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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Workshop_10/18/1994VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA Post Office Box 3273 357 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, Florida 33469-0273 (407) 575-6200 Fax: (407) 575-6203 VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA VILLAGE COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 18, 1994 I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The Tequesta Village Council held a Workshop Meeting at the Village Hall, 357 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta, Florida, on Tuesday, October 18, 1994. The meeting was called to order at 5:35 P.M. by Mayor Ron T. Mackail. A roll call was taken by Betty Laur, the Recording Secretary. Councilmembers present were: Mayor Ron T. Mackail, Elizabeth A. Schauer, and Joseph N. Capretta. Also in attendance were: Village Manager Thomas G. Bradford, Village Clerk Joann Manganiello, Village Attorney Randolph, Code Compliance Officer Richard F. Davis, and Department Heads. Vice Mayor William E. Burckart and Councilmember Earl L. Collings were absent from the meeting. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Councilmember Schauer moved to approve the Agenda as submitted. Councilmember Capretta seconded the motion. The vote on the motion was: Ron T. Mackail - for Elizabeth A. Schauer - for Joseph N. Capretta - for The motion was therefore passed and adopted and the Agenda was approved as submitted. III. Overview of Recent Town of Lantana Code Enforcement Enhancements, Recommendations and Cautions. Robert A. McDonald, Mayor, Town of Lantana. Councilmember Capretta recapped the evolvement of the Code Enforcement program since its inception approximately four years ago. In the beginning the Code Enforcement Officer Rani~lad Pnnar Village Council „~ Workshop Meeting Minutes October 18, 1994 Page 2 initiated the process by issuing warnings for violations, and if there was no compliance, cases progressed very quickly to the Code Enforcement Board, who handled a lot of the cases. The result of two lengthy cases which resulted in foreclosure proceedings was that the Village Council decided the purpose of Code Enforcement is to get the problem solved, not to go through a lengthy legal process. Changes were made to the procedure so that now a police officer handles most of the cases and very few cases get as far as the Code Enforcement Board. Councilmember Capretta urged the Village Council to carefully consider the Lantana Plan in light of the evolvement of Tequesta's procedure, and only to adopt Lantana's procedures if they were another step in the direction Tequesta had been proceeding. Councilmember Capretta listed the following items which should be considered: In the current Lantana Plan: Who goes out and what do they do--do they write a ticket on the spot?; do only unusual cases go through the legal process?; If Tequesta decides to follow a similar plan: Decide which ordinances are to be enforced; possibly pick one neighborhood to take care of first as a planned experiment; take a case and walk through it and ask yourself if you could explain it to your neighbors; Things Tequesta did wrong: Did not have a case analysis of results quickly enough; did not do a good job selling the program to the public. Councilmember Capretta questioned whether Tequesta's current process was working to which Village Manager Bradford responded that it was since it had been changed so that now whenever the opportunity presents itself the officer takes immediate action in the field--in the case of overgrown lawns the officer tracks down and notifies the property owner and if immediate action is not taken then the Village has the lawn cut. Councilmember Capretta questioned how cases come to the attention of the Village. Village Manager Bradford responded that cases were reported by someone and also that all police officers were now spotting violations as they were on patrol. Mayor Mackail stated his opposition to building up thousands of dollars in fines and then spending more money for court cases. Robert A. McDonald, Mayor of the Town of Lantana, addressed the Village Council regarding Lantana's method of Code Enforcement and began by stating there would be problems until the residents were totally educated in the process. He had noticed three houses that had been painted and their Village Council ~. Workshop Meeting Minutes October 18, 1994 Page 3 properties generally spruced up in an area in another part of the state which had produced a positive effect on the properties around them, so that a whole area that had been in total disrepair had been improved; which had given him the idea for the plan now used in Lantana's code enforcement. Mayor McDonald explained the Lantana residents were asked to change their priorities and to spend money that sometimes they did not have or didn't want to spend, to keep up their property; and a lot of time had been spent on the educational process. The town had been divided into areas and a whole area had been completed before moving on to another area. The Chamber of Commerce had become involved in providing programs heavily assisted by the town, low interest loans and donated materials had been provided, sod was purchased by the Town from a farm and volunteers helped lay sod if the property owner was physically unable to do it . Peer pressure had taken over so that people would take it upon themselves to improve their property. Mayor McDonald explained that their system used a Special Master, which consisted of three rotating attorneys, to hear cases and immediately render a decision. Since at a Code Enforcement Board hearing everything was negative, they had tried to paint a more positive situation by using the Special Master who would solve the problem and remove personalities from the scenario. Mayor McDonald commented that for physical and financial reasons one lady could not make improvements and the town did her house as a test program, with 25-30 volunteers doing the work over a weekend. Mayor Mackail explained that Tequesta's situation was somewhat different, that Tequesta did not have the really run-down areas that Lantana had, but was looking for a program that could be unified and accepted, and to take away the negative aspects of residents reporting and citing their neighbors. Village Manager Bradford commented that Tequesta was just beginning to see the aging of the houses and wanted to get a mechanism into place before a bad situation developed. Ron Ferris, Lantana Town Manager, stated 60~ of their homes were 20 years old and the other 40~ were older. They had enlisted the Chamber of Commerce to help with funding for physically and economically disadvantaged