Chapter 16.18
NOXIOUS WEEDS

16.18.000    Chapter Contents

Sections:

16.18.010    Purpose.

16.18.020    Duty, notice, collection of expenses.

(Ord. 7102 §4, 2017).

16.18.010 Purpose

Noxious weeds are generally governed in detail by the Noxious Weed Control Board and thus regulations are not needed except as described in this chapter. (Ord. 7102 §4, 2017).

16.18.020 Duty, notice, collection of expenses

A.     Duty of Owner. It shall be the duty of every owner, lessee, occupant, or agent thereof or of any person having the care and charge of any land or lands, improved or unimproved, enclosed or not enclosed, in the City, to control or cause to be controlled using methods acceptable to and recommended by the Thurston County Weed Control Board all thistles, tansy ragwort, or other such noxious weed, growing thereon, or on any road, street or highway bordering thereon, to the center thereof, so often and in each and every year as is necessary to prevent such weeds from going to seed. If the City owns the road in fee simple, the adjacent owner is not subject to the duty referenced above.

B.    Public Works Department to Declare Weeds to be Controlled--Notice. It shall be the duty of the City Engineer or designee to see that the provisions of this section are carried out, and the City Engineer shall give notice to the owner, lessee, occupant, agent, or person having the care or charge of any land or lots within the City, or of any road, street or highway bordering thereon, upon which any noxious weeds, as described above, are growing requiring such owner, lessee, occupant, agent, or person having the care or charge thereof, to cause the same to be controlled within ten (10) days from the service of such notice; and in case the owner, lessee, occupant, agent, or person having the care and charge thereof refuses or neglects to control the noxious weeds within the ten (10) days, the Public Works Department shall enter upon the land, lots, or any road and cause all such weeds to be controlled with as little damage as possible to any growing crops there may be thereon; provided, that when the noxious weeds are growing upon any land or lots, or any road, street, or highway bordering thereon, of a nonresident of the City, and such owner has no known agent in the City, the notice shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the land, in view of the traveling public; and, provided further, that in case of noxious weeds growing on the rights-of-way of any railroad within the City, the notice may be served on the section foreperson in charge of the portion of the rights-of-way within the City or it may be served upon any agent of the company within the City.

C.     Collection of Expenses. The City Engineer or designee shall keep an account of the expenses incurred to carry out the provisions of this chapter with respect to each lot or parcel of land entered upon therefor, and shall author and send by mail a statement of such expense, including a description of the lands, verified by oath, to the owner, lessee, occupant, agent, or person having the care or charge thereof, if known, requiring that owner, lessee, occupant, agent, or person to pay the same within thirty (30) days. In case payment thereof is not made within said time, several amounts as shown to be due by such statements shall be a lien upon the premises, and collected, and the lien enforced by suit in the name of the City in any court of competent jurisdiction. (Ord. 7187 §3, 2019; Ord. 7102 §4, 2017).