Enforcement Process

Step 1: Complaint Received

A complaint is received by the City.

Step 2: Courtesy Notice

A Code Enforcement Officer will assess and substantiate the complaint. If the complaint is substantiated, the property owner and /or tenant will be provided with a Courtesy Notice. The intent of a Courtesy Notice or contact is to inform the violator of any violations and provide any information and clarification needed to remediate. A follow-up inspection date will be specified.

Step 3: Notice of Violation

If the complaint is not corrected at the time of the Code Enforcement Officer’s follow-up inspection, a Notice of Violation (written warning) is personally served or mailed to each person who is or may be legally responsible for the alleged violation. The notice will state that the violation must be corrected and will include a deadline for corrections to be made. The Code Enforcement Officer will verify that the complaint has been corrected with a site visit on the written deadline.

Step 4: Administrative Citation

If the violation was corrected, the case will be recorded in the Code Enforcement database and closed. If the violation has not been corrected, a $100 Administrative Citation will be imposed. Re-inspections will be made and additional citations will be issued for each day (or other deadline) that the violation is not corrected. The 2nd Administrative Citation is $250, and any subsequent violations are $500 each. Citations may be issued per violation, per day until compliance is achieved.

Step 5: Repeated Offense and Additional Administrative Citations

If an additional complaint involving the same issue and same property is received within a 12-month period, the Code Enforcement Officer will make a site visit to verify the violation and a $100 Administrative Citation may be imposed. Re-inspections will be made and additional citations will be issued for each day (or other deadline) the violation is not corrected. The 2nd citation is $250, and any subsequent violations are $500 each.

It is our policy to investigate and attempt to resolve all reported and discovered code violations. In an effort to remain effective while maximizing resources, the most serious violations will be addressed before less serious violations regardless of the order in which the complaints are received. Complaints alleging both priority and non-priority violations may be processed together to maximize efficiency. At the discretion of Code Enforcement staff, complaints may be processed in any order that maximizes efficiency. Complaints concerning a particular type of code violation (e.g., occurring in a particular geographic area) may be processed together regardless of the order in which the complaints are received.