(a) Upon request of a member of Council, the Chief of Police, or in response to a citizen complaint, the Director of Public Safety or his designee shall conduct an investigation into whether the installation and/or maintenance and/or continued use of any outdoor pay telephone within the City of Warrensville Heights constitutes a public nuisance.
Upon a determination by the Director of Public Safety or his designee that a particular outdoor pay telephone constitutes a public nuisance, the Director shall order that the telephone be removed. A particular outdoor pay telephone shall constitute a public nuisance when the Director of Public Safety determines that one or more of the following conditions exist:
(1) The outdoor pay telephone has been used in the commission of illegal drug transactions or other criminal activity;
(2) The existence of the outdoor pay telephone has resulted in the congregation of persons who have made loud noises and other disturbances that have disrupted persons residing near the telephone or disrupted business enterprises located near the telephone; and
(3) The existence of the outdoor pay telephone has resulted in the congregation of persons who have interfered with pedestrian or vehicular traffic in the public right-of-way near the telephone;
(4) Usage of the outdoor pay telephone between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. is significantly and repeatedly above normal usage for similarly situated outdoor pay telephones during the same hours so as to indicate that the telephone is being used in the commission of illegal drug activity or other criminal activity.
(b) The owner shall remove an outdoor pay telephone within five (5) working days of an order to remove the telephone issued pursuant to subsection (a) hereof and shall restore the property to its original condition. Any outdoor pay telephone which is not removed within five (5) working days of an order to remove the telephone shall be subject to immediate removal by the City at the owner's expense. The owner shall reimburse the City for the cost of removing and storing the telephone before the telephone may be reclaimed by the owner. Such costs shall also include the cost of removing any installation ancillary to the outdoor pay telephone and the cost of restoring the public right-of-way or public property to its original condition.
(c) If the total number of outdoor pay telephones in an area must be reduced in order to abate a public nuisance declared by the Director of Public Safety pursuant to subsection (a) hereof, the determination as to the order in which an outdoor pay telephone or telephones must be removed shall be based upon the total period of time that a telephone has been either registered with the City pursuant to Section 767.04 or placed pursuant to a contract with the City entered into pursuant to Section 767.03, with the telephone with the shortest registration period or placement period being removed first.
(d) If the Director of Public Safety finds that a special telephone service feature is adequate to abate the nuisance at a particular pay telephone, he shall direct the owner of said outdoor pay telephone to cause such telephone service feature to be installed in said particular outdoor pay telephone. Said determination is within the discretion of the Director of Public Safety and should he determine that said telephone service feature is inadequate to abate the nuisance presented by the particular outdoor pay telephone, he may order its removal despite the offer of the Owner to install said special telephone service feature.
(Ord. 1996-56. Passed 6-18-96.)