A. City personnel and/or any person or persons who abates or initiates the abatement of the nuisance on behalf of the city, under the provisions of this chapter, including any action taken pursuant to Section 8.12.050, shall keep an account of the costs thereof. City personnel and/or such person or persons shall submit to the city council for confirmation an itemized written report showing such costs. The city council may confirm, modify or reject some or all of the costs to be assessed against the responsible party by motion or resolution.
B. Notice of the total costs confirmed by the city council that have been incurred by the city to abate or initiate the abatement of the nuisance, including all inspection, investigation, assessment, repair, mitigation, remediation, removal, rehabilitation, security, storage, traffic control, law enforcement protection and other consequential direct and indirect costs related to such abatement, including all administrative and legal costs and expenses, as well as all costs incurred under Section 8.12.050, shall be served on the owner(s) of record in accordance with Article 3, commencing with Section 415.10 of Chapter 4 of Title 5 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the owner(s) of record, as shown on the last equalized assessment roll or the supplemental roll, whichever is most current, after diligent search cannot be found, the notice may be served by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place on the property for a period of ten days and publication thereof in a newspaper of general circulation published in Los Angeles County pursuant to California Government Code Section 6062. Responsible parties, other than owner(s) of record, shall be served with this notice in the manner provided under Section 8.12.080. The notice provided under this section shall include:
1. Notice that a lien may be imposed on the property if full payment is not received by the city within thirty days from the date of service of the notice;
2. The date of the notice and order issued to the responsible party(ies), if such a notice and order was issued;
3. The street address, legal description and assessor's parcel number of the parcel on which the lien may be imposed;
4. A statement advising the responsible party that the party may appeal to the city council the reasonableness of the amount of the total cost incurred by or on behalf of the city by serving a written request for such an appeal on the city clerk. The written request must be received by the city clerk within fifteen days from the date of service of the notice provided in this section. Failure of the responsible party to file an appeal within this fifteen-day period shall constitute a waiver of the party's rights to contest the reasonableness of the costs.
C. If payment of the costs specified in subsection A of this section is not provided within fifteen days of the notice provided under subsection (B) of this section and no appeal of the reasonableness of the total costs is timely made, a nuisance abatement lien may be recorded on the property in the county recorder's office. From the date of recording, the nuisance abatement lien shall have the same force, effect and priority as a judgment lien.
D. If payment of the costs specified in subsection (A) of this section is not provided within fifteen days of the notice provided under subsection (B) of this section and no appeal is timely made, as an alternative to the recording of a nuisance abatement lien, the city may assess the unpaid costs as a special assessment against the property to be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal taxes are collected, subject to the same penalties and the same procedures under foreclosure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary municipal taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of municipal taxes shall be applicable to the special assessment provided for in this chapter.
E. If the costs specified in subsection (A) of this section are not paid within fifteen days of the notice provided under subsection (B) of this section and no appeal is timely made on the city council, the unpaid costs shall become a personal obligation of the responsible party(ies), and each of them, jointly and severally, and the city attorney is authorized to pursue collection of these costs by all appropriate legal means.
F. Where an appeal has been timely filed with the city clerk contesting the reasonableness of the costs set forth in the notice provided pursuant to subsection (B) of this section, the city clerk shall set the matter for a public hearing before the city council within forty-five days from receipt of the request for appeal. Notice of the public hearing shall be provided to the appellant in accordance with Section 8.12.080. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the city council, by motion or resolution, shall confirm, modify or reject some or all of the costs set forth in the notice given pursuant to subsection (B) of this section. Notice of the decision of the council on the reasonableness of the costs and a demand for payment of the costs determined to be reasonable by the council shall be provided to the responsible party(ies) consistent with subsections (B)(1), (2) and (3) of this section. If any costs are not paid within fifteen days of the date of the notice of the city council's decision and request for payment, the city may enforce its rights to collect these costs in accordance with subsections (C), (D) and (E) of this section and in accordance with all other legal means available to the city.
(Ord. 94-01-1174 § 6 (part))