Chapter 13

NUISANCES

 
CONTENTS 
§ 13-1.    Definitions.
§ 13-2.    Notice and abatement of nuisance.
§ 13-3.    Removal of nuisance by the owner or the City and penalty for failure to abate nuisance.
§ 13-4.    Physician shall report contagious diseases.
§ 13-5.    May placard houses; isolate patients, disinfect.
§ 13-6.    Weeds and other rank vegetation.
§§ 13-7 to 13-10.  Reserved.
Chapter 13
NUISANCES 
Sec. 13-1.  Definitions.

Nuisance – (1) Nuisances within the City of Vienna are hereby declared and defined to be as follows:
(a) Any act done or committed, or suffered to be done or committed by any person, or any substance or thing kept and maintained in or upon any public or private place in the city, which is injurious and dangerous to the public health, public morals, or public safety;

(b) All pursuits followed or acts done by any person to the hurt, injury, annoyance, and inconvenience of the public;

(c) All slaughter houses, dairies, stables, pig pens, or other places in the City of Vienna, permitted by the person owning or having charge of the same, to be in such condition as to become offensive, annoying, or injurious;

(d) All ponds or pools of stagnant water, animal or vegetable matter or other substance permitted to become putrid, without being removed, on any lot in the city, and permitted by the person in possession to so remain;

(e) All privies or private vaults kept in such condition so as to emit an offensive or disagreeable odor, and all substances permitted to be kept which emit an offensive noxious or unhealthy smell in the neighborhood where they exist;

(f)  All obstructions caused or permitted on any street or sidewalk, to the danger or annoyance of the public, and all filth, slops, wash water, carcasses of dead animals, vegetable matter or other articles thrown or placed by any person on or in any street, sidewalk, alley or other place in the city, which in any manner causes injury or annoyance to the public.

(g) Any accumulation of unsightly, dangerous or noxious personal property.

(h) Any allowance or permitting of weeds, grass or other plant material to grow or remain when grown on any parcel of property to exceed one (1) foot in height, excluding ornamental trees, shrubs and flowering or non-flowering domesticated plants.  (Ord. 116, §1)

(2) Every act or thing done or made, permitted, allowed, or continued on any property, public or private, by any person or corporation, their agents or servants, to the damage or injury of any of the inhabitants of the City of Vienna and not hereinbefore specified, shall be deemed a nuisance.  (§703.601, 1978 Code; Ord. 65, §1)

Sec. 13-2.  Notice and abatement of nuisance.

(a) Whenever the City or any of its agents, servants, employees or elected officials shall ascertain or have knowledge of any thing or condition claimed to be a nuisance, the Mayor shall direct an investigation to be made by such City employees as the Mayor shall designate, to examine the thing or condition and report to the Mayor on the same within ten (10) days after designation by the Mayor.

(b) Upon receipt of the report, the Mayor shall, within ten (10) days thereafter determine whether the thing or condition constitutes a nuisance as defined in this Chapter, and proceed as follows:

(1) In the event the Mayor determines a nuisance exists, the Mayor shall notify the owner, occupant, lessee, mortgagee, agent, and all other persons having an interest in the building or structure or land, as shown in the land records of the Recorder of Deeds of Maries County, Missouri, that the property is to be vacated, reconditioned or removed, as the case may be, and that said vacation, reconditioning, or removal be commenced within ten (10) days of the date of notice.

(2) In the event the Mayor determines a nuisance does not exist, the Mayor shall notify, in writing, any person or entity making a complaint of the same, of the Mayor’s determination.

(3) The notification called for in this section shall be served upon the appropriate parties, either by personal service or certified mail, return receipt requested; but if service cannot be had by either of these modes of service, then service may be had by publication.  (§703.605, 1978 Code; As amended by adopting ordinance dated July 7, 1992; Ord. 65, §1; Ord. 109, §2)

Sec. 13-3.  Removal of nuisance by the owner or the City and penalty for failure to abate nuisance.

(a) An owner, occupant, lessee, agent, or other party having possession and control over the property, who, having been served with a notice prescribed by Section 13-2(b), fails to commence the vacation, reconditioning, or removal within ten (10) days of the date of the notice or fails to proceed continuously without unnecessary delay with such vacation, reconditioning or removal shall be guilty of the offense of failing to abate a nuisance, each calendar day or portion thereof representing a separate violation, punishable by:

(1)      A fine not to exceed $1,000.00, unless the owner of the property is not also a resident of the property, then such fine shall not exceed $2,000.00, or

(2)       Imprisonment not to exceed ninety days, or

(3)       Both fine and imprisonment.

(b) Upon failure to commence work of reconditioning or demolition within the time specified in the notice described in Section 13-2 or upon failure to proceed continuously with work without unnecessary delay, the Mayor shall call and have a full and adequate hearing before the Board of Aldermen upon the matter, giving the affected parties at least ten (10) days written notice of the hearing, to be served in the same manner and on the same persons as provided in Section 13-2 (b).

(c) Said hearing shall be conducted before the Board of Aldermen of the City of Vienna, Missouri. Any party may be represented by counsel, and all parties shall have an opportunity to be heard.

(d) If the evidence presented at hearing supports a finding that a nuisance exists, the Board of Aldermen shall issue an order making specific findings of fact, based upon competent and substantial evidence, which shows the building or structure to be a nuisance and detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the residents of the City of Vienna, Missouri, and ordering the building or structure to be demolished and removed, or repaired. if the evidence presented at the hearing does not support such a finding, then no order shall be issued.

