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Minutes 02-26-04 MINUTES OF THE CODE COMPLIANCE BOARD LIEN REDUCTION MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 AT 3:00 P.M. Present: Chris DeLiso, Chairman Michele Costantino, Vice Chair .lames Miriana Dave Rafkin Brenda Shamblin Kathleen Carroll, Alternate Absent: Robert Foot Kathy Cook, Alternate ]. Call to Order Chair DeLiso called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m. ]3:. Approval of Minutes None Approval of Agenda David Tolces, Assistant City Attorney f4~tion Vice Chair Costantino moved to accept the agenda as presented. Mr. Miriana seconded the motion that carried unanimously, [V. Swearing in of Witnesses and Introduction The Recording Secretary administered the oath to all persons who would be testifying. V. New Business A. Lien Reductions Case #00-2806 Patrick Donahue & Larry Turner 124 S.E. 29~ Avenue Mr. Blasie asked that Case 00-2806 be dismissed since the City's lien was filed after the paperwork for possession of the property. Meeting Minutes Code Compliance Board Lien Reductions Boynton Beach, Florida February 26, 2004 Motion Vice Chair Costantino moved to dismiss Case No. 00-2806. Mr. Miriana seconded the motion. Attorney Tolces stated that there were two liens on this property, on page i and on page 2. Case #00-2806 should be dismissed. The lien recorded in this case was recorded al~er //s pendens was filed in Court regarding a foreclosure matter; therefore, there was no interest or right or claim in the property at the time the lien was filed. The lien, therefore is invalid and the case should be dismissed. The motion carried unanimously. Case #02-2314 CityMortgage, ]:nc. 124 S.E. 29~ Avenue Mr. Blasie reported that this property had originally been cited on September 12, 2002 for violations pertaining to a pool and the Community Appearance Code. The Board hearing was held on October 16, 2002 and no one appeared. The Board set a compliance date of October 27, 2002 and proposed a fine of $25 per day. Compliance was recorded on ,~une 27, 2003. Chair DeLiso asked if CityMortgage owned it or the people who went into foreclosure. Mr. Blasie stated that CityMortgage owned it and this is why they were going through with the lien reduction on this case and not on the previous one. Chair DeLiso asked when the foreclosure took place and Mr. Blasie replied, December of 2000. Since compliance did not take place until .lune of 2003, Chair DeLiso asked why it had taken so long to bring the property into compliance. Elizabeth Evans, Faber & Gittlich, on behalf of CityMortgage, came to the podium. She stated that the foreclosure action had begun in December of 2000 and CityMortgage could not get a certificate of title issued until May 21, 2002. Her firm did not handle the foreclosure proceedings and she did not have many details about it. Once it was able to gain possession of the property, CityMortgage spent upwards of $31K in repairing cosmetic items, mowing grass, and redoing the pool. Every time they would finish one set of work, and ask for Code inspectors to inspect the results, more items would be added. Since the property was an FHA foreclosed property, in order to transfer it to HUD, it was necessary for CityMortgage to get three bids when work had to be done. The bids then had to be approved by the government office, and the work contracted. Responding to each work order took about a month. Ms. Evans was before the Board to ask for a reduction in the lien. She felt they had acted in good faith and had performed the required work as quickly as possible under the circumstances. Dr. Rafkin asked Mr. Blasie how the property looked today, and Mr. Blasie responded that it looked pretty good. Mr. Blasie showed photographs of the property to the representative for the lien applicant and the Board. 2 Meeting Minutes Code Compliance Board Lien Reductions Boynton Beach, Florida February26, 2004 Mr. Miriana asked why so much time had passed between the date of compliance and this lien reduction hearing. Ms. Evans responded that as far as she knew, this was the earliest they could get a hearing. She stated that the case had not been referred to her office until this week. Dr. Rafkin asked Ms. Evans if the length of time to come into compliance had been largely due to the bureaucracy involved whenever anything had to be done, and she responded that it was. Dr. Rafkin asked Ms. Evans how many times they had to get bids and apply to the government agency(s), and Ms. Evans responded that it had been about three times. They had come into compliance at least three times and each time the Code inspectors had commented on other violations and they had to go through the lengthy process of getting bids and going through the government agency again and again. Motion Based on the testimony and evidence presented in Case No. 02-2314, and having been advised that the Respondents have complied with all lien reduction procedures set forth in Sections 2-84 through 2-89 of the City of Boynton Beach Code of Ordinances, Dr. Rafkin moved that this Board rescind the fine instituted in Case No. 02-2314, by virtue of this Board's Order of October 16, 2002, to an amount of $1,634.12 including administrative costs. Vice Chair Costantino seconded the motion that carried 5-1,/Vs. Sharnbl/n d/ssent/ng. Mr. Blasie explained the lien reduction process to Ms. Evans. Case #98-1679 Case #00-2430 2ames Mathis lames Mathis 321 N.W. 2nd Street 321 N.W. 2nd Street Mr. Blasie explained that these two cases did not qualify for lien reduction at this time because back taxes were owed on the property. Mr. Mathis tried to give the tax authorities a check to settle the taxes, but they would not accept a personal check. Motion Ms. Shamblin moved to table Cases #98-1679 and #00-2430 until the next lien reduction hearing on March 25, 2004. Vice Chair Costantino seconded the motion that passed 6-0. Case #96-4919 .lames Mathis 360 NW. 16~h Court Mr. Blasie reported that this property had been cited for violations of the Community Appearance Code on September 9, 1996. A Code Compliance Board hearing was held on December 18, 1996 and no one appeared. The Board set a compliance date of January 14, 1997 and proposed a fine of $25.00 per day. The property came into compliance on April 30, 1997. Mr. Blasie showed photographs of the property to Mr. Mathis and the Board. The pictures were taken on the day of this meeting, two in 1996 and one in 1997. .lames Mathis, 360 N.W. 16~h Court, Boynton Beach, stated that he lives in the property. 