Whenever any declared nuisance, source of filth or cause or probable cause of injury to health shall be found to exist on any private or public property, the City Manager or designee shall have the power and authority to order verbally and/or in writing the owner or occupant or user thereof, by appropriate action, at the expense of such owner, occupant, or user to correct and remove such nuisance, source of filth or cause or probable cause of injury to health within such time as the City Manager or designee may order. In the event of the refusal or failure to remove such nuisance within said time, the City Manager or designee may cause such nuisance to be abated at the expense of such person or persons, which cost may be recovered by the City from such person or persons in an action brought in the name of the City to recover the same in any court of competent jurisdiction. The City Manager or designee is also authorized to file a lien against the property on which the nuisance was abated in the amount of the City’s costs in abating the nuisance, and to enforce said lien against the property. In any such abatement by the City, the City shall also be entitled to interest accruing at the rate of 12 percent per annum from the time of the expenditure of funds by the City for such abatement. The authority for enforcement provided herein shall be in addition to and as an alternative to the authority of the City to prosecute violations of City Codes as misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors or infractions. [Ord. 181 § 1, 1998; Ord. 32 § 5, 1996.]