The city is hereby empowered to recover expenses incurred by virtue of the city’s, county’s, or other local governmental agencies’ response to a hazardous materials emergency or aggravated fire emergency from any person, corporation, partnership, or other individual or entity whose negligent or intentional act caused such an emergency, pursuant to the following procedure.
(A) The County Sheriff’s Department and/or the County Fire District shall investigate and submit a report of findings to the City Manager. The City Manager shall, based upon the report of findings and other available evidence and information, determine responsibility for the emergency or response, as defined above, and notify the responsible party by mail of the department’s determination of responsibility and the expenses to be recovered.
(B) The notice shall specify that the determined responsible party may appeal the City Manager’s decision to the Mayor, who may designate a Hearing Officer to hear the appeal. Any appeal shall be filed, in writing, with the City Recorder’s office not more than 30 days from the date of the service of the notice. The date of service of notice shall be the date of personal delivery or three days after the date of mailing, as applicable.
(C) In the event the determined responsible party appeals the determination, the Hearing Officer shall hold a hearing to consider any issues raised by the appeal, at which hearing the appealing party and the Sheriff’s Department, the County Fire District, and/or other local government shall be entitled to present evidence in support of their respective positions.
(D) After the hearing, the Hearing Officer shall make a recommendation to the Mayor who shall issue a final decision determining responsibility and assessing expenses. The Mayor may adopt, modify, or remand the recommendation of the Hearing Officer for further proceedings. The Mayor may, in the Mayor’s sole discretion, hear additional evidence prior to issuing the final decision.
(Prior Code, § 8.16.030) (Ord. 04-2002, passed 6-19-2002; Ord. 28-2023, passed 12-6-2023)