(A) The city may recover all assessable costs in connection with a public safety or fire emergency incident from any or all responsible parties jointly or severally.
(B) The City Controller or his or her designee shall determine the total assessable costs and shall in consultation with other city personnel involved in responding to a public safety or fire emergency incident determine whether to assess any, all or part of such costs against any of the responsible parties. In making the determination, the following shall be considered:
(1) The total assessable costs;
(2) The risk the public safety or fire emergency incident imposed on the city, its residents and their property;
(3) Whether there was any injury or damage to person or property;
(4) Whether the public safety or fire emergency incident required evacuation;
(5) The extent the public safety or fire emergency incident required an unusual or extraordinary use of city personnel and equipment; and
(6) Whether there was any damage to the environment.
(C) After consideration of the factors in subsection (B) immediately above, the Mayor may allocate assessable costs among and between reasonable parties, including allocating all or some of such costs jointly and severally against more than one responsible party regardless of whether a responsible party has other legal liability therefore or is legally at fault.
(D) Appeal.
(1) (a) Any person who by reason of financial hardship, or who is aggrieved by the calculation of costs assessed, or who for any reason feels aggrieved by the assessment for any public safety or fire emergency may appeal the assessment and/or its calculation to the Mayor who shall have authority to reduce or eliminate the assessment.
(b) The appellate process shall also be available to persons who have been assessed costs for the city’s performance of property maintenance efforts including but not necessarily limited to the following instances where such costs are routinely assessed:
- weed cutting (see § 91.01(D)); and
- junk or abandoned vehicle removal; and
- removal of junk and debris from private property or public right of way; and
- water or sanitary sewer line repair upon private property; and
- snow removal (see § 90.080(A)); and
- securing abandoned structures (see § 91.04(I)(1)).
(c) Any such appeal shall be filed in writing with the City Clerk within 60 days of the date of the assessment being appealed. Such appeal shall state the appellant’s reasons why the appellant believes the appeal warrants relief.
(2) If the Mayor determines not to assess all or a part of assessable costs against a responsible party, the determination shall not in any way limit or extinguish the liability of other responsible parties, or any liability of the responsible party to other parties.