King City Municipal Code Ch. 20.04 Administrative Citations

(a) Sections 20.04.010 through 20.04.130 herein provide for administrative citations which are in addition to all other legal remedies, criminal or civil, which may be pursued by the city to address any violation of this code.

(b) These sections shall not supersede any other sections of this code which address additional legal or administrative remedies available for city code violations; use of the administrative citation process shall be at the sole discretion of the city.

(c) The administrative citations process set forth in this title may be utilized to enforce continuing violations of this code that pertain to building, plumbing, electrical or other similar structural or zoning issues; provided, however, that the person responsible for said continuing violation shall be allowed a period of at least ten days to correct or otherwise remedy the violation prior to the city’s issuance of an administrative citation. This shall not, however, require the city to provide a correction period to persons responsible for violations pertaining to matters creating an immediate danger to health or safety or to building, plumbing, electrical or other similar structural of zoning violations which are transient and non-continuing in nature.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

For purposes of this title, the following definitions shall apply:

“Director”

means the city manager, or his designee.

“Enforcement officer”

means any city employee or agent of the city with the authority to enforce any provision of this code, including, but not limited to, the director of planning and building inspection, code enforcement officer, animal control officer and any police officer.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) Whenever an enforcement officer charged with the enforcement of this code determines that a violation of that provision has occurred, the enforcement officer shall have the authority to issue an administrative citation to any person responsible for the violation.

(b) Each administrative citation shall contain the following information:

(1) The date of the violation;

(2) The address or a definite description of the location where the violation occurred;

(3) The section of this code violated and a description of the violation;

(4) The amount of the fine for the code violation;

(5) 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;

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

(7) 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 hearing form to contest the administrative citation may be obtained; and

(8) The name and signature of the citing enforcement officer.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) The amounts of the fines for code violations imposed pursuant to this title shall be set forth in the schedule of fines established by resolution of the city council.

(b) The schedule of fines shall specify any increased fines for repeat violations of the same code provision within 36 months from the date of an administrative citation.

(c) The schedule of fines shall specify the amount of any late payment charges imposed for the payment of a fine after its due date.

(d) The schedule of fines shall be available to the public at city hall and posted on the city website.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004; Ord. 834, 1/28/2025)

(a) The fine shall be paid to the city within thirty days from the date of the administrative citation.

(b) Payment of a fine shall not excuse or discharge any continuation or repeated occurrence of the code violation that is the subject of the administrative citation.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) Any recipient of an administrative citation may contest that there was a violation of the code or that he or she is the responsible party by completing a request for hearing form and returning it to the city within thirty days from the date of the administrative citation, together with an advance deposit of the fine or an advance deposit hardship waiver application form as described in Section 20.04.065.

(b) A request for hearing form may be obtained from the department specified on the administrative citation.

(c) 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.

(d) 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.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) Any person who intends to request a hearing to contest that there was a violation of the code or that he or she is the responsible party and who is financially unable to make the advance deposit of the fine as required in Section 20.04.060(a) may file a request for an advance deposit hardship waiver, which shall include the sworn affidavit as described in subsection (c) of this section.

(b) The request shall be filed, along with the request for hearing form, with the city attorney’s office on an advance deposit hardship waiver application form, available from the city attorney’s office, within thirty days of the date of the administrative citation.

(c) The city may waive the requirement of an advance deposit and issue the advance deposit hardship waiver only if the cited party submits to the city a sworn affidavit, together with any supporting documents or materials, demonstrating to the satisfaction of the city the person’s actual financial inability to deposit with the city the full amount of the fine in advance of the hearing.

(d) The requirement of depositing the full amount of the fine as described in Section 20.04.060(a) shall be stayed unless or until the city makes a determination not to issue the advance deposit hardship waiver.

(e) If the city makes a determination to deny the advance deposit hardship waiver application, a written determination listing the reasons for said denial shall be issued. The written determination to deny the waiver shall be final.

(f) The written determination of the city’s denial of the advance deposit hardship waiver shall be served by mail upon the person who applied for the waiver.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

The city manager shall designate a hearing officer for the administrative citation hearings.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) No hearing to contest an administrative citation before a hearing officer shall be held unless the fine has been deposited in advance in accordance with Section 20.04.060(a) or an advance deposit hardship waiver has been filed and not denied by the city pursuant to Section 20.04.065.

(b) A hearing before the hearing officer 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 the provisions of this title.

(c) At the hearing, the party contesting the administrative citation shall be given the opportunity to testify and to present evidence concerning the administrative citation.

(d) The failure of any recipient of an administrative citation to appear at the administrative citation hearing shall constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to exhaust their administrative remedies.

(e) 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.

(f) The hearing officer may continue the hearing and request additional information from the enforcement officer or the recipient of the citation prior to issuing a written decision.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) After considering all of the testimony and evidence submitted at the hearing, the hearing officer shall issue a written decision to uphold or cancel the administrative citation and shall list the reasons for that decision. The decision of the hearing officer shall be final.

(b) If the hearing officer determines that the administrative citation should be upheld, then the city shall retain the fine amount on deposit with the city. If the hearing officer determines that the administrative citation should be upheld and the fine was not deposited pursuant to a waiver under Section 20.04.065, the hearing officer shall set forth in the decision an order for payment of the fine and a payment schedule for the fine.

(c) If the hearing officer determines that the administrative citation should be canceled, the city shall promptly refund the amount of the deposited fine.

(d) The recipient of the administrative citation shall be served with a copy of the hearing officer’s written decision.

(e) 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.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

Any person who fails to pay to the city any fine imposed pursuant to the provisions of this title on or before the date that fine is due also shall be liable for the payment of any applicable late payment charges set forth in the schedule of fines.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

The city may collect any past due administrative citation fine, late payment charge and costs of collection by use of all available legal means.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

Any person aggrieved by an administrative decision of a hearing officer on an administrative citation may obtain review of the administrative decision by filing a petition for review with the Superior Court in Monterey County in accordance with the timelines and provisions set forth in California Government Code Section 53069.4.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)

(a) The administrative citation and all notices required to be given by this title shall be served on the responsible party in accordance with the provisions of Section 20.06.040 of this title.

(b) Failure to receive any notice specified herein does not affect the validity of proceedings conducted hereunder.

(Ord. 645 § 1, 2004)