§ 47. Authority of council, manager and police officers relating to nuisances; duties and responsibilities of owners and occupants of property; enforcement.

The manager of said city shall have authority to abate and remove all nuisances in said city. He may compel the owners, agents, assignees, occupants or tenants of any lot, premises, property, building or structure, upon or in which any nuisance may be, to abate and remove the same by orders therefor, and the council shall by ordinance provide a penalty for the violation of such orders. Council may by ordinance regulate the location, construction, repair, use, emptying and cleaning of all water closets, privies, cesspools, sinks, plumbing drains, yards, lots, areaways, pens, stables and other places, where offensive, unsightly, unwholesome, objectionable or dangerous substances or liquids are, or may accumulate, and provide suitable penalties for the violation of such regulations, which may be enforced against the owner, agent, assignee, occupant or tenant of any premises, or structure where such violation may occur. It shall be the duty of all police officers to report to the manager the facts as to the existence of any nuisance known to them.

If the owner, agent, tenant, assignee or occupant of any such premises, lot, property, building or structure, as is mentioned herein, shall fail or refuse to abate or remove any such nuisance, as mentioned herein, or to comply with the provisions of any such ordinance and the regulations herein contained, the manager may have said nuisance abated or the provisions of said ordinances carried out, after reasonable notice to said owner, occupant, tenant, agent or assignee of his intention so to do, and collect the expenses thereof, with one per centum per month interest added from the date of said notice, from the said owner, occupant, tenant, agent or assignee, by distress or sale, in the same manner in which taxes levied upon real estate for the benefit of said city are herein authorized to be collected, and the expense shall remain a lien upon said lot, or part of lot, the same as taxes levied upon real estate in said city; which lien may be enforced by a suit in equity before any court having jurisdiction, as other liens against real estate are enforced. In case of nonresident owners of real estate such notice may be served upon any tenant, occupant, assignee or rental agent, or by publication thereof once a week for not less than two consecutive weeks in two newspapers of opposite politics, published in said city.

And in all cases where any tenant, occupant or agent is required to abate and remove any nuisance under the provisions of this section, or comply with the provisions of any such ordinance as is mentioned herein, the expense thereof may be deducted out of the accruing or accrued rent of said property or amount due said owner from said agent, and such tenant, occupant or agent may recover the amount so paid from the owner, unless otherwise especially agreed upon.

Any expense incurred by the manager as herein provided, in the manner aforesaid, may be collected in the manner herein provided, notwithstanding the imposition of any other penalty or penalties upon any of the persons named herein, under any of the provisions of this act [this Charter]. The abatement or removal of any such nuisance by the city at the expense of said city, as herein provided, shall be prima facie proof that the said notice to the owner, occupant, agent or assignee was given as herein prescribed.