(A) Acting under the Board of Commissioners' authority to delegate certain duties, the County Engineer is hereby authorized to administer, implement and enforce the provisions of this chapter in accordance with the policies and procedures set out in this section. For this purpose, the County Engineer (and the Howard County Surveyor, where applicable) shall have the right to enter upon and inspect real estate and facilities subject to regulation hereunder as often as necessary to determine compliance or non-compliance.
(B) If a violation cannot be informally resolved, the County Engineer may issue a written notice of violation by certified mail, return receipt requested, to any violator. The notice will describe the violation committed and state that it must be corrected within 15 days (or more if circumstances dictate) of receipt, or further action may be taken, including possible fines, court actions or other remedial steps permitted by law.
(C) If the violation is corrected within the allotted time no further action will be taken. If the violation is not timely corrected, the County Engineer may, at their discretion, seek compliance by imposing a fine upon the violator for each day the violation continues, not to exceed $1,000 in the aggregate. If such fine does not achieve compliance, or the County Engineer opts to not impose a fine, the County Engineer may refer the matter to the Board of Commissioners requesting that, after due consideration, the Board of Commissioners take one or more of the following actions:
(1) Set a hearing on the violation, with due notice to the violator, by certified mail, return receipt requested, mailed at least 15 days prior to the hearing date.
(2) With or without a hearing:
(a) Issue orders to violator to correct violations;
(b) Impose fines not to exceed $2,500 in the aggregate in accordance with I.C. 36-1-6-9;
(c) Commence a court action to enforce this chapter under the authority of I.C. 36-1-6-4 requesting the court to order one or more of the remedies listed in this chapter, including (but not limited to) injunctive relief, cease and desist orders, enforcement of fines levied and remediation; and/or
(d) Seek reasonable compensation from a court for damages the violator has caused to county property.
(D) An appeal of any action, order or fine imposed by the Board of Commissioners or any fine imposed by the County Engineer pursuant to division (C) above must be filed with the court not more than 60 days after imposition of any action, order or fine, all in accordance with I.C. 36-1-6-9(f).
(E) The above listed remedies are not exclusive of any other remedies which may be available to the Board of Commissioners under any federal, state or local law or regulation.
(Ord. BCCO-2023-26, passed 7-3-23)