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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 01 14 Regular 607 Review of Winter Springs Code Enforcement Board Policy ManualCOMMISSION AGENDA ITEM 607 January 14, 2008 Special Meeting REQUEST: Informational Consent Public Hearings Regular X ~:~, ~~~~ ~ Mgr. ` / Dept. Authorization The Chairman of the Code Enforcement Board is requesting to review with the City Commission the Winter Springs Code Enforcement Board Policy Manual which was recently approved by the Code Enforcement Board. PURPOSE: This Agenda Item is being presented to inform the City Commission of the Winter Springs Code Enforcement Board Policy Manual. CONSIDERATIONS: The Chairman of the Code Enforcement Board, Matt Matisak is requesting to address the City Commission on the Code Enforcement Board Policy Manual which was approved at the December 17, 2007 Code Enforcement Board Meeting. ATTACHMENT: A. Winter Springs Code Enforcement Board Policy Manual RECOMMENDATION: The City Commission is being requested to offer any comments they may have on the Winter Springs Code Enforcement Board Policy Manual. ATTACHMENT «A» Code Enforcement of the City of Winter Springs, Florida Policy & Procedures Manual I. NAME The name of this Board shall be the "Code Enforcement Board of the City of Winter Springs, Florida." II. INTENT It is the intent of this Board to promote, protect, and improve the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the City of Winter Springs, Florida as an administrative Board with authority to impose administrative fines and other noncriminal penalties to provide an equitable, expeditious, effective, and inexpensive method of enforcing any City Codes and Ordinances in force, where a pending or repeated Violation continues to exist per Section 162.02 FSS. III. JURISDICTION The Board has jurisdiction over City Codes of the City of Winter Springs, Florida as provided in the City Code and Chapter 162, Florida Statutes. When these Rules as outlined in the Winter Springs Code Enforcement Board Policy & Procedures Manual, herein known as WSCEB Policy conflict with any provision of the City Code, Florida Statute or other law, the City Code, Florida Statute or other law shall prevail. IV. OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES A. The Officers shall be a Chairman and Vice-Chairperson. The City of Winter Springs shall provide a Clerk to assist the Board per Section 162.07(1) FSS. B. The Chairman shall preside at all Meetings and Hearings of the Board and shall have the duties normally conferred by parliamentary usage of the Officers. C. The Chairman shall sign all official correspondence from the Board. D. The Chairman shall be one of the Members of the Board. To be eligible for the position of Chairman, the Member must have a minimum of one (1) year's service on the Board and shall not be an Alternate Board Member. The Chairman shall have the privilege of discussing all matters before the Board and shall have the same Voting rights as all Board Members. E. The Chairman has the authority to Approve the absence of any Board Member per Section 162.05(3)(e) FSS. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 2 OF 9 F. When the Chairman is declared absent, the Vice-Chairperson shall assume the title, duties and rights as Chairman for the Meeting or Hearing. Upon adjournment of said Meeting, title, duties and rights as Chairman returns to the original Officer. G. In the absence of a Chairman and Vice-Chairperson at a Meeting or Hearing, the Board Member with the longest sitting Member in totality shall assume the title, duties and rights as Chairman for the Meeting or Hearing. Upon adjournment of said Meeting, title, duties and rights as Chairman returns to the original Officer. V. ELECTIONS OF OFFICERS A. Nomination of Officers shall be made from the Board Members at the Annual Organizational Meeting held in January, and the Election shall be held immediately thereafter. The Election of Officers will always take precedence over an Agenda Item and as such shall be first to be conducted during the evening. Following its conclusion the newly elected Officers will take their roles to complete the rest of the meeting. If the Election does not occur at the January Meeting, it shall be held as soon thereafter as is reasonably possible. B. A candidate receiving a majority of the Votes cast shall be declared elected and shall serve a term of one (1) year or until a successor shall take Office. C. Vacancies in the Office of the Chairman shall be filled by the Vice Chairperson until the following Election year. At that time, a new Vice Chairperson shall be elected. Vacancies in the Office of the Vice Chairperson shall be filled as soon as possible for the remainder of the term by following the Election procedure described above. VI. MEETINGS A. Regular Meetings: Regular Meetings shall be held on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers of City Hall, 1126 East State Road 434, Winter Springs, Florida, unless otherwise scheduled. B. Special Meetings: Special Meetings maybe called by either the Code Inspector, the Chairman or by written notification whereof at least three (3) Members of the Board to the Chairman per Section 162.07(1) FSS. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 3 OF 9 C. Notice: 1. Notice of all Meetings, both Regular and Special, shall be given to each Board Member at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the Meeting. 2. Notice of all Meetings shall be provided to the City Clerk's Department for inclusion on the City's schedule of Meetings and events. D. Attendance: 1. Members shall notify the Clerk of the Board if they cannot attend a Meeting. 