(A) The city may abate the violation, or cause the violation to be abated, when:
(1) The terms of any consent agreement between the city and the person responsible or person in charge of property so provide, or when the terms of a consent agreement have been violated by the person or persons signing the consent agreement;
(2) The person responsible has been mailed the notice required by § 99.03, and the violation stated within the notice has not been abated within the time provided in the notice and no hearing has been requested;
(3) Following hearing the corrective action required by the City Council has not been completed by the date specified; or
(4) There have been court proceedings which have become final, resulting in an order by the court directing abatement, and abatement has not been completed within the time required by the court's order.
(B) The decision to proceed to abatement by the city shall be made by the City Council.
(C) Summary abatement. Whenever a violation causes a condition the continued existence of which constitutes an immediate or emergent threat to the public health, safety, or welfare, or to the environment, the city may summarily and without prior notice, abate the condition. Notice of such abatement, including the reason for it, shall be given to the person or persons responsible for the violation as soon as reasonably possible. The costs of summary abatement shall be charged to the person responsible and become a lien upon the property in accordance with the provisions of this chapter applicable to costs of non-summary abatements.
(D) When the city proceeds to abate as provided for herein it may do so using any lawful means, the city or its agents may enter upon the subject property and may remove or correct a violation which has become the proper subject of abatement. The city may also seek such judicial process as it deems necessary to effect the abatement.
(E) Interference prohibited. No person shall obstruct, impede, or interfere with the city or its agents, or with any person retained or hired by the city to effect the abatement, or with any person who is a person in charge of the property, in performing any acts necessary to correct a violation.
(F) The city shall maintain a record of all expenses incurred in abating a waste violation. The record shall include, but is not necessarily limited to, the costs of mailing notices, the expense of title reports, title searches, and lien searches, charges for labor and personal services, equipment rentals, the costs of contractors, materials expense, fuel costs, survey expenses, reasonable charge for use of city-owned equipment, land fill fees, the costs of transportation, etc., and an additional charge of 15% for administrative overhead.
(G) A notice of assessment for the costs of abatement shall be sent by certified mail with return receipt to the responsible party or parties and those entitled to receive the notice provided for in § 99.03 hereof. The notice shall contain:
(1) The total costs of abatement, including the administrative overhead;
(2) A statement that the costs of abatement are the personal obligation of the person in charge of the subject property and will become a lien against the property unless paid within 60 days;
(3) A statement that if person in charge of the property objects to the cost of the abatement, he or she may file a notice of objection with the city within 15 days of the date of the notice; and
(4) A statement that a fee for recording the costs of abatement as a lien against the property may be added to the cost of abatement.
(H) Objections to the proposed assessment shall be heard and determined by the City Council before the proposed assessment becomes a lien against the property.
(I) If the costs of the abatement are not paid within 60 days from the date of the notice of costs, or if an objection was timely filed, from the date of the city's determination of costs, the costs of abatement shall be filed and recorded as a lien upon the property and shall be entered into the docket of city liens. When the entry is made, it shall constitute a lien on the property from which the violation was abated.
(Ord. 555, passed 11-9-2014)