(a) It is the intent of the City Council, in adopting this section, to impose on and collect from the owner of a nuisance property the cost for law enforcement and other services, which are over and above the cost of providing normal law enforcement and other services City-wide, if the said excess costs are spent to respond to and/or abate a public nuisance which has occurred, or is maintained and permitted, on the nuisance property.
(b) If a premises has been declared a nuisance property within the past twelve months, and pursuant to this chapter a new, continuing, or recurring public nuisance is found to exist, notice shall be served on the owner indicating the intent of the Zoning Inspector to certify the costs of responding to and abating the public nuisance. However, if the owner was previously put on notice of the public nuisance at issue, notice of intent to certify costs will not be served until the thirty day time period, or other time period as determined by the City, to abate the public nuisance has expired. Notice of intent to certify costs shall be served at least thirty days before such certification occurs.
(c) The owner of a nuisance property who receives a notice of intent to certify costs may within ten days after completion of service of such notice ask the Zoning Inspector in writing for reconsideration of the intended certification of costs. If the Zoning Inspector finds that the facts presented do not support the finding of a nuisance, the Inspector shall rescind the notice. Otherwise, the Inspector shall refer the appeal for hearing by a Hearing Board composed of the Mayor, the Fire Chief, the Zoning Inspector, Building Inspector and the Law Director or in the event any of the officers are unable to attend, by someone from their respective department delegated by them to act in their behalf. Action by the city to abate the nuisance shall not be stayed by such appeal. If on appeal any of the following situations is proven by a preponderance of the evidence, the costs of abatement shall not be certified and imposed on the owner:
(1) The present owner was not the owner at the time of either of the public nuisances that prompted the declaration of the property as a nuisance property.
(2) The present owner was not the owner at the time of the public nuisance that prompted the current declaration of a nuisance.
(3) The owner had no knowledge of the public nuisance, and could not, with reasonable care and diligence, have known of the public nuisance; and upon receipt of the notice of the declaration of the property as a nuisance property, the owner promptly took all actions necessary and reasonable to abate the public nuisance.
(d) The costs for responding to and abating a public nuisance shall include, but are not limited to, the gross salaries and benefits paid by the City to persons responding to and/or abating the public nuisance; pro rata costs for all equipment, including vehicles, used to respond to and/or abate the public nuisance; the costs of any administrative services used to assist in responding to and/or abating the public nuisance; the costs of repairs to any equipment or property damaged in responding to and/or abating the public nuisance; and the cost of any medical treatment of persons employed by the City who were injured while responding to and/or abating the public nuisance.
(e) The costs for responding to and abating a public nuisance at or related to a nuisance property shall be recovered from the owner in the following procedure:
(1) The owner or owners shall be billed directly by certified mail. The bill shall be paid within sixty days after the receipt of the bill.
(2) If costs are not so recovered then the City shall cause the costs to be levied as an assessment and recovered in accordance with Ohio R.C. 715.261.
The City reserves its right to seek reimbursement for costs and damages not recovered by assessment against the property through other legal remedies or procedures.
(Ord. 7-06. Passed 3-7-06.)