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Home My WebLink About2008-09-17 CEAC MINUTES• • • I. Call to Order City of Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee Minutes from the Meeting of September 17, 2008 The regular meeting of the Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee was called to order at 6:34 pm by Chair Hoagland. Roll Call Present: Chair Hoagland, Members Mosman, Bayless, Becker, Cox, Hart and Wilson . Absent/Excused: None A quorum was present. Ex-Officio Members Present: Council Liaisons Mccaslin and Penn , Staff Liaisons Flaherty and Sergeant Contos. Absent/Excused : None. II. Approval of Minutes Ill. A motion to approve the minutes of the July 16, 2008 meeting was made by Member Wilson and seconded by Member Becker. The minutes were approved as submitted. There was no August meeting . Public Open Forum None. IV. New Business Chair Hoagland introduced the topic of remedial training for people who have been issued dog violations . Linda Hart advised she discussed this with Mayor Woodward and that he would like the former members of the Vicious Animal Task Force (VA TF) to put something together and present it directly to City Council. She has also discussed this with VATF members and they are willing to work on this. A brief discussion ensued. Chair Hoagland asked that the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee be kept in the loop on this . V. Unfinished Business A. Use of Violations Bureau to expedite Code enforcement Chair Hoagland distributed his memorandum listing ordinances that he suggests be considered for addition to the Violations Bureau . Committee members took a few minutes to review his memorandum. • • • Discussion ensued on the following . • Offenses currently being sent to the violations bureau are weeds, snow, dog off leash, no tag and collar, rabies vaccinations, and traffic and parking. • Chair Hoagland suggested adding Title 5 and parts of Titles 7, 11 and 15 to the violations bureau. • The violations bureau gives citizens the opportunity to plead guilty and pay a fine anytime between 14 and 30 days after a ticket is issued rather than going to court. • Court hearing dates are set by the Municipal Court for two to four weeks out. • It was suggested a limit be set on the number of times a repeat violator can pay fines rather than going to court. • City 's loss of power to abate once a violations bureau ticket is issued unless abatement is ordered at the same time the ticket is issued. • A posting requires two weeks notice only on the first violation; thereafter, no notice is required for abatement. • Responsibility of the offender to remedy the situation . Staff Liaison Flaherty recently contacted Tamara Wolf, Court Administrator, to confirm that a person has 30 days in which to pay a fine and that he or she may or may not come into compliance during or after that time period. Her response was, "You are correct in that a certain violation is permitted to be paid at the violations bureau and violators have 30 days to respond. They can either pay a fine or set a court date at that time anytime within that 30 day period up until the 301h day. If they choose to pay, there is no requirement for them to remedy the situation. I am not sure what other violations the code enforcement advisory committee thinks should be handled in the violations bureau, but they need to recognize that the court has already reviewed the ordinances and determined what is and is not appropriate to be paid at the counter. That is not to say that the judge wouldn't consider a change to a specific violation. The weed ordinance being a perfect example of that. But at some point it becomes improper to handle certain matters through the violations bureau . /1 Several members pointed out that the system seems to be working as things are being abated much quicker than ever in the past. If it's not broken, why fix or change it. Council Liaison Penn inquired about what percentage of weed violations are paid by fines and what percentage are going to court and will initiate a Council Request on this. Council Liaison Mccaslin questioned whether or not going to the violations bureau subverts the ability of the City to compel compliance and will enter this as a Council Request. Chair Hoagland suggested the committee table this discussion until next month pending responses on the Council Requests. Member Becker requested a copy of the specific ordinances that code officers have direct responsibility to enforce. These would be Titles 5, 7, 11 and 15. Staff Liaison Flaherty agreed to provide copies of these four titles to each Code Enforcement Advisory Committee member at the next meeting . 2 Member Wilson made a motion to pa y fo r the copies of the Englewood Municipal Code with funds from the committee's annual budget. Membe r Mosman seconded • that and the motion passed . • • VI. B. Trailer Storage on Driveways Member Wilson advised that the City Council has taken another look at this and decided they don't want to make any changes at this time . Committee members discussed the current ordinan c e. C. Guidelines on Board Communications and Meetings In the packet for this meeti ng, committee members received a copy of a June 23, 2008 memorandum from City Attorney Dan Brotzman regarding "Open Meetings Clarification for Boards and Commissions." This memorandum stated that: "All meetings of a quorum of three or more members of any local body, whichever is fewer, at which any public business is discussed or at which any formal action may be taken are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times ." Discussion ensued . Staff Liaison Flaherty pointed out that the prohibition is if members actuall y conduct business, and that if there are three or more gathered together to conduct business, whether physically or electronically, that needs to be posted as a meeting. There is no restriction on the dissemination of information. Code Enforcement Monthly Report Christian Contos distributed copies of the new Neighborhood Services brochure which includes a summary of Municipal Codes and rele v ant phone numbers. The Committee discussed code reports from Jul y and August 2008 and July and August 200 7 including continuously barking dogs, graffiti , w eeds , animal cruelty and neglect, garage sales , single family dwelling violations, and firecrackers. Information on citizen garage sales is included in the citizen annuall y at the beginning of each summer, and information on snow removal will be included in the Nov ember/ December citizen . VII. Topics for Future Meetings • C o ntinuation of the discussion on the violations bureau • Report from the Vicious Animal Task Force on recommendations on training • Council Request responses • Distribution of Englewood Municipal Code copies pertaining to CEAC 3 • • • VIII. Committee Member Comments Linda Hart has made contact with Ward Lucas, Channel 9 News, and after the dust settles, he will do a story on the dog ordinance recently adopted. When Marty Mosman was in Seattle, she learned that they have a paint pickup similar to Englewood's Household Hazardous Waste drop off. The paint turned in is mixed together creating a grey paint which is used to cov er graffiti . Council Liaison Penn thought this would be a good effort for the Keep Englewood Beautiful (KEB) Commission and a great way to dispose of paint that nobody wants. Chair Hoagland, who is also a KEB member, will bring that up at their next meeting. Marty Mosman advised she is attending the Citizens Police Academy. This is a nine or ten week class for Englewood citizens and includes v arious speakers, simulated driving and firearms sessions, and a drive along with the Police . A youth program is also offered. Anyone who is interested may contact Toni Geier at 303-762-2490. IX. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adj o urned at 7:59 pm . Submitted by ~~ 4