(a) Effective January 1, 2022 city representatives and/or its designated entity, including designees, are authorized to conduct inspections and investigations, at random or otherwise, of any collection container, collection vehicle loads, or transfer, processing, or disposal facility for materials collected from generators, or source separated materials to confirm compliance with this ordinance by organic waste generators, commercial businesses (including multi-family residential dwellings), property owners, commercial edible food generators, haulers, self-haulers, food recovery services, and food recovery organizations, subject to applicable laws. This section does not allow city to enter the interior of a private residential property for inspection. For the purposes of inspecting commercial business containers for compliance with Section 4.12.610(a)(2) of this ordinance, city may conduct container inspections for prohibited container contaminants using remote monitoring, and commercial businesses shall accommodate and cooperate with the remote monitoring pursuant to Section 4.12.610(a)(11) of this ordinance.
(b) Regulated entity shall provide or arrange for access during all inspections (with the exception of residential property interiors) and shall cooperate with the city's employee or its designated entity/designee during such inspections and investigations. Such inspections and investigations may include confirmation of proper placement of materials in containers, edible food recovery activities, records, or any other requirement of this ordinance described herein. Failure to provide or arrange for: (i) access to an entity's premises; (ii) installation and operation of remote monitoring equipment; or (ii) access to records for any inspection or investigation is a violation of this ordinance and may result in penalties described.
(1) Any records obtained by the city during its inspections, remote monitoring, and other reviews shall be subject to the requirements and applicable disclosure exemptions of the Public Records Act as set forth in Government Code Section 6250 et seq.
(2) City representatives, its designated entity, and/or designee are authorized to conduct any inspections, remote monitoring, or other investigations as reasonably necessary to further the goals of this ordinance, subject to applicable laws.
(3) The city shall receive written complaints from persons regarding an entity that may be potentially non- compliant with SB 1383 Regulations, including receipt of anonymous complaints.
(c) Enforcement.
(1) Violation of any provision of this ordinance shall constitute grounds for issuance of a Notice of Violation and assessment of a fine by a city enforcement official or representative. Enforcement actions under this ordinance are issuance of an administrative citation and assessment of a fine. The city's procedures on imposition of administrative fines are hereby incorporated in their entirety, as modified from time to time, and shall govern the imposition, enforcement, collection, and review of administrative citations issued to enforce this ordinance and any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this ordinance, except as otherwise indicated in this ordinance.
(2) Other remedies allowed by law may be used, including civil action or prosecution as misdemeanor or infraction. The city may pursue civil actions in the California courts to seek recovery of unpaid administrative citations. The city may choose to delay court action until such time as a sufficiently large number of violations, or cumulative size of violations exist such that court action is a reasonable use of city staff and resources.
(3) Responsible entity for enforcement.
i. Enforcement pursuant to this ordinance may be undertaken by the city's enforcement official, which may be the city manager or their designated entity, legal counsel, or combination thereof.
ii. Enforcement may also be undertaken by a regional or county agency enforcement official, designated by the city, in consultation with the city enforcement official.
A. City enforcement official(s) will interpret ordinance; determine the applicability of waivers, if violation(s) have occurred; implement enforcement actions; and, determine if compliance standards are met.
B. City enforcement official(s) may issue Notices of Violation(s).
(4) Process for enforcement.
i. City enforcement officials and/or their designee will monitor compliance with the ordinance randomly and through compliance reviews, route reviews, investigation of complaints, and an inspection program (that may include remote monitoring). Section 4.12.680 establishes city's right to conduct inspections and investigations.
ii. The city may issue an official notification to notify regulated entities of its obligations under the ordinance.
iii. For jurisdictions assessing contamination processing fees/penalties. For incidences of prohibited container contaminants found in containers, the city and/or designee will issue a Notice of Violation to any generator found to have prohibited container contaminants in a container. Such notice will be provided via a cart tag or other communication immediately upon identification of the prohibited container contaminants or within 14 days after determining that a violation has occurred. If the city and/or their designee observes prohibited container contaminants in a generator's containers on more than three (3) consecutive occasion(s), the city and/or their designee may assess contamination processing fees or contamination penalties on the generator.
iv. With the exception of violations of generator contamination of container contents addressed under Section 4.12.680(b)(4)(iii), the city and/or their designee shall issue a Notice of Violation requiring compliance within 60 days of issuance of the notice.
v. Absent compliance by the respondent within the deadline set forth in the Notice of Violation, the Code enforcement official(s) and/or their designee shall commence an action to impose penalties, via an administrative citation and fine, pursuant to the city's Municipal Code Section 1.12.050. These requirements are also contained in Section 6.9-114(k), Table 1, List of Violations.
Notices shall be sent to "owner" at the official address of the owner maintained by the tax collector for the city or if no such address is available, to the owner at the address of the dwelling or commercial property or to the party responsible for paying for the collection services, depending upon available information
(5) Penalty amounts for types of violations. The penalty levels are as follows:
i. For a first violation, the amount of the base penalty shall not exceed $100 per violation.
ii. For a second violation, the amount of the base penalty shall not exceed $200 per violation.
iii. For a third or subsequent violation, the amount of the base penalty shall not exceed $500 per violation.
(6) Factors considered in determining penalty amount.
i. The nature, circumstances, and severity of the violation(s).
ii. The violator's ability to pay.
iii. The willfulness of the violator's misconduct.
iv. Whether the violator took measures to avoid or mitigate violations of this chapter.
v. Evidence of any economic benefit resulting from the violation(s).
vi. The deterrent effect of the penalty on the violator.
vii. Whether the violation(s) were due to conditions outside the control of the violator.
(7) Compliance deadline extension considerations. The city may extend the compliance deadlines set forth in a Notice of Violation issued in accordance with Section 6.9-114 if it finds that there are extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the respondent that make compliance within the deadlines impracticable, including the following:
i. Acts of God such as earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, and other emergencies or natural disasters;
ii. Delays in obtaining discretionary permits or other government agency approvals; or,
iii. Deficiencies in organic waste recycling infrastructure or edible food recovery capacity and the city is under a corrective action plan with CalRecycle pursuant to 14 CCR Section 18996.2 due to those deficiencies.
(8) Appeals process. Persons receiving an administrative citation containing a penalty for an uncorrected violation may request a hearing to appeal the citation. A hearing will be held only if it is requested within the time prescribed and consistent with the city's procedures in the city's codes for appeals of administrative citations. Evidence may be presented at the hearing. The city will appoint a hearing officer who shall conduct the hearing and issue a final written order.
(9) Education period for non-compliance. Beginning January 1, 2022 and through December 31, 2023, the city will conduct inspections, remote monitoring, route reviews or waste evaluations, and compliance reviews, depending upon the type of regulated entity, to determine compliance, and if the city determines that organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance, it shall provide educational materials to the entity describing its obligations under this ordinance and a notice that compliance is required by January 1, 2022, and that violations may be subject to administrative civil penalties starting on January 1, 2024.
(10) Civil penalties for non-compliance. Beginning January 1, 2024, if the city determines that an organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one or tier two commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance with this ordinance, it shall document the noncompliance or violation, issue a Notice of Violation, and take enforcement action pursuant to 4.12.680, as needed.
(Ord. 976 § 2, 2021)