A. 
When the enforcement officer finds that a nuisance condition exists upon any premises in the City, he/she may, or upon the direction of the City Manager shall, serve a notice to abate upon the owner or responsible party in possession or having control of the premises upon which the condition exists, directing him/her to abate or cause the nuisance condition(s) upon the premises to be abated on or before a specified compliance date. The notice shall also contain the date, time and place of an abatement hearing that will be held if the nuisance condition(s) are not corrected by the specified compliance date.
B. 
The enforcement officer shall post one (1) copy of the notice in a conspicuous place on the property in question and shall deliver one (1) copy of the notice to the owner or responsible party in possession or control of the property upon which the nuisance condition exists either in person or by certified mail, with a return receipt requested.
C. 
The notice shall be posted and delivered as set forth in subsection B of this section, at least ten (10) calendar days before the time and date of the hearing scheduled within the notice if personally delivered, or fifteen (15) calendar days if mailed.
D. 
The failure of the owner or responsible party to actually receive the notice shall not affect in any manner the validity of any proceedings pursuant to this article.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
At the time and place designated in the notice, the hearing officer shall hear and consider all relevant evidence, including but not limited to applicable staff reports, oral evidence, physical evidence and documentary evidence regarding the alleged nuisance, and proposed method of abatement. The hearing may be continued from time to time.
B. 
Failure of the owner or responsible party to appear at the hearing after notice has been served shall be deemed a waiver of the right to a hearing and an admission by the owner or responsible party of the existence of the nuisance condition charged. In the event of such failure to appear, the hearing officer may order that the nuisance condition be abated by the enforcement officer. Such failure to appear shall also constitute a failure to exhaust available administrative remedies.
C. 
The City shall bear the burden of proof to demonstrate, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a nuisance exists and that the proposed mechanism for abatement is appropriate. The City need not demonstrate that the proposed mechanism for abatement is either the most appropriate or least expensive.
D. 
The hearing shall not be conducted according to the formal rules of evidence. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if it is the type of evidence on which reasonable persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule which might make improper the admission of such evidence over objection in civil actions in courts of competent jurisdiction in this State. However, irrelevant or unduly repetitious evidence may be excluded.
E. 
A tape recording of the hearing will be made by the hearing officer and provided to the City Clerk, who shall keep it for not less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days from the date of the hearing.
F. 
All persons present at the hearing shall identify themselves, including their name and address, on the record.
G. 
All witnesses shall be sworn.
H. 
Prior to conclusion of the hearing, if the owner or responsible party is present, the hearing officer may request the owner or responsible party to sign a consent to enter and perform work. The permission given shall be used only if the nuisance condition is determined to exist and is not abated by the schedule of correction specified in the hearing officer's decision.
I. 
If the owner or responsible party does not provide written consent, entry onto the property may be made by obtaining verbal permission from the owner or a responsible party, or by means of an inspection warrant, or by any other lawful manner.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
Within ten (10) days after the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer shall issue a written decision. The decision shall set forth the factual findings made by the hearing officer, a conclusion as to whether a nuisance condition exists, the manner of abatement, including an order that such nuisance (if one is found to exist) be abated by the City, the amount of administrative costs imposed, if any, and a schedule of correction or the date by which the abatement shall be completed.
B. 
If the hearing officer determines that a nuisance exists which has not been corrected within the time period specified in the notice to abate nuisance conditions, the hearing officer shall so find in the decision, and may include in the decision any or all of the following:
1. 
An order to correct, including a schedule of correction where appropriate;
2. 
An order to pay administrative costs as provided in DMC § 9.01.250.
C. 
Failure to issue a decision in ten (10) days shall not affect the validity of such decision.
D. 
The decision shall be mailed by certified mail with return receipt requested to the owner and shall be mailed to the enforcement officer. A copy of a summary of the decision and any order it contains shall also be posted on the property by the enforcement officer in a conspicuous location.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
Within fifteen (15) days of the date of the decision by the hearing officer, the owner or responsible party may file a written appeal to the City Council in writing with the City Clerk.
B. 
The fee for filing an appeal shall be as may be established by resolution of the City Council.
C. 
Upon receipt of an appeal and filing fee, the City Clerk will issue and mail by certified mail with return receipt a notice indicating the time and date of the hearing to the responsible party requesting the hearing.
D. 
The City Council shall consider the appeal based upon the record of the hearing before the hearing officer and the hearing officer's decision, which the Council may affirm, overrule or modify in its discretion. The City Council shall not accept new evidence, but may permit reasonable written and oral argument.
