(A) Generally. The City Administrator shall have the responsibility of administering and implementing this chapter. The City Administrator may delegate the authority to investigate and conciliate complaints to other designated city employees.
(B) Complaints; generally.
(1) Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or who believes that he or she will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur (hereinafter referred to as the "charging party") may file a complaint with the City Administrator. The complaints shall be in writing and shall identify the person alleged to have committed or alleged to be committing a discriminatory housing practice and shall state the facts upon which the allegations of a discriminatory housing practice are based. The City Administrator shall prepare complaint forms and furnish them without charge to any person, upon request.
(2) The City Administrator shall receive and accept notification and referral complaints from the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to the provisions of Title VIII, Fair Housing Act of 1958, Pub. L. 90-284, and shall treat the complaints hereunder in the same manner as complaints filed pursuant to division (B)(1) above.
(3) All complaints shall be filed within 180 days following the occurrence of an alleged discriminatory housing practice. Upon the filing or referral of any complaint, the City Administrator shall provide notice of the complaint by furnishing a copy of the complaint to the person named therein (hereinafter referred to as the "respondent") who allegedly committed or were threatening to commit an alleged discriminatory housing practice. The respondent may file an answer to the complaint within 15 days of receipt of the written complaint.
(4) All complaints and answers shall be subscribed and sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths.
(5) If at any time the City Administrator shall receive or discover credible evidence and shall have probable cause to believe that any person or persons have committed a discriminatory housing practice as to which no complaint has been filed or is about to be filed, the City Administrator may prepare and file a complaint upon his or her own motion and in his or her own name, and the complaint shall thereafter be treated in the same manner as a complaint filed by a person aggrieved.
(Ord. 1106-01, passed - -)