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Minutes 07-10-13 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS MEETING BOARD HELD ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013, AT 7:00 P.M., IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS CITY HALL 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Vince Piraino, Chair Matthew Graham, Board Liaison Wendy Kelly Ben Lowe Carol Porter Lesha Roundtree (arrived 7.03 p.m.) Floyd Zonenstein ABSENT: Willie Swoope, Vice Chair Margaret Newton 1. Openings 2. Call to Order Chair Piraino called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 4. Roll Call Roll call was taken. A quorum was present. 5. Approval of Minutes from June 12th Meeting (Previously mailed by the City Clerk's office) Motion Mr. Zonenstein moved to approve the minutes. Chair Piraino seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 6. Announcements: None. 1 Meetings Minutes Community Relations Board B oynton Beach, FL July 10, 2013 7. Approval of Agenda a. Additions, Deletions, Corrections It was noted the Agenda contained the wrong meeting date. It should read July 10th and not June 10th. (Ms. Roundtree arrived.) b. Adoption Motion Mr. Zonenstein moved to approve as amended for the date. Chair Piraino seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 8. Public Audience INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS WILL BE LIMITED TO THREE- MINUTE PRESENTATIONS None. 9. Old Business. a. Survey Results /Update. Chair Piraino inquired who, besides Mr. Lowe, had not turned in their survey. The City Manager's office said five were received. Ms. Roundtree had not yet submitted hers and it was suggested the members resubmit them. There was agreement Mr. Graham would email the survey to the Chair to distribute to the members. It was unknown whose survey was received and whose was not. b. Board Resignations /Appointments Chair Piraino advised he was not present at the last meeting, but noted there was a recommendation to move forward with exit surveys and someone was to follow up with them. Mr. Graham spoke with the City Manager's Office about the matter and there was no interest in doing so at this point. They have a pretty good membership as far as advisory boards go, and when members resign, they generally indicate the reason. It was unknown why Ms. Rushing resigned, but it was known Ms. Khoja joined a Foundation. 2 Meetings Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL July 10, 2013 The members wanted to know why there was a high turnover on the Board. Ms. Newton had mentioned the exit survey as it could be a tool to keep members engaged and review what the Board was doing right and wrong. 10. Special Business: a. Code Enforcement Presentation. Diane Springer, Code Compliance Coordinator, was in attendance to make a presentation; however, there were no public attendees. Chair Piraino noted the water bill used to advertise the event listed the date for March 13, 2013, when it was originally scheduled. Ms. Springer commented she had received a few calls regarding the presentation. Mr. Graham explained the water bills that were issued in May contained the March date. The June bill had the correct July date, but they were mailed in late June. Chair Piraino suggested waiting briefly to see if any public arrived for the presentation. While waiting, Chair Piraino inquired if the members wanted to have a presentation about hurricane and storm awareness as he had read there would be many storms and hurricanes this year. Ms. Kelly noted Palm Beach County has an Emergency Readiness program and inquired if she should give them a call. Chair Piraino thought it would be good idea to schedule something for the August or September meeting and they would focus on Code Compliance for August. After the brief wait, Chair Piraino announced Ms. Springer would make a short presentation for the benefit of the members. Ms. Springer explained the Code Compliance Division is under the purview of the Police Department. A Police Sergeant supervises the Division and takes the complaint calls when citizens are adamant about speaking with a supervisor. He also accompanies the Code Officer when residents give them a hard time. Ms. Springer explained she runs the day -to -day operations in the Division. When fully staffed, there are eight officers. At the moment there are five officers, another starting in two weeks, and hopefully they would hire two more. They have two support staff. All officers and staff are certified by the Florida Association of Code Enforcement. They receive training for each certification level and pass a test. They range in rank from Code Officer, and when they obtain three levels of certification and five years of experience, they are elevated to Senior Code Officer. The Division currently acts, because they are short- staffed, on a complaint generated basis, but when driving to the violation location, if the officer notices other violations on other properties, they can cite those properties. 