A. When the director finds that a user has violated or continues to violate any provision of this chapter, a wastewater discharge permit or order issued hereunder, or any other pretreatment standard or requirement, the director may fine such user in an amount not less than two hundred fifty dollars and not to exceed ten thousand dollars. Such fines shall be assessed on a per-violation, per-day basis. In the case of monthly or other long-term average discharge limits, fines shall be assessed for each day during the period of violation. Said administrative fines shall constitute a sewer service surcharge, and upon assessment, shall be subject to collection in the same manner as all other sewer utility rates, charges and penalties.

B. Unless other arrangements have been made with and authorized by the director, unpaid charges, fines, and penalties shall accrue thereafter at a rate of one percent per month. After ninety days, if charges, fines, and penalties have not been paid, the city may revoke the user’s discharge permit.

C. Users desiring to appeal and dispute such fines must file a written request for the director to reconsider the fine along with full payment of the fine amount within ten calendar days of being notified of the fine. Upon receipt of a timely appeal, the director shall set a date and time for an appeal hearing, but in no case shall the hearing be set more than thirty business days from the receipt of the timely notice of appeal. The appellant shall be notified in writing of the date, time, and place for the appeal hearing. The director or his/her designee shall serve as the hearing examiner. In the event the user’s appeal is successful, any payments made shall be returned to the user. Affirmation or modification of an administrative fine by the public works director shall relate back to the original date of assessment.

The city shall recover the costs of preparing administrative enforcement actions, such as notices and orders, including the cost of additional inspections, sampling and analysis, and may add them to the fine.

D. Issuance of an administrative fine shall not be a bar against, or a prerequisite for, taking any other action against the user.

E. Users seeking judicial review of administrative fines must do so by filing a petition for review in the Snohomish County superior court within thirty calendar days of the decision of the director. (Ord. 3070-08 § 9.6, 2008.)