18.04.020 Inspections and investigations—Edible food recovery.
A. Violation of any provision of this title shall constitute grounds for issuance of a notice of violation and assessment of a fine by a jurisdiction enforcement official, designee for edible food recovery, or representative. Enforcement actions under this title are issuance of an administrative citation and assessment of a fine. The jurisdiction’s procedures on imposition of administrative fines are hereby incorporated in their entirety, as modified from time to time, and shall govern the imposition, enforcement, collection, and review of administrative citations issued to enforce this title and any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this title, except as otherwise indicated in this title.
B. Other remedies allowed by law may be used, including civil action or prosecution as misdemeanor or infraction. Jurisdiction or designee for edible food recovery may pursue civil actions in the California courts to seek recovery of unpaid administrative citations. Jurisdiction or designee for edible food recovery may choose to delay court action until such time as a sufficiently large number of violations, or cumulative size of violations exist such that court action is a reasonable use of jurisdiction or designee for edible food recovery staff and resources.
C. Responsible Entity for Enforcement.
1. Enforcement pursuant to this title may be undertaken by the jurisdiction enforcement official, which may be the city manager or their designated entity, legal counsel, designee for edible food recovery, or combination thereof.
2. Enforcement may also be undertaken by a regional agency enforcement official or designee for edible food recovery, designated by the jurisdiction, in consultation with jurisdiction enforcement official.
a. Jurisdiction enforcement official(s) (and regional agency or designee for edible food recovery, if using) will interpret this title; determine the applicability of waivers, if violation(s) have occurred; implement enforcement actions; and, determine if compliance standards are met.
b. Jurisdiction enforcement official(s) (and regional agency enforcement official, if using or designee for edible food recovery) may issue notices of violation(s).
D. Process for Enforcement.
1. Jurisdiction enforcement officials or regional enforcement officials and/or their designee for edible food recovery will monitor compliance with this title randomly and through compliance reviews, route reviews, investigation of complaints, and an inspection program (that may include remote monitoring). Section 18.04.010 establishes jurisdiction’s and designee for edible food recovery’s right to conduct inspections and investigations.
2. Jurisdiction or their designee for edible food recovery may issue an official notification to notify regulated entities of its obligations under this title.
3. The jurisdiction or its designee for edible food recovery will issue a notice of violation to any tier one or tier two commercial edible food generator found to have edible food in any waste container or to any food recovery organization or food recovery service found to have edible food recovered from a tier one or tier two edible food generator in a waste collection container which has not been documented by a notice of significant spoilage as required in this title. Such notice will be provided by email communication immediately upon identification of the violation or within three calendar days after determining that a violation has occurred. If the jurisdiction or its designee for edible food recovery observes edible food in a tier one or tier two commercial edible food generator, or food recovery organization, or food recovery service waste container on more than two consecutive occasion(s), the jurisdiction or its designee for edible food recovery may assess an administrative citation and fine, pursuant to the edible food recovery penalties provisions contained in this title, on the tier one or tier two commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, or food recovery service.
E. Jurisdiction shall issue a notice of violation requiring compliance within sixty days of issuance of the notice. (Ord. 649 § 3, 2021)