All officials, departments and employees of the City vested with the authority or duty to issue permits, certificates, or licenses shall comply with the provisions of this title and the rest of the Hanford Municipal Code and shall issue no permit, certificate, or license which conflicts with the provisions of this title. Any permit, certificate, or license issued in error that is in conflict with the provisions of this title shall upon its issuance be void.

A business license for any new business or for a new location for any existing business activity shall not be issued until the Community Development Director has determined that conduct of the business activity is not in violation of any provision of this title.

In the discharge of their duties, the Code Enforcement Officer shall have the right to enter any real property and any structure, building or other improvement located thereon for purposes of investigation and inspection, so long as the real property, and/or the structures, buildings or improvements thereon are open to the public, otherwise, entry must be with the permission of the owner or the owner's authorized agent. In the event permission cannot be obtained or is refused, entry shall be accomplished pursuant to an order or judgment of a court.

The Code Enforcement Officer, with the consent of the City Manager, may call upon the City Attorney to institute legal proceedings to enforce the provisions of this title, and the City Attorney is authorized to institute appropriate actions for that purpose.

The Hanford Police Department is also authorized to enforce the provisions of this title.

The street address and/or assessor's parcel number and location description sufficient for identification of the property on which the violation and/or public nuisance exists;

A statement that the Code Enforcement Officer has determined that a violation and/or a public nuisance exists on the property, with a brief description of the conditions that render the property in violation and/or as a public nuisance and identification of the section(s) of the Hanford Municipal Code or other law or regulation violated;

A statement to require the violator(s) to obtain all appropriate permits and correct the violation or abate the public nuisance within the time period identified in the administrative citation which time period shall not exceed 10 days from the date of service of the administrative citation, unless the City Council or the Code Enforcement Officer identifies an alternative period of time on the administrative citation;

A statement advising that the disposal of material removed from the property in order to comply with the administrative citation shall be disposed of in the manner required by law;

A statement advising that if the required work is not commenced within the time specified, the Code Enforcement Officer may proceed to cause the work to be done, and bill the persons named in the administrative citation for all abatement costs and administrative expenses of the city and/or levy the costs against the property by recordation of a notice of lien in accordance with Section 17.94.180 of this chapter;

Amount of fine imposed for the violation(s);

Explanation of how the fine shall be paid and the consequences of failure to pay the fine;

Signature of the Code Enforcement Officer and the signature of the violator if the violator can be located. If the violator refuses or does not sign the administrative citation, the lack of such signature shall in no way affect the validity of the administrative citation and subsequent proceedings;

A statement advising the person or persons identified in the administrative citation that they may appeal the issuance of the administrative citation in accordance with Section 17.94.110 of this chapter.

Personal service;

First Class mail, postage prepaid, to each person identified at the address as it appears on the last equalized assessment roll of the county, or as otherwise known to the Code Enforcement Officer. The address of the property owner shown on the assessment roll shall be conclusively deemed to be the property address for the purpose of service of the administrative citation. Service by mail in the manner described above shall be effective on the date of mailing; or

The failure of the person with an interest in the property to receive any administrative citation served in accordance with this section shall not affect the validity of any proceedings taken under this chapter. If the owner of record, after diligent search cannot be found, the administrative citation may be served by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place upon the property for a period of 10 days.

The City Council by resolution shall establish the amount of the fine to be assessed for administrative citations issued by Code Enforcement Officer.

If the violator or property owner fails to correct the violation, subsequent administrative citations may be issued for the same violation(s). The amount of the fine shall increase at a rate specified in the City Council resolution.

Payment of the fine shall not excuse the failure to correct the violation nor shall it bar further enforcement action by the City.

All fines assessed shall be payable to the City.

The failure of any person to pay a fine assessed by administrative citation within the time specified on the citation shall result in the assessment of an additional late fee to be charged. The amount of the late fee shall be 10% of the total amount of the administrative fine owed.

