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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-01-20 CEAC MINUTES• • • CODE ENFORCEMENT ADVIS ORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES January 20, 1999 1 . Call to Order. The regular meeting of the Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee was called to order at 7 :05 p.m . by Chair Allen in the Police/Fire Training Room . Roll Call Present: Ex-Officio: Absent: Guest: 2. Approval of Minutes. Allen, Boyer , Fischbach, Fout, Hansen, Johnson, Roth, Stankorb Garrett, Langon , Moore, Nabholz, Wicks None Atencio Member Fout indicated that the November minutes should reflect the fact that the notice discussed under New Business had been posted at Member Roth's residence . MEMBER STANKORB MOVED AND MEMBER BOYER SECONDED THAT THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 18, 1998, CODE ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE BE APPROVED AS AMENDED. Ayes: Nays: Allen, Boyer , Fischbach, Fout , Hansen, Johnson, Roth, Stankorb None The motion carried. 3. Public open forum. Waived . 4 . Old business. Chair Allen discussed the December 7, 1998, City Council study session and thanked the members for attend ing. 5. New business. Lieutenant Wicks advised the Committee that Joyce Parsons was no longer the supervisor for Code Enforcement. The Acting Supervisor would be Darlene TerMaat. However, Wicks will be the contact for Committee members. Member Stankorb inquired if Parsons was still with Code Enforcement and was advised that she was . Stankorb indicated that someone had asked him about postings of notices of Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meetings and inquired if there was someone that this information was to be given to. Stankorb advised that he had not seen a posting on the cable channel. Langon i ndicated that the monthly notice was posted on the bulletin board at City Hall, which is the designated location for public notice. She advised that the Committee could request that it be added to the cable listing. Langon will contact the City Manager's office to have it added. Langon discussed the 1999 Meeting Schedule that had been passed around indicating due dates regarding the preparation of the agenda, minutes, etc. She indicated that adding the information for the cable listing would be added as a task. The Committee members agreed that the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meetings be included with the other meeting on the cable channel. Allen inquired if there were other publications used for posting meeting dates and times such as the Herald and was advised that normally meetings were listed in the Herald. The Citizen and the city calendar also list meetings. 6. Overview of code enforcement judicial process -Judge V. Atencio. Judge Atencio explained that he saw Code Enforcement issues setting a tone for all of the development issues throughout the city . The Court takes code enforcement cases very seriously; however, they are not a large part of what is done in court. The ones that actually come to court are the worse case scenarios. When a case actually comes before him it is one that didn't get handled through all of the initial process that Code Enforcement tries to do. The person sees the City Attorney first and will reach some sort of agreement with the City Attorney. The City Attorney makes recommendations based on what the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee has suggested, i.e., jail, fines. The city attorney will then recommend that the jail time and/or fine, etc . be suspended on the condition that the reason for the citation be taken care of. Judge Atencio would rather that the citizen come into compliance than him having to impose the sentence. Judge Atencio also explained the process if the individual pleads guilty at the arraignment. Typically neither the Code Enforcement officer nor the city attorney is present at the arraignment. The defendant is advised that the fine and punishment will be determined at the penalty heari ng (usually 30 days later) based on how the property looks at that time . When they return, if the property has been cleaned up, the Judge will impose a fine and/or jail time, which he suspends under the condition that n.o violations occur for a period of six or twelve months. If the defendant has not complied by cleaning up the property by the penalty hearing, the Judge will impose a fine and give a few more days for the property to be cleaned up before the fine is due. In really aggravated cases he will advise that the defendant will go to jail if the property is not cleaned up . Judge Atencio reiterated that they would rather the individuals clean up the property than the Court having to resort to the imposition of a fine and/or jail time. If the individual pleads not guilty, a pretrial conference is set with the city attorney. On that date, the city attorney meets with the individual(s), usually Code Enforcement will be there as well with the pictures, and sentencing will be done at that time. In almost all cases the case gets resolved two to four weeks from the date the person first appears in court. If they go to pretrial conference, then everything previously described would take place on the pretrial conference date instead of the penalty hearing date. Judge Atencio advised that very few people come back in front of him but that when they do he tries not to be very lenient and at that point jail time becomes a real possibility. There was lengthy discussion about the Nuisance Ordinance. Judge Atencio explained that the Nuisance Ordinance was very