(e) Any interested party described in Section  67.410 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri shall have the right to appeal from the determination of the Board of Aldermen to the Circuit Court of Maries County, Missouri, as established in Sections 536.100 to 536.140 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, if a proper record, as defined in Section 536.130 of the Revised Statues of Missouri, is maintained at the hearing before the Board of Aldermen; otherwise, the appeal shall be made pursuant to the procedures provided by Section 536.150 of the Revised Statues of Missouri.

(f)  In any appeal as provided for herein, any person who owns or occupies property located within one thousand, two hundred (1,200) feet of the perimeter of the building or structure which is the subject of the suit shall be allowed to present evidence to the Court on behalf of the City of Vienna of the condition of the building or structure, whether or not such person presented such evidence at the hearing before the Board of Aldermen. The appellant before the Court shall have the opportunity to cross-examine any such person presenting evidence to the Court.

(g) If the Board of Aldermen or the Circuit Court of Maries County, Missouri, as the case may be, enters an order whereby the building or structure is demolished, secured or repaired, or the property is cleaned, the cost of performance shall be certified to the City Clerk who shall cause a special tax bill or assessment therefore against the property to be prepared and collected by the City Collector, unless the building or structure is demolished, secured or repaired by a contractor pursuant to an order issued by the Board of Alderman, and such contractor files a mechanic’s lien against the property where the building or structure is located. The contractor may enforce this lien as provided in Section 429.010 to 429.360 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri. At the request of the taxpayer, the special tax bill or assessment may be paid in installments over a period of not more than ten (10) years.

(h) The special tax bill or assessment from the date of its issuance shall be a personal debt against property owner and shall also be a lien on the property, until paid.  (§703.607, 1978 Code; Ord. 65, §1; Ord. 109, §2)

Sec. 13-4.  Physician shall report contagious diseases.

It shall be the duty of every practicing physician, chiropractor or osteopathic physician in the City of Vienna to report every case of contagious disease within the city limits or within two miles thereof, he may be called upon to attend.  (§703.641, 1978 Code; As amended by adopting ordinance dated July 7, 1992)

Sec. 13-5.  May placard houses; isolate patients, disinfect.

The city shall have power, when they deem it necessary, to placard any house within the city in which any person is sick with a contagious disease, and shall, when necessary, remove and isolate such persons as have been exposed to such disease, and shall require a thorough and proper disinfection of all buildings or other places in which infection may exist.  (§703.643, 1978 Code; As amended by adopting ordinance dated July 7, 1992)

Sec. 13-6. Weeds and other rank vegetation.
(a) The presence of high weeds, brush and profusely growing or dead vegetation (rank vegetation) taller than twelve (12) inches in height, excluding any of the following items, if living: Shade trees, ornamental shrubs, fruit trees, domesticated berry bushes and vines, and cultivated flowers and gardens, on lots and pieces of land within the City, are constituted a menace to the public safety, health and welfare by reasons that such conditions may:

• Cause a fire hazard;
• Furnish cover for prowlers and illegal activities;
• Create shelters and breeding places for rodents, disease carrying insects, poisonous snakes and other vermin;
• Result in the aggravation of allergies; and
• Obstruct visibility at street intersections.

(b) The growth of weeds and brush or the existence of rank vegetation shall constitute a public nuisance when, in the opinion of the Board of Aldermen or its designated officer, any such growth on a lot or piece of land may substantially endanger the health, safety and welfare of the public, having consideration to the hazards enumerated in subsection (a).

(c) The growth of weeds, brush and the existence of other rank vegetation in excess of twelve (12) inches in height is declared to be a public nuisance, per se, detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the public.brush, or rank vegetation to attain a height greater than twelve (12) inches on such land, or lot.

(e) It shall be unlawful for any owner, lessee or agent in control of a lot or piece of land to permit such growth of weeds, brush or the existence of rank vegetation as would constitute a nuisance under the terms of this Section. It shall be such owner’s, lessee’s or agent’s duty to abate such nuisance, if it exists. A failure to abate shall be unlawful. The requirement to abate the nuisance shall be satisfied when such lot or piece of land determined by the Board of Aldermen or its designated agent, to be in violation of this Section has been shown as cut and be in compliance with this Section.

(f) Whenever the Board of Aldermen, or its designated officer, is informed and believes that a nuisance, per se, exists under this Section or whenever the Board of Aldermen, or its designated officer, shall be of the opinion that a nuisance exists as provided by this Section, the Board of Aldermen, or its such designated officer, shall cause to be posted a notice containing an order to abate the nuisance on the land where such nuisance exists and shall cause a copy of such notice to be sent to the last known address of the owner, lessee or agent. Receipt or acknowledgment of notification is not required. If the nuisance is not abated within the period of time determined by the Board of Aldermen, or its designated officer, from the date the notice is posted or sent, then the Board of Aldermen, or its designated officer, shall cause such nuisance to be abated by whatever reasonable means are necessary.

(g) The cost of cutting and removing weeds, brush or other rank vegetation shall be computed and certified to the City Clerk. The owner of the property whereon such nuisance was abated shall be civilly liable to the City for the cost of such abatement and a reasonable charge for administrating the provisions of this Section, not less than $50.00, and a sum in the amount of such expense of abatement shall be collected from such property owner by levying the same as a special tax bill against the real property or, at the City Clerk’s option, added to the annual real estate tax bill for the property. The certified cost shall be collected by the official responsible for collecting taxes in the same manner and procedure as used for collecting real estate taxes. If the certified cost is not paid, the tax bill shall be considered delinquent, and the collection of the tax bill shall be governed by the laws governing delinquent and back taxes. The tax bill from the date of its issuance shall be deemed a personal debt against the owner and shall also be a lien on the property until paid. (Ord. 168, §1)

Any inconsistent provisions of the ordinances of the City of Vienna are hereby repealed. (Ord. 168, §2)

Secs. 13-7 to 13-10.  Reserved.