20.08.030 Enforcement authority and administration.
(1) All conditions determined to be civil code violations may be enforced pursuant to the provisions of this title except to the extent preempted by State or federal law, and except to the extent preempted by any contrary enforcement and penalty provisions contained in the ordinance being enforced.
(2) The procedures set forth in this title shall not in any manner limit or restrict the Director or the Prosecuting Attorney from remedying civil code violations or abating public nuisances in any other manner authorized by law.
(3) If the Director establishes, based on the provisions of CCC 20.08.060, that a civil code violation exists, the Director may:
(a) Enter into voluntary compliance agreements with persons responsible for code compliance as authorized in this title, and waive a portion of unpaid penalties and associated interest according to the provisions of this title;
(b) Issue citations and assess civil penalties (“penalties”) as authorized by this title;
(c) Issue notice and orders and order remediation or mitigation of the civil code violation, assess penalties and costs of code compliance (“costs”), and/or suspend or revoke any permit previously issued by the Director, as authorized by this title; and/or
(d) Issue stop work orders to order work stopped at a site, as authorized by this title.
(4) The Director shall send out regular bills for penalties and costs owing under this title. If penalties and/or costs remain unpaid 90 calendar days after they have been imposed (or, if appealed, 90 calendar days after final resolution of the appeal), the Director is authorized to:
(a) Impose interest at six percent per annum;
(b) Record a lien against the subject property if owned by the person responsible for code compliance;
(c) Use the services of a collection agency according to the provisions of RCW 19.60.500.
(5) In administering the provisions for code enforcement, the Director is authorized to waive any one or more such provisions so as to avoid substantial injustice by application thereof to the acts or omissions of a public or private entity or individual, or acts or omissions on public or private property including, for example, property belonging to public or private utilities, where no apparent benefit has accrued to such entity or individual from a code violation and any necessary remediation is being promptly provided. For purposes of this provision, substantial injustice cannot be based on economic hardship.
(6) The provisions of this title detailing departmental administration of code compliance procedures are intended only for the purpose of providing guidance to Clallam County employees and are not to be construed as creating a basis for appeal or a defense of any kind to an alleged violation.
(7) The provisions of this title authorizing the enforcement of noncodified ordinances are intended to assure compliance with conditions of approval on permits or approvals which may have been granted pursuant to ordinances which have not been codified, and to enforce new regulatory ordinances which are not yet codified. Departments should be sensitive to the possibility that citizens may not be aware of these ordinances, and should give warnings prior to enforcing such ordinances, except that a stop work order may be issued any time when a civil code violation is found to be in progress.