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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNo 883 Adding Language to the Code about Reinspection Fees for Continuing Non Compliance of the City Code ORDINANCE NO. 883 AN ORDINANCE ADDING LANGUAGE TO THE CITY CODE ABOUT REINSPECTION FEES FOR CONTINUING NON-COMPLIANCE OF THE CITY CODE The Maplewood City Council approves the following changes to the Maplewood Code of Ordinances: Section 1.Section 1-15(a). Excessive Consumption of City Services Excessive consumption of city services. (1)Council findings. The city council finds some property owners take little or no responsibility for the maintenance of their property until the city, through its various inspections programs, has repeatedly ordered them to remedy violations of the Maplewood Code. Such property owners create excessive costs for the city that are over and above the normal cost of providing inspection services in the city. Property owners who the city must repeatedly order to remedy code violations on their property consume an unacceptable and disproportionate share of limited city resources. Therefore, it is the intent of the city council, by the adoption of this section, to impose and collect the costs associated with re-inspections and the excessive consumption of city inspection services. The collection of such costs for certain properties shall be by assessment against the real property requiring such excessive inspection or re-inspection services, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 429.101, which authorizes the council to provide for re-inspection fees to be collected by special assessment and allows cities to collect the costs associated with removal or elimination of public health or safety hazards. Such fees are also authorized by Chapters 1, 12, 18 and 44 of the Maplewood City Code. (2)Definitions- For the purpose of this chapter, the terms defined in this section shall have the meanings ascribed to them: Enforcement Officer - means a person or employee appointed by the City Manager such as, Code Enforcement Officer, Planner, Building Inspector, Building Official, and Health Official to conduct code enforcement inspections and activities for the city. Excessive inspection services - means more than three (3) inspections by City staff generated at any one address for existing or new violations of the City Code within a continuous twelve (12) month period. Excessive inspection services fee - means the fee that shall be imposed as herein provided to reasonably compensate and defray the costs otherwise borne by the City for its staff time in conducting “excessive inspection services,” as hereinbefore defined, not otherwise necessary, but required due to the condition(s) of the property; the lack of compliance of the property to the applicable code(s) or previous inspection orders, or both. Said fee being imposed as an administrative fee, with no connection real or implied whatsoever to any fine, penalty or abatement expense otherwise imposed, levied, or ordered by the City or a Court pursuant to any and all other legal remedies available to the City. Re-inspection means that an enforcement officer has conducted an inspection of the premises, based upon a complaint or otherwise had occasion to view the premises and observed a violation of any provision of the Maplewood City Code under the jurisdiction of the Inspections, Planning and Building Operations Department, has issued a written notice of the violation(s), and then re-inspected the premises to determine compliance with the notice and found that the owner or responsible party had not complied with the written correction notice or orders. (3)Initial inspection by enforcement officer; written notice. (a) Written notice of violations. When an enforcement officer conducts an initial inspection of a premises and determines that the property has violations of the city code, the enforcement officer shall, in addition to any other action the enforcement officer may undertake, serve written notice of the violation or violations in conformance with the requirements set forth in the City Code,and apprise the owner of the required correction measures to bring property into compliance. (b) Notice for collection of re-inspection costs and excessive initial inspection costs. If the enforcement officer intends to collect the city costs for re-inspections and excessive initial inspections, then the written notice provided for in the City Code also must: 1. State that if the violations are not corrected within the time period or periods required in the notice, the city's costs in conducting a re-inspection after the due date for compliance will be collected by the city from the owner or owners rather than being paid by the taxpayers; and 2. State that if additional new violations of the legislative code under the jurisdiction of the department of safety and inspections are discovered by enforcement officers within the next following twelve (12) months, the city's costs in conducting any additional inspections at the same location within such twelve (12) months will be collected from the owner or owners rather than being paid by the taxpayers of the city; and 3. State that the city will collect such future costs by assessment levied against the real property. (4)Excessive consumption of inspection services, fee and liability. (a) The city shall be entitled to collect its costs of enforcement from a property owner who consumes either re- inspection services or excessive initial inspection services. An excessive consumption of either re-inspections or excessive initial inspection services occurs after: 1. More than three (3) inspections by City staff generated at any one address for existing or new violations of the City Code within a continuous twelve (12) month period. (b) The city may charge a fee of seventy-five dollars ($75.00) for the third inspection.The city may charge a fee of one-hundred dollars ($100.00) for the fourth inspection after the circumstances described under section City Code. The city may charge a fee of one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) for each subsequent additional inspections within a twelve-month period after the circumstances described in the City Code. (c) No fee under City Code Chapter 1-15(a) 2. shall be charged where the city has issued a written notice pursuant to City Code Chapter 1-15(a) 2. but has abated the violation under the City Code Section 18.36 through 18.39 and assessed the costs of such abatement under the City Code Section 18.36 through 18.39. (d) The amount of the excessive consumption of inspection services fee shall be a debt owed to the city and shall be collected by special assessment under the authority in Minnesota Statutes, Section 429.101 and the City Code Section 18.39. (e) Construction projects where the building inspector/code enforcement officer requires a collection of a re- inspection fee, the contractor will be billed and not allowed to obtain inspections or any new permits until the re- inspection fee is paid in full. (f) Action under this section does not preclude any other civil or criminal enforcement procedure. (5)Cost; collection. (a) Cost records of the non-compliant properties. The enforcement officer shall keep a record of the costs for excessive consumption of inspection services, the name and address of the owner, the dates of the inspections giving rise to the excessive consumption of inspection services, the observed violations of the city code and the total amount of the costs for excessive consumption of inspection services to be collected against a particular property, and shall report such information to the building official and to the city finance director. (b) Notice of assessment of fee. Upon establishment by an enforcement officer that an excessive inspection service fee has been justified, the officer shall notify, in writing, the responsible party associated with the address/property that the fee is due and owed the City. The official shall also notify other departments within the City of the imposition of the fee and no permits, inspections or other work shall be authorized at the address or on the property until the fee is paid. (c) Appeal or grievance of imposition of fee. Upon receipt of the notice referenced above, the party or their designee shall have 14 business days to appeal or grieve the imposition of the fee. All appeals under this section shall be in writing and sent to the Office of the City Manager for review. If the City Manager does not resolve the matter to the satisfaction of the responsible party, the matter shall be placed on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council for their review. st (d) On or before October 1 the finance director or their designee shall apprise the city council of the uncollected service fees that have been subject to the procedure above, yet remain unpaid. Unpaid and/or uncollected fees shall be assessed pursuant to the procedure set out in Minn. Stat. § 429.061, including the appeal process(s) therein. (e)No Waiver of Remedies. Neither the imposition and/or assessment of a fee pursuant to this section shall in any way limit the City’s ability to obtain or effect compliance with its Code. The City reserves the right to pursue any and all other legal and equitable remedies it is authorized to pursue by ordinance and or as authorized by state law. Section 2.This ordinance shall take effect after publishing in the official newspaper. The Maplewood City Council approved this ordinance on December 10, 2007.