Code Enforcement
The City of Heavener encourages all residential and commercial property owners to keep their properties clean and neat. Property owners should keep weeds cut, grass mowed, remove junk and untagged vehicles, and debris and trash from their properties. City employees report such violations to the Code Enforcement Officer. There are two types of violations; normal code violations or public health code violations. Normal code violations include things such as, allowing litter to accumulate, failure to keep ditches open, failure to tag or remove untagged vehicles, or the keeping of animals that disturb others. Public health code violations include things such as, overgrown lawns, accumulations of weeds, brush, or manure, or allowing sewage to flow to any place other than the city sewer system.
The City’s nuisance abatement program assists in keeping properties free of violations. Citizens can view the full range of possible violations by referring to Section 8-101 through 8-213 of the Heavener Code of Ordinances viewable on this website. Also citizens are encouraged to report violations to the on duty dispatcher by calling 918- 653-2921.
The Process
The Chief of Police, Police Sergeants, city employees and/or City Manager discovers and generates Notices of Violation on public nuisances and health & safety issues.
Notices of Violation are then written, filed at City Hall, where they will be entered into the tracking database. The Notice of Violation will be hand delivered or mailed to the owner of record of the property, along with the Notice of Hearing. This notifies the owner of record of the date and time that the city commissioners will be deciding what action to take on said property. The owner has 10 days from the violation date to rectify the problem. The notice if hearing will be mailed at least 15 days prior to the hearing date to the owner of record. If the violation is abated (eliminated or corrected) prior to the hearing date, the owner should make notification to the Chief of Police, by leaving a message with the dispatcher at 918-653-2921. The Chief will make final inspection and if satisfactory completed will sign off the complaint with no further action needed by the owner.
At the hearing, the City Commission will hear evidence; make findings of fact to the existence of the public nuisance or public health code violations, and direct appropriate action via the City Manager to ensure abatement of the violation(s) as established by ordinance and state law.
The City Manager will then direct the abatement of the violation. An example would be that the Public Works Dept. would mow the grass on the authorized property. The man power and equipment use will be totaled using the FEMA Cost Codes, and the City Clerk will file a tax lien on the property for that amount.
The Heavener City Ordinances allow Summary Abatements of property that has been previously abated through the City Commission. The only difference is that notice prior to abatement is not required to the owner. All other provisions of the process are the same.