Corning Municipal Code Ch. 8.25 Enforcement Policies and Procedures

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 695, § 3, adopted Jan. 26, 2021, repealed the former Ch. 8.25, §§ 8.25.010—8.25.150, and enacted a new Ch. 8.25 as set out herein. The former Ch. 8.25 pertained to enforcement policies and procedures and derived from Ord. No. 535, § 1(part), 11(part), adopted 1993; Ord. No. 578, §§ 1, 2(1)(part), (18), (19), (21)—(25), adopted 1998; Ord. No. 678, adopted April 9, 2019.

A. Each code officer is authorized to issue citations for violations of the provision of titles 8, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of this Code which they have the duty to enforce. The code enforcement officer will notify the alleged violator that a public nuisance exists and, if the public nuisance has not been abated within what he or she deems a reasonable period of time, he or she may then issue a criminal citation to the alleged violator. Although not mandatory, in most cases the code enforcement officer should warn the alleged violator that a citation will be issued if voluntary compliance is not achieved within a specified time period. Proof that notice of a violation (or the existence of a public nuisance) has been given to an alleged violator is not a prerequisite to a finding that a violation has occurred, nor is it a requirement which must be satisfied before a citation may be issued or a conviction obtained. The form of the citation issued pursuant to this chapter shall be approved by the city council and the district attorney.

B. Prior to issuance of a citation:

1. The code enforcement officer shall identify himself or herself;

2. Identify the violation;

3. Shall then request the alleged violator to present his or her driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of his or her identity for examination;

4. The citation shall state a time, date, and place where the alleged violator shall appear in court to answer the charges stated in the citation;

5. The appearance date shall be at least ten days after the date of citation.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

The officer shall not take or attempt to take anyone into custody for refusing to present satisfactory evidence of his or her identity or refusing to sign a citation. In such cases, the code enforcement officer may file the citation with the appropriate court as a complaint pursuant to Penal Code section 853.9(b), may request the assistance of the City of Corning Police Department or may request the district attorney to prepare and file a complaint with the appropriate court.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

A. Violations Charged and Punished as Infractions. Notwithstanding any provision of this Code to the contrary, in titles 8, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18, whenever any provision in any of said titles provides that any act is prohibited or made or declared to be unlawful or a misdemeanor or an infraction, or requires the doing of any act or declares the failure to do any act unlawful or a misdemeanor or an infraction, the violation of such provision shall be charged as an infraction, punishable by imposition of the following fines, no part of which may be suspended:

1. Upon a first conviction, a mandatory fine of one hundred dollars;

2. Upon a second conviction of the same code section involving the same premises within a twelve-month period immediately preceding the commission of the current violation, a mandatory fine of two-hundred dollars;

3. Upon a third conviction of the same code section involving the same premises within a twelve-month period immediately preceding the commission of the current violation, a mandatory fine of five hundred dollars.

B. Each Day a Separate Offense. Each and every day, or portion thereof that a person violates or continues to violate any such provision of any of said titles constitutes a separate offense and may be charged and punished separately without awaiting conviction of any prior violation.

C. Misdemeanors. Any violation which may otherwise be charged and punishable as an infraction pursuant to subsection (A) of this section may be charged and punishable as a misdemeanor. If the defendant has been convicted of three or more violations of the same code section involving the same premises within the twelve-month period immediately preceding the commission of the current violation. For purposes of this subsection, a bail forfeiture, or a plea of nolo contendere shall be deemed to be a conviction.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

Any judgment of conviction which imposes a fine shall become a money judgment, as provided by Penal Code section 1214. It shall be the responsibility of the code enforcement officer to determine if the fine imposed has been paid. In any case where the fine remains unpaid for more than thirty days, a code enforcement officer shall record an abstract of the judgment in the office of the county recorder, as provided by Code of Civil Procedure sections 674 and 697.310. Upon notice of payment of such a judgment, the code enforcement officer shall file and serve a judgment, and the code enforcement officer shall file and serve an acknowledgement of satisfaction of judgment, as provided by Code of Civil Procedure sections 724.030 and 724.040.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

