No person shall throw or deposit any garbage, offal, night soil,
dead carcasses of animals or filth into, or where same would drain
into, any public or private well, cistern or other supply.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.03)
It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, company, or
other entity to dump garbage or any other waste material within the
city limits except in legally approved and authorized areas, which
include dumpsters, fenced dump sites and fenced recycling areas.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.04)
No person shall place any garbage or any substance injurious
to public health upon the property of another without the consent
of the person in possession of the same, except upon the public dumping
grounds designated by the city. Provided that all carcasses shall
be buried and all garbage shall be subject to the direction of the
city.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.11)
It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, company, or
other entity to allow the leakage or spillage of garbage, animal parts
or waste, organic material, or other waste material within the city
limits.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.05)
No person owning or occupying any premises shall knowingly construct
or keep or allow to be kept on their premises any privy.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.08)
All occupants or owners of property shall keep [their property]
thoroughly drained so that no waste or stagnant water is allowed to
collect thereon.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.09)
It shall be unlawful for any owner, lessee, occupant or any
person in charge of any premises in the city to allow weeds to grow
upon the premises or trash or rubbish to accumulate upon said premises
to such an extent as is reasonably calculated to create a fire hazard
or calculated to become injurious to the health of the citizens of
the city, and either act is hereby declared to constitute a public
nuisance.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.21)
Whenever weeds are allowed to grow or trash or rubbish allowed
to accumulate upon any premises of the city as prohibited by this
article, the city council shall hear evidence and determine whether
or not such accumulation of rubbish and trash or the growth of weeds
thereon, or both, are sufficient to constitute a nuisance as herein
defined, and, if they so find, they shall pass a resolution declaring
that the growth of weeds or accumulation of trash and rubbish upon
such premises, or both, constitutes a public nuisance, and shall order
same removed by the owner, occupant, lessee or person in charge of
such premises within ten (10) days from the date notice of such order
is given to said owner of such premises as hereinafter provided.
(2002 Code, sec. 9.22)
(a) A
written notice to remove the nuisance shall be given:
(1) Personally to the owner in writing;
(2) By letter addressed to the owner at the owner’s address as
recorded in the appraisal district’s records; or
(3) If personal service cannot be obtained, notice may be given by:
(A) Publication at least once;
(B) Posting the notice on or near the front door of each building on
the property to which the violation relates; or
(C) Posting the notice on a placard attached to a stake driven into the
ground on the property to which the violation relates, if the property
contains no buildings.
(4) If the city mails a notice to a property owner in accordance with
this subsection and the United States Postal Service returns the notice
as “refused” or “unclaimed,” the validity
of the notice is not affected, and the notice is considered as delivered.
(b) In
the event the owner, occupant, lessee or person in charge of the premises
upon which is located a nuisance as prohibited by this article does
not abate said nuisance by cutting the weeds and removing the trash
and rubbish, or either of them, as the case may be, within ten (10)
days from the date of mailing of such notice or from the date of the
first publication thereof, then, in event of such failure to abate
such nuisance, the same shall be abated by the city, and all expenses
incurred, which shall include salary and wages of all employees, and
a reasonable charge for machinery, tools, vehicles and other equipment
used in abating such nuisance, shall be charged to the owner of such
property and shall be assessed as a lien on the real estate, lot or
lots upon which such nuisance was located and removed. Only one notice
given as herein provided shall be required in any one calendar year
to validate the assessment and fixing of a lien for expenses so incurred
thereafter and before the end of the calendar year in which such notice
is given. All such assessments shall be due and payable to the city
secretary, who shall notify the owner of such property of such assessment
thereupon in like manner and at the same time as notice of taxes upon
such property is made. Notification of the amount of such assessment
shall not be prerequisite to the fixing of a lien upon such property
for the amount of such assessment.
(c) Annual notice.
In a notice provided under this section,
the city may inform the owner by regular mail and a posting on the
property, or by personally delivering the notice, that if the owner
commits another violation of the same kind or nature that poses a
danger to the public health and safety on or before the first anniversary
of the date of the notice, the city without further notice may correct
the violation at the owner’s expense and assess the expense
against the property. If a violation covered by a notice under this
subsection occurs within the one-year period, and the city has not
been informed in writing by the owner of an ownership change, the
city may abate any nuisance contained on the property covered by this
article without further notice and assess expenses to the owner.
(Ordinance adopting Code; 2002 Code,
sec. 9.23; Ordinance 492 adopted 6/16/20)
(a) The
city may abate, without notice, high weeds and/or weeds that have
grown higher than eighteen (18) inches and are an immediate danger
to the health, life, or safety of any person, or could be deemed a
fire hazard.
(b) Not
later than the 10th day after the date the city abates weeds under
this section, the city shall give notice to the property owner in
the manner required by section 342.006 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) The
notice shall contain:
(1) Identification, which is not required to be a legal description,
of the property;
(2) A description of the violations of this article that occurred on
the property;
(3) A statement that the city abated the weeds; and
(4) An explanation of the property owner’s right to request an
administrative hearing related to the city’s abatement of the
weeds.
(d) The
city shall conduct an administrative hearing on the abatement of weeds
under this section if the property owner files with the city a written
request for a hearing within thirty (30) days of the date of the notice
required under this section.
(e) An
administrative hearing conducted under this section shall be conducted
not later than the 20th day after the date a request for a hearing
is filed. The owner may testify or present any witnesses or written
information relating to the city’s abatement of the weeds.
(f) The
city may assess expenses and create liens under this section as it
assesses expenses and creates liens under section 342.007 of the Health
and Safety Code. A lien created under this section is subject to the
same conditions as a lien created under section 342.007 of the Health
and Safety Code.
(g) The
authority granted a city by this section is in addition to the authority
granted by Health and Safety Code, section 342.006.
(Ordinance 432 adopted 6/24/14; Ordinance adopting Code)