2. The Clerk shall then contact the Chairman to determine if the absence is considered excused/unexcused per Section 162.05(3)(e) FSS. 3. The absence, whether excused or unexcused shall then be noted in the Meeting Minutes for the Record. The Chairman shall also note for the Record the absence and whether it is excused/unexcused during the Meeting or Hearing. 4. If any Member of the Board fails to attend two (2) of three (3) consecutive Meetings without cause and prior approval of the Chairman, the Board shall declare the Member's office vacant and the City Commission shall promptly fill such Vacancy per Section 162.05(3)(e) FSS. E. Quorum A quorum of the Board shall consist of four (4) or more Members and an affirmative Vote of a majority of those present and Voting shall be necessary to pass any Motion or adopt any Order; provided, however, that at least four (4) members of the Board must Vote in order for the action to be official per Section 162.05(4) and Section 162.07(4) FSS. F. Voting For all Motions, Voting shall be by voice and shall be recorded by individual `aye' or `nay' . G. Participation by Alternate Board Members 1. There are two (2) alternate Members of the Board. When present they may act as fully participating, Voting Members of the Board when: WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 4 OF 9 a) a Regular Board Member is absent for a Regular or Special Meeting, or portion thereof or b) a Member abstains from Voting due to a conflict 2. In the event an Alternate is participating for a Regular Member, the Chairman shall make the appropriate announcements for the Record identifying which Member is no longer participating and which Alternate Member is now participating as a Voting Member. 3. Alternate Members may participate in questioning Respondents and Witnesses and discussing the merits of a Case. Alternate Members may not make Motions or Vote unless they are participating in place of a Regular Member. 4. Alternates shall be designated as "First Alternate" and "Second Alternate" where the Alternate Board Member designated as "First Alternate" will fill the first vacancy and the Alternate Board Member designated as "Second Alternate" shall fill the subsequent vacancy. H. Abstention and Conflict of Interest 1. Board Members should avoid conflicts of interest and appearance of conflicts with interest. Board members shall conduct themselves in accordance with the Code of Ethics for Public Officers as set forth in Chapter 112, FSS. A Board Member cannot Vote in a official capacity upon any measure which inures to the Board Members ``special private gain or loss" or to the special private gain or loss of any private entity by whom retained, relative or business associate per Section 112.3143 FSS. 2. Procedure to follow if conflict should exist: a) Prior to the Vote, publicly explain the conflict. b) Abstain from Voting. c) Within fifteen (15) days of the Vote, document the disclosure in a written memorandum filed with the City Clerk. A Board Member barred from Voting due to conflict, may participate in the discussion of the matter, provided the Board Member first discloses the nature of his/her interest in the matter. This disclosure should be made in writing prior to the Meeting. If the conflict was not anticipated prior to the Meeting, however, the disclosure should be made verbally prior to any participation in the matter and must be followed up within fifteen (15) days with a written memorandum filed with the City Clerk. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 5 OF 9 I. Procedure: 1. Parliamentary procedure in Board Meetings shall be governed by the Rules of Procedure contained herein and by Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, except that Robert's Rules of Order shall be advisory and not mandatory. In the event of conflict between Robert's Rules and the Rules of Procedure contained here, these Rules of Procedure shall govern. 2. All Board Members shall be recognized individually by the Chairman through the use of the Board Members' dais light prior to addressing the Board, Code Inspector, Respondent, or Witness. This is to ensure that all questions and discussion are clearly on the recording tape for the Record. 3. All Board Members, Code Inspectors, Respondents and Witnesses are required to use an active microphone when speaking as all testimony must be accurately recorded on tape. 4. Private conversations between Board Members will be prohibited while Meetings or Hearings are in session. Any such conversations may Violate the Florida Sunshine Law per Section 286.011 FSS. 5. Each Regular Board Member shall have a microphone and dais light assigned to them by the Clerk. Alternates shall be assigned seating and resources closest to the Clerk's seat with the "Second Alternate" being closest to the Clerk. 6. During a Hearing, the Respondent and their Witnesses shall be seated in the front row of the West Side seating area. The West Side seating area is located farthest from the Clerk. 7. The Code Enforcement Bureau and their Witnesses shall be seated in the front row of the East Side seating area. 8. The Code Enforcement Board shall use a standardized Finding of Fact and Relief Order Script to render its Verdicts. The Verdicts shall be read into the Record by the Clerk in their entirety upon the Motion of a Board Member. If the standardized Finding of Fact or Relief Order scripts are not applicable or need to be Amended, the Board Member who is making the Motion may do the full reading. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 6 OF 9 VII. ORDER OF BUSINESS A. 