Following the conviction of any violator in court, the code enforcement officer shall make such follow-up inspections as necessary to determine that the violation has been abated and may issue such additional citations as are necessary to gain compliance with the applicable provisions of this Code.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

Upon all work to abate the violation being completed and approved by the affected department, payment of all fines imposed as to said violation pursuant to section 8.25.030(A), conducting follow-up inspections pursuant to section 8.25.050 and recording a notice of compliance pursuant to this section, the code enforcement officer shall submit a notice of compliance to the county recorder for recordation.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

A. Refusal to Issue Waiver.

1. No department, commission, or employee of the City of Corning vested with the duty or authority to issue or approve permits, licenses or other entitlement shall do so when there is an outstanding violation for which a citation has been issued pursuant to this chapter involving the premises to which the pending application pertains. The authority to deny shall apply whether the applicant is either the current occupant or owner of record or a vendor of the current owner of record pursuant to a contract of sale of the real property, with or without actual or constructive knowledge of the violation at the time he or she acquires his or her interest in such real property.

2. Upon notification by the code enforcement officer that such a violation exists, all departments, such commissions, and employees shall refuse to issue a permit or license or entitlement involving the premises except those necessary to abate such violation.

B. Rescission of Refusal to Issue. The refusal to issue shall be rescinded when the department, commission, or employee has been notified that all required work to abate the violation has been completed and has been approved by the affected department.

C. Waiver. The director of the affected department may waive the provisions of this section regarding refusal to issue if he or she determines such waiver is required to allow necessary or desirable remedial, protective, or preventative work.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

A. Administrative Citation.

1. Whenever a code enforcement officer charged with enforcement of any provision of this Code or any code adopted by the city determines that a violation of that provision has occurred, the code enforcement officer shall have the authority to issue an administrative citation to any person responsible for the violation and/or to the owner of the property to which the violation pertains. If the code enforcement officer determines that multiple code violations have occurred, the administrative citation shall address all the violations.

2. If the person responsible for the violation and/or the owner of the property is: (1) an individual or receiver, the code enforcement Officer shall issue the citation to the individual or the receiver; (2) a corporation or limited liability company, the code enforcement officer shall issue the citation to a senior officer; (3) a partnership, joint venture, cooperative or association, the code enforcement officer shall issue the citation to any partner, member of the joint venture, cooperative or association; (4) a trust, the code enforcement officer shall issue the citation to any trustee; (5) an estate, the code enforcement officer shall issue the citation to the administrator of the estate; (6) any other entity, the code enforcement officer shall issue the citation to any officer, member, representative, agent or employee of the entity.

3. If the violation is of a continuing nature or pertains to a building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural or zoning violation that does not create an immediate danger to health or safety, the code enforcement officer shall not assess an administrative fine, but shall establish a reasonable period of time for the responsible person to correct or otherwise remedy the violation prior to the imposition of an administrative fine. In no event shall the period of time given to correct or remedy the violation be less than three days.

4. Each administrative citation shall contain the following information:

a. The date of the violation;

b. The address or definite description of the location where the violation occurred;

c. The code section(s) violated and a description of each violation;

d. The amount of the fine for each code violation and/or the number of days given to correct continuing violations pursuant to subsection (A)(3) of this section;

e. A description of the fine payment process, including a description of the time within which and the place to which the fine shall be paid;

f. An order prohibiting the continuation or repeated occurrence of the code violation(s) described in the administrative citation;

g. A description of the administrative citation review process, including the time within which the administrative citation may be contested and the place from which a request for a hearing form to contest the administrative citation may be obtained; and

h. The name and signature of the citing code enforcement officer.

B. Amount of Fines.

1. Standard Fine. The administrative citation fine amount for a first violation of the Corning Municipal Code or any other code adopted by the city shall be one hundred dollars.

2. Second Violation Fines. The fine amount for a second violation of the same code section by the same person within a thirty-six month period from the date of the administrative citation for the first violation shall be two hundred dollars.

3. Subsequent Violation Fines. The fine amount for a third and subsequent violation of the same code section by the same person within a thirty-six month period from the date of the administrative citation for the second or subsequent violation shall be five hundred dollars.

