(a) (1) Whenever the Director of the Department of Public Works and Utilities determines that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to remain on private property, or that the telephone may have a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, the Director shall initiate procedures to revoke the certificate of registration for that telephone.
(2) A certification by the Council member of the ward in which the telephone is or is to be located setting forth facts establishing that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to remain on private property, or that the telephone has a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, shall be prima facie evidence that the certificate of registration is subject to revocation or should not be issued under this section.
(b) Whenever the Director makes such a determination with respect to a telephone for which a certificate of registration has been issued, the Director shall attempt to notify the registrant of the determination by mailing a notice to the registered agent or the registrant, and a representative of the City may enter upon any private property and may place upon the telephone a notice stating that the certificate of registration is subject to revocation and that the registrant has a right to request a preliminary hearing at which the registrant will be given an opportunity to be heard in opposition to the revocation within seven days of the notice.
(c) (1) The preliminary hearing shall be informal and shall provide the registrant with an opportunity to address the reasons for the Director’s preliminary determination. If no preliminary hearing is requested or if the Director determines that there is probable cause for revocation of the certificate of registration after the preliminary hearing, the Director shall issue an order requiring the telephone and its appurtenances to be removed within seven days after the order is issued pending a final determination. Telephones that are not timely removed may be removed by a representative of the City.
(2) At the preliminary and final hearing formal or technical rules of evidence shall not apply. Evidence may be admitted if it is a type commonly relied upon by reasonably prudent persons in the conduct of their affairs. The Director may establish and impose a fee for preliminary and final hearings conducted under this section which shall not exceed an amount sufficient for the City to recover its costs related to the preliminary or final hearings.
(d) The owner of the telephone for which a determination of probable cause for revocation of a certification of registration has been issued may contest such determination timely removing the telephone and its appurtenances and by filing with the Director of Public Works and Utilities a request for a final hearing within 14 days after removal in accordance with rules promulgated by the Director.
(e) If, after a final hearing, the Director determines that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to be located on the private property, or that the telephone had a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, or if no timely request for a final hearing is made, the Director shall revoke the certification of registration for the telephone.
(f) No certificate of registration may be issued for a telephone at a zoning lot with respect to which a previous certificate has been revoked for a period of one year after revocation.
(g) Outdoor pay telephones not lawfully installed or maintained pursuant to this Code are hereby declared to be public nuisance subject to summary abatement upon due notice. A representative of the City may enter upon any private property within the City that he or she has reason to believe contains an outdoor pay telephone in violation of this section, and may place upon the telephone a notice that the telephone must be removed within seven days. Such notice shall also provide that if the telephone is not removed within seven days, a representative of the City may remove the telephone and charge the costs of removal jointly and severally to its owner, operator, and the person who owns or controls the real property on which the pay telephone is located. If such telephone has not been removed within seven days, a representative of the City may remove the telephone.
(h) If the costs to the City for removing telephones and their appurtenances pursuant to this section are not paid within 30 days, the telephone shall be deemed abandoned and may be sold or destroyed. The costs of removing outdoor pay telephone shall be a debt to the City jointly and severally owed by the telephone’s owner and operator, and any person who owns or controls the real property on which the telephone was located.
(Ord. 3309, passed 9-25-1995; Ord. 3786, passed 12-13-2010)