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Invocation 4. Pledge Of Allegiance 5. Agenda Changes 6. Swearing In Of Code Officers 7. Informational Agenda Items 8. Approval Of Previous Meeting Minutes 9. Awards and Presentations 10. Reports 11. Public Input (Non-Case Specific) 12. Public Hearings Agenda -Continued Cases 13. Public Hearings Agenda -Repeat Cases 14. Public Hearings Agenda -New Cases 15. Public Hearings Agenda -Non-Compliance Cases 1.6. Regular Agenda Items y 17. Adjournment B. The Order of Business maybe suspended by a Majority Vote of the Code Enforcement Board. VII. ANNUAL ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING A. The Annual Organizational Meeting shall be held in January of each year during the regularly scheduled Board Meeting. This Meeting shall be held regardless of the quantity of Cases which comes before the Board. B. The first Agenda Item during the Organizational Meeting shall be the Election of Officers as defined in Section V of the WSCEB Policy. C. The Second Agenda Item during the Organizational Meeting shall be to obtain a Motion to Approve an acceptable `Qualification of Posting' for the current year as described in Section 162.12 FSS. D. The Third Agenda Item during the Organizational Meeting shall be to obtain an Motion to Approve the Qualifications of the Winter Springs Code Enforcement Officers. The process will be as follows: 1. The Chairman will ask each Code Officer who will present in front of the Board for the current year to state their name, title and current Qualifications for the Record. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 7 OF 9 2. Upon completion, the Chairman will ask for a Motion to Approve the Qualification as presented. E. The Fourth Agenda Item during the Organizational Meeting shall be a Motion to Re- Adopt the WSCEB Policy for the current year with any Amendments, as applicable. F. The Fifth Agenda item during the Organization Meeting shall be a Motion to Re- Adopt the Finding of Fact and Relief Order Scripts for the current year and any Amendments, as applicable. G. The Agenda should continue as any other Regular Board Meeting once these Items have been completed. IX. HEARINGS 1. The Chairman shall open the Hearing and request the Clerk to read the Case Information. 2. The Chairman shall ask if the Respondent is present at the Hearing. 3. Swearing in of any Respondents/Witnesses. 4. The Chairman shall ask if the Respondent wishes to contest the charge(s). a) If charges are not contested, then Board, at its discretion, may make a Motion for Finding of Fact and Order of Relief. b} The absence of a Respondent at a Hearing does not provide the Respondent the opportunity to answer this question on the record. Therefore, the Code Officer must present their case before the Board. 5. The Chairman will ask the Code Officer, "Who is representing the City in this Case?" b. The Chairman will ask the Respondent, "Who is representing the you in this Case?" 7. The Code Officer will be asked to present his/her Opening Statement. This will include any Witnesses, Evidence and Affidavits. 8. The Code Board will be provided an opportunity to ask questions to the Code Officers and his/her Witnesses. 9. The Respondents will be asked to present his/her Opening Statement. This will include any Witnesses, Evidence and Affidavits. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 8 OF 9 10. The Code Board will be provided an opportunity to ask questions to the Respondents and his/her Witnesses. 11. The Code Officer will be asked to present his/her Closing Statement. This will include any rebuttals to testimony, or Evidence presented to the Board. 12. The Respondent will be asked to present his/her Closing Statement. This will include any rebuttals to testimony, or Evidence presented to the Board. 13. The Code Board will be provided an opportunity to ask questions to either the Code Officer or the Respondent. 14. The Chairman shall close the Q&A session between the Board and the parties and the Board shall go into deliberation. A) Deliberations 1. The Board may only consider Evidence and testimony which was presented at the Hearing. 2. Upon completion of deliberation, the Board shall issue a Motion for Finding of Fact and Relief Order, if applicable. 3. For Finding of Fact, a Board Member will state the page number and that the Respondent is `Guilty'/`Not Guilty' and have or have not Violated the Section Number of City Code and request that the Clerk give a full reading of the Motion. After the full reading, the Motion will then be seconded and then discussion will take place. After the discussion period has closed, the Vote will then be taken. 4. For Relief Orders, a Board Member will state the Relief Order letter, what the fine will be; what the fine for a Repeat Violation will be; and whether or not the Respondent is present at this Hearing. The Board Member will then request that the Clerk give a full reading of the Motion. After the full reading, the Motion will then be seconded and then discussion will take place. After the discussion period has closed, the Vote will then be taken. 5. If the standardized Finding of Fact or Relief Order scripts are not applicable or need to be Amended, the Board Member who is making the Motion may do the full reading. 6. Upon completion of deliberation, the Chairman will request the Clerk to call the next Case. WINTER SPRINGS CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD POLICY MANUAL PAGE 9 OF 9 B.~ Hearing Procedures 1. Obj ections. a) During testimony, a presiding Code Officer, Respondent or their representative, may "Object" to any statement or Evidence. At the moment of the Objection, the Hearing and any testimony must stop and the Chairman shall ask what the Objection is. Once the Objection has been heard, the Chairman shall state whether the Objection is "sustained" or "overruled" before the Hearing can continue. C. Introduction of Evidence 1. Items entered into Evidence will be designated with a evidentiary label with designation prefix of `WS' for Evidence submitted by the City and a designation prefix of `R' for Evidence submitted by the Respondent. Each item submitted into Evidence shall be identified with a unique sequential number for that Case. 2. The Chairman is responsible for allowing/disallowing each item into Evidence and by doing so shall designate each item into Evidence using the evidentiary label described above. The Chairman shall identify the Evidence and its evidentiary label for the Record. 