Code Enforcement

The City created a Code Enforcement Board in order to provide another option to enforce noncompliance with city ordinances, rather than taking property owners and residents to District Court. The city appoints a citation officer who has the responsibility of inspecting city properties for code violations. All citations issued by the citation officer must be confirmed or denied by the Code Enforcement Board.

View Entire: Code Enforcement Board Ordinance

Citation Officer Terry Frogue

What is a Code Enforcement Board?
The creation of a CEB was authorized by the State of Kentucky to allow local governments to issue remedial orders and to impose civil fines as an inexpensive alternative to ensure compliance with local ordinances. The only other alternative a City has to enforce local ordinances is to take the case to court, which takes a lot of time and money for both the City and the offender.

How Does the CEB Work?
First, a Citation Officer will issue a Notice of Violation to an offender. This Notice will explain the violation and how to correct it. The Notice will also give a date by which time the violation shall be corrected. A Notice is simply to inform the property owner or resident that a violation exists and to inform the owner or resident of the City Ordinances. At this point, there has been no fine issued.

If the violation is not corrected by the date in the Notice, the Citation Officer will then issue a Citation charging the offender with a civil offense. The Citation gives the offender two choices.

First, the offender may choose not to contest the citation and, within ten days, pay the minimum civil fine and correct the violation by a given date. If the violation is not corrected, another citation can be issued with a higher civil fine for the second offense.

Second, the offender may contest the violation and, within ten days, request a hearing before the CEB. The CEB will then hold a public hearing to receive evidence of the violation. The citation officer and the offender will have the opportunity to present their case. After receiving all evidence and testimony, the CEB will find if a violation did exist. If the offender is found to have committed the violation, a civil penalty may be imposed by the CEB up to a maximum, which is usually double the fine if the violation is not contested. The CEB may also find that the violation did not exist and relieve the offender of any fines.

In addition, if the City has reason to believe the existence of the violation presents a serious threat to public health, safety, and welfare, and the violator has not corrected the violation, the City has the authority to take immediate action to correct the violation.

Once fines are assessed, the City shall then possess a lien on property owned by the person found to have committed a violation. In addition, the person found to have committed the violation shall be held personally responsible for all fines assessed, and for all charges and fees incurred by the City in connection with the enforcement of the ordinance.

What are the amounts of fines assessed by the Citation Officer and CEB?

The amount of the fine issued depends on the city ordinance violated. Also, as the number of violations of the same ordinances increases, so does the amount of the fine.
Download and view: CEB Fine Schedule

What Ordinances are enforced by the Code Enforcement Board?
When the Code Enforcement Board was created in 2003, the City Council established what City Ordinances would be enforced by the Citation Officer and Code Enforcement Board. Generally, the Citation Officers enforces regulations relating to nuisances, animals, occupational license taxes and zoning permits.

View and Download: Ordinances Enforced by Citation Officer