(A) (1) Violation of any provision of this chapter that occurs on or after January 1, 2024 shall constitute grounds for issuance of a notice of violation and assessment of a fine by the Enforcement Official in accordance with 14 CCR § 18995.4. Enforcement actions under this chapter are issuance of an administrative citation and assessment of a fine. The city’s procedures on imposition of administrative fines set forth in Chapter 1.17 of this code are hereby incorporated in their entirety, as modified from time to time, and shall govern the imposition, enforcement, collection, and review of administrative citations issued to enforce this chapter and any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter, except as otherwise indicated in this section. Other remedies allowed by law may be used, including civil action or prosecution as a misdemeanor or infraction. The city may pursue civil actions in the state courts to seek recovery of unpaid administrative citations. The city may choose to delay court action until such time as a sufficiently large number of violations, or cumulative size of violations exist such that court action is a reasonable use of city staff and resources.
(2) The provisions of division (A) do not apply to violations related to a generator placing prohibited container contaminants in containers, which the Enforcement Official and/or the city’s designee shall enforce through the notice provisions of 14 CCR § 18984.5(b) and the contamination processing fees pursuant to the provisions of the applicable franchise agreement between the city and a franchised hauler.
(B) Enforcement pursuant to this chapter may be undertaken by the Enforcement Official.
(C) Process for enforcement.
(1) With the exception of violations of contamination of container contents, city shall issue a notice of violation requiring compliance within 60 days of issuance of the notice.
(2) Absent compliance by the respondent within the deadline set forth in the notice of violation, city shall commence an action to impose penalties, via an administrative citation and fine, pursuant to Chapter 1.17 of this code.
(D) Penalty amounts for types of violations. For the purposes of this chapter, the penalty levels for violations of the provisions of this chapter are as follows:
(1) For a first violation, the penalty shall be $100 per violation.
(2) For a second violation, the penalty shall be $200 per violation.
(3) For a third or subsequent violation, the penalty shall be $300 per violation.
(E) Compliance deadline extension considerations. The city may extend the compliance deadlines set forth in a notice of violation if it finds that there are extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the respondent that make compliance within the deadlines impracticable, including the following:
(1) Acts of God such as earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, and other emergencies or natural disasters;
(2) Delays in obtaining discretionary permits or other government agency approvals; or
(3) Deficiencies in organic waste recycling infrastructure or edible food recovery capacity and the city is under a corrective action plan with CalRecycle pursuant to 14 CCR § 18996.2 due to those deficiencies.
(Ord. 2021-11 § 1 (part), 2021)