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Part 2.  Assessable Current Services;

Obligation of Property Owners and Occupants  

302.01.  Definition.  The term "current service" as used in this part of the code means one or more of the following:  snow, ice, or rubbish removal from sidewalks; weed elimination from street grass plots adjacent to sidewalks or from private property; removal or elimination of public health or safety hazards from private property, excluding any hazardous building included in Minn. Stat. 463.15-463.26; installation or repair of water service lines; street sprinkling, street flushing, light street oiling, or other dust treatment of streets; repair of sidewalks and alleys; trimming and care of trees and removal of unsound and insect-infected trees from the public streets or private property; and the operation of a street lighting system.  

302.02.  Snow, ice, dirt, and rubbish.  Subdivision 1. Duty of owners and occupants.  The owner and the occupant of any property adjacent to a public sidewalk shall use diligence to keep such walk safe for pedestrians.  No such owner or occupant shall allow snow, ice, dirt or rubbish to remain on the walk longer than 24 hours after its deposit thereon.  Failure to comply with this section shall constitute a violation.  

  Subd. 2.  Removal by city.  The street commissioner may cause removal from all public sidewalks all snow, ice, dirt, and rubbish as soon as possible beginning 24 hours after any such matter has been deposited thereon or after the snow has ceased to fall.  The clerk shall keep a record showing the cost of such removal adjacent to each separate lot and parcel.  

302.03.  Weed elimination.  Subdivision 1.  Weeds as a nuisance.  Any weeds, whether noxious as defined by law or not, growing upon any lot or parcel of land outside the  traveled portion of any street or alley in the city to a greater height than 12" inches or which have gone or are about to go to seed are a nuisance.  The owner and the occupant shall abate or prevent such nuisance on such property and on land outside the traveled portion of the street or alley abutting on such property.

 

  Subd. 2.   Notice.  On or before June 1 of each year and at such other times as ordered by resolution of the council, the city clerk shall publish once in the official newspaper a notice directing owners and occupants of property within the city to destroy all weeds declared by Subdivision 1 to be a nuisance and stating that if not so destroyed within 10 days after publication of the notice, the weeds will be destroyed by city employees at the expense of the owner and that if not paid, the charge for such work will be made a special assessment against the property concerned.  

  Subd. 3.  Removal by city.  If the owner or occupant of any property in the city fails to comply with the notice within 10 days after its publication, city employees may cut and remove such weeds.  The clerk shall keep a record showing the cost of such work attributable to each separate lot and parcel.  

302.04.   Public health and safety hazards.  When the city removes or eliminates public health or safety hazards from private property under city ordinance, the administrative officer responsible for doing the work shall keep a record of the cost or such removal or elimination against each parcel of property affected and annually deliver such information to the city clerk.  

302.05.  Installation and repair of water service lines.  Whenever the city installs or repairs water service lines serving private property under Chapter IV of this code, the clerk shall keep a record of the total cost of the installation or repair against the property.  

  302.06.  Personal liability.  The owner of property on which (or adjacent to which, in the case of streets, alleys, and sidewalks) a current service has been performed shall be personally liable for the cost of such service.  As soon as the service has been completed and the costs determined, the city clerk or other designated official shall prepare a bill and mail it to the owner and thereupon the amount shall be immediately due and payable at the office of the city clerk.  

302.07.  Damage to public property.  Any person driving any vehicle, equipment, object or contrivance upon any street, road, highway, or structure shall be liable for all damages which the surface or structure thereof may sustain as a result of any illegal operation, or driving or moving  of such vehicle, equipment, or object or contrivance; or as a result of operating, driving, or moving any vehicle, equipment, object, or contrivance weighing in excess of the maximum weight permitted by statute or this code.  When such driver is not the owner of such vehicle, equipment, object, or contrivance, but is so operating, driving, or moving the same with the express or implied permission of the owner, then the owner and the driver shall be jointly and severally liable for any such damage.   Any person who willfully acts or fails to exercise due care and by that act damages any public property shall be liable for the amount thereof, which amount shall be collectable by action or as a lien under Minn. Stat. 514.67.  

302.08.  Assessment.  On or before September 1 of each year, the clerk shall list the total unpaid charges for each type of current service and  charges under section 302.08 against each separate lot or parcel to which they are attributable under this ordinance.  The council may then spread the charges against property benefitted as a special assessment under Minn. Stat. 429.01 and other pertinent statutes for certification to the county auditor and collection along with current taxes the following year or in annual installments, not exceeding 10, as the council may determine in each case.