4. Any fine amount imposed pursuant to this chapter shall be deemed delinquent if it is not paid in accordance with the terms and provisions of this chapter. Any person who fails to pay to the city the amount of any fine imposed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter on or before the date that the fine is due shall be liable for the payment of an additional late payment charge. The late payment charge shall be (a) ten percent of the amount of the fine then due to the city, or (b) ten percent of the amount of the fine remaining to be paid to the city if a portion of the fine amount was timely paid, whichever amount is greater. Interest shall accrue on all delinquent fine amounts, exclusive of the late payment charge, at the rate of one-half of one percent per month, pro rata, of the total delinquent fine amount, from the date the fine amount becomes delinquent until the date that the total delinquent fine amount is paid to the city.

5. Copies of subsections (B)(1) through (4), inclusive, of this section shall be printed and referred to as the "schedule of administrative citations fines" and shall reference this chapter. Copies of the schedule of administrative citation fines shall be made available to the public at the office of the city clerk.

C. Payment of the Fine.

1. Any fine imposed shall be paid to the city within thirty days from the date of the administrative citation.

2. Any administrative citation fine paid pursuant to subsection (C)(1) of this section shall be refunded if it is determined, after a hearing, that the person charged in the administrative citation was not responsible for the violation or that there was no violation as charged in the administrative citation.

3. Payment of a fine under this chapter shall not excuse or discharge any continuation or repeated occurrence of the code violation that is the subject of the administrative citation.

D. Request for a Hearing.

1. Any recipient of an administrative citation may contest that there was a violation of this code or of any code adopted by the city, or that he or she is the responsible party, by completing a request for hearing form and returning it to the city clerk within thirty days from the date of the administrative citation, together with an advance deposit of the fine or notice that a request for an advance deposit hardship waiver has been filed.

2. A request for hearing form may be obtained from the city clerk.

3. The person requesting the hearing shall be notified of the time and place set for the hearing at least ten days prior to the date of the hearing.

4. If the enforcement officer submits an additional written report concerning the administrative citation to the hearing officer for consideration at the hearing, then a copy of this report also shall be served on the person requesting the hearing at least five days prior to the date of the hearing.

E. Advance Deposit Hardship Waiver.

1. Any cited person who is financially unable to make the advance deposit of the full amount of the fine and who intends to request a hearing to contest the administrative citation may file a request for an advance deposit hardship waiver to waive all or part of the advance deposit.

2. A request for deposit hardship waiver must be filed with the city clerk on an advance deposit hardship waiver application form available from the city clerk within ten days of the date of the administrative citation and must include a sworn declaration and any other supporting documents or materials showing the cited person's actual financial inability to deposit the full amount of the fine in advance of the hearing. The cited person bears the burden of demonstrating to the satisfaction of the city clerk or his or her designee the cited person's actual inability to deposit the full amount of the fine in advance of the hearing.

3. The city clerk or his or her designee shall issue a written determination listing the reasons for his or her determination to issue or not issue the advance deposit hardship waiver. The written determination of the city clerk or his or her designee shall be final and shall be served on the cited person.

4. The city clerk or his or her designee may waive the requirement of an advance deposit of the fine amount or require a deposit of a specified part of the amount of the fine, and issue the advance deposit hardship waiver, only if the cited person has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the city clerk or his or her designee the cited person's actual inability to deposit with the city the full amount of the fine in advance of the hearing.

5. If the city clerk or his or her designee determines not to issue an advance deposit hardship waiver, the cited person shall remit the advance deposit of the full fine amount to the city within ten days of the date of the decision of city clerk or his or her designee or thirty days from the date of the administrative citation, whichever is later. If the city clerk or his or her designee determines that the cited person is required to deposit only a specified part of the amount of the fine, the cited person shall remit the advance deposit of the required amount of the fine to the city within ten days of the date of the decision of the city clerk or his or her designee within thirty days from the date of the administrative citation, whichever is later. Failure to timely remit the advance deposit shall terminate the request for a hearing on the citation, and the amount of the fine shall become immediately due and payable.

6. The requirement of depositing the full amount of the fine as required above shall be stayed unless or until the city clerk or his or her designee makes a determination not to issue the advance deposit hardship waiver.

