Clovis Municipal Code Art. 2 Multiple Response Ordinance

(a) Findings. In adopting this article, the Council makes the following findings:

(i) The City of Clovis Police, Fire, Planning and Development Services, and Public Utility Departments provide normal services to residents and business owners of the City, which are funded through taxes collected by the City and paid principally from the City’s general fund or user fees.

(ii) The Departments are frequently called upon to provide services that exceed what is normally provided by the Departments, or otherwise covered by user fees.

(iii) Extraordinary services arise when the Departments are called upon to respond to the same or similar incidents on multiple occasions, and those services are not covered by a user fee.

(iv) Residents and business owners abuse the services of the Departments when the Departments are forced to repeatedly respond to the same or similar incidents.

(v) These extraordinary services are in excess of what the Clovis taxpayers expect and are prepared to pay for.

(b) Purpose. The purpose of this article is to provide a mechanism for the recovery of the costs for providing extraordinary Department services that are not otherwise covered by user fees. This article is enacted pursuant to the authority of Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution, California Government Code Section 36901, and pursuant to the general police powers of the City.

(§ 3, Ord. 14-02, eff. March 5, 2014)

(a) Department. The City of Clovis Police Department, Fire Department, Planning and Development Services Department, or Public Utilities Department.

(b) Response costs. All actual and reasonable costs incurred by the Departments in responding to a nuisance, including, but not limited to, costs of personnel, including salaries and benefits, administrative overhead, costs of equipment and materials used in the response, and costs related to investigation of the underlying call for service. Response costs do not include costs covered by a user fee.

(§ 3, Ord. 14-02, eff. March 5, 2014)

(a) Applicable nuisances. If a department is required to respond to a nuisance as defined in Chapter 27 of Title 5 more than once in any one hundred twenty (120) day period, including a second response during the same day or night as the first response, and the response requires intervention by the department to protect the public health, safety or welfare, the persons set forth in subsection (b) of this section shall be jointly and severally liable for the response costs, when intervention by the department occurs. The multiple response shall apply to the same or similar nuisances occurring during the applicable time period.

(b) Persons liable.

(i) The person or persons who own the premises where the nuisance took place if any of the following are the case: (1) the owner resides on or adjacent to the premises, (2) the owner was present when the Notice described in subsection (f) of this section was first posted, or (3) the Notice described in subsection (f) of this section was mailed to the owner and fourteen (14) days have elapsed since the date of mailing. For purposes of this subsection, where a nuisance takes place within the confines of a single unit in a building owned by a housing cooperative, the owner of the property shall be deemed to be the owner of the single unit and not the members of the housing cooperative in general. Where the gathering took place in the common area of a building owned by a housing cooperative, only the members of the cooperative owning units in the building where the gathering took place shall be deemed the owners of the property for purposes of this subsection. Other members of the housing cooperative may still be liable if they fall within the categories of person made liable by this subsection.

(ii) The person or persons residing on or otherwise in control of the property where the nuisance took place.

(iii) The person or persons who organized or sponsored the activity or event causing the nuisance.

(iv) All persons who engaged in any activity resulting in the public nuisance.

(c) Exception for uninvited guests. Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose liability on the resident or owners of the premises or sponsor of the activity or event causing the nuisance, for the conduct of persons who are present without the express or implied consent of the resident or sponsor, as long as the resident and sponsor have taken all steps reasonably necessary to exclude such uninvited participants from the premises. Where an invited guest engages in conduct which the sponsor or resident could not reasonably foresee and the conduct is an isolated instance of a guest at the activity or event violating the law which the sponsor is unable to reasonably control without the intervention of the police, the unlawful conduct of the individual guest shall not be attributable to the sponsor, owner, or resident for the purposes of determining whether the activity or event constitutes a public nuisance under this section.

(d) Exceptions for same day responses.

(i) There shall be no liability under this article for a subsequent response during the same day or night as the prior response, unless a reasonable time has been provided to abate the public nuisance, taking into account the size of the activity or event causing the nuisance, the time of day, and other relevant factors.

(ii) There shall be no liability under this article for a subsequent response during the same day or night as the first response when a person who would otherwise be liable under subsection (b) of this section seeks assistance from the Department to abate the public nuisance, and the person cooperates fully with Department personnel while taking reasonable action to abate the public nuisance.

(e) Billing and collection. The provisions of Article 1 of this chapter shall apply to the billing and collection of the City’s costs.

(f) Notice.

(i) When a department responds to an activity or event which constitutes a public nuisance subject to this chapter, the department shall post notice at the premises where the nuisance occurred and provide a copy to persons liable for response costs who are present during the response describing the nuisance and applicable Code section, the date and time of the department response and that any subsequent or second response with respect to the same or similar nuisance within one hundred twenty (120) days of the first response, including a second response that same day or night, shall result in the joint and several liability of the following persons for the department’s cost of responding to the nuisance when intervention by the department is required: any guests causing the public nuisance; persons who are residents or in control of the property at which the public nuisance occurred; persons who sponsored the activity or event constituting the public nuisance; and record owner(s) of the premises.

(ii) The residents and persons in control of such property, and the sponsors of the activity or event, shall be responsible for ensuring that such notice is not removed or defaced and shall be liable for a civil penalty of one hundred and no/100ths dollars ($100.00) in addition to any other penalties and costs which may be due under this article, if such notice is removed or defaced; provided, however, that the residents of the premises or sponsor of the event, if present, shall be consulted as to the location in which such notice is posted in order to achieve both the security of the notice and its prominent display. The notice shall remain posted for the entire one hundred twenty (120) day period and unless the premises are reposted, shall not be removed until one hundred twenty (120) consecutive days have elapsed without a call for service.

(iii) The Notice shall also be mailed to any property owner at the address shown on the City’s property tax assessment records. Where known, a copy may also be provided by email.

(iv) The Notice shall be in substantially the following form:

[DATE OF NOTICE] IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC NUISANCE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT, pursuant to Clovis Municipal Code Chapter ____, Article ____, on: Date: _____________, 20, at _______ a.m./p.m., the _______________ Department found that an activity or event occurred at the belowlisted premises causing a public nuisance as follows: [short description of the nuisance and the applicable section]. ADDRESS: WARNING IF THE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS TO THE SAME OR SIMILAR TYPE OF NUISANCE WITHIN 120 DAYS OF THIS NOTICE, OR ANY 120 DAY PERIOD ATER A FURTHER RESPONSE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO A RESPONSE LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT, THE COSTS OF THE RESPONSE WILL BE IMPOSED UPON:

(§ 3, Ord. 14-02, eff. March 5, 2014; § 2, Ord. 24-03, eff. June 19, 2024)