(A) The creation or maintenance of a violation of this chapter is prohibited and shall constitute a misdemeanor. Each day that a violation is permitted to continue constitutes a separate offense.
(B) All inspections, enforcement actions and hearings on violations, unless expressly stated to the contrary, shall be under the direction and supervision of an Enforcement Officer, who may appoint or designate other public officers or employees to perform duties as may be necessary to enforce this Code, including inspections and holding of hearings. The Enforcement Officers are hereby authorized to abate the violations in accordance with the procedures of this Code and to serve notice to abate same, whether upon the owner or other responsible party for a premises upon which a violation is being maintained, or upon the person or persons causing or maintaining the violation.
(C) If a violation is found to exist on an owner-occupied premises and the owners demonstrate that the cost of remedying the violation would exceed the household’s annual disposable income and thereby cause a financial hardship, enforcement shall be held in temporary abeyance until a means of financing or assistance can be identified.
(D) The objective of this Code being the abatement of violations, persons violating this Code shall be allowed a reasonable amount of time to voluntarily remedy the violation before action to assess costs or penalties for a violation is undertaken. Consideration will be given to evidence of a good faith effort to correct the violation; whether an imminent health or safety hazard exists; whether the person has previously been notified of or charged with violations of a similar nature; and other factors.
(E) Violations which are not voluntarily remedied may be abated by an administrative abatement process; the municipal infraction process; by court proceedings; or by city abatement and assessment of costs therefore against the responsible party, at the discretion of the city.
(F) It is further provided by this Code that if the city judges that an emergency exists which creates a dangerous and imminent health or safety hazard to persons, property or the general public which requires immediate action, the city may order the action as may be necessary to meet the emergency. Any orders issued pursuant to this division (F) shall be effective immediately or in the time and manner prescribed in the order itself.
(G) The Enforcement Officer may, but shall not be required to, give notice to abate prior to issuance of a civil citation for a repeat offense involving the same property and occurring within one year of a prior violation and notice to abate.
(Title VI, Ch. 6, § 3.01) Penalty, see § 154.99