(A) Pursuant to I.C. 36-9-28.7, the designated entity of county government to conduct an investigation into an alleged SWN shall be the County Surveyor, in concert with the County Drainage Board.
(B) (1) An application for such an investigation shall be filed with the County Surveyor on forms provided by that office together with a non-refundable application fee of $50 (the “application fee”) to cover the costs of a preliminary review of the application.
(2) Failure or refusal of the applicant to submit the application fee with the application to investigate or within five business days after initial filing of the application shall be deemed a withdrawal of the application to investigate.
(C) The applicant seeking the investigation of the alleged SWN shall be responsible for all fees and costs incurred by the county in conducting the requested investigation, including all professional fees of engineers, surveyors, the county attorney or others needed to complete the work necessary to arrive at the report contemplated by I.C. 36-9-28.7-9(c).
(D) (1) To secure the costs that will be necessarily incurred by the county to investigate the matters set forth in the application and to prepare the report contemplated by the statute, the applicant shall deposit with the County Surveyor the sum of $1,000 in cash or bank certified draft at the time of filing the application to investigate an alleged storm water nuisance or within five business days thereafter (the “costs security deposit”).
(2) Failure or refusal of the applicant to pay the costs security deposit with the application to investigate or within five business days after initial filing of the application, shall be deemed a withdrawal of the application to investigate.
(3) In addition, the applicant, by filing the application to investigate and paying the application fee and the costs security deposit, thereby agrees to pay any additional cost above the costs security deposit reasonably incurred by the county to perform the investigative and reporting activities contemplated by the SWN statutes. The application fee and the costs security deposit shall be payable to the County Surveyor who shall deposit those funds into the County General Fund with the County Auditor separating the deposited funds in such a manner as to enable a reconciliation of all charges against the costs security deposit.
(E) In the event the county should incur costs less than the amount of the costs security deposit, the difference between the costs actually incurred by the county in completing the investigation and report contemplated by the SWN statutes shall be refunded to the applicant with the county’s final report of its investigation. In the event the cost of the requested investigation and report preparation should exceed the amount of the costs security deposit, the applicant shall pay the sum of the excess costs to the county and no reports shall be provided by the county until all additional costs have been paid by the applicant.
(Ord. 2017-017, passed 10-9-2017)