F. Hearing Officer. The city manager shall designate the hearing officer(s) for the administrative citation hearings. There may be more than one hearing officer in the city and there may be more than one hearing officer at any administrative citation hearing.

G. Hearing Procedure.

1. No hearing to contest an administrative citation before a hearing officer shall be held unless the fine has been deposited in advance or an advance deposit hardship waiver has been issued.

2. A hearing to contest an administrative citation shall be set for a date that is not less than fifteen days and not more than sixty days from the date that the request for hearing is filed in accordance with provisions of this chapter or the date of issuance of the advance deposit waiver, whichever is later.

3. At the hearing, the party contesting the administrative citation shall be given the opportunity to testify and to present evidence as to the existence of the cited violation or as to whether or not the cited person is the responsible party.

4. The failure of the cited person to appear at the administrative citation hearing shall constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to exhaust their administrative remedies.

5. The administrative citation and any additional report submitted by the enforcement officer shall constitute prima facie evidence of the respective facts contained in those documents.

6. The hearing officer may continue the hearing and request additional information from the enforcement officer or the cited person prior to issuing a written decision.

H. Decision of the Hearing Officer.

1. After considering all of the testimony and evidence submitted at the hearing, the hearing officer shall issue a written decision to uphold or dismiss each contested violation in the administrative citation and shall list in the decision the reasons for that decision. The decision of the hearing officer shall be final and shall be served on the cited person within fifteen days of the date of the hearing.

2. If the hearing officer determines that the violations in the administrative citation should be upheld, then the fine amount on deposit with the city for those violations shall be retained by the city.

3. If the hearing officer determines that the violations in the administrative citation should be upheld and the fine has not been deposited pursuant to an advance deposit hardship waiver, the hearing officer shall set forth in the decision a payment schedule for the fine(s) for those violations.

4. If the hearing officer determines that any violations in the administrative citation should be dismissed and the fine for those violations was deposited with the city, then the city shall promptly refund the amount of the deposited fine for the dismissed violations together with interest at the average rate earned on the city's pooled cash portfolio for the period that the amount of the fine was held by the city.

5. The employment, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits of the hearing officer shall not be directly or indirectly conditioned upon the amount of administrative citation fines upheld by the hearing officer.

I. Late Payment Charges. Any person who fails to pay to the city any fine or any scheduled partial payment of such fine pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or on or before the date that the fine or scheduled partial payment of such fine is due shall be liable for the payment of any applicable late payment charges set forth in the schedule of administrative citation fines established by resolution by the city council.

J. Recovery of the Administrative Citation Fines and Costs. The city may collect any past-due administrative citation fine(s) and late payment charge(s) by use of all available legal means. The city may also recover its collection costs.

K. Right to Judicial Review. Any person aggrieved by an administrative decision by a hearing officer on an administrative citation may obtain review of the administrative decision by filing a petition for review with the municipal court in Tehama County in accordance with the timelines and provisions set forth in California Government Code section 53069.4.

L. Notices.

1. The administrative citation and all notices or other documents required to be given by this chapter shall be served on the cited person by personal delivery or by deposit in the United States mail, in a sealed envelope postage prepaid, addressed to such person at his or her last known business or residence address as the same appears in the public records pertaining to the matter to which such notice is directed. Service by mail shall be deemed to have been completed at the time of deposit in the post office.

2. Failure to receive any notice specified in this chapter does not affect the validity of the proceedings conducted hereunder.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the appropriate authorities of the City of Corning from pursuing any civil, criminal, or administrative remedy deemed necessary or appropriate to gain compliance with the applicable provisions of this code. The provisions of this chapter are to be supplementary and complementary to all of the provisions of this Code, state law and any laws cognizable as common law or in equity and nothing herein shall be read, interpreted or construed in any manner so as to bar or limit the city from seeking any remedy to which it may otherwise be entitled.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)

In any action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding to enforce any violation pursuant to this chapter or chapter 8.08, the prevailing party may recover attorney's fees pursuant to California Government Code section 38773.5. Recovery of attorney's fees is limited to those individual actions or proceedings in which the city elects, at the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorney's fees. An award of attorney's fees to a prevailing party shall not exceed the amount of reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the city in an action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding.

(Ord. No. 695, § 3, 1-26-21)