(a) Any weeds, such as jimson, burdock, ragweed, thistle, cocklebur, or other weeds of a like kind, found growing in any lot or tract of land in the Village, are hereby declared to be a nuisance and no person shall permit any such weeds to grow or remain in any such place.
(b) No person shall permit any weeds, grass or plants, other than trees, bushes, flowers, ornamental plants or agricultural crops, to grow to a height exceeding six inches anywhere in the Village. Any such plants or weeds exceeding such heights are hereby declared to be a nuisance.
(c) The Mayor, for two weeks prior to June 1 of each year, shall cause to have published a listing of those properties violating subsection (b) hereof in a newspaper of local circulation and shall make demand that all property owners regularly cut the weeds growing upon their properties during the ensuing months of the year. Should any such weeds be found within the Village after the foregoing publication has been completed, the Mayor may cause these to be cut at the expense of the Village.
(d) Upon notification that noxious weeds are growing on lands within the Village, are about to spread or mature seeds, and upon determination and confirmation of the same by the Mayor or his or her designee, the Mayor shall cause a written notice to be served upon the owner, lessee, agent or tenant having charge of such land, notifying him or her that said noxious weeds are growing in such lands and that they must be cut and destroyed within five days after the service of such notice. If such owner or other person having charge of such lands is a nonresident whose address is known, such notice shall be sent to his or her address by registered mail; if the address of such owner is unknown, it shall be sufficient to publish such notice once in a newspaper of general circulation in the County.
(e) Any police officer, clerk or deputy clerk of the Village may make service and return of the notice provided for in this section.
(f) If the lessee, agent or tenant having charge of the lands referred to in this section fails to comply with such notice, the Mayor shall cause said noxious weeds to be cut and destroyed and the expenses incurred therefor shall be approved by the Mayor and paid out of the Treasury of the Village.
(g) The expense of cutting said weeds as provided in subsections (c) through (f) hereof shall be billed to the property owner by registered mail, and upon failure of said property owner to reimburse the Village this amount within ten days thereafter, the Mayor shall be authorized to act in either of the following ways:
(1) The Mayor may make written return to the County Auditor of his or her action with a statement of the charges for the services, the amount paid for the performance of such labor, and the fees of the officers who made the service, with the notice and return and a proper description of the premises, with a request that such amount be entered upon the tax duplicate as a lien upon such lands from and after the date of the entry, to be collected as other taxes and returned to the Municipality according to law.
(2) The Mayor may authorize and direct the Solicitor to collect any outstanding amounts due the Village by judicial process. Any judgement uncollected for thirty days after its date shall be recorded in the records of the Clerk of the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, as a lien upon the lands of the property owner concerned.
(Ord. 27-81. Passed 3-17-81.)
(h) Whoever violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 698.02. A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues. This penalty shall be in addition to other remedies provided for in this section.