A. A hearing to appeal an administrative citation before a hearing officer shall not be held unless the appellant has (1) completed and returned the request for hearing form to the city clerk, and (2) paid the administrative fine to the town.

B. The hearing officer shall only consider evidence that is relevant to whether the violation occurred and whether the responsible person caused, maintained, and/or permitted the violation.

C. At least ten calendar days before the hearing, the responsible person shall be provided with copies of any and all citations, reports, and other documents submitted or relied upon by the enforcement officer. No other discovery shall be permitted.

D. The formal rules of evidence shall not apply to the administrative hearing. All relevant evidence may be considered, and the hearing officer has the discretion to exclude evidence that he or she finds to be irrelevant or repetitive.

E. The administrative citation and any additional documents submitted by the enforcement officer shall constitute prima facie evidence of the respective facts contained in those documents.

F. The responsible person contesting the administrative citation shall be given the opportunity to (1) testify and present witnesses; (2) introduce relevant evidence; (3) cross-examine and/or rebut any witness testifying in support of the administrative citation; and (4) be represented by anyone who is lawfully permitted to do so.

G. The failure of any recipient of an administrative citation to appear at the administrative citation hearing shall constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to exhaust his or her administrative remedies.

H. The hearing officer may continue the hearing and request additional information from the enforcement officer or the responsible person contesting the administrative citation before issuing a written decision.

I. The city manager shall compile a list of qualified hearing officers and shall designate the hearing officer for the administrative hearing by random selection from the list, subject to availability of each particular hearing officer. The responsible person may request the city manager to recuse a hearing officer for reasons of actual bias or prejudice against the responsible person’s cause. The hearing officer shall not be an employee of the town nor have any employment relationship with the town, except for that of hearing officer. The hearing officer’s employment, evaluation, compensation, and/or benefits shall not be conditioned, either directly or indirectly, upon the amount of fine imposed on the responsible person or the number of administrative citations upheld by the hearing officer.

J. In administrative proceedings, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover its reasonable attorneys’ fees, but only if the town elects in writing, at the initiation of the administrative proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys’ fees. In no event shall an award of attorneys’ fees to a prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred by the town in the administrative proceedings. The town may recover its attorneys’ fees in the same manner as other costs pursuant to this chapter. (Ord. 585 § 1 (part), 2010)