The failure of any person to pay a fine assessed by administrative citation within the time specified on the administrative citation constitutes a debt to the City. To enforce that debt, the Code Enforcement Officer may:

Any person receiving an administrative citation may appeal the issuance of the administrative citation to the City Manager. The notice of appeal must be submitted on an appeal form provided by the Community Development Director, must specify the basis for the appeal in detail, and must be filed with the community development director within 10 days after the date of service of the administrative citation. If the deadline falls on a weekend or City holiday, then the deadline shall be extended until the next regular business day. Except as otherwise provided herein, no appeal hearing shall be held unless all unpaid fines have been deposited with the City in advance. Notwithstanding such deposit requirement, the deposit of fines shall be waived if the City Manager determines that the appealing party is financially unable to pay such amount. A waiver request must be submitted to the Community Development Director with the person's request for appeal, along with a sworn declaration and other supporting documents and materials showing the person's actual financial inability to deposit the fine amount. The appealing party bears the burden of demonstrating financial hardship to the satisfaction of the community development director. If the City Manager determines that a waiver is warranted, the deposit will be waived or partially waived. If the City Manager finds that a waiver is not warranted, the appealing party must, within three business days of the party's receipt of the City Manager's written decision, deposit of the fines for the person's appeal to be processed.

When an appeal is filed, unless the Code Enforcement Officer determines that the violations identified in the administrative citation constitute an immediate threat to the health or safety of any person, the enforcement of the violations identified in the administrative citation shall be stayed until the date that the appeal hearing is held by the City Council.

As soon as practicable after receiving the written notice of appeal, the City Manager shall fix a date, time, and place for the hearing. Written notice of the date, time, and place for the hearing shall be served at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing to the party appealing the administrative citation by any one of the following means:

The failure of any person with an interest in the property to receive such notice of hearing shall not affect the validity of any proceedings taken under this chapter. Service by mail in the manner described above shall be deemed effective on the date of mailing.

Failure of any person to file an appeal in accordance with the provisions of this section shall constitute a failure to exhaust administrative remedies and will be waiver of that person's rights to administrative determination of the merits of the administrative citation and the amount of the fine.

The City Council shall designate or appoint a hearing officer, and in no event shall the Code Enforcement Officer, nor any other officer or employee in his or her department, be the hearing officer for appeals occurring under this Chapter 17.94.

Hearing Procedure.

Hearing Decision.

The Code Enforcement Officer shall attempt to make contact through a personal interview, or by telephone, with the landowner or the person, if any, occupying or otherwise in apparent charge or control of the property.

In the event contact is made, the Code Enforcement Officer shall notify such person or persons of the danger involved and require that such condition be immediately removed, repaired, or isolated so as to preclude harm to any person or property.

In the event the Code Enforcement Officer is unable to make contact as herein above noted, or if the appropriate persons, after notification by the Code Enforcement Officer, do not take action as specified by the Code Enforcement Officer, within 24 hours or such lesser time as circumstances may warrant in the discretion of the Code Enforcement Officer, then the Code Enforcement Officer may, with the approval of the City Manager, take all steps deemed necessary to repair, remove, or isolate such dangerous condition, or conditions with the use of City forces or a contractor retained by the City.

The Code Enforcement Officer shall keep an itemized account of the work and abatement costs and administrative expenses incurred by the City in repairing, removing, or isolating such condition or conditions. Administrative expenses may be recovered in the same manner that work and abatement costs are recovered.

If a violator fails to pay a fine within the time period identified on the administrative citation or should the violator fail to pay the costs of abatement within the time period identified in Section 17.94.160 or within 10 days after the date of the decision of the hearing officer should the hearing officer affirm the collection of a fine or the costs of abatement, the Code Enforcement Officer may execute and file in the office of the county recorder a notice of lien of substantially the following form:

Immediately upon the recording of the notice of lien, the assessment shall constitute a lien on the real property assessed. Such lien shall, for all purposes, be upon a parity with the lien of state and local taxes.

The notice of lien, after recording, shall be delivered to the tax assessor of Kings County, who shall enter the amount on the county assessment book opposite the description of the real property, and the amount shall be collected together with all other taxes levied thereon against the real property. Alternatively, the unpaid amount may be added to the tax roll instead of recording a notice of lien.

Thereafter, the amount set forth in the notice of lien shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary county taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and interest and to the same procedure under foreclosure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary county taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of county taxes are made applicable to such assessment. The amount set forth in the notice of lien shall be returned to the City to the fund designated for code enforcement activities.