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10.f1 City Code Amendment - Chpater 32 Civil Actions and Recovery of Costs 1 MEMORANDUM To:Scandia City Council From:Amanda Johnson, City Attorney, Date:July 21, 2026 Re:City Code Amendment – Civil Actions and Recovery of Costs Background Currently, the City Code authorizes the use of administrative citations (City Code § 32.04) and nuisance abatement (City Code § 91.08) but does not explicitly address the City’s procedure for civil abatement actions and recovery of the associated costs. Code compliance is typically achieved through warning notices, administrative citations or abatement, but on occasion it may be necessary for the City to file a civil action against a property to gain compliance. In those rare cases it is important for the City to have clear authority in ordinance to both initiate the cause of action and establish the authority for the City to recover all associated costs with the action. To that end, City Staff proposes the following ordinance: SECTION 32.__DISTRICT COURT CIVIL ABATEMENT ACTIONS AND RECOVERY OF COSTS (a) This section is limited to those rare or extreme circumstances where the city has in its judgment exhausted all other reasonable means to achieve compliance with city code and authorizes the commencement of a district court civil action. The city may seek and compel code compliance under any applicable law, rule, or regulation, either through administrative, civil or criminal actions, either individually or collectively, and the election of any compliance action by the city shall not be construed as a waiver of any other rights or actions by the city. (b) If a person remains in continued violation, the city shall provide the person an opportunity to be heard by the City Council at a duly noticed meeting of the City Council and then or thereafter the City Council may authorize the commencement of a district court civil action seeking an order for specific performance, injunctive relief, and any equitable relief to the fullest extent permitted by law to ensure compliance with Scandia City Code. Should the responsible person fail to comply, remediate, or restore the affected property within an established deadline set by either administrative, civil, or criminal proceedings, then 2 conditioned on and subject to the district court order, the city shall be able to enter the affected property and may hire a contractor to abate the violations. (c) Unless the district court determines in its order that immediate remediation is required due to an emergency or other circumstances requiring immediate remediation, then the city will not undertake remediation for thirty (30) days from the date of the district court order in order for the resident to seek a stay from either the district court or the Minnesota Court of Appeals. (d) In the event of a district court civil action, the prevailing party is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs directly related to the city’s code enforcement court action. If the city prevails, the violator shall also be personally liable to the city for all actual fees, legal fees, and court costs incurred in connection with the district court action and the city’s code enforcement remediation and/or restoration of the affected property. As soon as the abatement has been completed and obtained by whatever means and the costs determined, then the city administrator shall mail the bill to the property owner. (e) If the bill is not paid within thirty (30) days, the city may draw the amount of the bill from any financial guarantees the city may hold and may assess the property from which the offense originated. Each year the city administrator shall list the total unpaid charges under this section against the property to which the unpaid costs are attributable to under city code. After notice and hearing as provided in Minn. Stat. § 429.061, as amended, the City Council may then spread the unpaid charges against the property benefitted as a special assessment under Minn. Stat. § 429.101, as amended, for the certification to the Washington County Auditor and collection along with the current taxes the following year or in annual installations not exceeding ten (10) years as the City Council may determine in each case. Council Action Provide feedback to City Staff regarding desire to bring ordinance forth for official consideration.