(Ord. 03-011)
Upon receipt of the hearing officer's decision (or following an appeal if an appeal has been taken from the hearing officer's decision) if (A) no schedule of correction has been issued or (B) upon the failure of the property owner to comply with such schedule if a schedule was included, if the nuisance condition has not been abated the enforcement officer shall forthwith abate, or cause to be abated, the nuisance condition upon the premises. The enforcement officer is authorized to enter upon private property for this purpose, consistent with the provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
The cost of abatement, in addition to other abatement costs included in the hearing officer's decision, shall become a personal obligation of the property owner and responsible party and a lien and a property tax assessment upon the property, and shall be collected through the Solano County Assessor's Office.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
Any owner or responsible party may, at his/her own expense and prior to the scheduled abatement hearing, abate a declared nuisance condition in accordance with the provisions of the notice sent by the enforcement officer; provided, that all necessary permits are first obtained. If the enforcement officer determines that the nuisance condition has been abated prior to the hearing, the hearing proceedings shall be terminated.
B. 
Any owner or responsible party may request the City to abate a declared nuisance condition on his/her property. However, the owner or responsible party making the request shall be responsible for the payment of all abatement costs incurred by the City. The request for the City to perform the abatement shall be in writing and include a written consent to enter and perform work. Any such request shall be deemed an agreement to pay for the costs of such abatement and an agreement that such costs may be collected as a lien upon the property. The abatement hearing proceedings shall thereafter be terminated.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
In addition to liability for the costs of abatement itself, pursuant to DMC § 9.01.230, the owner and/or responsible party shall also be liable for any expenses and administrative costs incurred by the City, county, or any related agency incurred subsequent to the initial inspection and identification of the nuisance.
B. 
The hearing officer shall in his/her decision assess administrative costs against the violator when he or she finds that a nuisance exists and that abatement has not been achieved within the time specified in the enforcement officer's notice to abate nuisance conditions.
C. 
The administrative costs may include any and all costs incurred by the City in connection with the matter before the hearing officer, including, but not limited to, costs of investigation, staffing costs incurred in preparation for the hearing and for the hearing itself, attorneys' fees, and costs for all reinspections necessary to enforce the notice to abate nuisance conditions.
D. 
In any action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding to abate a nuisance, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover attorneys' fees. Recovery of attorneys' fees by the prevailing party may be limited to individual actions or proceedings in which the City elects, at the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys' fees. In no action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding, shall an award of attorneys' fees to a prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the City in the action or proceeding.
E. 
Administrative costs assessed by a hearing officer are a debt owed to the City and, in addition to all other means of enforcement, if the violation is located on real property, may be enforced by means of a lien against the real property on which the violation occurred.
(Ord. 19-018 § 1; Ord. 03-011)
A. 
In the event a nuisance is abated by the enforcement officer (either utilizing City forces or by contracting with a third person), the enforcement officer shall keep an itemized list of costs including but not limited to hearing costs, reinspection fees, posting of notices, and costs for equipment, material, City staff time and contractor's costs incurred by the City from the time of initial inspection and identification of the nuisance condition until completion of the abatement by the City or by the owner or responsible party. Once the abatement is completed, the enforcement officer shall provide a report of the total abatement costs to the Finance Department. The total abatement costs shall include those costs ordered to be paid by the hearing officer but remaining unpaid.
B. 
The Finance Department shall mail to the owner or responsible party an itemized invoice indicating the total abatement costs due.
C. 
The owner or responsible party for the property shall pay the abatement costs within thirty (30) calendar days from the date on the invoice unless an extension of time in which to pay has been granted by the City Manager in writing.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
Within fifteen (15) days of the date of the statement of abatement costs or invoice the owner or responsible party may file a request in writing with the City Clerk for a hearing before a hearing officer to contest the statement of abatement costs. If the request for a hearing is not timely received within the fifteen (15) days, the right to a hearing shall be deemed waived.
B. 
The fee for filing a notice to appeal a statement of abatement costs before the hearing officer shall be as established by resolution of the City Council.
C. 
Upon receipt of the completed notice to appeal and filing fee, the City Clerk will issue and mail by certified mail with return receipt a notice indicating the time and date of the hearing to the responsible party requesting the hearing.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
The hearing officer shall review the statement of costs and receive all relevant information and testimony presented by the owner, responsible party, any other witnesses, and the enforcement officer or City staff.
1. 
