7-3-4463. Department of public welfare. (1) Subject to the supervision and control of the city manager in all matters, the director of public welfare shall manage all charitable, correctional, and reformatory institutions and agencies belonging to the municipality and the use of all recreational facilities of the municipality, including libraries, parks, and playgrounds. The director has charge of the inspection and supervision of public amusements and entertainments. The director shall enforce all laws, ordinances, and regulations relating to:

(a) the preservation and promotion of the public health;

(b) the prevention and restriction of disease;

(c) the prevention, abatement, and suppression of nuisances; and

(d) the sanitary inspection and supervision of the production, transportation, storage, and sale of foodstuffs.

(2) The director shall cause a complete and accurate system of vital statistics to be kept. In time of epidemic or threatened epidemic, the director may enforce quarantine regulations that are appropriate to the emergency. The director of public welfare shall provide for the study of and research into causes of poverty, delinquency, crime, disease, and other social problems in the community and shall, by means of lectures and exhibits, promote the education and understanding of the community in those matters that affect the public welfare.

(3) The health officer of the municipality is under the direction and control of the director of public welfare, shall enforce all ordinances and laws relating to health, and shall perform all duties and have all powers provided by general law relative to the public health to be exercised in municipalities by health officers. Regulations affecting the public health in addition to those established by general law and for the violation of which penalties are imposed must be enacted by the commission and enforced as provided in this part.