(A) Whenever any tree, plant or shrubbery, or part thereof, are growing in any street, public place or upon private property contiguous to a street, or sidewalk, or public place, and is trimmed or removed by the village then, after the work is done, the village shall give notice by regular mail, to the owner of such lot or parcel of land, at his or her last known address, to pay the cost of such trimming or removal of trees, plant, shrubbery, grass or weeds, or parts thereof, which said notice shall be accompanied by a statement of the amount of cost incurred, and in the event the same is not paid within 30 days after the mailing of said notice, then such amount shall be certified to the County Auditor for collection of the same as other taxes and assessments are collected.
(B) Costs assessed pursuant to the foregoing section shall be apportioned as follows.
(1) Trimming and major trimming of trees as defined in § 91.17 and the trimming or removal of shrubs, plants, weeds or grass shall be at the owner’s cost entirely.
(2) The cost of removal of trees in the tree lawn or right-of-way as defined herein shall be paid 50% by the owner and 50% by the village with labor or in-kind effort supplied by either the owner or the village counted toward said entity’s share of the cost, except that consistent with § 91.20(D), any tree removed by the village due to the failure of the property owner to have the tree removed in a timely fashion after appropriate notice by the village, shall be the sole responsibility of the owner. The owner shall be responsible for payment to the persons or entity performing the work, unless other arrangements have been approved by the Commission in advance, and upon payment by the owner of the cost of such removal, the village shall reimburse said owner for the village portion of said costs. The determination of the value of labor or in-kind costs shall be determined by the Village Administrator as the Tree Commission’s designee in the first instance, with such determination reviewed by the full Commission at its next regular meeting.
(3) The village, at its option and expense shall plant such trees in the tree lawn as it deems appropriate and consistent with budgetary appropriations to replace trees removed pursuant to or prior to this subchapter. With the permission of the Tree Commission, the property owner may plant a tree in the tree lawn at his or her own expense, after consultation and approval of the Tree Commission or its designee as to the type and placement of such tree or trees.
(Ord. 2002-07, passed 9-3-2002)