A. Violation of any provision of this chapter that occurs on or after January 1, 2024, shall constitute grounds for issuance of a notice of violation and assessment of a fine by the city enforcement official in accordance with 14 CCR Section 18995.4. Enforcement actions under this chapter include, but are not limited to, issuance of an administrative citation and assessment of a fine. The city’s procedures on imposition of administrative fines set forth in Chapter 1.13 of this code are hereby incorporated in their entirety, as modified from time to time, and shall govern the imposition, enforcement, collection, and review of administrative citations issued to enforce this chapter and any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter, except as otherwise indicated in this chapter. Other remedies allowed by law may be used, including civil action or prosecution as a misdemeanor or infraction. The city may pursue civil actions in the state courts to seek recovery of unpaid administrative citations. The city may choose to delay court action until such time as a sufficiently large number of violations, or cumulative size of violations exist such that court action is a reasonable use of city staff and resources.
The provisions of subsection A do not apply to violations related to a generator placing prohibited container contaminants in containers, which the city’s enforcement official and/or the city’s designee shall enforce through the notice provisions of 14 CCR Section 18984.5(b) and the contamination processing fees pursuant to the provisions of the applicable collection agreement between the city and a franchised hauler.
B. Enforcement pursuant to this chapter may be undertaken by the city enforcement official or designee, provided that nothing in this chapter delegates the authority of the city to impose civil penalties or to maintain an action to impose civil penalties to a private entity.
C. Process for Enforcement.
1. The city enforcement official or designee will monitor compliance with this chapter randomly and through compliance reviews, route reviews, investigation of complaints, and an inspection program. Section 8.29.130 establishes the city’s right to conduct inspections and investigations.
2. The city may issue an official notification to notify regulated entities of their obligations under this chapter.
3. With the exception of container contamination violations, the city shall issue a notice of violation requiring compliance within sixty (60) days of issuance of the notice.
4. Absent compliance by the respondent within the deadline set forth in the notice of violation, the city shall commence an enforcement action to impose penalties, via an administrative citation and fine.
Notices shall be sent to “owner” at the official address of the owner maintained by the tax collector for the city or if no such address is available, to the owner at the address of the dwelling or commercial property or to the party responsible for paying for the collection services, depending upon available information.
D. Penalty Amounts for Types of Violations. For the purposes of this chapter, the penalty levels for violations of the provisions of this chapter are as follows:
1. For a first violation, the penalty shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) per violation.
2. For a second violation, the penalty shall be two hundred dollars ($200.00) per violation.
3. For a third or subsequent violation, the penalty shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00) per violation.
E. Compliance Deadline Extension Considerations. The city may extend the compliance deadlines set forth in a notice of violation if it finds that there are extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the respondent that make compliance within the deadlines impracticable, including the following:
1. Acts of God such as earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, and other emergencies or natural disasters;
2. Delays in obtaining discretionary permits or other government agency approvals; or
3. Deficiencies in organic waste recycling infrastructure or edible food recovery capacity and the city is under a corrective action plan with CALRecycle pursuant to 14 CCR Section 18996.2 due to those deficiencies.
F. Education Period for Noncompliance. Beginning January 1, 2022 and through December 31, 2023, the city will conduct inspections, route reviews or waste evaluations, and compliance reviews, depending upon the type of regulated entity, to determine compliance with this chapter, and if the city determines that an organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance, it shall provide educational materials to the entity describing its obligations under this chapter and a notice that compliance is required by January 1, 2022, and that violations may be subject to administrative civil penalties starting on January 1, 2024. (Ord. 403 § 1, 2022)