with IC 16-41-9.
(D) To license, regulate, and establish minimum sanitary
standards for the operation of a business handling, producing,
processing, preparing, manufacturing, packing, storing, selling,
distributing, or transporting articles used for food, drink,
confectionery, or condiment in the interest of the public health.
(E) To control:
(i) rodents, mosquitos, and other animals, including insects,
capable of transmitting microorganisms and disease to
humans and other animals; and
(ii) the animals' breeding places.
(F) Subject to subsection (c), to require persons to connect to
available sewer systems and to regulate the disposal of
domestic or sanitary sewage by private methods. However, the
board and corporation have no jurisdiction over publicly owned
or financed sewer systems or sanitation and disposal plants.
(G) To control rabies.
(H) For the sanitary regulation of water supplies for domestic
use.
(I) To protect, promote, or improve public health. For public
health activities and to enforce public health laws, the state
health data center described in IC 16-19-10 shall provide health
data, medical information, and epidemiological information to
the corporation.
(J) To detect, report, prevent, and control disease affecting
public health.
(K) To investigate and diagnose health problems and health
hazards.
(L) To regulate the sanitary and structural conditions of
residential and nonresidential buildings and unsafe premises.
(M) To regulate the remediation of lead hazards.
(N) To license and regulate the design, construction, and
operation of public pools, spas, and beaches.
(O) To regulate the storage, containment, handling, use, and
disposal of hazardous materials.
(P) To license and regulate tattoo and body piercing facilities.
(Q) To regulate the storage and disposal of waste tires.
(4) To manage the corporation's hospitals, medical facilities, and
mental health facilities.
(5) To furnish health and nursing services to elementary and
secondary schools within the county.
(6) To furnish medical care to insured and uninsured residents of
the county.
(7) To furnish dental services to the insured and uninsured
residents of the county.
(8) To establish public health programs.
(9) To adopt an annual budget ordinance and levy taxes.
(10) To incur indebtedness in the name of the corporation.
(11) To organize the corporation into divisions.
(12) To acquire and dispose of property.
(13) To receive charitable contributions and gifts as provided in
26 U.S.C. 170.
(14) To make charitable contributions and gifts.
(15) To establish a charitable foundation as provided in 26 U.S.C.
501.
(16) To receive and distribute federal, state, local, or private
grants.
(17) To receive and distribute grants from charitable foundations.
(18) To establish corporations and enter into partnerships and
joint ventures to carry out the purposes of the corporation. This
subdivision does not authorize the merger of the corporation with
a hospital licensed under IC 16-21.
(19) To erect, improve, remodel, or repair corporation buildings.
(20) To determine operating procedures.
(21) To do the following:
(A) Adopt a schedule of reasonable charges for nonresidents of
the county for medical and mental health services.
(B) Collect the charges from the patient, the patient's insurance
company, or a government program.
(C) Require security for the payment of the charges.
(22) To adopt a schedule of and to collect reasonable charges for
medical and mental health services.
(23) To enforce Indiana laws, administrative rules, ordinances,
and the code of the health and hospital corporation of the county.
(24) To purchase supplies, materials, and equipment.
(25) To employ personnel and establish personnel policies.
(26) To employ attorneys admitted to practice law in Indiana.
(27) To acquire, erect, equip, and operate the corporation's
hospitals, medical facilities, and mental health facilities.
(28) To dispose of surplus property in accordance with a policy by
the board.
(29) To determine the duties of officers and division directors.
(30) To fix the compensation of the officers and division
directors.
(31) To carry out the purposes and object of the corporation.
(32) To obtain loans for hospital expenses in amounts and upon
terms agreeable to the board. The board may secure the loans by
pledging accounts receivable or other security in hospital funds.
(33) To establish fees for licenses, services, and records. The
corporation may accept payment by credit card for fees. IC 5-14-3-8(d) does not apply to fees established under this
subdivision for certificates of birth, death, or stillbirth
registration.
(34) To use levied taxes or other funds to make intergovernmental
transfers to the state to fund governmental health care programs,
including Medicaid and Medicaid supplemental programs.
(b) The board shall exercise the board's powers and duties in a
manner consistent with Indiana law, administrative rules, and the code
of the health and hospital corporation of the county.
(c) This subsection does not affect a septic tank elimination program
approved by the commission. Except as provided in subsection (d), if,
within a county containing a consolidated city:
(1) a main sewer line is extended for the purpose of connecting
one (1) or more residential or commercial properties to a sanitary
sewer system; and
(2) the extension connecting the residential or commercial
property or properties referred to in subdivision (1) to the sanitary
sewer system, when completed, will be located close enough to
the property line of a residential property served by a septic
system to authorize the board or corporation to order the
connection of the residential property to the extension under the
ordinances adopted under section 6(b)(4) of this chapter;
the board or corporation may not exercise its power under subsection
(a)(3)(F) to require the residential property served by the septic system
to be connected to the extension referred to in subdivision (1).
(d) The board or corporation may exercise its power under
subsection (a)(3)(F) to require a residential property served by a septic
system to be connected to an extension described in subsection (c) if:
(1) the state department; or
(2) the board or corporation;
determines that the septic system serving the residential property is
failing, as described in IC 36-9-23-30.1(b).
[Pre-1993 Recodification Citation: 16-12-21-28.]