3 Meetings Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL July 10 , 201 When fully staffed, they do routine inspections. Each officer has an assigned zone. There are three in the northeast section of the City; two in the south section south of Boynton Beach Boulevard, and one officer handling the area west of 1 -95. They patrol their zones and if they find a violation, there is a process to obtain information about who owns the property through deeds and tax records, and they turn it over to office staff to process. The Division is governed by Florida Statute 162, which requires the violator to be notified in writing and given reasonable time to correct the violation. A violator can be given 10 days to mow the grass, but not 10 days to put on a new roof. Instead, they could be given four to six weeks. If the violator does not comply, they are notified by certified mail to attend a Code Board Hearing. The violator has to receive service via a signed green card, or if not returned, staff posts the property 10 days before the hearing date which is legal service. The respondent appears before the Board and hears staffs report. The respondent, if present, can testify. The Board asks the respondent how much time they need. The Board usually gives the requested time, but sets a compliance date and a fine amount. If they do not comply by that date, they start to accrue a daily fine until the date of compliance. If they still do not comply by the original compliance date, they go back to the Code Compliance Board, receiving notice via certified mail and the Board certifies the fine and places a lien on the property. When the respondent finally corrects the violations, the Board has a lien reduction process. The Division works with other departments processing cases. One example is if the Building Department finds a violation of a building Code, the violator is issued a Red Tag giving a set amount of time to comply. If the respondent does not comply, the case is referred to the Code Division for a Code Board hearing. Also, they process cases for non - payment of excessive false alarms and non - payment of fire inspection fees. Mr. Lowe inquired about the best way to bring a violation to the City's attention. Ms. Springer explained all complaints go through the Dispatch non - emergency number. Violations can be reported anonymously. In the past, one would call the office, staff would take the information, give it to the Code Officer, and there could be a 24 to 48 hour turnaround. With Dispatch, the call is immediately made to the Officer to verify the violation. The Officer has about an hour to respond to Dispatch whether there is a violation or not. An inquiry was made if there is a number people can call to find out what constitutes a violation. Ms. Springer responded they should call. Sometimes something looks like a violation, but it is not covered by the Statute. Ms. Springer also pointed out they have an officer who works on Saturday, so the office operates six days per week. 4 Meetings Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL July 10, In response to a question about how much the fines usually are, Ms. Springer responded the fines depend on the violation, are based on its severity, how long it has been in non - compliance, and on Statute 162. Someone who does not cut grass may receive a fine of $50 per day, but if the violation was an abandoned home, an unsecured pool or an unsecured property with vagrants, that could be $1,000 per day. The City enacted an ordinance in 2009 to address properties that are abandoned and go into the foreclosure process. The Bank does not yet own the property and the owners do not care. The Ordinance states that as soon as a property is vacant or goes into foreclosure, the Bank is cited. Consequently, some Banks send someone to address the issue. The City has a Nuisance Abatement program. If the Bank does nothing and the grass is two feet high, staff goes through the process of notifying the owner. It does not happen overnight, but once the process is complete, the City has a vendor mow the property and another vendor to board unsecured homes. A question was posed about personal property, and if there is a listing of the various violations. Ms. Springer explained the violations are contained in the City's Ordinances. She recommended checking online under Code Enforcement, and using the search tool. The Board has a regular meeting once a month and a Lien Reduction meeting once per month. As to the criteria to be a Board member, there are a variety of backgrounds on the Board. The Board currently has six members, but for a City this size, the Board normally has seven regular and two alternate members. Anyone wanting to volunteer should let the Commission know. Preparation to go before the Board starts a week before the meeting. Last month, they had 82 cases. All the mail has to be certified so if there is no quorum, staff has to resend the letters certified mail. The Board meets on Wednesdays. The Code Officer presents the case he sent the notice of violation for and the Board makes a decision. When the respondent is not present, staff recommends a compliance date since the Code Officer has inspected the site. The members read the backup material provided, determine the severity of the violation and attach a commensurate fine. Chair Piraino and the members thanked Ms. Springer for the presentation. 