The reasonableness of the abatement activity undertaken by the City or its contractors to abate or correct the nuisance condition shall not be within the subject matter jurisdiction of the hearing officer at this hearing.
2. 
City business records evidencing the amounts actually paid to third party vendors, contractors or laborers shall be deemed conclusive evidence of both the reasonableness of those charges and the City's payment thereof.
3. 
The hearing officer shall take administrative notice of the hourly, daily or per task rates of City employees as established by the City Council by resolution. The resolution shall be deemed conclusive evidence of the existence and reasonableness of the rates set forth therein.
4. 
The hearing officer shall not rehear costs previously ordered to be paid by him or her at the abatement hearing.
B. 
The hearing officer may make any necessary revisions, corrections or modifications to costs.
C. 
A tape recording of the hearing will be made by the hearing officer and provided to the City Clerk, who shall keep it for not less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days from the date of the hearing.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
The hearing officer's decision regarding abatement costs shall be in writing and mailed to the owner or responsible party by certified mail with return receipt, or personally delivered, within ten (10) days from the date of the hearing. A copy shall be sent to the enforcement officer and the Finance Director. If the hearing officer orders payment of abatement costs, the decisions shall include an order that such costs be paid within thirty (30) calendar days to the Finance Director.
B. 
The failure to issue the hearing officer's decision within ten (10) days shall not affect the validity of such decisions.
C. 
The hearing officer's decision after the hearing shall be final, except to the extent that a protest is granted by the City Council pursuant to DMC § 9.01.291.
(Ord. 03-011)
A. 
Abatement costs are a civil debt owed to the City and, in addition to all other means of enforcement, may be enforced by means of a lien against the real property.
B. 
If payment of the abatement costs is not received by the Finance Department within thirty (30) calendar days of the date appearing on the invoice, the Finance Director shall notify the enforcement officer and the City Clerk. A hearing before the City Council for the purpose of adopting a resolution confirming and assessing the statement of costs shall be set by the City Clerk. Such hearing shall be for the sole purpose of the City Council assessing the unpaid costs as a lien and/or special assessment against the parcel or real property which was the subject of the nuisance abatement. The Council shall not rehear matters relating to whether or not a nuisance existed or it was appropriate to abate such a nuisance.
C. 
The enforcement officer shall file with the City Council a report:
1. 
Identifying the property from which the nuisance conditions were abated and the nuisance which was abated;
2. 
Describing the abatement work which was accomplished;
3. 
Listing the costs of abatement incurred by the City (and approved by the hearing officer if an appeal hearing was held pursuant to DMC § 9.01.290); and
4. 
Setting forth all administrative costs and penalties imposed, if any.
D. 
A notice shall be delivered to the owner or responsible party in possession or control of the property upon which the nuisance exists or existed either in person or by certified mail with a return receipt, specifying the time and place when the City Council will hear and pass upon the report of the abatement costs, together with any objections or protests, if any, which may be raised by the owner or responsible party liable to be assessed for the abatement costs and any other interested person.
E. 
The City Council, by resolution, may declare the costs of abatement as a special assessment against the parcel or property upon which the nuisance condition was abated. The costs so assessed, if not paid within five (5) calendar days after confirmation by the City Council, shall become a lien on the property for the amount thereof from the time of recordation of the notice of lien and shall continue until the assessment is paid in full or until it is discharged of record. The failure of the City Council to declare the costs of abatement as a special assessment shall not relieve the property owner of the obligation to pay such costs as a civil debt unless the City Council shall expressly so provide.
F. 
After adoption of the resolution by the City Council, the City Clerk shall forward to the office of the Solano County Assessor one (1) certified true copy of the resolution of the City Council confirming the statement of costs with the statement of costs attached thereto as an exhibit. The City Clerk also shall file in the office of the Solano County Assessor a notice of lien certificate acceptable to the Solano County Assessor.
(Ord. 03-011)
From and after the date of the recording of the notice of a lien, all persons shall be deemed to have had notice of the contents thereof the notice of lien shall be delivered to the Solano County Assessor, who shall enter the amount thereof on the County assessment records for the particular property and the amount shall be collected together with all other taxes thereon against the property. The notice of lien shall be delivered to the Solano County Assessor before the date fixed by law, for the delivery of the assessment roll to the County Board of Equalization. Thereafter, the amount of the lien shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary property taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and interest and to the same procedure under foreclosure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary property taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of property taxes are made applicable to the special assessment taxes.
(Ord. 03-011)