(a)   It shall be unlawful for any person to maintain or permit any nuisance within the city which consists in doing any unlawful act, or omitting to perform a duty, or suffering or permitting any condition or thing to be or exist, which act, omission, condition or thing:

(1)   Injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, or safety of others;

(2)   Offends decency;

(3)   Is offensive to the senses;

(4)   Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs, tends to obstruct, or renders dangerous for passage any stream, public park, parkway, square, street, or highway in the municipality;

(5)   In any way renders other person insecure in life or the use of property;

(6)   Essentially interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property; or

(7)   Tends to depreciate the value of the property of others.

(b)   Nuisance includes, but is not limited to, the maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving, or permitting of any of the following specific acts, omissions, places, conditions and things:

(1)   Filth, excrement, lumber, rocks, dirt, cans, paper, trash, metal or any other offensive or disagreeable thing or substance thrown or left or deposited upon any street, avenue, alley, sidewalk, park, public or private enclosure or lot whether vacant or occupied;

(2)   Trash, litter, rags, accumulations of barrels, boxes, crates, packing crates, mattresses, bedding, excelsior, packing hay, straw or other packing material, lumber, scrap iron, tin or other metal, old automobiles or parts thereof, or any other waste materials when any of the articles or materials create a condition in which flies or rats or other insects or rodents may breed or multiply, or which may be a fire danger, or which are so unsightly as to depreciate property values in the vicinity;

(3)   Storage, accumulation, keeping, placing, or allowing to remain trash, garbage, scrap and wrecked, worn-out, broken or inoperative, or partially destroyed or disassembled property of any kind including tractors, trailers, machinery, and equipment;

(4)   Abandoned indoor furniture or appliances located outdoors;

(5)   All dead animals not removed within 24 hours after death;

(6)   Any place or structure or substance which emits or causes any offensive, disagreeable or nauseous odors;

(7)   All stagnant ponds or pools of water;

(8)   Animal manure in any quantity which is not securely protected from flies and the elements;

(9)   Emission of smoke, dust, fumes, gases, mists, odors, or polluted air from any source that is injurious or dangerous to human health and safety; or

(10) Any fence, structure, thing or substance placed upon or being upon any street, sidewalk, alley or public ground so as to obstruct the same, except as permitted by the laws of the city.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

The Governing Body shall designate a public officer to be charged with the administration and enforcement of this ordinance.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

The public officer shall make inquiry and inspection of premises upon receiving a complaint or complaints in writing signed by two or more persons stating that a nuisance exists and describing the same and where located or is informed that a nuisance may exist by the board of health, chief of police  or the fire chief. The public officer may make such inquiry and inspection when he or she observes conditions which appear to constitute a nuisance.  Upon making any inquiry and inspection the public officer shall make a written report of findings.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

The public officer has the right of access and entry upon private property at any reasonable time for the purpose of making inquiry and inspection to determine if a nuisance exists.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

(a)   The governing body shall serve upon the owner, any agent of the owner of the property or any other person, corporation, partnership or association found by the public officer to be in violation of Section 8.12.010 an order stating the violation.  The order shall be served on the owner or agent of such property by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal service.  If the property is unoccupied and the owner is a nonresident, then by mailing the order by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of the owner. 

(b)   If the owner or the agent of the owner of the property has failed to accept delivery or otherwise failed to effectuate receipt of a notice or order sent pursuant to this section during the preceding twenty-four month period, the governing body of the city may provide notice of the issuance of any further orders to abate or remove a nuisance from such property or provide notice of the order by such methods including, but not limited to, door hangers, conspicuously posting notice of such order on the property, personal notification, telephone communication or first class mail.  If the property is unoccupied and the owner is a nonresident, notice provided by this section shall be given by telephone communication or first class mail. 

