(A) If the owner fails to comply with an order to repair, alter or improve or to vacate and close the dwelling or abandoned structure, the public officer may cause the dwelling or abandoned structure to be repaired, altered or improved or to be vacated and closed; the Inspector may cause to be posted on the main entrance of any dwelling or abandoned structure so closed, a placard with the following words: “This building is unfit for human habitation; the use or occupation of this building for human habitation is prohibited and unlawful.” Occupation of a building so posted shall constitute a misdemeanor.
(B) If the owner fails to comply with an order to remove or demolish the dwelling or abandoned structure, the Inspector may cause the dwelling to be removed or demolished. The duties of the Inspector set forth in division (A) above and this division (B) shall not be exercised until the Board of Commissioners has by ordinance ordered the Inspector to proceed to effectuate the purpose of this section with respect to the particular property or properties which the Inspector shall have found unfit for human habitation or found to be a health or safety hazard and which property shall be described in the ordinance. No ordinance shall be adopted to require demolition of a dwelling or abandoned structure until the owner has first been given a reasonable opportunity to bring it into conformity with the housing code or to correct the conditions which constitute a health or safety hazard. The ordinance shall be recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds in the county wherein the property or properties are located and shall be indexed in the name of the property owner in the grantor index.
(C) Dwellings or abandoned structures ordered vacated by the Inspector shall have all outer doors firmly locked and basement, cellar and first-story windows barred or boarded to prevent entry, and shall not again be used for human habitation until written approval is secured from the Inspector.
(Ord. 21- , passed - -2021) Penalty, see § 152.99