(A) Violation of any provision of this article shall be punishable as set forth in section 1-10 of this code. Furthermore, violations of this article shall constitute a public nuisance and may be abated as set forth in article 1 of chapter 7 of this code. Other remedies allowed by law may be used, including civil action or prosecution as misdemeanor or infraction. City may pursue civil actions in the California courts to seek recovery of unpaid administrative citations. City may choose to delay court action until such time as a sufficiently large number of violations or cumulative size of violations exists such that court action is a reasonable use of city staff and resources.
(B) Enforcement pursuant to this article may be undertaken by the city manager or their designee, legal counsel, or combination thereof.
(C) Process for enforcement.
(1) The city manager or their designee will monitor compliance with this article randomly and through compliance reviews, route reviews, investigation of complaints, and an inspection program (that may include remote monitoring).
(2) For incidences of prohibited container contaminants found in containers, city will issue a notice of violation to any generator found to have prohibited container contaminants in a container. Such notice will be provided via a cart tag or other communication immediately upon identification of the prohibited container contaminants or within seven days after determining that a violation has occurred. If the city observes prohibited container contaminants in a generator’s containers on more than three consecutive occasion(s), the jurisdiction may assess contamination processing fees or contamination penalties on the generator.
(3) Notices shall be sent to “owner” at the official address of the owner maintained by the tax collector for the jurisdiction or if no such address is available, to the owner at the address of the dwelling or commercial property or to the party responsible for paying for the collection services, depending upon available information.
(D) The city may extend the compliance deadlines set forth in a notice of violation issued 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 jurisdiction is under a corrective action plan with CalRecycle pursuant to 14 CCR Section 18996.2 due to those deficiencies.
(E) Education period for non-compliance.
(1) Beginning January 1, 2022 and through December 31, 2023, city will conduct inspections, remote monitoring, route reviews or waste evaluations, and compliance reviews, depending upon the type of regulated entity, to determine compliance, and if city determines that organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance, it shall provide educational materials to the entity describing its obligations under this article and a notice that compliance is required by January 1, 2022, and that violations may be subject to administrative civil penalties starting on January 1, 2024.
(2) Beginning January 1, 2024, if the city determines that an organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one or tier two commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance with this article, it shall document the noncompliance or violation, issue a notice of violation, and take enforcement action, as needed.
(Ord. No. 3007)