Susanville Municipal Code Ch. 1.12 General Penalty

Civil Actions. The city attorney may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin a violation of any provision of this code or any other ordinance of the city, or to enforce administrative penalties imposed.

Wherever in this code or in any other ordinance of the city including codes adopted by reference, any act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or the doing of any act is required, or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, the violation of any such provision of this code or other ordinance or code adopted by reference of the city shall, unless specifically defined as a misdemeanor, constitute an infraction and shall be punishable by:

A. A fine not exceeding $100 for a first violation;

B. A fine not exceeding $200 for a second violation of the same ordinance, term, or condition within one year from the date of the first violation, or $500 for a second violation of a building or safety code within one year from the date of the first violation;

C. A fine not exceeding $500 for a third, and each additional, violation of the same ordinance, term, or condition within one year from the date of the first violation, or $1,000 for a third violation of a building or safety code within one year from the date of the first violation;

A second or subsequent violation need only be of the same ordinance, term, or condition to require the larger fine, and need not involve the same personnel or property, provided that the same responsible party is cited. The fine amounts shall be cumulative where multiple citations are issued.

Wherever in this code or in any other ordinance of the city including codes adopted by reference, any act is specifically declared to be a misdemeanor, said misdemeanor violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed the sum of $1,000, and/or imprisonment not to exceed six months.

Every day the violation of this code or any other city ordinance continues shall constitute a separate offense.

(Ord. 17-1011 § 1, 2017)

A. In addition to all other remedies and cost recovery authorized or provided by any provision of this code or any other law, any person violating any provision of this code shall be liable to the city for the city's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred to remedy such violation or enforce such person's compliance with this code, including recovery of the city's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs in bringing an action or proceeding to enforce an administrative determination or court order against such person. This section does not apply to public nuisance abatement actions for which attorneys' fees are authorized under subsection B of this section.

B. In any action or proceeding brought by the city to abate a public nuisance, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees; provided that, pursuant to Government Section 38773.5, attorneys' fees shall only be available in an action or proceeding in which the city has elected, at the commencement of such action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys' fees. In no action or proceeding shall an award of attorneys' fees to a prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the city in the action or proceeding.

C. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the city, in its discretion, may pursue any and all legal and equitable remedies for the collection of unpaid city fines, taxes, interest, fees, service charges, late payment charges, civil penalties, administrative penalties, and any other sum required to be paid under any provision of this code or any other law. Upon giving advance written notice that the debtor will be subject to collection costs if the debtor does not pay the unpaid amount owed to the city, the city shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees and costs associated with the collection of the amount owed regardless of whether the city pursues said collection through litigation or by any other means. As used herein, "costs" include, but are not limited to, city staff time incurred in the collection of the amount owed, third-party costs incurred in the collection action, and those costs set forth in Code of Civil Procedure Section 1033.5. Pursuit of one remedy does not preclude the pursuit of any other remedies until the total amount owed has been collected.

(Ord. 17-1011 § 1, 2017)