3. It is the responsibility of the presiding Code Officer, Respondent or their representative to submit items into Evidence for approval by the Chairman. X. MISCELLANEOUS 1. If a Board Member has a change of contact information, the Board Member haves (30) days to contact the Clerk to update the information. This is to guarantee that all contact information on file is current and correct. Date: January 14, 2008 This was provided to the City Commission by Manager McLemore at the January 14,2008 City Commission Regular Meeting during Regular Agenda Item "607". ~ CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA 1126 EAST STATE ROAD 434 WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA 32708-2799 Telephone (407) 327-1800 MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and Commission Ronald W. McLemore, City Manager;t/' FROM: DATE: January 14,2008 SUBJ: Agenda Item 607 - Code Enforcement Policies The City Attorney and I have reviewed the proposed policies and procedures submitted to the City Commission by the Chairman of the Code Enforcement Board and offer the following comments. Legal The City Attorney has identified several issues that need to be addressed in consideration of the Code Board's proposals. In all likelihood this will necessitate amendments to the Code Board's proposals. Operational As written, there do not appear to be any budgeting or scheduling issues that would cause an increase in resources or scheduling conflicts with the normal operations of the City. Discussion There appears to be a possible misunderstanding of the statutory provision of law relative to the independence of the Code Board. The judicial responsibilities of members of the Board necessitates independence from undue influences in the adjudication of cases before the Board in order to provide for objective decisions made upon the merits of the facts involved in each case. However, this independence does not envision a Board with independence from municipal authority related to general oversight, and the provision of resources. The most sensitive issue appears to the role of the City Attorney and City Manager regarding the review of the policies and procedures of the Board. The City Attorney and City Manager not only have Charter Authority to review policy and procedures of the Code Board on behalf of the City Commission, they are obligated to do so in order to assist the Commission in carrying out its general oversight and resource allocation responsibilities. Page 1 of2 -- For example, if the Code Board was to adopt a procedure with a constitutional due process defect, the City would be formally responsible for damages awarded by a court for violation of a persons due process rights. The City Attorney is obligated to protect the City and City Commission from these type exposures, and could not possibly carry out this function if he were preempted from reviewing proposed polices and procedures. In another example, if the Code Enforcement Board were to write into their policies the requirement for a full time court reporter for their proceedings the City Manager is obligated to inform the Board of the cost and available revenues to cover the cost. In another example, if the Board wrote weekly meetings into their procedures the City Manager would be responsible for advising the Commission regarding the availability of space, and employees and costs related to this proposed policy. In summary, as with all matters that are brought before the City Commission for consideration, the City Attorney and City Manager are obligated to analyze these matters on behalf of the Commission, and to advise the Commission of the legal and operational aspects of these matters. City Attorney's Role Florida Statutes authorizes the City Commission to appoint the City Attorney to represent the Code Board, or to prosecute cases before the Code Board. The City Attorney cannot perform both roles. The City Commission has not formally made this decision in recent years. Alternative I A better process may be to formalize the City Attorney as the attorney for the Code Enforcement Board. Have the attorney attend meetings. In special cases where the Police Department needs assistance to prosecute, have the City to appoint a Special Counsel independent of the City Attorney to assist in the prosecution. This would increase the City's legal cost an estimated $5,000 for additional City Attorney services. The cost of Special Counsel for assistance with prosecution of cases would be dependent upon the number of cases. Another $5,000 to $10,000 should easily cover this cost. Alternative 2 Another alternative would be to replace the Code Enforcement Board with a Special Master (Hearing Officer). We have discussed this in the past and established the legal foundation for this action. The estimated cost for this person was estimated to be $20,000. However, a Special Master (hearing officer) process could shorten the time in which cases can be processed by having weekly sessions, a schedule difficult to attain with lay volunteers. Recommendation 1. It is recommended that Agenda Item 607 be tabled until the proposed procedures are amended to address the City Attorney's concerns. 2. It is recommended that the Commission decide if it would like to bring the alternatives discussed above for further consideration. /jp Page 2 of2