(A) (1) Any person aggrieved by any notice or order of the inspector issued under this chapter may file a petition setting forth his or her reasons for contesting the notice or order with the Kenton County Code Enforcement Board (hereafter referred to as Board), within seven business days of receipt of such notice or order of the inspector.
(2) Upon receipt of the petition, the Board shall set a date for a hearing and shall notify the petitioner. At the hearing, the city, by and through its City Attorney shall prosecute the case before the Board and shall present sufficient evidence to allow the Board to find a violation has occurred by a preponderance of the evidence.
(3) At the hearing the petitioner shall be given an opportunity to show cause why the notice or order should be modified or withdrawn or why the period of time permitted for compliance should be extended.
(4) The Board may affirm, modify, or reverse the notice or order and may grant an extension of time for the performance of any act required where there is practical difficulty or undue hardship connected with the performance of any act required by the provisions of this chapter and that such extension is in harmony with the general purpose of this chapter to secure the public health, safety, and welfare, or may fine the owner for non-compliance with the terms of this chapter.
(B) In addition to the other remedies herein, any license issued under this chapter may, with notice to the holder thereof and after hearing, be revoked or suspended by the Board, and/or the applicable business regulatory license may be revoked or suspended by the appropriate Elsmere official or board, for the following:
(1) If the owner continually and persistently, so as to create a public nuisance on the premises suffers or permits those persons occupying any rental unit to make or cause to be made on the premises any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise or any noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety, of others within the city limits;
(2) If the owner continually and persistently so as to create a public nuisance on the premises suffers or permits those persons occupying any rental unit to cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm or wantonly create a risk through engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior, or to cause a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act that serves no legitimate purpose;
(3) If the owner continually and persistently so as to create a public nuisance on the premises suffers and permits those persons occupying any rental unit to emit or cause any foul, offensive, nauseous, noxious, or disagreeable odors extremely repulsive to the physical senses of reasonable persons which annoy, cause discomfort, injury, or inconvenience to others within the city;
(4) If the owner fails make corrections or repairs mandated by the inspector, which include, but are not limited to, work required to ensure the living units are sanitary; or
(5) If the owner has failed to pay any city tax or fee.
(C) Final decisions of the Code Enforcement Board may be appealed to Kenton District Court.
(D) If an owner has filed an action for a writ of forcible detainer in the District Court of Kenton County or for any action of ejectment in a court of competent jurisdiction for eviction of a tenant who is the cause of a nuisance, as described herein, then any proceeding before the Board shall be placed on hold pending a final determination by the court. If the court shall refuse to evict the offending tenant and the owner has made a good faith effort to abate the nuisance by eviction, then any pending proceeding before the Kenton County Code Enforcement Board shall be dismissed. Dismissal shall not prevent the city, through the inspector, from implementing this chapter to abate future or continuing nuisances occurring on rental premises.
(E) It shall be the obligation of the inspector to cooperate with an owner, who is attempting to evict a tenant charged with creating a nuisance as described in this section, by furnishing documentary and oral evidence at its disposal to the court in the owner's efforts to prove the existence of a nuisance.
(Ord. 1751-2018, passed 4-10-18)