3 Meeting Minutes Code Compliance Board Lien Reductions Boynton Beach, Florida February 26, 2004 Chair DeLiso asked Mr. Mathis why it had taken him 7 months to bring the property into compliance. Mr. Mathis explained that he works two jobs and is a part-time student. During this period, he was doing this and caring for his elderly father. Also, he did not have enough money to do what had to be done. Tn the case of the sod, he did sod, but did not call for a reinspection. He did not realize until later that this was a requirement. The truck that had to be moved was his father's and his father had a sentimental attachment to it. Mr. Mathis found it hard to insist that it be moved for this reason. He did not initially realize that moving the truck was very important. He did open the notices from the Code Department from time to time but he was so busy, he did not always read them. The reason the property is in such good shape today is that there was a house fire and the insurance money enabled him to fix the property and the grounds. Motion Based on the testimony and evidence presented in Case No. 96-4919, and having been advised that the Respondents have complied with all lien reduction procedures set forth in Sections 2-84 through 2-89 of the Cib/ of Boynton Beach Code of Ordinances, Dr. Rafkin moved that this Board rescind the fine instituted in Case No. 96-4919, by virtue of this Board's Order of December 18, 1996, to an amount of administrative costs or $826.18. Vice Chair Costantino seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Case #03-125 3ames Mathis 360 N.W. 16m Court Mr. Blasie stated that in this case, a notice of violation had been issued on .lanuary 23, 2003 for trash, debris, and sod. A Code Compliance Board hearing was held on March 19, 2003 and no one appeared. The Board set a compliance date of April 18, 2003 and proposed a fine of $50.00 per day. The property came into compliance on January 7, 2004. Mr. Blasie showed Mr. Mathis photographs taken on the day of this meeting, and in March and April of 2003. Mr. Mathis remained at the podium when the previous case was concluded. Tn response to a question from the Board, Mr. Mathis stated that this violation had occurred after the fire. A contractor who did the repairs after the fire promised that he would install a sprinkler system and the sod. After Mr. Mathis got a certificate of occupancy, he telephoned the contractor on a weekly basis, who kept putting him off. The contractor never did install the sprinkler system or the sod. Mr. Mathis had to install a sprinkler system and sod the yard out of his own pocket. This is why it took so long. Dr. Rafkin asked Mr. Blasie if he were satisfied with the appearance of the property today, and Mr. Blasie replied that he was. Motion Based on the testimonv and evidence presented in Case No. 03-125, and having been advised that the Respondents have complied with all lien reduction procedures set forth in Sections 2-84 through 2-89 of the Ci~ of Bovnton Beach Code of Ordinances, Dr. Rafl~in moved that this Board rescind the fine instituted in Case No. 03-125, by virtue of this Board's Order of March 4 Meeting Minutes Code Compliance Board Lien Reductions Boynton Beach, Florida February26, 2004 19, 2003, to an amount of administrative costs or $730.15. Mr. Miriana seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Case #02-328 Boynton Associates, Ltd. 711 NW. 2nd Street Mr. Blasie stated that this was a single-family property owned by the same individuals who own the Boynton Terrace Apartments. The property had been cited on February 7, 2002 for Community Appearance issues. A Board hearing was held on March 20, 2002 and no one appeared. The Board set a compliance date of April 19, 2002 and proposed a fine of $25 per day. The property came into compliance on February 26, 2004. Mr. Blasie had met with the Building Department and learned that Boynton Terrace Apartments is in Permitting for permits to renovate the entire project. Mr. Blasie saw the plans and when completed, thought it would be very nice. However, this lien is a problem that stands in the way of proceeding on the project. From the City's standpoint, the Boynton Terrace Apartment project should not be delayed. Mr. Blasie commented that it had taken so much time because the ownership of the overall project had changed hands. The new owners have stepped in to finish. Motion Based on the testimony and evidence presented in Case No. 02-328, and having been advised that the Respondents have complied with all lien reduction procedures set forth in Sections 2-84 through 2-89 of the City of Boynton Beach Code of Ordinances, Ms. Shamblin moved that this Board rescind the fine instituted in Case No. 02-328, by virtue of this Board's Order of March 20, 2002, to an amount of $15,000 including administrative costs. The motion died for lack of a second. Motion Based on the testimony and evidence presented in Case No. 02-328, and having been advised that the Respondents have complied with all lien reduction procedures set forth in Sections 2-84 through 2-89 of the City of Boynton Beach Code of Ordinances, Dr. Rafkin moved that this Board rescind the fine instituted in Case No. 02-328, by virtue of this Board's Order of March 20, 2002, to an amount of $3,134.12, including administrative costs. The motion passed 5-1, Ms. Shamblin dissenting. VI. Adjournment Since there was no further business, the meeting was duly adjourned at 3:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary