Administrative Code Violation Citation Process

Any person, firm, or corporation committing an offense considered a violation of the City of Alabaster Code of Ordinances adopted by the City of Alabaster Council, may be issued a citation for such violation by the Code Enforcement Officer. This method of enforcement may be used in lieu of an arrest warrant secured by a complainant. The process for issuing a citation for an Ordinance violation shall be as follows:

1. Verbal, Personal, or Written communications shall initially be made with a violator. The nature of the violation shall be clearly communicated to the violator, as well as the action necessary to resolve the issue. A specific time frame should be established for resolving the violations.
2. In the case of a zoning violation, an abatement notice as required under the City of Alabaster, Alabama Zoning Ordinance 99-010-05-Z-07, shall be given to the violator. This notice may be in the form of a warning letter.
3. For violations of the City of Alabaster Code of Ordinances, the Code Enforcement Officer may elect to issue a warning letter if in his or her judgement the violation is a minor first offense that will be corrected in 10 calendar days.
4. After the expiration of a reasonable time, 10 days, the Code Enforcement Officer may issue a citation to the violator.
5. For violations from repeat offenders or those determined to be "Life/Safety" issues in the opinion of the Code Enforcement Officer may issue a citation as the initial communication, however a Zoning violation shall require an abatement notice as described above regardless.
6. After issuance of a citation, the Code Enforcement Officer will adhere to the following process for handling citations:
1. The Code Enforcement Officer shall appear before the magistrate within 48 hours, when possible, but in no case longer than 72 hours.
2. The Code Enforcement Officer will follow the procedure for institution of the charge(s) as prescribed by law.
3. A signed sworn copy of the complaint shall be retained by the Code Enforcement Officer to indicate the complaint was transmitted to the court. (This requires the complaints be printed in a three-part form to allow the original, the "defendant" copy, and the issuing official's copy.)
4. The Code Enforcement Officer shall appear on the court date as required for disposition of the use.
7. As the citation states under the "Court Appearance Information," a Failure To Appear letter shall be sent to the violator. If the violator fails to respond to the Failure To Appear letter, then a warrant shall be issued for the violator by the magistrate.
8. The Code Enforcement Officer, who has issued the citation or sworn out the warrant, shall forward to the prosecutor: A copy of the citation, a copy of the code highlighting the section of the code allegedly violated, and documentation of warnings and / or other pertinent information from the case file. All of this shall be done in a timely manner before the assigned court date.