(a) Enforcement Officers. The Safety Director shall assign the duties of administering and enforcing this chapter to a designated official. The Safety Director may call upon any department, division or contractor of the City for any assistance necessary to abate a violation of this chapter.
(1) Notices and orders. The designated official shall issue all necessary notices or orders to ensure compliance with this chapter.
(2) Department records. The designated official shall keep official records of all business and activities of the department specified in the provisions of this chapter in accordance with Ohio law for as long as the building or structure to which such records relate remains in existence.
(3) Coordination of inspections. When the enforcement of this chapter or another code or ordinance involves the responsibility of more than one City official, it shall be the duty of the designated official involved to coordinate their inspections and administrative orders as fully as practicable so that the owners and occupants of the structure shall not be subjected to visits by numerous inspectors or multiple or conflicting orders. When an inspector from any agency or department observes an apparent or actual violation of a provision of this chapter or another ordinance or code not within the inspector’s authority, the inspector shall report the findings to the designated official having jurisdiction.
(b) Inspections. In response to resident complaints and/or egregious health and safety violations observed by the designated official, the designated official may attempt to contact the property owner for the purposes of scheduling a mutually agreeable time to inspect the property. In the absence of such an agreement, the designated official is authorized to obtain a warrant to enter onto the property to make inspections, at reasonable times, of building exteriors and premises located within the City for purposes of enforcing the provisions of this Exterior Property Maintenance Code. For the purpose of making such inspections, and upon showing appropriate identification, the designated official is authorized to enter upon, examine and survey during regular weekly business hours the exterior of all property in the City.
(c) Modifications. When there are practical difficulties involved in carrying out the provisions of this code, the designated official, subject to the approval of the Director of Public Safety, shall have the authority to grant modifications for individual cases, provided the designated official shall first find that the special individual reason(s) makes the strict letter of this code impractical and the modification complies with the intent and purpose of this code and that such modification does not lessen health, welfare and safety requirements. The details of any action granting modifications shall be recorded in writing and entered in the department files.
(d) First Notice of Violation. When the designated official determines that there is a violation of the provisions of this chapter and modifications as set forth in division (c) of this section are not appropriate, he or she shall issue a notice of such violation to the owner and the person in possession of the property pursuant to division (f) of this section, and order compliance. Such notice and order shall:
(1) Be in writing;
(2) Include the address and/or a description of the real estate sufficient for identification;
(3) Include a statement of the violation(s) and the reason for issuing the notice;
(4) Include a correction order allowing a reasonable time for the repairs and improvements required to bring the property into compliance with the provisions of this chapter;
(5) State that if the violator chooses to accept the correction order and make repairs within a reasonable amount of time, the violator must acknowledge this in writing, set a date certain and submit said acknowledgment to the Building Department within ten days of receipt of service of the notice;
(6) State that the violator shall furnish any grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee a true copy of said notice of violation issued by the designated official and shall furnish to the designated official a signed and notarized statement from the grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee, acknowledging the receipt of such notice of violation and fully accepting the responsibility for making the corrections or repairs required by such notice of violation (see Section 1484.11);
(7) State the right of the violator to file an appeal, in writing, with the Avon Board of Zoning and Building Appeals pursuant to Section 1484.06, within ten days of receipt of the notice; and
(8) State that if no acknowledgment or appeal by the property owner is received upon the tenth day of delivery of the first notification, a second notice of violation will be issued.
(e) Second Notice of Violation. When the designated official determines that there is a continuing violation of the provisions of this chapter and that no acknowledgment and/or appeal has been made, he or she shall issue a second notice of violation to the owner and order compliance. Such notice and order shall:
(1) Be in writing;
(2) Include the address and/or a description of the real estate sufficient for identification;
(3) Include a statement of the violation(s) and the reason for issuing the notice;
(4) Include a correction order allowing a reasonable time for the repairs and improvements required to bring the property into compliance with the provisions of this chapter;
(5) State that if the violator chooses to accept the correction order and make repairs within a reasonable amount of time, the violator must acknowledge this in writing, set a date certain and submit said acknowledgment to the Building Department within ten days of receipt of service of the notice;
(6) State that the violator shall furnish any grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee a true copy of said notice of violation issued by the designated official and shall furnish to the designated official a signed and notarized statement from the grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee, acknowledging the receipt of such notice of violation and fully accepting the responsibility for making the corrections or repairs required by such notice of violation (see Section 1484.11);
(7) State the right of the violator to file an appeal, in writing, with the Avon Board of Zoning and Building Appeals pursuant to Section 1484.06, within five days of receipt of the notice; and
(8) State that if no acknowledgment or appeal by the property owner is received upon the fifth day of delivery of the second notification, a citation may be issued.
(f) Service. A first and second notice of violation shall be deemed to be properly served if one or more of the following methods are used:
(1) By personal delivery to the owner or occupant of the premises or by leaving the notice at the premises with a person of suitable age and discretion;
(2) By certified mail deposited in the United States Post Office addressed to the person or persons responsible at his, his or their last known address, with return receipt requested. If a certified mail envelope is returned with endorsement showing that the envelope is unclaimed, then service shall be sent by ordinary mail and the mailing shall be evidenced by a certificate of mailing which shall be filed by the designated official. Service shall be deemed complete when the fact of mailing is entered of record, provided that the ordinary mail envelope is not returned by the postal authorities with an endorsement showing failure of delivery; or
(3) By posting a copy of the notice form in a conspicuous place on the premises found in violation and publishing a legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the City. The legal notice shall identify the owners of the property, the last address, if known, of the owners, and parcel identification number, the location and nature of the violation.
(Ord. 158-05. Passed 11-14-05; Ord. 127-09. Passed 12-14-09.)