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Home My WebLink About1996 05 13 Regular Item C to. ;; COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM C REGULAR X CONSENT INFORMATIONAL May 13, 1996 Meeting MGR II /I Pf fDEPT .!!; Authorization REQUEST: The Police Department responding to the Commission's concerns regarding the enforcement of violations of City Ordinance, presenting plans to improve the effectiveness of enforcement, and requesting consideration of the Code Enforcement Board meeting monthly, rather than bi-monthly. PURPOSE: The purpose of this Commission item is to: 1) bring the Commission up to date on action taken to improve the effectiveness of enforcement of City Ordinance violations, and 2) to gain the Commission's authorization for the Code Enforcement Board to meet on a monthly basis to affect this improvement. CONSIDERATIONS: The Commission has recently expressed concerns over the effectiveness of the enforcement of violations of City Ordinance. Subsequent to the April 8, 1996 Commission meeting, information was prepared showing the disposition of cases presented to the Code Enforcement Board over the past twelve month period. This information was presented to the Commission at the April 22, 1996 meeting. As a result of that presentation, several Commissioners indicated that they felt the problem was not so much with the action of the Code Enforcement Board members or the Code Officers, but rather with the ordinances themselves. The City Attorney remarked that a problem existing with the enforcement by use of citations is that the Judges are not ruling on cases or taking action that gives the City authority to further resolve the matter. On April 24, 1996 a meeting was held to discuss possible means to resolve this problem. The meeting was attended by City Manager Ron McLemore, City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher, Land Management Specialist Don LeBlanc, Captain Glenn Tolleson and Captain Robert Pieper of the Police Department. ISSUE ANALYSIS: The greatest problem identified as a result of this meeting is the amount of time needed to achieve compliance. The majority of cases brought to the j Code Enforcement Board come into compliance as a result of their action. However, since the Code Enforcement Board meets every-other-month it is possible for six to eight weeks to elapse before a case can be brought to them for a ruling and relief. Alternatively, if a citation is issued and the violator does not correct the violation but instead opts to contest the citation in court, it can take as much as sixty days to first get on the docket, then several more weeks for the case to be heard by a judge, who then may give the violator another several weeks to months to bring the matter into compliance. It is felt that for those violators who will comply, compliance can be more readily achieved by use of the Code Enforcement Board. If the Code Enforcement Board were to meet monthly, rather than every-other-month, the time to achieve compliance can be dropped from an average of five months using the citations process, to six weeks. City Ordinance Section 2-60. HEARINGS states, in part: The code enforcement hoard shall attempt to convene at least once every two (2) months, hut it may meet more or less often as the demand necessitates. A majority of the members of the Code Enforcement Board have been polled for their reaction to the possibility of meeting on a monthly basis. All those who have been contacted have been in favor of this recommendation. For those violators who refuse to comply with the orders of the Code Enforcement Board, there are two available options that can be explored. They are: 1) obtain quick relief from a Judge by securing a court order that directs the violator to immediately comply or be held in contempt, thus gaining the power of the Court to support the City's interest, and 2) ascertain if Winter Springs can get first position on any liens filed, which in so doing causes the mortgage holder to take action to protect their interests. The City Attorney is currently looking into both of these options. Lastly, the City of Orlando has recently enacted a very effective means to abate nuisance violations, including the removal of abandoned/disabled vehicles from private property. The City Attorney will arrange a meeting between the Code Enforcement people from the City of Orlando, and Winter Springs' Code Enforcement officers to see what we can adapt from their ordinances to meet the needs of our City. FUNDING: The members of the Code Enforcement Board are compensated $25.00 for each meeting they attend (re: Section 2-41. Fee paid to appointed board members; attendance of meetings). If the Commission approves of the Code Enforcement Board meeting monthly, the compensation for attendance will be increased. In addition, the Code Inspector and clerical assistance from " the City Clerk's office will require additional compensation in salary for the added hours. Funding sources for these items currently exist, though the previously anticipated expenditure from these sources would now be increased. Each Code Enforcement Board Meeting takes an average of2.5 hours to complete. Currently it costs approximately $261.25 per meeting to compensate the Code Enforcement Board members and pay the required city employees. Code Board members (7) at $25.00 each = $175.00 Asst. City Clerk - salary $ 12.00/hr x 1.5 (overtime) x 2.5 hours = $45.00 Code Inspector - salary $11.00/hr x 1.5 (overtime) x 2.5 hours = $41.25 Total (per meeting) = $261.25 For the Code Enforcement Board to meet montWy starting in June 1996 would create two additional meetings during Fiscal Year 1995-96 (June and August). May, July, and September meetings are already planned. This would require an additional $522.50 during Fiscal Year 1995-96. If these figures remain unchanged during Fiscal Year 1996-97, it would cost $3,135.00 to hold twelve meetings, rather than the expected $1,567.50 for six meetings. However, with the Code Enforcement Board meeting montWy, rather than every-other-month, the running times of the meeting should decrease by spreading out the workload. If this results in a reduction in the average time of a meeting to 1.5 hours, the cost per meeting would reduce respective to that reduction. That reduction in time could result in the following costs: Code Board members (7) at $25.00 each = $175.00 Asst. City Clerk - salary $12.00/hr x 1.5 (overtime) x 1.5 hours = $27.00 Code Inspector - salary $11.00/hr x 1.5 (overtime) x 1.5 hours = $24.75 Estimated Total (per meeting) = $226.75 Estimated Annual cost for twelve meetings = $2,721.00 Of course these figures are subject to change due to salary increases that may be received by the city employees during the coming Fiscal Year. The additional funds needed to increase the meetings does not require an additional appropriation and can be accomplished through a $350.00 line code transfer from line code 1100-54010 Travel & Per Diem to line code 1100-51360 Code Enforcement Board. RECOMMENDATION: The Code Enforcement Board meet on a montWy basis in order to reduce the time needed to bring violations into compliance.. " IMPLEMENT A TION SCHEDULE: The next regularly schedule meeting of the Code Enforcement Board is set for Tuesday May 21, 1996. The Code Enforcement Board has previously met on the third Tuesday of the "odd" month. Monthly meetings of the Code Enforcement Board could commence with the meeting of June 18, 1996 and continue on the third Tuesday of each month. A review of the options of having contempt orders issued by the court, and first position liens should be completed within two weeks. The meeting with the City of Orlando and follow-up analysis should be completed within 30 days. A follow- up report to the Commissioners could be made at the May 27, 1996 meeting of the Commission. ATTACHMENTS: None COMMISSION ACTION: