Ojai Municipal Code Art. 1 Administrative Citations

Editor's note—Ord. No. 831, § 1, effective Sep. 28, 2013, amended the title of Title 1, Chapter 6, Article 1. This article was formerly titled "Transient Violations."

This article is adopted pursuant to California Government Code Section 53069.4 and provides 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. Use of this article shall be at the sole discretion of the City, subject to the provisions of this section.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004; § 2, Ord. 831, eff. September 28, 2013)

For purposes of this article, "enforcement officer" shall mean any City employee or agent of the City with the authority to enforce any provision of this Code, or any person so designated by the City Manager.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

Whenever an enforcement officer charged with the enforcement of any provision 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.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

Each administrative citation shall contain the following information:

(a) The date of the violation;

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

(c) The section of this Code violated and a description of the violation;

(d) The amount of the fine for the Code violation;

(e) The name and address of the violator;

(f) 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;

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

(h) 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

(i) The name, signature and department of the citing enforcement officer.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

The amounts of the fines for Code violations imposed pursuant to this article shall be set forth in a schedule of fines established by resolution of the City Council. The schedule of fines shall specify any increased fines for repeat violations of the same Code provision by the same person. The schedule of fines shall specify the amount of any late payment charges imposed for the payment of a fine after its due date.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

The fine shall be paid to the City within 30 days from the date of the administrative citation. Any administrative citation fine paid pursuant to this section shall be refunded in accordance with Section 1-6.111 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. Payment of a fine under this article shall not excuse or discharge any continuation or repeated occurrence of the Code violation that is the subject of the administrative citation.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

Any recipient of an administrative citation may contest that there was a violation of this Code, or that he or she is the responsible party, by completing a request for hearing form and returning it to the City within 30 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 pursuant to Section 1-6.108. A request for hearing form may be obtained form the department specified on the administrative citation. The person requesting the hearing shall be notified of the time and place set for the hearing at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing. 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 the report also shall be served on the person requesting the hearing at least five days prior to the date of the hearing.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

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 1-6.107 may file a request of an advance deposit hardship waiver as follows:

(a) The request shall be filed with the Department of Finance on an advance deposit hardship waiver application form, available from the Department of Finance, within 10 days of the date of the administrative citation.

(b) The requirement of depositing the full amount of the fine as described in Section 1-6.107 shall be stayed unless or until the Director of Finance makes a determination not to issue the advance deposit hardship waiver.

(c) The Director of Finance may waive the requirement of an advance deposit set forth in Section 1-6.107 and issue the advance deposit hardship waiver only if the cited party submits to the Director a sworn affidavit, together with any supporting documents or materials, demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Director of Finance the person's actual financial inability to deposit with the City the full amount of the fine in advance of the hearing.

(d) If the Director of Finance determines not to issue an advance deposit hardship waiver, the person shall remit the deposit to the City within 10 days of the date of that decision, or 30 days from the date of the administrative citation, whichever is later.

(e) The Director of Finance 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 Director of Finance shall be final.

(f) The written determination of the Director of Finance shall be served upon the person who applied for the advance deposit hardship waiver.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

The City Manager shall designate a Hearing Officer for the administrative citation hearing.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

All administrative citation hearings conducted in accordance with this article shall be done as follows:

(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 1-6.107 or an advance deposit hardship waiver has been issued in accordance with Section 1-6.108

(b) A hearing before the Hearing Officer shall be set for a date that is not less than 10 days and not more than 60 days from the date that the request for hearing is filed in accordance with the provisions of this article, unless the Hearing Officer determines that the matter is urgent or that good cause exists for an extension of time.

(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 timely make the advance deposit, obtain an advance hardship waiver or to appear at the administrative citation hearing shall constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to exhaust his or her 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 administrative citation prior to issuing a written decision.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

The Hearing Officer shall render his or her decision as follows:

(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 in the decision 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, the fine amount on deposit with the City shall be retained by the City.

(c) If the Hearing Officer determines that 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 a payment schedule for the fine in the decision.

(d) If the Hearing Officer determines that the administrative citation should be cancelled and the fine was deposited with the City, the City shall promptly refund the amount of the deposited fine, together with interest at the average rate earned on the City's portfolio for the period of time that the amount was held by the City.

(e) The recipient of the administrative citation shall be served with a copy of the Hearing Officer's written decision.

(f) 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.

(g) In the event the City elects, at the initiation of the hearing, to seek recovery of its attorneys' fees, the Hearing Officer shall order that the prevailing party in the hearing be awarded its attorneys' fees. In no event shall the award of attorneys' fees to the prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the City in the proceeding.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004, as amended by § 1, Ord. 796, eff. July 26, 2007)

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

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

The City may collect any past due administrative citation fine, late payment charge and its administrative costs (including attorney's fees) by use of all available legal means, including recording and foreclosing a lien pursuant to Sections 1-6.218 through 1-6.223. The City also may recover its collection costs and attorney's fees incurred in any subsequent legal action.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

Failure to pay any past due administrative citation fine, late penalty or administrative costs may be enforced as:

(a) A personal obligation of the violator; and/or

(b) If the violation is in connection with real property, a lien upon the real property. The lien shall remain in effect until all of the administrative penalties, interest and administrative costs and attorney's fees are paid in full.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

Any person aggrieved by an administrative decision of a Hearing Officer or an administrative citation may obtain review of the administrative decision by filing a petition for review with the Municipal Court in Ventura County in accordance with the time line requirements and provisions set forth in California Government Code Section 53069.4.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)

The administrative citation and all notices required to be given by this article shall either be personally served on the responsible party or by mail, postage prepaid to the responsible party at the last known residence address. Failure to receive any notice specified in this article does not affect the validity of proceedings conducted hereunder.

(§ 1, Ord. 772, eff. June 25, 2004)