Ordinance 98-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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basis or upon the request of the City Manager. Except for such circumstances as described in Section 7(D) above, no hearing shall be set sooner than ten (10) calendar days from the date of service not including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. (D) A hearing date shall not be postponed or continued unless a request for continuance, showing good cause for such continuance, is received in writing by the Special Master at least five (5) calendar days prior to the date set for the hearing. (E) All hearings of the Special Master shall be open to the public. All testimony shall be under oath. Assuming proper notice, a hearing may proceed in the absence of the named Violator. (F) The proceedings at the hearing shall be recorded and may be transcribed at the expense of the party requesting the transcript. (G) The City Clerk shall provide clerical services and the City Manager shall provide administrative personnel as may be reasonably required by each Special Master for the proper performance of their duties. (H) Each case before a Special Master shall be presented by the Manager or his or her designee. The Manager shall have the authority to retain legal counsel pursuant to parameters that may be adopted by the Commission. (I) The hearing need not be conducted in accordance with the formal rules relating to evidence and witnesses, but fundamental due process shall be observed and shall govern the proceedings. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if the Special Master finds it competent and reliable, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule to the contrary. (J) Each party shall have the right to call and examine witnesses; to introduce exhibits; to cross-examine opposing witnesses on any matter relevant to the issues even though that matter was not covered in the direct examination; to impeach any witnesses regardless of which party first called that witness to testify; and to offer rebuttal of the evidence. (K) The Special Master shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law based on evidence of record. In order to make a finding upholding the Code Enforcement Officer's decision, the Special Master must find that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that the named Violator was responsible for the violation of the relevant section of the Code. (L) The time for correction given by the Code Enforcement Officer to the named Violator and contained in the Notice of Violation is rebuttably presumed to have been a reasonable time for correction. Upon presentation of relevant evidence by the named Violator that the time for correction was not reasonable, however, the Special Master may make a -8-