(A) Any person, firm, corporation or entity of any kind that violates any provision of the town code of the Town of Leesburg or fails to comply with any of the mandatory requirements of the Town Code of the Town of Leesburg shall pay a fine to the Town of Leesburg as follows:
(1) A fine of $25 for the first offense;
(2) A fine of $100 for the second offense; and
(3) A fine of $200 for the third offense.
(B) The fines shall be paid to the Clerk-Treasurer of the Town of Leesburg within 30 days from the issuance and receipt of a citation for such violation, and if not so paid, a civil action to collect such fines shall be filed in Kosciusko County Superior Court on behalf of the Town against the violator in order to collect the fine, and in such case, and upon a finding that the violator violated the Town Code, a fine will be imposed as hereinabove provided and the court may order the violator to reimburse the town for its reasonable expenses in enforcing the section of the Code or other Ordinance, including reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
(C) It shall be the policy of the town to take the following steps with regard to issuance of ordinance violation tickets.
(1) It is the policy of the Town Council to exhaust all reasonable efforts to obtain compliance with the ordinances of the town before resulting to the issuance of an ordinance violation ticket.
(2) When a violation of an ordinance has been witnessed in person by the Street Superintendent or any elected official of the town, the violation will be documented by photographic evidence and a written report to be prepared by the Street Superintendent or the official that initially witnessed the violation.
(3) The Street Superintendent will give the owner/occupant who committed or allowed the violation a verbal warning and a copy of the Town ordinance that has been violated.
(4) If the violation has not been corrected within 30 days of the verbal warning, a written warning will be delivered personally to the owner/occupant or mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner/occupant.
(5) The notice will specify a date certain by which the violation must be corrected.
(6) If the violation is not corrected by the date specified, the matter will be brought to the attention of the Town Council.
(7) The Town Council will make a decision as to whether to issue an ordinance violation ticket to the offender. If an ordinance violation ticket is issued, the ticket must be signed by at least two representatives of the town.
(Ord. passed 12-9-2013; Ord. 2014-2, passed 10-13-2014; Ord. 2019-3, passed 4-8-2019)