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08-28-2003 " .. '-' .." CITY OF EDGEWATER CITIZEN CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD Thursday, August 28, 2003 5:30 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller called to order the regular meeting of the Citizen Code Enforcement Board at 5:36 PM in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Members present were: Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller, Linda Johnson, Joy Brindley, Ben Delnigro, Glenn Barnhill and Ed Corn. Also present were: Captain Jill Danigel, Code Compliance Officer Mike McGrath and Board Secretary Shontella Jackson. Absent were: Chairman Anthony Fowler who notified the board secretary on August 6 of his prior engagement. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes for the regular meeting of February 20, 2003 were presented to the Board for approval. There being no corrections or changes a motion was made for approval. MOTION by Linda Johnson, SECONDED by JOY Brindley to approve the minutes of the Februarv 20, 2003 meetina. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. SWEARING IN OF WITNESSES: There were no witnesses to swear in. CASES IN COMPLIANCE: None. NEW BUSINESS: Case #2003-CE-4004, 2335 Guava Dr., Ed.gewater, Florida 32141: Karls Car Care. Violation of Cit;y Ordinance Chilpter 21 Section 36.03 - Outdoor storage and displav: commercial/industrial. Capt. Jill Danigel stated this case would be tabled due to in the middle of our process with Mr. Sachse sold the business. Code Officer Mike McGrath made contact with the new business owner who has leased the business to another person and they are in the process of cleaning it up. It was reported that as of . " ...... ....." today there is an issue with moving a lot of cars into the road, so a traffic officer would address that issue. Capt. Danigel stated that she was on site with Mr. Sachse on 7/14/03 and talked about what he needed to do to come within compliance. He had already sold the business at that point but did make no mention of sale during the visit. This case was tabled. Case # 2003-CE-5040, 3100 block of India Palm Dr., Edgewater, Florida 32141,' Kenneth and pe!J.fl.V Schultz. Violation of Cit;y Ordinance Chilpter 21 Section 36.03 - Outdoor storil!}e and displav.' commercial/industrial. A letter was received from Mr. Schultz about two days prior to the meeting stating his wife had some kind of emergency surgery and she needed his constant attention. He asked that we continue this next month and this case will be on the September agenda. The Schultz case will fall under the old city ordinance process. This will probably be the only case under the old code enforcement process. PROPOSED BY-LAWS Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller opened the discussion on the proposed by- laws. Linda Johnson expressed her concern on Page 1/Article III: Membershipl Section B. Vacancies/Number 3 regarding removal of Board Members by City Council without cause. Capt. Danigel stated why the by-laws came to be was that all the different boards had different by-laws and they are trying to make them as uniform as possible. Capt. Danigel stated that she would express this concern to City Manager. Linda Johnson requested for Capt. Danigel to please address her concerns with City Manager. Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller expressed her concerns regarding agenda packets. Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller stated Board Members are supposed to receive their packet 10 days prior to our meeting. There has been a few times when that has slipped. Looking through the final copy I did not see anything in the proposed by-laws in regards to this subject. When we did our by-laws previously we had asked and requested that it be put in the bylaws. Sometimes, due to the amount of reading we have to do, this will give us enough time. Capt. Danigel stated that she thinks this stems from what we talked about in the training session. The Attorney was addressing the issue of you are here to hear the case and presentation. This way each Board Member can hear the presentation from the violator and the code officer, without previous bias. Capt. Danigel advised Board Members would not need to prepare ahead of time some much, as you will be presented with the case and evidence at that time. Ed Corn asked, "Why do we need the books?" They are a reference tool stated Capt. Danigel. The Land Development Code book Article III is pretty much the only thing you need to read because that is the one relevant to Code Enforcement " '-' ...." and also Article X. It is necessary to change our school of thought with these citations because it's different from the past. When Code Enforcement came to the Fire Department, we scaled down the size of the packets that are given to the board. Originally, you were given a lot of information and now we it has been scaled it down so that you aren't overwhelmed with research prior to the meeting. The way the citation process is intended to work is that presentation is going to happen right here in front of you. Linda Johnson stated she could supplement that from personal knowledge of other boards there is some school of thought that the agendas would not even be presented to the members of the board until they arrive at the meeting. You would get a notice that there is going to be a meeting and to further the idea that the Board Members cannot be under any influence. Capt. Danigel stated that is the way it is intended that from the moment the presentation start, you hear the case. That way Board Members can be completely open to the presentation and more objective. Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller brought up Page 3/Article V: Meetings and Hearings/Section A. Regular Meetings. We haven't set a time when our meetings are going to be other than saying the third Thursday of each month. Capt. Danigel stated that there is a reason for that. The reason it is like that is because of the flexibility. The City could decide to change the meeting time. For example, we talked about changing the meetings to the morning during the training session. If we decide to do that and we had a specific time in the minutes, by-laws and Land Development Codes we would have to request a change the time, which particularly if it's in the Land Development Code it has to go back to City Council. Co-Chairperson George Ann Keller addresses Page 5/Article VII: Amendments the signature line for return signature. Capt. Danigel stated that it was not required. If you are not comfortable with approving the by-laws tonight and would like to go back to the City Manager/City Attorney and ask for clarification on these items I will. The least I can tell you is that these are pretty standard with the other boards by-laws. MOTION by Linda Johnson. SECONDED by JOY Brindley to table the DroDosed by-laws Dendina an oDDortunity for the City Manaaer or administrative staff to address our concerns. