Duty of Officers Generally. The duty and authority to enforce the provisions of this title and Titles 5, 6, 8, 15, 16 and 18 are delegated to code enforcement officers appointed by the Zoning Administrator, which code enforcement officers are specifically empowered and authorized to initiate judicial proceedings in the Municipal Court by issuance of a summons and complaint in the event any of the provisions of the sections of the municipal code cited herein are, or are reasonably believed by the code enforcement officer to have been, violated.

Issuance of Notice to Abate Nuisance or Violation. It is declared to be the policy of the city to encourage compliance with all provisions of this title for the purpose of ensuring the protection of the public health, safety and welfare. Accordingly, notwithstanding any other provisions of this title to the contrary, authority is granted to the code enforcement officers identified in subsection A of this section, upon their detection or discovery of a violation of this code, or any of the sections specified in subsection A of this section, or of the existence of a nuisance with the city, and in the code enforcement officer's sole discretion, to issue a notice to abate said violation or nuisance to the person responsible. The discretionary issuance of such a notice to abate shall not constitute a summons and complaint, and no criminal liability shall attach as a result of such service, and such discretionary issuance of such notice to abate is not a prerequisite to the issuance of a summons and complaint.

Failure to Abate. In the event a person served a notice to abate fails to abate the specified violation or nuisance within ten (10) days, unless otherwise specified in this title, from the date the notice to abate is served upon the person so charged, the code enforcement officer may issue a summons and complaint to the person, charging such person with a violation of the applicable code section.

Interference with Officer in Conduct of Duties. It is unlawful for any person to interfere with a code enforcement officer during conduct of his lawful duties; to intentionally place or attempt to place a code enforcement officer in fear of imminent bodily injury by any threat or physical action during the conduct of such code enforcement officer's duties; to threaten the job status of such code enforcement officer with the intent to cause the code enforcement officer to fail to carry out assigned duties or to refrain from issuing a summons and complaint or a notice to abate; or to threaten to confine, restrain or cause bodily contact with or harm to such code enforcement officer from intent to induce such officer to do an act or refrain from doing an act.

Multiple Violations. Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the code enforcement officers identified in subsection A of this section are authorized to include multiple alleged violations of this code upon a single notice to abate nuisance or notice of violation permitted by subsection B of this section, and upon a single summons and complaint permitted by subsections A and C of this section.

The city may bring a criminal action in the Municipal Court to have the violation declared as such by the Court and to have the Court impose sentence pursuant to this section upon the owner, agent, occupant or person who caused the violation or the person who allowed the violation to continue.

The criminal action to declare a violation of this chapter shall be brought in the name of the people of the state of Colorado by serving a copy of the summons and complaint upon the alleged violator (hereinafter "defendant") and filing the original with the Court. Summons and complaint and subpoena shall be served as in criminal actions. Any employee or agent of the city who is over the age of eighteen (18) may serve a summons and complaint upon the defendant or a subpoena upon any witness to the violation. Such criminal action shall be prosecuted pursuant to the Colorado Municipal Court Rules.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this title shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.