(Ord. 699; K.S.A. 12-1617e; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

The order shall state:

(a)   The common or legal description of the property, or both;

(b)   That the property is in violation of this chapter;

(c)   A description of the violation that would reasonably allow the owner, occupant, or agent to determine the nature of the violation to allow for self-abatement;

(d)   He, she or they shall have 10 days from the receipt of the order to abate the condition(s) in violation of Section 8.12.010; provided, however, that the governing body or its designee shall grant one or more extensions of the 10 day period if the owner or agent of the property demonstrates that due diligence is being exercised in the abatement of the conditions in violation of Section 8.12.010; or,

(e)   He, she or they have 10 days from the receipt of the order, plus any additional time granted under subsection (d), to request a hearing before the governing body or its designated representative of the matter as provided by Section 8.12.090; and

(f)   Failure to abate the condition(s) or to request a hearing within the time allowed may result in prosecution as provided by Section 8.12.070 and/or abatement of the condition(s) by the city as provided by Section 8.12.080.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

Should the person, corporation, partnership or association fail to comply with the order to abate the nuisance or request a hearing the public officer may file a complaint in the municipal court of the city against such person, corporation, partnership or association and upon conviction of any violation of provisions of Section 8.12.010, be fined in an amount not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not to exceed 30 days or be both fined and imprisoned.  Each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues after notice has been served shall constitute an additional or separate offense.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

In addition to, or as an alternative to prosecution as provided in Section 8.12.070, the public officer may seek to remedy violations of this ordinance in the following manner. If a person to whom an order has been served pursuant to Section 8.12.050 has neither alleviated the conditions causing the alleged violation nor requested a hearing before the governing body within the time periods specified in Section 8.12.060, the public officer may present a resolution to the governing body for adoption authorizing the public officer or other agents of the city to abate the conditions causing the violation at the end of 10 days after passage of the resolution.  The resolution shall further provide that the costs incurred by the city shall be charged against the lot or parcel of ground on which the nuisance was located as provided in Section 8.12.100.  A copy of the resolution shall be served upon the person in violation in one of the following ways:

(a)   Personal service upon the person in violation; or

(b)   Certified mail, return receipt requested; or

(c)   In the event the whereabouts of such person are unknown and the same cannot be ascertained in the exercise of reasonable diligence, an affidavit to that effect shall be made by the public officer and filed with the city clerk, and the serving of the resolution shall be made by publishing the same once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official city newspaper and by posting a copy of the resolution on the premises where such condition exists.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

If a hearing is requested within the 10 day period as provided in 8.12.060, such request shall be made in writing to the governing body. Failure to make a timely request for a hearing shall constitute a waiver of the person’s right to contest the findings of the public officer. The hearing shall be held by the governing body or its designated representative as soon as possible after the filing of the request therefore, and the person shall be advised by the city of the time and place of the hearing at least five days in advance thereof.  At any such hearing, the person may be represented by counsel, and the person and the city may introduce such witnesses and evidence as is deemed necessary and proper by the governing body or its designated representative.  The hearing need not be conducted according to the formal rules of evidence. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the findings of the governing body or its designated representative shall be prepared in resolution form, adopted by the governing body, and the resolution shall be served upon the person in the manner provided in Section 8.12.080.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)

If the city abates or removes the nuisance pursuant to 8.12.080, the city shall give notice to the owner or his or her agent by certified mail, return receipt requested, of the total cost of the abatement or removal incurred by the city.  The notice shall also state that the payment is due within 30 days following receipt of the notice.  The city also may recover the cost of providing notice, including any postage, required by this section.  The notice shall also state that if the cost of the removal or abatement is not paid within the 30-day period, the cost of the abatement or removal shall be collected in the manner provided by K.S.A. 12-1,115, and amendments thereto, or shall be assessed as special assessments and charged against the lot or parcel of land on which the nuisance was located and the city clerk, at the time of certifying other city taxes, shall certify the unpaid portion of the costs and the county clerk shall extend the same on the tax rolls of the county against such lot or parcel of land and it shall be collected by the county treasurer and paid to the city as other city taxes are collected and paid.  The city may pursue collection both by levying a special assessment and in the manner provided by K.S.A. 12-1,115, and amendments thereto, but only until the full cost and applicable interest has been paid in full.

(Ord. 699; Ord. 987; Code 2021)