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(A) An administrative offense may be subject to a civil penalty not less than $20 nor shall it exceed $2,000. The City Council must adopt a schedule of civil penalties for offenses initiated by administrative citation. The City Council may adopt a schedule of fees to be paid to administrative hearing officers.
(B) Subsequent offenses. In the event a person or property owner is charged with a subsequent administrative offense within a 12-month period of paying an administrative penalty for the same or substantially similar offense, the subsequent administrative penalty may be doubled except as otherwise provided by resolution.
(C) Any person cited for an administrative offense must either pay the scheduled civil penalty within 30 days or request a hearing within ten days after citation issuance.
(D) Any person, tenant, or property owner cited for an administrative offense involving code or zoning violations upon real property must either pay the scheduled civil penalty within 30 days and bring the property into compliance within ten days or request a hearing within ten days after citation issuance.
(E) Payment of the civil penalty constitutes admission of the violation.
(F) If a civil penalty is not paid within the time specified, a lien will be placed upon the real property upon which the violation occurred. A lien may be assessed against the property in the form of a special assessment and collected in the same manner as taxes.
(G) A personal obligation may be collected by any appropriate legal means. The city may use traditional debt collection methods to collect the fine and any associated fees.
(H) A delinquent payment fee of 10% can be assessed for each 30-day period, or part thereof, that the fine remains unpaid after the due date.
(I) During the time the civil penalty remains unpaid, no city approval will be granted for a license, permit, or other city approval sought by the violator of for property under the violator's ownership or control.
(J) If the citation is not paid and the violations not corrected, a criminal citation may be issued as well.
(Ord. 300, passed 6-7-2022)
(A) Notice. Whenever an officer charged with enforcement determines that a public nuisance is being maintained or exists on premises in the city, and determines that the city abatement process is appropriate, the officer shall notify, in writing, the owner or occupant of the premises of such fact and order that such nuisance be terminated or abated.
(B) Service of notice. The notice shall be served in person or by regular, certified or registered mail. If the premises are not occupied and the owner is unknown, the notice may be served by posting it on the premises. The notice shall specify the steps to be taken to abate the nuisance and the time, not exceeding 30 days, within which the nuisance is to be abated.
(C) Noncompliance. If the notice is not complied with within the time specified, the enforcing officer shall immediately report that fact to the City Council. The enforcing officer shall also provide notice to the owner or occupant of the premises that the City Council will consider the matter and may provide for abating the nuisance by the city. The notice shall state the date on which the City Council will consider the matter. Notice by the enforcing officer shall be given at least ten days before the date stated in the notice when the City Council will consider the matter. If notice of the fact that the City Council will consider the matter is given by posting at least 30 days shall elapse between the day of posting, and the date of consideration by the City Council.
(D) Action of City Council. Upon notice from the enforcing officer of noncompliance, the City Council may, after notice to the owner or occupant and an opportunity to be heard, provide for abating the nuisance by the city.
(E) Immediate threat. If the nuisance poses an immediate threat to the health or safety of the public, the city may abate the nuisance immediately with no hearing.
(Ord. 300, passed 6-7-2022)
(A) Personal liability. The owner of premises on which a nuisance has been abated by the city shall be personally liable for the cost to the city of the abatement, including administrative costs. As soon as the work has been completed and the cost determined, the City Administrator, or other official designated by the City Council, shall prepare a bill for the cost and mail it to the owner. The amount shall be immediately due and payable at the office of the City Administrator.
(B) Assessment. If the nuisance is a public health or safety hazard on private property, the growth of weeds on private property or outside the traveled portion of streets, or unsound or insect infected trees, the City Administrator shall, on or before September 1 next following abatement of the nuisance, list the total unpaid charges along with all other such charges, as well as other charges for current services to be assessed under M.S. § 429.101 against each separate lot or parcel to which the charges are attributable. The City Council may then spread the charges against such property under that statute and other pertinent statutes for certification to the County Auditor and collected along with current taxes the following year, or in annual installments not exceeding ten, as the City Council may determine in each case.