(A) General penalty. Any person violating the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to the penalties as described in § 10.99 of this Code of Ordinances or as specified in this Chapter, whichever is greater.
(B) Enforcement of ordinances; civil penalties. Civil penalties may be imposed upon a violator of this code or an ordinance of the city pursuant to the procedure set forth herein:
(1) Citations.
(a) Issuance of citation. The Building Inspector, Code Enforcement Officer or other authorized officer, agent or employee of the city is empowered to issue warning citations, notices of violation and citations with fines, if there is a reasonable cause to believe that any provision of the City Code of Ordinances has been violated. Where a provision has been violated, such citations shall be issued to the violator or property owner.
(b) Violator. A violator of a provision of the code or an ordinance of the city shall be deemed to be the owner of the premises, the agent of the owner authorized to be responsible for the premises, and/or the appropriate occupant, lessee, employee or person having immediate beneficial use of and/or responsibility over the premises or property.
(c) Methods of issuance of citations. A citation shall be considered issued if it is delivered in person to the violator, or if the violator cannot be readily found, then the citation may be mailed to the last known mailing address of the owner or agent shown on public records. If the violator cannot be found and after other reasonable efforts have been made to communicate the existence of the violation to the owner or agent, then the citation shall also be considered issued if directed to the owner, agent or occupant and left at the place of residence or location of the violation.
(d) Types of citations and notices. It shall be in the sole discretion of the Building Inspector, Code Enforcement Officer or other authorized officer, agent or employee of the city to determine which of the following shall be issued to a violator.
1. Warning citation. This citation for a violation shall be a warning citation stating that a violation of the chapter has occurred. It shall also state the circumstances involved in the violation.
2. Notice of violation. This notice shall state that the owner, occupant and/or person having control of the lot or property, occupied or not, shall abate or remove the conditions or otherwise comply with the city code. In lieu of, or addition to such notice, the office or inspector may issue a citation notice and take enforcement actions as set forth in § 96.10 (B)(1)(d)3. and impose the cost of remedying or abating the nuisance as set forth in §§ 96.06 and 96.07 in the Code of Ordinances. In the event an inspector determines that a nuisance is an immediate detriment to human health, safety or welfare, the inspector may take appropriate action to summarily abate the condition without notice.
3. Citations with fines. If the violation continues after the deadline to correct a violation, then a citation with a fine in an initial amount of $50 shall be authorized to be issued against the violator. Thereafter, each day the violation continues shall be deemed an additional offense and additional citations with increasing fines up to $250 may be issued each day the violation continues. Any unpaid citations and delinquency charges shall be cumulative and shall be recovered in a civil action or in the nature of debt as well as any attorney fees incurred by the city incident thereto. In lieu of a civil action to recover the debt, the city may turn unpaid penalties in to a credit/collection agency for collection. The offender will be responsible for all reasonable monetary damages as required by the collections agency to recover the debt. This section may also be enforced by any appropriate, equitable action. In addition to the civil penalty, the city may impose an administrative fee up to $100 in addition to any fines to cover the city's costs of administering a violation.
(e) Records. Records of citations shall be maintained for a reasonable period of time.
(Ord. 2001-25, passed 2-19-01; Am. Ord. 2005-64, passed 7-5-05)