Yuba City will place unpaid code fines on tax roll but council directs staff to confirm abatement for several properties

YUBA CITY — The City Council on July 7 conducted a public hearing on a staff recommendation to place unpaid code‑enforcement citation fines on the secured tax roll and to record liens on affected properties. Staff said the list includes 103 unpaid citations totaling $64,800 and that none of the property owners on the list had requested administrative review.

Development Services Director Doug Libby said the purpose of placing unpaid citations on the tax roll is to recover costs in cases where progress toward compliance has stalled. "Only when a case remains unresolved, progress is not moving forward, are citations issued as a mechanism to bring a property into compliance," Libby said.

Several residents addressed the council during the public hearing with complaints about how individual cases were handled. Grant Peterson said feral roosters that moved in from nearby commercial parking lots complicated compliance at his property and that he had tried to document cleanup. "The roosters that we were erroneously cited for … were removed from the premises and they were feral roosters," Peterson said. Jill Peterson said she complied with instructions to remove animals and that she expected an in‑person inspection that did not happen; she asked the council to consider her submitted photographs.

Code enforcement officer Austin Piven described field evidence gathered at some properties: "When we were collecting evidence for the violation, from the outside of the house, we were able to hear roosters crowing in the background … and see multiple roosters through the property," he said.

Several speakers recounted missed follow‑up inspections tied to a staff departure from the enforcement unit and said that in their view the administrative appeal or inspection steps were not fully carried out. City Attorney Shannon Chaffin explained the council’s limited role in the hearing: the council must determine whether a timely 15‑day administrative appeal was filed; councils can also authorize staff to confirm abatement and remove properties from the tax‑roll list if compliance is proved. "The question is, did you get the notice? Yes or no? Did you timely file an appeal? Yes or no," Chaffin said.

After public comment the council discussed the record and the missing continuity created when a code enforcement officer left the department. Council direction and a motion adopted by the council authorized staff to adopt the resolution placing fines on the secured roll but to verify whether a small set of properties that appeared to have been brought into compliance were abated; if confirmed, staff was authorized to remove those properties from the levy. The council identified five specific addresses to be verified and removed if abated, and the motion passed by voice vote.

What’s next: Staff will re‑inspect the named properties to confirm abatement and, if compliance is verified, remove those properties from the tax‑roll resolution; otherwise staff will proceed to place the confirmed assessments on the secured tax roll.