(A) A hearing officer, appointed by the City Manager, will conduct the administrative citation hearing.
(B) No hearing to contest an administrative citation before a hearing officer will be held until a request for hearing form has been completed and submitted, and the fine has been deposited in advance, unless a hardship waiver is granted in accordance with § 1-18-10(C) of this chapter.
(C) The hearing officer may only consider evidence that is relevant to whether the violation occurred and whether the responsible person has caused or maintained the violation of this code on the date specified in the administrative citation. However, the formal rules of evidence shall not apply to the hearing.
(D) At least ten days prior to the hearing, the city must provide the recipient of an administrative citation with copies of the citation, reports and other documents to be submitted to the hearing officer. No other discovery is permitted. Formal rules of evidence will not apply.
(E) The person contesting the administrative citation will be given the opportunity to testify and present witnesses and evidence concerning the administrative citation.
(F) Unless requested in advance by the person contesting the administrative citation, neither the code compliance officer nor any other representative of the city is required to attend the hearing, provided that any such appearance may be made at the discretion of the enforcement officer or City Manager.
(G) The failure of any recipient of an administrative citation to appear at the administrative citation hearing will constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to exhaust administrative remedies, and the order of the citation will become the final determination.
(H) The administrative citation and any additional documents submitted by the enforcement officer to the hearing officer will constitute prima facie evidence of the violation and the respective facts contained in those documents.
(I) The hearing officer may continue the hearing and request additional information from the code compliance officer or the recipient of the administrative citation prior to issuing a written decision.
(Ord. 550, passed 8-15-2006; Ord. 610, passed 2-18-2014)