SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 1163
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JACOB.
Read 1st time January 26, 2004, and ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
4164S.01I
AN ACT
To repeal section 67.402, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to nuisance abatement.
Section A. Section 67.402, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 67.402, to read as follows:
67.402. 1. The governing body of any county of the first classification [without a charter form of government and with more than one hundred ninety-eight thousand but less than one hundred ninety-nine thousand two hundred inhabitants] may enact ordinances to provide for the abatement of a condition of any lot or land that has the presence of rubbish and trash, lumber, bricks, tin, steel, parts of derelict motorcycles, derelict cars, derelict trucks, derelict construction equipment, derelict appliances [and], broken furniture, or overgrown or noxious weeds in residential subdivisions or districts which may endanger public safety or which is unhealthy or unsafe and declared to be a public nuisance.
2. Any ordinance enacted pursuant to this section shall:
(1) Set forth those conditions which constitute a nuisance and which are detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the residents of the county;
(2) Provide for duties of inspectors with regard to those conditions which may be declared a nuisance, and shall provide for duties of the building commissioner or designated officer or officers to supervise all inspectors and to hold hearings regarding such property;
(3) Provide for service of adequate notice of the declaration of nuisance, which notice shall specify that the nuisance is to be abated, listing a reasonable time for commencement, and may provide that such notice be served either by personal service or by 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. The ordinances shall further provide that the owner, occupant, lessee, mortgagee, agent, and all other persons having an interest in the property as shown by the land records of the recorder of deeds of the county wherein the property is located shall be made parties;
(4) Provide that upon failure to commence work of abating the nuisance within the time specified or upon failure to proceed continuously with the work without unnecessary delay, the building commissioner or designated officer or officers shall call and have a full and adequate hearing upon the matter before the county commission, giving the affected parties at least ten days' written notice of the hearing. Any party may be represented by counsel, and all parties shall have an opportunity to be heard. After the hearings, if evidence supports a finding that the property is a nuisance or detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the residents of the county, the county commission shall issue an order making specific findings of fact, based upon competent and substantial evidence, which shows the property to be a nuisance and detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the residents of the county and ordering the nuisance abated. If the evidence does not support a finding that the property is a nuisance or detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the residents of the county, no order shall be issued.
3. Any ordinance authorized by this section may provide that if the owner fails to begin abating the nuisance within a specific time which shall not be longer than seven days of receiving notice that the nuisance has been ordered removed, the building commissioner or designated officer shall cause the condition which constitutes the nuisance to be removed. If the building commissioner or designated officer causes such condition to be removed or abated, the cost of such removal shall be certified to the county clerk or officer in charge of finance who shall cause the certified cost to be included in a special tax bill or added to the annual real estate tax bill, at the county collector's option, for the property and the certified cost shall be collected by the county collector in the same manner and procedure for collecting real estate taxes. If the certified cost is not paid, the tax bill shall be considered delinquent, and the collection of the delinquent 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.