§ 10.16.050. Dangerous and vicious animal hearings.

(a) The owner or keeper of any animal declared dangerous or vicious by the animal control officer shall be notified, in order of preference, by personal service, posting of the address from which the animal was impounded, or by mail sent to the last known address of the owner or keeper. The notice shall clearly articulate a description of the specific conduct giving rise to the declaration. Any animal declared vicious shall be immediately impounded, whenever possible. The owner or keeper may not maintain possession of the animal declared vicious during the hearing process. Any animal declared dangerous may be kept by the owner or keeper pending the hearing, subject to or following required quarantine, provided that at no time shall the animal be allowed to leave the private property confines of the owner or keeper unless it is muzzled, leashed and under the effective control of an adult.

(b)

Within seventy-two hours after notice of the dangerous or vicious declaration has been served, affording three days for service by mail, a dangerous animal permit revoked or denied for failure to pass inspection, for imposition of an unreasonable or inarticulatable standard of conditions or terms imposed for keeping a dangerous animal, or for denial of transfer by animal control (but not another jurisdiction), the owner or keeper may file with the animal control officer a written request for hearing to determine if the declaration, failure to pass inspection or condition or term of keeping should be upheld or overturned.

(c)

If animal control was unable to impound the animal declared vicious, the owner or keeper shall, immediately after service of the declaration, transfer possession of the animal to the animal control officer. If an appeal is not requested, the owner shall relinquish ownership of the animal for euthanasia, or provide written proof to the animal control officer that the animal has been euthanized by a properly licensed veterinary clinic.

(d)

If a hearing is requested within the specified time period, unless additional time is requested by the owner or keeper, animal control shall schedule a hearing to be held before a hearing officer no later than ten days after receipt of the written request for hearing, affording to the owner or keeper at least three days' notice of the time and location of the hearing. Such notice shall provide the names of any witnesses animal control intends to present at the hearing, and shall include a public records request form or a copy of any documentation on which it intends to rely at the hearing.

(e)

The burden of persuasion, by a preponderance of the evidence, to overturn the declaration or other decision shall be on the owner or keeper only after animal control has met its prima facie burden of production that the animal was properly declared dangerous or vicious in accordance with Section 10.16.010, or as otherwise provided for decisions subject to review in this chapter.

(f)

At the hearing, the owner or keeper may be represented by counsel, may present oral and written evidence, and may cross-examine witnesses. Strict rules of evidence shall not apply. Any relevant evidence may be admitted if it is the sort of evidence which responsible persons are accustomed to rely upon in the conduct of serious affairs. The hearing shall be audio recorded, and all documents presented as evidence shall be maintained as part of the record of the hearing.

(g)

At the request of the owner or keeper, for good cause and as justice requires, the hearing officer may continue the hearing and may issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses, or the production of records or other things, substantially in conformance with the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. In case of the refusal of any witness to attend or testify or produce records or other things required by the subpoena, the owner or keeper may report to the district court by petition, setting forth that due notice has been given of the time and place of attendance of the witness or the production of records or other things; that the witness has been subpoenaed in accordance with this section; and that the witness has failed and refused to attend or produce the records or other things required by subpoena, or has refused to answer questions propounded to him or her in the course of the hearing. The petition shall request an order of the court compelling the witness to attend and testify or produce the records or other things before the hearing officer. The court, upon petition, may enter an order directing the witness to appear before the court at a time and place to be fixed by the court in the order and then and there show cause why the witness has not attended or testified or produced the records or other things before the hearing officer. A certified copy of the order must be served upon the witness. If it appears to the court that the subpoena was regularly issued by the hearing officer, the court may thereupon enter an order that the witness appear before the hearing officer at the time and place fixed in the order and testify or produce the required records or other things, and upon failure to obey the order, the witness may be dealt with as for contempt of court.

(Ord. No. 4355, § 6, 11-18-2015)