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A. Notice of Due Process Hearing. The city, the applicable director, or a designee thereof, shall provide the property owner of record and the party responsible for the maintenance of the property, if a person different from the owner, not less than forty-eight hours’ notice of the city’s intent to hold a due process hearing at which the property owner and/or responsible party shall be entitled to present evidence and argue that the property does not constitute a public nuisance. The property owner and the party responsible for the maintenance of the property shall be deemed served with notice three days after the same is sent to the property and to the address shown on the county tax roll as the owner of said property by certified U.S. mail.

B. Determination of Hearing Examiner. The determination of the hearing examiner after the due process hearing shall be final, subject to appeal to the city council. If, after the due process hearing, regardless of the attendance of the owner or the responsible party or their respective agents, the hearing examiner determines that the property contains graffiti viewable from a public or quasi-public place, the hearing examiner shall declare the same a nuisance and order the owner or responsible party to abate it by having the graffiti removed within ten days. Should the owner or responsible party fail to comply with the hearing examiner’s order, daily fines of up to one hundred dollars shall accrue until the nuisance is abated. Furthermore, the city shall, pursuant to Chapter 7.48 RCW, obtain a warrant of abatement to enter upon the property, cause the removal, painting over (in such color as shall meet with the approval of the court), or such other eradication thereof as the court determines appropriate, and shall provide the owner and the responsible party thereafter with an accounting of the costs of the eradication effort on a full cost recovery basis. Appeals to the city council must be filed with the city clerk in writing within ten days of the hearing examiner’s decision. The hearing examiner’s decision shall be stayed pending resolution of the city council appeal.

C. Liens. As to such property where the responsible party is the property owner, if all or any portion of the assessed eradication charges remain unpaid after thirty days, the portion thereof that remains unpaid shall constitute a lien on the property that was the subject of the eradication effort. Any lien imposed by the city under this chapter shall be subordinate to all existing special assessment liens previously imposed upon the same property and shall be paramount to all other liens, except for state and city taxes, with which it shall be on a parity.

1. Liens – Filing and Recording. The applicable director shall cause a claim for lien to be filed for record in the auditor’s office within ninety days from the date of completion of the abatement work performed pursuant to this chapter. The claim of lien shall contain the authority for the proceeding to abate the violation; a brief description of the abatement work done, including the dates the work was commenced and completed and the name of the persons or organizations who performed the work; a legal description of the property to be charged with the lien; the name of the known or reputed owner, and, if not known, the fact shall be alleged; and the amount including lawful and reasonable costs, for which the lien is claimed. The applicable director shall sign and verify the claim. The claim of lien may be amended in case of action brought to foreclose the lien, by order of the court, as long as the interests of third parties are not detrimentally affected by amendment. The auditor shall record and index the claims described in this chapter. No lien created by this chapter binds the property subject to the lien for a period longer than three years after the claim has been filed unless an action is commenced in the proper court within that time to enforce the lien.

2. Liens – Foreclosure. The lien provided by this chapter may be foreclosed and enforced by a civil action in a court having jurisdiction. All persons who have legally filed claims of liens against the same property prior to commencement of the action shall be joined as parties, either plaintiff or defendant. Dismissal of an action to foreclose a lien at the instance of a plaintiff shall not prejudice another party to the suit who claims a lien. (Ord. 006/2007 § 1)