(A) When any person complains to the Mayor, City Administrator, Fire Chief, Police Chief, or Code Enforcement Official, or upon discovery of such condition by the Code Enforcement Official, regarding a condition embraced in § 92.08, an inspection shall be made and a report made to the Deputy City Secretary, who shall write a letter to the owner and occupant of the property, if the owner’s address is known. Notice shall be given to any person or lending institution having a lien upon the property shown on the applicable real estate records in the office of the County Clerk or at the owner’s address as recorded in the appraisal district records of the Appraisal District. Service of notice under this section is complete when the notice is deposited in the United States mail, first class postage prepaid. If the owner’s or lienholder’s address is unknown, a notice shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city on two insertions within ten consecutive days, by posting the notice on or near the front door of each building on the property to which the violation relates; or by posting the notice on a placard attached to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the violation relates. The contents of such letter or notice shall:
(1) Include the date of notice;
(2) Be directed to the owner and lienholder, if known, and his or her address, if known, and if unknown, “to the owner and/or lessee of Lot , Block , Addition to the City of Wake Village, Texas, and address of Lot Street, Wake Village, Texas”, or property description, so that the lot may be identified;
(3) Call attention to the deficiency of the property;
(4) State the minimum requirements to correct the same;
(5) Notify the owner that, if the proper action is not taken within ten days from the date of the notice, the city may do the work or cause the same to be done, and charge such costs, together with the cost of newspaper publication and lien notices to the owner, and have a lien on the property as provided by the Tex. Health and Safety Code § 342.007 and this section; and
(6) State that allowing the nuisance to exist and failing to correct the violation is a misdemeanor punishable pursuant to § 10.99.
(B) If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in accordance with division (A) and the United States Postal Service returns the notice as “refused” or “unclaimed,” the validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is considered as delivered.
(C) In a notice provided under this section, a municipality may inform the owner by regular mail and a posting on the property, or by personally delivering the notice, that if the owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature that poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the first anniversary of the date of the notice, the municipality without further notice may correct the violation at the owner’s expense and assess the expense against the property. If a violation covered by a notice under this section occurs within the one-year period, and the municipality has not been informed in writing by the owner of an ownership change, then the municipality without notice may take any action permitted by § 342.006(a)(1) and § 342.006(a)(2) of the Tex. Health and Safety Code and assess its expenses as provided by § 342.007 of the Tex. Health and Safety Code and by § 92.12 and § 92.15 herein.
(Ord. 03-13, passed 1-14-2013; Ord. 14-13, passed 8-12-2013)