§ 18-1136. Abatement of hazardous conditions.

(a)

Remedy by city. The city may repair, replace, secure or otherwise remedy a pool yard enclosure or fence that is damaged, deteriorated, substandard, dilapidated or otherwise in a state that poses a hazard to the public health, safety and welfare.

(b)

Remedy by owner of occupied property. If the director of health determines that the minimum pool yard enclosure requirements as set forth in this division have been violated, the director of health shall send a notice of violation to the owner of the property on which the swimming pool enclosure or fence is situated detailing the nature of the violation along with a hearing date on which the owner, lienholder or mortgagee will be required to submit at the hearing proof of the scope of any work that may be required to comply with this division and the time it will take to reasonably perform the work. After the public hearing, if the pool enclosure is found in violation of the standards set out in this division by the city manager, the city manager may order that the enclosure be repaired, replaced, secured or otherwise remedied by the owner within a reasonable time. If the owner does not take the ordered action within the allotted time, the city shall make a diligent effort to discover each mortgagee and lienholder having an interest in the building or in the property on which the pool enclosure is located. The city shall send to each identified mortgagee and lienholder a notice containing the following:

(1)

An identification, which is not required to be a legal description, of the pool enclosure and the property on which it is located;

(2)

A description of the violation; and

(3)

A statement that the city will repair, replace, secure or otherwise remedy the violation if the ordered action is not taken within a reasonable time.

(c)

Remedy by owner of unoccupied property. If the director of health determines that the minimum fencing requirements as set forth in this division have been violated and if the enclosure or fence is on unoccupied property or is on property occupied only by persons who do not have a right of possession to the property, the city may repair, replace, secure or otherwise remedy the pool enclosure. The director of health shall, before the 11th day after the date of repair, give notice to the owner by:

(1)

Personally serving the owner with written notice;

(2)

Depositing the notice in the United States mail addressed to the owner at the owner's post office address;

(3)

Publishing the notice at least twice within a ten-day period in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the enclosure is located if personal service cannot be obtained and the owner's post office address is unknown; or

(4)

Depositing the notice on or near the front door of the pool if the personal service cannot be obtained and the owner's post office address is unknown.

The notice must contain:

(1)

An identification, which is not required to be a legal description, of the pool enclosure and the property on which it is located;

(2)

A description of the violation;

(3)

A statement that the city will secure or has secured, as the case may be, the swimming pool; and

(4)

An explanation of the owner's entitlement to request a hearing about any matter relating the city's securing the pool.

(d)

Recapture of expense incurred by city. If the city incurs expenses under this division, the city shall assess the expenses on and the city shall have a lien against the property on which the swimming pool or the enclosure or fence is situated, unless the property is a homestead protected by the state constitution. The lien is extinguished if the property owner or another person having an interest in the legal title to the property reimburses the city for the expenses. The lien arises and attaches to the property at the time the notice of the lien is recorded in the office of the county clerk in the county in which the property is situated. The notice must contain the name and address of the owner if that information can be determined with reasonable effort, a legal description of the real property on which the swimming pool or the enclosure or fence is situated, the amount of the expenses incurred by the city and the balance due. The lien is a privileged lien subordinate only to tax liens and all previously recorded bona fide mortgage liens attached to the real property to which the city's lien attaches.

(Code 1967, § 28-12; Ord. No. 7721, § 1, 6-13-96)