difficult to interpret . Judge Atencio answered questions from the members regarding the code enforcement procedure. Wicks explained that citations can be issued without warnings, and citations can be issued for immediate clean up. The Judge does not 2 • • • • • 7. • necessarily have to order a clean up. The average cost of clean up is in the hundreds of dollars bu t can get into the thousands. Judge Atencio mentio ned that good records had been kept on the properties. Wicks then explained to the Committee that every property in Englewood has a file including a chronological list of what has been done on that property. This enables Code Enforcement to prepare accurate cases for court . Wicks then suggested that the members go over to the Code Enforcement office for a tour as a part of the next Committee meeting. Member Stankorb inquired if Judge Atencio had any comments on the Graffiti Ordinance. Judge Atencio advised that the members really needed to talk to the city attorney regarding what is contained in the ordinance, what is required to enforce the ordinance, and what their view is of how effective it's going to be. Not many graffiti cases appear in court. Most of the graffiti cases do not involve "taggers." Tryi ng to catch "taggers" is very tough and trying to prove that a specific individual has committed the crime is even more difficult. He personally feels that the community needs to beco me very involved. Member Roth inquired about the parental responsib ili ty issu e. Judge Atencio advised that community service was the main punishment for graff iti issues. A parent must be in court with anyone under the age of 18. He advised th at there are civil liabilities for parents for harm the children have caused and that there is a monetary limit making them responsible for damage caused by their kids. The SUCCESS program was discussed briefly. Parents must attend the SUCCESS program with the child; therefore, the program educates as well as punishes . Other education programs for juveniles are also utilized, i.e., NCTI, and Teens and Tobacco c lasses . At the request of Member Stankorb, Judge Atencio told the Committee who the employees are in t he City Attorney's office and what their duti es consist of. Subcommittee reports. Education Subcommittee : Member Fout discussed the collaborative effort with Code Enforcement o ffic ers and the subcommittee organizing and approving the letters. City Counc i l members want to sign off on the recognition letter as well as the mayor. Revised letters to be signed by the officers were handed out to the Committee members. Wicks advised that he had learned earlie r that afternoon that some changes were going to be made to the wording in the letter to be signed by the mayor and the city council. Decisions as to the properties that will receive the letters ("turnaround" properties) will go through Code Enforcement who will check the history of the properties involved. Committee members can recommend properties. Fout referenced the articles that had been mailed to the members with the m i nutes . Nancy Peterson began distributing the flyer at the block captain's meetings in November. She has also agreed to put them in the National N ight Out campaign and display them at Tent Talks, etc. Additional supplies of brochures were ordered prior to the end of the year and the mass mailings continue with the water bills. Flyers still need to be placed in the junior and senior high school libraries. Fout feels that her subcommittee needs to set goals as far as where they as a subcommittee needs to be and set some appropriate time frames. She wants as many of the new members on her subcommittee as possible . 3 Nabholz advised the Committee that interviews for vacancies on all committees would be Monday, January 25, 1999, and that appointments would be made on February 1, 1999. There was some concern expressed about the drop out rate and how the holes can be filled. Councilperson Garrett advised that there was another interview process in the summer and that it depended on when the person dropped out as to how soon the vacancy could be filled. Chair Allen asked about a time frame for the recommendations for Blue Ribbon awards. Fout feels that she would need to get with Code Enforcement and get recommendations from them. She would like to include the new people who will be filling vacancies on her subcommittee. Allen felt that getting some publicity in the Herald is important and that a success story would be appropriate. Fout would like to do a Blue Ribbon award for a whole block and a turn around story with pictures. Wicks felt that the spring would be a good time to do the award pictures because of aesthetics. The Committee agreed that the spring would be the best time to begin. Graffiti Subcommittee: Member Roth handed out the November 18, 1998 Draft Ordinance with comments by the subcommittee indicated in red. Due to the lateness of the meeting , he asked that the Committee members look over the handout and be prepared to discuss it at length at the February meeting . 8. Committee reapplications and vacancies update. 9. Discussed in #7 above. Adjournment. Wicks asked if anyone had a given any thought to starting the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meetings earlier, i.e., 6:30 p.m. The Committee will discuss this at the next meeting. MEMBER BOYER MOVED, AND MEMBER JOHNSON SECONDED, TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. Ayes : Nays: Allen , Boyer, Fischbach, Fout, Hansen, Johnson , Roth, Stankorb None The motion carried and the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. 4 • • •