ORDINANCE NO. ____
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO AMENDING CHAPTER 1.16 OF THE RIALTO MUNICIPAL CODE RELATED TO PUBLIC NUISANCES, CODE VIOLATIONS, AND RECOVERY OF ATTORNEYS FEES AND COSTS WHEREAS, Section VII of Article XI of the California Constitution provides that a City may make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws; and, WHEREAS, California Government Code sections 38771 and 38772, respectively, provide that legislative bodies of cities may declare what constitutes a nuisance and provide for the abatement of any nuisance; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that nuisance conditions are offensive and/or annoying to the senses, detrimental to property values and community appearance, an obstruction or interference with the comfortable enjoyment of adjacent properties or premises (both public and private), and/or are hazardous or injurious to the health, safety, and/or welfare of the general public; and, WHEREAS, it is critical that the City have a full range of tools and remedies available to ensure compliance with local laws and, when necessary, penalize violators who fail to comply with those laws; and WHEREAS, it is the City Council’s desire to promote and sustain a high quality of life within the City and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the City’s residents, business community, and guests by developing and utilizing regulations that promote the sound maintenance of property and that enhance the appearance, habitability, occupancy, use, and safety of all structures and premises in the City; and, WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to strengthen the City’s ability to abate nuisance conditions by amending an existing Municipal Code definition of what constitutes a public nuisance; and, WHEREAS, the City Council further wishes to refine the Code so as to allow for the recovery and collection of attorney’s fees and costs by a prevailing party in any administrative or judicial proceeding to abate a public nuisance.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. RECITALS
The City Council finds that all recitals, facts, findings and conclusions set forth above are true and correct and hereby incorporated by this reference.
SECTION 2. TITLE 1, CHAPTER 1.10 “ADMINISTRATIVE FINES” Title 1, Chapter 1.16 of the Rialto Municipal Code is amended as shown in Exhibit A.
SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after its passage by the City Council of the City of Rialto.
SECTION 4. SEVERABILITY.
If any section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, then such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Rialto hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance, and each section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions thereof be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 5. PUBLICATION.
The City Clerk is authorized and directed to cause this ordinance to be published within fifteen (15) days after its passage in a newspaper of general circulation and circulated within the City in accordance with Government Code Section 36933(a) or, to cause this ordinance to be published in the manner required by law using the alternative summary and posting procedure authorized under Government Code Section 36933 (c).
INTRODUCED at the regular meeting of Rialto Council on the _____ day of _______2022.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at the regular meeting of Rialto City Council on the _______ day of ___________2022. __________________________________
DEBORAH ROBERTSON, Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________________
BARBARA McGEE, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP
________________________________
ERIC S. VAIL, City Attorney
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO) ss
CITY OF RIALTO )
I, Barbara McGee, City Clerk of the City of Rialto, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. __________ was duly passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Rialto held on the ________ day of _____________________, 2022.
Upon motion of Councilmember ___________________, seconded by Councilmember ____________________, the foregoing Ordinance No. _________ was duly passed and adopted.
Vote on the Motion:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and the Official Seal of the City of Rialto, this _____ day of _______________, 2022. ____________________________
Barbara A. McGee, City Clerk
Exhibit A
Chapter 1.16 VIOLATIONS
1.16.010 Enforcement of Violations
A. No person shall violate or fail to comply with any provision or requirement of this Code or any approval, order, ordinance, permit, license, rule or regulation issued or adopted by any duly authorized body, officer or agent of the City in the manner provided by law.
B. Violation of this Code or any other ordinance of the City may be prosecuted pursuant to this Chapter. The City may also issue a fine or administrative citation as allowed by Chapter 1.10.
C. The City Attorney, at the direction of the City Council, may institute an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to restrain, enjoin or abate any condition found to be in violation of this Code or any approval, order, ordinance, permit, license, rule or regulation issued or adopted by any duly authorized body, officer or agent of the City in the manner provided by law.
D. The provisions of this section represent the general means and methods by which the City may secure compliance with the provisions of this Code and City ordinances, approvals, orders, permits, licenses, rules, or regulations. The City may use any available legal remedy to secure compliance and multiple enforcement remedies may be used to achieve compliance.
