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&B/ID deadline for compliance) is issued; a request for inspection letter is sent; a re- inspection is conducted; a criminal citation is issued; the case is taken to court if the City chooses to pursue enforcement. If the City chooses not to pursue enforcement because it is too expensive to take the matter to court, the City drops the case and compliance is not achieved. Meanwhile, an individual has an option to seek a variance. If the variance is granted, the situation becomes legal. Criminal citations, no matter how inconsequential, may be taken to court. The disadvantages of enforcement using the criminal citation/court system are: . It is expensive. Therefore, the City does not take many cases to court and much of the City Code is not enforced when a violator refuses to cooperate with the City. . It is a lengthy process. Enforcement is much slower than through use of an administrative system. . There is not room (enough time) on the judicial calendar to hear small cases, such as violations of the noise ordinance and non-safety related ordinances. Therefore, many cases are dismissed and the City Code is not enforced when a violator refuses to cooperate with the City. c. Redwood City Practice ReGardinG Administrative A/JIJeals. The use of administrative appeal bodies and individuals is widespread in California governments at both the State and local levels. In general, appeal bodies and individuals have authority over certain areas, and that authority is limited. For example, in Redwood City there is an administrative appeal body, the Board of Building Review, that hears appeals related to the suitability of building materials and the type of construction; however, that body does not have the authority to waive or change the standards of the building code. Nor does it have the authority to change the engineering standards adopted by the City. In another area, the decisions of a staff member in the Building Division may be appealed to the Building and Inspection Manager. This is a common, informal process in which a staff person reviews the decision of another staff person. In personnel matters appeals are heard by a hearing officer and may ultimately be referred to the City Manager, whose decision is final. For news rack issues, the permittee or applicant may appeal a decision of a building inspector to the Director of Community Development and the Director's decision may be appealed to the City Manager, whose decision is final. The City's sanitary sewage regulations related to public agency contracts, sanitary sewer connections, and cleaning chemical toilets may be appealed to the Director of Community Development and that decision is final. The City's sanitary sewage regulations related to user categories are appealable to the Authority's Manager (Manager of the South Bay Sanitary District), and in turn to the Authority's Commission (the governing body of the South Bay Sanitary District, which is a public entity between the cities of Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont and the Menlo Park Sani~ary District), whose determination is final. d. Other Cities. The administrative citation ordinance adopted by Redwood City is based on the ordinances of other cities. In San Jose and all other San Francisco Bay Area cities that have enacted administrative citation systems, a hearing officer hears appeals related to administrative citations. Most cities conduct their hearings in house, and two cities (Fremont and Oakland) hire an outside mediation service to perform this role. In Oakland the appellant pays for the hearing officer. In San Jose, San Mateo, and Palo Alto, the hearing officer is a member of city staff. The Redwood City administrative citation ordinance permits the hearing officer to be either in-house staff or an outside service. -10- '~'-"--""""~"'""T-" "