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Capt. Danigel stated she would get clarification on these items. CODE ACTIVITY REPORT: Capt. Danigel commented on the case of the dock that is over the drainage ditch. She stated she made some phone calls today. Apparently the Public Works Department is trying to work with Department of Environmental Protection. Through DEP research it is not going to be able to deal with that so. She called the City Manager and the City Attorney's office and I hasn't received "-" ...., clarification on how this going to be handled. This is still being worked on. That avenue has been shut down and we will have to explore where we are going to go from here. Next month agenda we will put this under unfinished business and use that case number. The agenda would probably change next month because of the way we are going to have citations. Ed Corn asked, "if he corrected any of the violations?" Capt. Danigel stated I think he cut some footage off the dock and tried to trim it back a little bit. I also think he has received some permits for some of the other issues fences and pools. This is an issue that is going to take a little while to get to the bottom of it. Ben Delnigro stated the issues were permits period. Capt. Danigel stated the dock is unpermittable. We are attempting to get permits for the things that could be permitted so that is where it becomes gray area. The dock itself would not be able to be permitted so that's where the gray area is. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Capt. Danigel addressed the issue with the board reference what time the board would like to have the meetings. Would we like to continue these meetings at 5:30 pm, or middle of the day? Mr. Hooper expressed the fact that it would cut down on staff time and overtime if the board were held during work hours. I would like to see how the board feels about this. We could talk about it here so that we can have it on record. George Ann Keller stated that she do know there are a couple of people on the board that work and whether that might be a problem with their hours. In regards to maybe sometime changing a meeting day or something because we are not having it in our by-laws now. Something could get changed and that person may have a problem trying to change their schedule at work. Capt. Danigel stated that the meetings would always be the third Thursday of each month. The third Thursday is guaranteed, whatever time we pick that would be the time. The Economic Development Board recently changed to a daytime meeting and Animal Control Board meets at night. Linda Johnson stated her personal preference is first thing in the morning. Ben Delnigro stated he is not sure it is good for the Chairman. Linda Johnson stated around 8:30 or 9:00 am would be a good time. George Ann Keller stated she prefers 5:30 but is retired. Capt. Danigel stated she was going to take a poll. Joy Brindley stated her opinion is she cannot attend until after work that is why she chose this particular board to attend. Ben Delnigro stated we have a full board now but now we are going to start losing them. Joy Brindley also stated she thinks it is kind of unfair to the public that is getting called here to make sure it is done that they will have to take off from work and she doesn't think that is fair. Ben Delnigro stated he had no problem, I just don't know if it's good for the Chairman because he runs a business and it is not acceptable for this lady. We got a full board now and we are going to start losing people. A vote was taken and all the Board Members agreed with 5:30 for time of board meetinCJ. . " ~ ...., Capt. Danigel presented the sample of the new citation form. George Ann Keller presented a form regarding suggested motions used by past boards to Capt. Danigel to present to Chief Barlow. George Ann Keller also noted that she called up the other newspaper to correct the meeting dates. DISCUSSION ITEMS: Linda Johnson presented the fact that her term and George Ann Keller terms are expiring. Capt. Danigel stated that this would be addressed on the September agenda. Linda Johnson noted that her term and George Ann Keller term would expire before the next meeting. Capt. Danigel stated she spoke with the Asst. City Manager in regards to this matter and since it was not on the agenda for this time we would extend it to the following scheduled board meeting. Linda Johnson stated that she put in her request. Capt. Danigel stated that we have both requests. George Ann Keller asked if we would have an attorney at our next board meeting. Capt. Danigel stated if we have a case we would have an attorney. It may still be the City Attorney. There was discussion after the training session about going out to advertise and hire an attorney for the board. That could take some time to find someone with municipal experience. Ben Delnigro stated if a board member is not here to vote to keep you or let you go what do we do? Capt. Danigel stated as long as you have a quorum you could vote. Ben Delnigro stated he may not be here on the 18th of September and would like to vote on Board Members whom terms are expiring. George Ann Keller stated under the discussion item the two renewals if City Mayor and Council should renew them. The board would like to take up a vote tonight because we will have one board member absent next month and he would like to make his vote known. MOTION by GeorGe Ann Keller. SECONDED bY Ben DelniGro recommendation for the reaDDointment of Linda Johnson. MOTION CARRIED UNAMIOUSL Y. MOTION by Linda Johnson, SECONDED by JOY Brindley to recommend that the board renew or SUGGest to the council that GeorGe Ann Keller be renewed. MOTION CARRIED UNAMIOUSL Y. George Ann Keller wanted to take a vote on Chairman and Co-Chairman. Capt. Danigel stated that this was not necessary at this present time. The voting process was not legitimate due to this item was not listed on the agenda for discussion and did not follow the Robert's Rules of Order. Therefore, the above mention motion is not valid. ADJOURNMENT 'W' ...., MOTION bv Ed Corn, SECONDED bv Glenn Barnhill to adiourn the meeting. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The meetina was adiourned at 6: 10 Dm. Next Meeting will be held on September 18/ 2003 at 5:30 pm.