(A) The purpose of the public hearing is to determine whether or not the building is unsafe in accordance with the standards set forth in this subchapter.
(B) The matter shall be set for hearing before the City Council at the earliest practicable date and notice of the hearing shall be served on the responsible party and the Building Official not less than ten days prior to date of the hearing. All interested persons shall have the opportunity to be heard and may introduce evidence to the City Council for its members’ consideration.
(C) After the public hearing, the City Council shall make findings and orders as it shall deem appropriate.
(D) After the public hearing, if a building is found in violation of standards set out in this subchapter, the City Council may order that the building be vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished by the owner within a reasonable time. The City Council also may order that the occupants be relocated within a reasonable time. If the responsible party does not take the ordered action within the allotted time, the City Council shall make a diligent effort to discover each mortgagee and penholder having an interest in the building or in the property on which the building is located. The City Secretary shall send to each identified mortgagee and lienholder a notice containing:
(1) An identification and address of the building and the property on which it is located;
(2) A description of the violation of this code of ordinances that is present at the building; and
(3) A statement that the municipality will vacate, secure, remove or demolish the building or relocated the occupants of the building if the ordered action is not taken within a reasonable time.
(E) As an alternative to the procedure prescribed by division (D) above, the City Council shall make a diligent effort to discover each mortgagee and lienholder before conducting the public hearing and shall give them a notice of and an opportunity to comment at the hearing. If the city proceeds under this division, the order issued by the City Council shall specify a reasonable time for the building to be vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished by the responsible party or for the occupants to be relocated by the responsible party and an additional reasonable time for the ordered action to be taken by any of the mortgagees or lienholders in the event the responsible party fails to comply with the order within the time provided for action by the responsible party. Under this division, the city is not required to furnish any notice to a mortgagee or lienholder other than a copy of the order in the event the responsible party fails to timely take the ordered action.
(F) If the building is not vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished or the occupants are not relocated within the allotted time, the city may vacate, secure, remove or demolish the building or relocate the occupants at its own expense.
(G) If the city incurs expenses under division (F) above, the city may assess the expenses on and the city has a lien against unless it is a homestead as protected by the State Constitution, the property on which the building was or is located. The lien is extinguished if the property owner or another person having an interest in the legal title to the property reimburses the city for the expenses. The lien arises and attaches to the property at the time the notice of the lien is recorded and indexed in the office of the County Clerk. The notice must contain the name and address of the owner if that information can be determined with a reasonable effort, a legal description of the real property on which the building was located, the amount of expenses incurred by the city and the balance due.
(H) If the notice is given and the opportunity to repair, remove or demolish the building is afforded to each mortgagee and lienholder as authorized by divisions (D) or (E) above, the lien is a privileged lien subordinate only to tax liens and all previously recorded bona fide mortgage liens attached to the real property to which the city’s lien attaches.
(Ord. 103-95, passed 10-25-94)