The hearing before the Administrative Hearing Officer shall be open to the public. Administrative hearings are informal, and formal rules of evidence and discovery do not apply. Each party shall have the opportunity to present evidence in support of his or her case, and to cross-examine witnesses. The complainant bears the burden of proof at an administrative hearing to establish a violation of this animal nuisance abatement code. The evidence submitted in the hearing before the Administrative Hearing Officer may be either in the form of written declarations or by way of oral testimony. All written declarations shall be made under penalty of perjury in compliance with § 2015.5 of the California Code of Civil Procedure. The Administrative Hearing Officer shall use preponderance of the evidence as the standard of evidence in deciding the issues. The Administrative Hearing Officer may admit all relevant evidence, including incident reports, audio or video recordings, and affidavits of witnesses. The Administrative Hearing Officer may decide all issues even if the responsible party for the animal fails to appear at the hearing. The Administrative Hearing Officer may find, upon a preponderance of the evidence, that the animal is a nuisance animal and the maintenance of such animal is a public nuisance.
(Ord. No. 2017-011 § 2)