Subd. 1. Procedure. If the notice of violation, as described in § 11.07, is not complied with within the time specified, the code officer shall report that fact forthwith to the City Administrator. Thereafter, an administrative hearing by the City Hearing Officer shall be set, pursuant to City Code § 1.13, Subd. 4. The owner or occupant shall be provided with at least 10 days’ notice of the hearing. The hearing notice shall be served on the owner or occupant as provided in § 11.07, Subd. 3. At the hearing, the owner or occupant shall be provided an opportunity to provide testimony, present evidence, and question witnesses. After the hearing, the Hearing Officer may issue Findings of Fact and Abatement Order providing for the city to abate the violation. The abatement order shall be executed as soon as practicable thereafter under the supervision of the code officer. Any abatement order issued by the Hearing Officer may be appealed pursuant to City Code § 1.13, Subd. 5. and § 11.12, Subd. 2., to the City Council. City Council review of the Hearing Officer’s abatement order shall follow the same rules and procedures as outlined in City Code § 1.13, Subd. 5.(A) to (C). If the Council upholds the abatement order, an aggrieved party may obtain judicial review of the Council’s decision by proceeding under a writ of certiorari in District Court. The writ must be filed within 10 days of the Council’s decision. If the violation is not abated within the time prescribed by the City Council, the city may take any and all action necessary to abate said violation immediately and may assess to the landowner any and all costs incurred therein, including legal fees and costs, and said assessment shall be a specific lien against any real estate owned by said landowner.
Subd. 2. Emergency procedure; summary enforcement. In cases of emergency, where delay in abatement required to complete the procedure and notice requirements, as set forth in § 11.07 and Subd. 1. of this section, will permit a continuing violation to unreasonably endanger public health, safety, or welfare, the City Council may order summary enforcement and abate the violation. To proceed with summary enforcement, the code officer or other designated official shall determine that a violation of this Code exists or is being maintained on premises in the city and that delay in abatement will unreasonably endanger public health, safety, or welfare. The code officer or designated official shall attempt to notify in writing the occupant or owner of the premises of the nature of the violation and the city’s intention to seek summary enforcement and the time and place of the City Council meeting to consider the question of summary enforcement. The City Council shall determine whether or not the condition identified in the notice to the owner or occupant is a violation of this code and whether public health, safety or welfare will be unreasonably endangered by delay in abatement required to complete the procedure set forth in § 11.07 and Subd. 1. of this section, and may order that the nuisance be immediately terminated or abated. If the nuisance is not immediately terminated or abated, the City Council may order summary enforcement and abate the nuisance.
Subd. 3. Immediate abatement. Nothing in this section shall prevent the city, without notice or other process, from immediately abating any condition that poses an imminent and serious hazard to human life or safety.
Subd. 4. Judicial remedy. Nothing in this section shall prevent the city from seeking a judicial remedy when no other adequate administrative remedy exists.
Subd. 5. Personal liability. The owner of the premises on which a violation of this code has been abated by the city, or a person who has caused a violation on property not owned by that person, shall be personally liable for the cost to the city of the abatement, including administrative costs. As soon as the work has been completed and the cost determined, the City Clerk or other city official shall prepare a bill for the cost and mail it to the owner. Thereupon the amount shall be immediately due and payable at the office of the City Clerk.
Subd. 6. Assessment. After notice and hearing as provided in M.S. § 429.061, as it may be amended from time to time, if the violation of this code is a public health or safety hazard on private property, the accumulation of snow and ice on public sidewalks, the growth of weeds on private property or outside the traveled portion of streets, unsound or insect-infected trees, installation or repair of water service lines, or required inspection relating to a municipal housing maintenance code violation, the City Clerk shall, on or before September 1 next following abatement of the violation, list the total unpaid charges along with all other such charges as well as other charges for current services to be assessed under M.S. § 429.101 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 any 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 City Council may determine in each case.
(Ord. 69, Fourth Series, passed 4-6-2021)