1.16.020 Misdemeanors and Infractions; Continuing Violations A. Any person who shall violate or fail to comply with any provision or requirement of this Code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor unless such a violation or failure is designated as an infraction or is subsequently prosecuted as an infraction at the discretion of the City Prosecutor, in which case, such person is guilty of an infraction.
B. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code, when a person under the age of eighteen (18) years is charged with a violation of this Code, a peace officer may issue a notice to appear in superior court to that minor and the charge shall be deemed an infraction.
C. It shall constitute a new and separate offense for each and every day during which any portion of which a violation of, or failure to comply with, any provision or requirement of this Code is committed, continued or permitted by any person.
1.16.030 Punishment
Unless otherwise specifically provided in this Code, any person guilty of a misdemeanor under a provision of this Code shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment for a period of not more than six months, or by both such a fine and imprisonment.
As prescribed in Government Code section 36900, any person who has committed an infraction under this Code shall be punished by the following: a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for a first violation, a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200) for a second violation of the same ordinance within one year, and a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) for each additional violation of the same ordinance within one year of the first violation. A violation of local building and safety codes determined to be an infraction is punishable by the following: a fine not exceeding one hundred thirty dollars ($130) for a first violation, a fine not exceeding seven hundred dollars ($700) for a second violation of the same ordinance within one year, and a fine not exceeding one thousand three hundred dollars ($1,300) for each additional violation of the same ordinance within one year of the first violation.
1.16.040 AUTHORIZATION TO CITE:
Officers and employees of the police department and such other employees as designated by the City Manager shall have the power, authority and immunity, as set forth in the Penal Code to make arrests without a warrant whenever such officers or employees have reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a misdemeanor violation of an ordinance or statute which such officers or employees have the duty to enforce, and the violation has been committed in the presence of such officers or employees.
1.16.050 ARREST OF VIOLATORS:
In any case in which a person is arrested pursuant to this Code and the person arrested does not demand to be taken before a magistrate, the officer or employee making the arrest shall prepare a written notice to appear and release the person on his/her promise to appear, as prescribed by the Penal Code of the State
1.16.060 VIOLATION OF NOTICE TO APPEAR
In the absence of variable and exigent circumstances preventing an appearance, any person violating his/her written promise to appear in court shall be guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he/she was originally arrested.
1.16.070 WARRANT FOR ARREST FOR FAILURE TO APPEAR
When a person signs a written promise to appear at the time and place specified in the written promise to appear and has not posted bail as provided in the State Penal Code, the magistrate/judge may issue and have delivered for execution a warrant for his/her arrest.
If such person promises to appear before an officer, to accept bail, other than a magistrate, and fails to do so on or before the date he/she promised to appear, then a request to execute a warrant for arrest may be presented to a magistrate having jurisdiction over the offense.
1.16.080 AIDING AND ABETTING
Whenever any act or omission is prohibited by any provision of this Code, such prohibition shall be deemed also to prohibit the causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, suffering or concealing of such act or omission, and any person who shall cause, permit, aid, abet, suffer or conceal such act or omission shall be guilty of a violation of this Code and shall be punishable for such act or omission.
1.16.090 RESPONSIBILITY
A. The occupant of any premises upon which a violation of any provision of this Code exists, the owner of any object or material placed or remaining anywhere on the premises in violation of any provision of this Code, or the occupant of any premises where an excavation was made or a structure erected in violation of any provision of this Code shall be deemed prima facie responsible for the violation and subject to the penalties provided therefor.
B. The owner of any property, building or structure within the City has the responsibility for keeping such property, building or structure free of violations related to its use or condition. The owner(s) of such property, building or structure are separately liable for violations committed by tenants or occupants relative to the use or condition of the property.
1.16.100 PUBLIC NUISANCE:
In addition to other penalties provided by law, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any provision of this Code or any approval, order, ordinance, permit, license, rule or regulation issued or adopted by any duly authorized body, officer or agent of the City in the manner provided by law shall be deemed a public nuisance and may be abated as such by the City; and each day such violating condition continues shall constitute a new and separate offense.
1.16.110 ATTORNEY’S FEES
In any action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding brought to abate a public nuisance, the prevailing party will be entitled to recover attorneys' fees, provided that attorneys' fees will only be available in those actions or proceedings in which the City elects at the initiation of such action or proceeding to seek recovery of its own attorneys' fees. In no action, administrative proceeding, or special 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. - 2 -
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