(A) Generally. The Mayor of the city shall have the responsibility of administering and implementing this chapter. The Mayor 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 Mayor. Such 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 Mayor shall prepare complaint forms and furnish them without charge to any person, upon request.
(2) The Mayor 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 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-284, and shall treat such 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 Mayor shall provide notice of the complaint to the persons 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 Mayor 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 Mayor may prepare and file a complaint upon his or her own motion and in his or her own name and such complaint shall thereinafter be treated in the same manner as a complaint filed by a person aggrieved.
(C) Investigation and conciliation.
(1) Upon the filing or referral of a complaint as herein provided, the Mayor shall cause to be made a prompt and full investigation of the matter stated in the complaint; provided, however, that before any charge becomes accepted for investigative purposes, the Mayor or an investigator shall have personally reviewed with the charging party the allegations contained therein and shall have determined that said charge comes within the provisions of this chapter. In the event such review results in the determination that a particular charge does not come within the provisions of this chapter, the charging party shall be given a clear and concise explanation of the reasons why it does not.
(2) If the Mayor determines that there is not probable cause to believe that a particular alleged discriminatory housing practice has been committed, the Mayor shall take no further action with respect to that alleged offense.
(3) During or after the investigation, but subsequent to the mailing of the notice of complaint, the Mayor shall, if it appears that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred or is threatening to occur, attempt by informal endeavors to effect conciliation, including voluntary discontinuance of the discriminatory housing practice and to obtain adequate assurance of future voluntary compliance with provisions of this chapter. Nothing said or done in the course of such informal endeavors may be made public by the Mayor, the Council, the investigator, the conciliator, the charging party or the respondent, or be used as evidence in a subsequent proceeding without the written consent of all persons concerned.
(4) Upon completion of an investigation where the Mayor has made a determination that a discriminatory housing practice has in fact occurred, if the Mayor is unable to secure from the respondent an acceptable conciliation agreement, then the City Council must, upon a majority vote, refer the case to the City Attorney for prosecution in Municipal Court or to other agencies as appropriate. With such recommendation of the Mayor and the referral of the City Council, the Mayor shall refer his or her entire file to the City Attorney. The City Attorney shall, after such referral, make a determination as to whether to proceed with prosecution of such complaint in Municipal Court.
(Ord. 94-805, passed 10-3-1994)