[Adopted 3-16-2020 by Ord. No. 0217-20-01]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the Public Safety/Emergency
Response Cost Recovery Ordinance.
In order to protect the City from extraordinary expenses resulting
from the utilization of City resources in response to certain public
safety or emergency incidents, this ordinance authorizes the imposition
of charges to recover reasonable and actual costs incurred by the
City in responding to such incidents.
For the purpose of this article, the following terms or phrases
shall be defined to mean:
Those costs for services incurred by the City in connection
with response to a public safety, accident, emergency incident, including,
but not limited to, the actual labor and material costs of the City
(including, without limitation, employee wages, fringe benefits, administrative
overhead, costs of equipment, costs of equipment operation, cost of
materials, costs of transportation, costs of material disposal and
costs of contracted labor), whether or not the services are provided
by the City or by a third party on behalf of the City; service charges
and interest; and attorney's fees, litigation costs, charges,
fines or penalties to the City imposed by any court or state or federal
governmental entities, except that the City shall not be fully reimbursed
more than once for any expense incurred by the City.
City personnel include members of the fire department and/or
other entities providing mutual aid to the City.
The City Board shall from time to time adopt resolutions
that set forth a schedule of the costs incurred in responding to a
public safety, accident, or emergency incident. It shall be presumed
that the costs listed in this schedule are the true costs incurred
by the City in responding to a public safety or emergency incident.
This schedule shall be available to the public from either the City
Clerk or the fire department.
Emergency services of any type, except for fire protection
services, provided in response to a public safety concern, accident,
or other emergency. Examples include, but are not limited to: traffic
direction or control, extraction (jaws of life), assistance to law
enforcement or emergency medical providers, search and rescue, structural
collapse, flooding, responses to interstate highway incidents, utility
line failure or issues, tree removal, clearing of public highways,
and hazardous material incidents. Emergency services include mobilization,
standby, and response to false alarms or other incidents where there
is a call for emergency services but services are not provided.
A responsible party is any person, entity, corporation, limited
liability company, association, partnership, commercial entity, consortium,
joint venture, government entity, or any legal entity who received
emergency assistance from the City for a public safety or emergency
incident or accident, and includes any owner, tenant, occupant, or
party in control of real and personal property from which, onto which,
or related to which there is a public safety or emergency incident,
or accident, and their heirs, estates, successors and assigns.
A.
The City may recover all assessable costs in connection with a motor
vehicle accident, public safety incident, or emergency incident from
any or all responsible parties jointly and severally.
B.
The Mayor or designee shall determine the total assessable costs
and shall, in consultation with other personnel involved in responding
to a motor vehicle accident, public safety incident, or emergency
incident provide an itemization of such costs against any or all of
the responsible parties.
C.
In order to determine the assessable costs against a party, the Mayor
or designee shall rely on reports of the actual expenses incurred
by the City personnel involved in responding to the incident and the
amounts as set forth in the cost recovery schedule.
D.
The Mayor or designee may allocate assessable costs among and between
responsible parties, including allocating all or some of such costs
jointly and severally against more than one responsible party regardless
of whether a responsible party has other legal liability therefore
or is legally at fault.
E.
If the Mayor or designee determines not to assess all or a part of
assessable costs against a responsible party, such determination shall
not in any way limit or extinguish the liability of the responsible
party to other parties.
F.
Costs related to fire protection are exempt from this ordinance and
shall not be assessed.
A.
The City shall prepare and mail an itemized invoice to the responsible
party at its last known address. The invoice shall demand full payment
within 30 days of billing. Any amounts due that remain unpaid 30 days
after the date of billing shall have imposed a late charge that may
be set by the City in its fee schedule (not to exceed the maximum
rate permitted by law) until said account shall be paid in full.
B.
If a responsible party shall appeal assessable costs, such costs,
if upheld, in whole or in part, shall be due and payable 30 days from
the date of determination of the appeal and any late payment fees
shall apply thereafter.
C.
Any responsible party who receives an invoice for assessable costs
shall have an opportunity to meet with the Mayor or designee to request
a modification of the assessable costs. The responsible party shall
request such meeting in writing within 14 calendar days from the date
of the invoice. If after meeting with the Mayor or designee the responsible
party is still not satisfied, he or she may request an opportunity
to appear before the City Council to further request a modification
of the assessable costs. A responsible party who desires to appear
before the City Council must first meet with the Mayor or designee,
as provided above, and shall file a written request to appear before
the City Council with the City Clerk within seven calendar days of
the date of the meeting with Mayor or designee. Any such request shall
specifically identify and explain all reasons why the responsible
party believes the assessed costs should be modified. Any reason,
basis or argument for modification of the assessable costs not set
forth in the request to appear shall be deemed waived by the responsible
party. Upon receipt of such a request, the City Clerk will place the
responsible party on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled City
Council meeting, which meeting is at least 14 calendar days after
the date on which the responsible party files the request to appear.
After a responsible party has been given an opportunity to appear
before it, the City Council shall promptly determine whether to confirm,
modify or void payment of the assessable costs invoiced. Failure to
file a timely written request for a meeting with the Mayor, or request
to appear before the City Council, shall constitute a waiver of the
responsible party's right to same; and shall further constitute
the responsible party's agreement to pay the assessable costs
invoiced.
D.
When the incident or event requiring emergency services involves
real property, if the assessable costs, including any late payment
fee, assessed against a responsible party are not paid when due, said
costs may be placed as a special charge against the real property
and shall, to the extent permitted by law, constitute a lien upon
such real property in the same manner as other special charges. Nothing
in this section shall prevent the City from collecting amounts due
by any other means permitted by law.
The payment of expenses determined to be due and owing under
this article does not constitute an admission of liability or negligence
in any legal action or any other action for damages.
