(A) Any citee may contest the violation(s), or that he or she is a responsible person, by filing a request for an administrative hearing on a city-approved form with the Office of the City Clerk – Monrovia City Hall, 415 South Ivy Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016, within 15 calendar days from the issuance date of a citation. If the Office of the City Clerk does not receive the request in the required period, the citee shall have waived the right to a hearing and the citation shall be deemed final.
(B) No fee shall be charged for the filing of a request for a hearing.
(C) Requests for a hearing shall be accompanied by the entire amount of the fine stated in the citation. Failure to deposit a fine, or the tender of a non-negotiable check in the required period, shall render a request for an administrative hearing incomplete and untimely. Fines that are deposited with the city shall not accrue interest. Fines deposited shall be returned to the person tendering the fines in the event a citation is overturned.
(D) A citee who is financially unable to deposit the civil fine with his or her request for a hearing may complete a city-approved application form for an advance deposit hardship waiver (hereafter the “Hardship Waiver”). This form and all required accompanying records shall be tendered, along with a request for a hearing, to the Office of the City Clerk – Monrovia City Hall, 415 South Ivy Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016, within 15 calendar days from the issuance date of a citation.
(E) To be considered for a hardship waiver, the application form must be complete, signed, and must be accompanied by documents that enable the city to reasonably determine the citee’s present inability to deposit the fine. Documents suitable for consideration, may include, without limitation, accurate, complete and legible copies of state and federal income tax returns and all schedules for the preceding tax year; financial statements, loan applications, bank account records, income and expense records for twelve months preceding submittal of the waiver form, as well as other documentation demonstrating the citee’s financial hardship. The city may, at a time chosen in its sole discretion and after a citation is final or confirmed, destroy or discard the documents submitted by a citee for a hardship waiver without prior notice to the citee.
(F) Failure to submit a completed, signed hardship waiver form, along with records that support a claim of financial hardship, shall render the request for hearing incomplete and untimely. In this event, the citee shall have waived the right to a hearing and the citation shall be deemed final.
(G) The city shall issue a written decision specifying the reasons for issuing or not issuing the hardship waiver. This decision is final and non-appealable. The decision shall be served upon the person requesting the hardship waiver by first class mail.
(1) Approval of a hardship waiver shall result in the city setting a hearing pursuant to division (I) of this section.
(2) If the city determines that the citee is not entitled to a hardship waiver, he or she shall tender the full amount of the civil fine to the office of the City Clerk within seven calendar days of the date the decision is deposited with the U.S. Postal Service. In the event the City Clerk does not receive the full amount of the fine in the required period:
(a) A late charge shall be imposed;
(b) The request for a hearing is rendered incomplete and untimely; and
(c) The citee shall have waived the right to a hearing and the citation shall be deemed final.
(H) A request for a hearing shall contain the following:
(1) The citation number.
(2) The name, address, telephone and any facsimile numbers, of each person contesting the citation.
(3) A statement of the reason(s) why a citation is being contested.
(4) The date and signature of the citee(s).
(I) The person filing the request for a hearing shall be notified in writing by first class mail of the date, time and place set for this proceeding which shall be conducted within 60 days of the date a timely and complete request is received by the office of the City Clerk. Such notice shall be given at least ten calendar days prior to the date of the hearing. Service of this notice is deemed complete at time of mailing. The failure of a citee to receive a properly addressed notice shall not invalidate the citation or any hearing, city action or proceeding conducted pursuant to this chapter.
(J) If the officer submits an additional written report concerning the citation to the office of the City Clerk for consideration at the hearing, then a copy of this report shall also be served by first class mail on the person requesting an administrative hearing no less than three calendar days prior to the date thereof. Failure to receive said report shall not invalidate the citation or any hearing, city action or proceeding conducted pursuant to this chapter.
(K) A timely request for a hearing shall not excuse a citee from the duty to immediately abate a violation of the Code, nor from any other responsibility or legal consequences for a continuation or repeated occurrence(s) of a violation of the Code.
(Ord. 2007-19 § 4 (part), 2007)