(A) When a hearing has been requested, the Code Enforcement Board shall schedule a hearing. The hearing shall be conducted within 14 days of the request, unless the requester wants or agrees to a continuance not to exceed 14 additional days.
(B) Not less than seven days before the date of the hearing, the Code Enforcement Board shall notify the requester of the date, time, and place of the hearing. The notice may be given by certified mail, return receipt requested; by personal delivery; or by leaving the notice at the person's usual place of residence with any individual residing therein who is 18 years of age or older and who is informed of the contents of the notice.
(C) Any person requesting a hearing before the Code Enforcement Board who fails to appear at the time and place set for the hearing shall be deemed to have waived the right to a hearing to contest the citation and the determination that a violation was committed shall be final. The Code Enforcement Board shall enter a final order determining the violation as committed and shall impose the civil fine set forth in the citation. A copy of the final order shall be served upon the person guilty of the violation.
(D) All testimony shall be taken under oath and recorded. Testimony shall be taken from the Code Enforcement Officer, the alleged violator, and any witnesses to the violation offered by the Code Enforcement Officer or alleged violator. Formal rules of evidence shall not apply, but fundamental due process shall be observed and shall govern the proceedings.
(E) The Code Enforcement Board shall, based on the evidence, determine whether a violation was committed. If it determines that no violation was committed, an order dismissing the citation shall be entered. If it determines that a violation was committed, an order shall be issued upholding the citation and either imposing a fine up to the maximum authorized by this or other ordinance or requiring the offender remedy a continuing violation, or both.
(F) Every final order of the Code Enforcement Board shall be reduced to writing, which shall include the date the order was issued. A copy shall be furnished to the person named in the citation. The person named in the citation may ask the Middletown City Commission (or the governing body of any city which has in place an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement to perform and enforce the duties of a Code Enforcement Board) for reconsideration of the final order. Such request for reconsideration must be in writing and filed with the City Clerk (of the city in which the violation occurred) within seven days of the date of the final order of the Code Enforcement Board. The city governing body may (but is not required to) review and entertain such Request for Reconsideration and may, affirm, modify, revise, amend, or dismiss any final order of the Code Enforcement Board. The request for reconsideration does not extend any other time period to appeal the final order of the Code Enforcement Board. If the person named in the citation is not present when the final order is issued, the order shall be delivered in accordance with the procedures set forth in division (B) above.
(Ord. 08-13-15-B, passed 9-10-2015)