people. They had used eight different models from eight different municipalities all over Florida to come up with their standards, which was very difficult. He stated that a very Village Council _ Workshop Meeting Minutes October 18, 1994 Page 4 large community kickoff should have been done at the beginning to educate residents, which would have helped a great deal. Off street parking, paint, landscaping in residential areas, as well as hotels, motels, industrial and commercial areas are all covered in their standards. Notices of violation are handed to a person rather than leaving notices on doors. A windshield survey was conducted to determine the most blighted areas which were concentrated on first. A positive spinoff of the program had been neighbors getting together on their own and helping each other. They had found that when cases went to the Code Enforcement Board that there were a lot of appeals to the County Court but with the alternative system using the Special Master those were eliminated. Residents seemed to feel they were getting a fair hearing and a just decision, and the town saved a lot of money. The concept was that of compliance, not fines, and they were very liberal on giving residents opportunities to come into compliance. He stated no fines had been collected to date, however, some were accumulating and chances were good those cases would come into compliance and the fines would be dropped. They had found that once the people go through the system they came in and asked for a reasonable period of time to comply, which was granted. While three policemen were assigned to code enforcement, all of the members of the 24-person police force were actively involved in the program. Mr. Ferris stated that their philosophy was a better community and a better quality of life for everyone. In response to Councilmember Capretta, Mr. Ferris explained that the windshield survey had been conducted to identify specific target areas to go into first, and everything was targeted that could be seen within those areas, with the worst violations being done first. Their Building Official and Fire Inspector were members of the survey team and helped assess the violations. Councilmember Capretta questioned whether there was a policy stating how much money or help would be given to a resident to which Mr. Ferris responded that was handled by the Chamber of Commerce which had grant applications, guidelines, an evaluation method, and committees designed and set up to evaluate the need and to address each one on a case-by-case basis. Within approximately nine months a total of $4,000 had been given in grants. Two local vendors had recently donated approximately 50 gallons of paint to the program. Mr. Capretta questioned whether Homeowners Associations were used to help; Mr. Ferris responded Lantana was in a Village Council Workshop Meeting Minutes October 18, 1994 Page 5 ------------------------------- different situation since they did not have Homeowners Associations. Mr. Capretta stressed that the program needed to be positive. Mr. Ferris stated they were working with their Chamber of Commerce to find ways to recognize those people who made the effort to improve their homes by possibly placing a plaque on their front lawn or a sticker in their front window and to honor at a Chamber of Commerce function the residents with the properties which had been most improved. Mayor McDonald reiterated that the program was handled in a very mannerly, kind manner with assistance offered, and that when people were educated that was the way things were, that they came around. Mayor Mackail expressed his belief that the Homeowners Associations would help sell the program and that a meeting with all HOA presidents could be held immediately. Village Attorney Randolph questioned what happened with '= extreme cases that did not come into compliance to which Mr. Ferris responded that those would still have to go before the Code Enforcement Board, go through the legal process and eventually be foreclosed, and explained that the Special Master's decision could be appealed to the circuit court as appellate, and that the Special Master as an alternate procedure chosen by the Town Council was included in the code enforcement ordinance. Mr. Ferris stated a specific number of hours per week were assigned to code enforcement personnel to target minimum housing standards. Councilmember Capretta asked whether statistics were available on results Lantana had achieved to which Mayor McDonald responded they did have those statistics--which were staggering in the number of cases which achieved compliance within approximately 30 days. Gary Collins of the Tequesta Country Club Association questioned how absentee owners were handled to which Mr. Ferris responded notice was sent certified mail to owners and fines were levied against the owner, but Code Enforcement Officers did not assess fines; that was done by the Special Master. Zn the target areas voluntary inspections were done where violations were written up and the owners told they would be back in approximately sixty days for another voluntary inspection. If no progress had been made then a notice of violation with a reasonable "~' amount of time allowed for compliance would be issued. Village Council Workshop Meeting Minutes October 18, 1994 Page 6 VI. After that if they were not in compliance a citation would be given and they would be forced to go to the Special Master where a decision was made whether they were or were not in compliance. The one active homeowners association in Lantana was given educational materials on the program. Wade Griest questioned the use of both the Special Master and the Code Enforcement Board. Mr. Ferris responded the Code Enforcement Board had not met in three years since they were getting very good compliance with their program. Mr. Griest asked whether they sent in people to clean up and then billed the owner for those services. Mr. Ferris stated they did that one time only because it was a danger to public safety, and that they had condemned property and destroyed homes that were safety hazards, which was allowed under their ordinance. Mayor Mackail indicated that the subject of enhancing code enforcement in Tequesta would be a subject for further study and recommendations from the Public Safety Committee. ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Capretta moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Schauer seconded the motion. The vote on the motion was: Ron T. Mackail - for Elizabeth A. Schauer - for Joseph N. Capretta - for ATTEST: The motion was therefore passed and adopted and the meeting was adjourned at 6:45 P.M. J ann Mangani to Village Clerk DATE APPROVED: Respectfully submitted, Betty Laur Recording Secretary