11. New Business a. Press Communication Update — Mr. Lowe 5 Meetings Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FIL Ju 10, 2013 Mr. Lowe explained he contacted the Palm Beach Post and the Sun - Sentinel for this meeting. He spoke to a representative about the March event which was cancelled at the last minute, and they were not happy because they had advertised it and it was difficult to notify the public of the cancellation. This last time, the representative from the Palm Beach Post did not return any of Mr. Lowe's emails, but the Sun - Sentinel did, and they would try to get the word out in the paper. He did a quick check earlier in the day and did not see it. He commented this was how the public could find out about the meetings, especially important special meetings. Unless he looked at his water bill, he would not have had any idea about the presentation. He was open to suggestions how to have a better relationship with the press. Ms. Kelly suggested instead of focusing on the old way of advertising such as the press, the members be innovative and go to the community, since the community was not coming to them. She thought, as to Hurricane Preparedness, having information to distribute and attending local community meetings would be helpful. Chair Piraino attended Planning and Development meetings, and noted one person came to that meeting and that Board was one of the more important Boards. He inquired if other Board's attract audiences. Mr. Zonenstein commented one problem was individuals go to the City Commission meetings, and the City Commission does not bother with the Board. He inquired if the Veterans, Cemetery, and Library Boards have public attendees. Mr. Lowe thought the Library Board makes policy, because the City Commission does not get involved in the details of it. What the Community Relations Board does overlaps with the City Commission and he thought the Commission could delegate some of the issues to the Board. It would be good to have the City Commission announce the Board is available to listen and is a forum for resolution. Chair Piraino commented each opportunity they have to market the Board is shot down and he felt the Board was running out of options. He did not know if the citizens do not get involved or care. Ms. Kelly opined it was not that people did not care; it was that they associate the name with the face. She thought they should be more engaged in the community and the public would feel more comfortable coming to the meetings. Brief discussion followed whether other Boards list the members and their pictures on the website. He noted Boca Raton does and he asked if Boynton Beach did or if they could. It was thought a name should go with a face. b. Rights Restoration - Possible future meeting presentation (Board discussion, if any) 6 Meetings Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Fl- July 10, Ms. Kelly explained this was her suggestion as there has been a lot of negativity in the news regarding the Police Department and there was some discussion a few meetings ago about having the police come and talk. She thought they could team up, do something positive with them, and possibly help restore rights of individuals who are felons. Again, this would be an opportunity to put a name with a face and bring something positive to the community. There was no date set; it was up for discussion. Mr. Zonenstein commented at the last City Commission meeting, the Commission did not mention the fact they eliminated two Police Major jobs, and never announced it at the City Commission meeting. If he had not read it in the paper, he would not have known. Mr. Zonenstein went to the Chief that night about the matter and was told the Majors expected it. Lt. Jeffrey Katz will serve as Interim Chief. That was the extent of his knowledge and he commented one did not know what was going on even in the departments. C. CRB member Turnover — Possible exit survey This item was discussed earlier in the meeting. 12. Other New Business Mr. Lowe inquired what would be done at the next meeting. Chair Piraino thought August was more of a vacation month. He thought September may be a good meeting to hear about Charter Schools and/or Code Compliance or both. The members could start working on the matter now, and he suggested each member bring two residents to the meeting. Mr. Lowe thought if revisiting the Code Compliance presentation, the public would ask questions about what is a violation. Ms. Springer responded she could respond to general questions, and if specific, would send a Code Officer. Ms. Kelly inquired if there was an After School Bash, perhaps for school supplies they can participate in. Mr. Graham agreed to research this. Chair Piraino agreed to contact Mr. Lee regarding a Charter School presentation. He thought Code Compliance should be scheduled for September and advertised in the July water bills. Mr. Lowe would try to enlist the help of the press. Ms. Kelly offered to ask her employer to donate school supplies and that could draw the public to the meeting. Chair Piraino liked the idea, but was unsure the Board could do so. Mr. Zonenstein noted at one time, the Police Department gave out backpacks. It was suggested they team up with the Police Department if they would participate in a back to school project. 7 Meetings iu Community Relations Board Boy nton Beach, FL July 1, 2013 The next meeting would be on September 11, 2013. Chair Piraino agreed to contact the school for a speaker and forward the information he receives from Mr. Graham to the members. It was noted the Board does not necessarily meet in August. The members agreed to contact the Chair whether they would meet or not. 13. Adjournment: There being no further business to discuss, Chair Piraino properly adjourned the meeting at 7:40 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 071793 8