(A) Notice. Whenever the officer who is charged with enforcement determines that a public nuisance is being maintained or exists on premises in the city, the officer shall notify the owner and occupant of the premises of the fact and order that the nuisance be terminated and abated. The owner of the property will be determined as shown by the records of the office of the County Recorder. The notice shall be served in person or by regular mail. If the premises is not occupied and the owner is unknown, the notice may be served by posting it on the premises. The notice shall specify the steps to be taken to abate the nuisance and the time, not exceeding five business days for any grass or weed nuisance and not exceeding 20 days for all other nuisances, to either correct the violation or appeal to the City Council for a determination that the complained of activity does not violate the subchapter.
(B) Accelerated abatement. For second or successive violations concerning grass, weeds, and other vegetation in a calendar year, the city will, without additional notice, correct the conditions creating the violations and assess the cost therefor against the property.
(C) Recovery of cost. The owner of the premise on which a nuisance has been abated by the city shall be personally liable for the city’s cost of abatement, including administrative costs. As soon as the work has been completed and the cost determined, the city shall prepare a bill for the cost and mail it to the owner. Thereupon, the amount shall be immediately due and payable to the city.
(D) Assessment. If the nuisance is a public health or safety hazard on private property, the growth of weeds on private property or outside the traveled portion of streets, or unsound or insect-infected trees, the City Clerk shall, on or before September 1 next following abatement of the nuisance, list the total unpaid charges along with all other charges as well as other charges for current services to be assessed under M.S. § 429.101, as it may be amended from time to time, against each separate lot or parcel to which the charges are attributable. The City Council may then spread the charges against the property under that statute and other pertinent statutes for certification to the County Auditor and collection along with current taxes the following year or in annual installments, not exceeding ten, as the Council may determine in each case.
(Prior Code, § 7-1-6) (Ord. 602, passed 10-13-2014)