(A) Whenever, in the opinion of the Building Inspector of the city, the maintenance or a continuance of a nuisance creates an imminent threat of serious injury to persons or serious damage to persons or real property, or if the nuisance can be abated summarily without or with only minor damage to the items or premises which are creating nuisance, and/or the continuation of the nuisance poses a substantial threat of injury to persons or property or a substantial interference with the quiet enjoyment of life normally present in the community, the Building Inspector shall proceed to abate such nuisance; provided, further, that whenever the owner, occupant, agent or person in possession, charge or control of the real or personal property which has become a nuisance is unknown or cannot regularly be found, the Building Inspector may proceed to abate such nuisance without notice. Where the abatement of the nuisance requires continuing acts by the corporate authorities beyond initial summary abatement and any other additional emergency abatement, it shall seek abatement of such nuisance on a permanent basis through judicial process as soon as reasonably possible.
(B) When any personalty has been removed and placed in storage by the city, as provided for herein, said personalty shall be sold by the city after the last of 30 days. If the proceeds of such sale are insufficient to pay the cost of abatement, the owner shall be liable to the city for the balance of the cost, jointly and severally, to be recoverable in a suit at law. If the proceeds are in excess of the cost, the balance shall be paid to said owners or deposited in the city treasury for their use.
(C) The Building Inspector or his or her duly authorized representative shall compile the cost of such work done and improvements made in abating such nuisance and shall charge the same against the owner of the premises. It is hereby provided that general overhead of administrative expenses of inspection, locating the owner, issuing a notice, reinspection and ordering such work, together with all necessary incidents of same, shall require a charge of $100 for each lot, series of 2 or more adjacent and contiguous lots, or tracts or parcels of acreage, and such minimum charge is hereby established and declared to be an expense of such work and improvement. Notwithstanding thereof, any tabulation of recorded cost, a minimum charge of $200 shall be assessed against each lot so improved upon the terms of this section, but such sum of $200 is hereby expressly stated to be a minimum charge only, and shall have no obligation when the tabulated cost of the work shall exceed such minimum charge.
(Ord. 1187, passed 9-19-1988)