A. The owner of the animal may request a hearing to contest the declaration of dangerousness or contest the confinement conditions ordered by the Town Enforcement Agent.

B. If the owner of an impounded animal fails to appear at a hearing and/or fails to request a hearing, the animal shall be forfeited to the Town Enforcement Agent to be humanely destroyed.

C. If the owner of a nonimpounded animal fails to appear at a hearing or fails to request a hearing, the animal shall be declared to be dangerous and the order of compliance shall remain in effect.

D. After request for a hearing, the Town Enforcement Agent shall set a hearing date within five (5) working days at a time and place designated by the Town Animal Enforcement Agent. The hearing shall be conducted by a hearing officer selected by the Town Enforcement Agent.

E. The hearing shall be held in an informal manner and a record of the hearing shall be made by stenographic transcription or by electronic tape recording. The rules of evidence do not apply and hearsay shall be admissible.

F. It is the burden of the owner of the animal to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the animal is not dangerous. The owner may be represented by counsel and present witnesses at the animal owner’s cost.

G. The hearing officer shall make a written decision within five (5) working days of the hearing and notify the owner of the animal of the decision.

H. If the decision of dangerousness is sustained by the hearing officer, the owner of the animal shall obey the order of compliance issued by the Town Enforcement Agent within the time given by the order of compliance or ten (10) days, whichever is greater.

I. If the animal is found not to be dangerous, the order of compliance shall be null and void. The finding that an animal is not dangerous does not prevent the Town Enforcement Agent from declaring the same animal dangerous again if the agent has additional reasons to believe the animal is dangerous after a new evaluation of the animal is conducted.

J. Appeal of the decision of the hearing officer shall be by way of special action to the Superior Court of Pima County on the record of the hearing. If either party claims the record to be incomplete or lost, and the hearing officer who conducted the hearing so certifies, a new hearing shall be conducted before that officer. The appealing party shall bear the cost of preparing the record of the hearing on appeal. No appeal shall be taken later than thirty (30) days after the hearing officer’s decision. ((O)08-22, 11/05/2008)