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Home My WebLink About2008-01-16 CEAC MINUTES• • • I. II. Call to Order City of Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee Minutes from the Meeting of January 16, 2008 Chair Chris Hoagland called the regular meeting of the Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee (CEAC) to order at 6:36 p.m . Roll Call. Present: Chris Hoagland, Marty Mosman, Marjorie Becker, Brian Bleile, Jill Wilson. Absent/Excused: Ronald Rutherford, Alternate Koren Lowrimore. Resigned: Robert Zuccaro. A quorum of the Committee was present. Ex-Officio Members Present: Council Liaisons Bob McCaslin and Randy Penn, City Staff Liaison Mike Flaherty, and Sergeant Christian Contos. Guests: Englewood residents Matthew Crabtree, Linda Hart (left 8:08 pm), and Kim Love (arrived 7:19 pm). ~-Approval of Minutes As the December minutes were distributed late this afternoon, the meeting was interrupted at 6 :37 pm to allow Committee members time to review the minutes. The meeting reconvened at 6:42 pm. Motion made to approve the minutes of the December 19, 2007 CEAC meeting. Moved by Marjorie Becker. Seconded by Marty Mosman. Vote taken and Motion carried. III. El Open Public Forum No one was present for the Public Open Forum. IV. -New Business There was no New Business. V. ~ Unfinished Business A. Decriminalization and Abatement of Code Violations Discussion ensued on how this topic was initially introduced and whether the Committee wants to pursue it. The Committee decided to address snow removal separately from weed removal. It was pointed out that the percentage of offenders who go through the abatement process is relatively low; however, of these there is a high incidence of repeat offenders. Code Enforcement Officers have recommended the abatement process be • implemented so officers would not have to return to a property multiple times; this would free up more of their time to address other properties. It was suggested that Code officers give a friendly reminder which would be the first and only warning for snow removal, and homeowners would be given one business day to come into compliance. This business day would allow time to make arrangements to hire the work done. The intent is to bring people into voluntary compliance. If the property owner has not complied within one business day, a ticket or summons would be issued . ~ Mike Flaherty advised that the Committee needs to make a formal recommendation to City Council on any policy changes CEAC wishes to make so that Council can discuss the change. Code officers currently enforce policies based on decisions made by prior councils and are using a friendly approach to enforce the time requirements in the ordinance. Call for a Motion. El Motion made to recommend City Council consider an amendment of the snow removal ordinance in Chapter 11 to include a one time warning notice along with one business day to come into compliance; non compliance would be followed immediately by a citation. Moved by Chair Chris Hoagland. Seconded by Jill Wilson. Discussion ensued. ~ Vote taken and Motion passed. The issue of weed removal still needs to be discussed; Brian Bleile suggested the Committee focus on this at the next meeting. There was general consensus. Mike Flaherty will contact the City Attorney regarding the legal requirements for notification. B. Q , City Attorney's Abatement Memorandum Chair Hoagland advised he did not talk last month with the City Attorney's Office regarding their memorandum on Abatement. Mike Flaherty reminded the Committee that requests or recommendations for the City Attorney's Office must be put in the form of a Motion to be sure this is the direction the entire Committee wishes to take. Chair Hoagland summarized his thoughts on Abatement suggesting the City Attorney's Office write civil penalties into the Abatement process in Title 15. Currently the City either writes a citation taking a violator to court where the court can abate, or at the end of the warning period the City serves a notice of intent to abate and immediately proceeds to abate . Chair Hoagland suggests a third option allowing the City to issue civil citations 2 • • • • • as a part of that process. The alternative would be to go to a completely new title and create an entirely separate process for weeds . El Mike Flaherty requested confirmation that Chair Hoagland is proposing the City Attorney's office write decriminalization into the abatement process; that the decriminalization language be inserted into the abatement clause or section of the code rather than into whatever section this is. Chair Hoagland called for a Motion. ~ Motion made to add decriminalization to the abatement options under 15-3. Moved by Jill Wilson. Seconded by Marjorie Becker. Vote taken and Motion carried. Chair Hoagland will contact Nancy Reid this month. C. ~ CEACNicious Animal Task Force Sub-Committee Report on the Dangerous Animal Ordinance Review. Brian Bleile called for a Motion to move this recommendation forward. Motion made to send this ordinance 'as is' to the City Attorney's office for review before it goes to City Council. Moved by Marty Mosman. Seconded by Marjorie Becker . The Committee then discussed several points including: • • • Tethering. If someone tethers a dog too long or too often, a dog will start barking and the owner can be cited with a barking ordinance violation. If the dog has too big a chain or is getting caught up in things, the owner can be cited with cruelty. To not put a dog on tether for more than six hours is just a guideline. Dog Fighting . The state has a very good and strict ordinance on dog fighting ; dog fighting is illegal in Colorado. Period of Impoundment. It was suggested the wording in the third sentence of Paragraph D be changed from "not less than" to "up to". Grammatical Changes: o Page 5: Change the sentence to read "fresh food suitable for its physical condition and age sufficient to maintain a healthy level of nutrition." o Page 9 : Change sentence K to read "shall result in impoundment of the animal subject to disposition pursuant to." o Page 10: In paragraph 3 , add the word "additional", to read "any additional condition ordered by the City Manager." o Paragraph K: Amend sentence to read "animal should be euthanized and, if so, then under the care of a veterinarian". Chair Hoagland called for an amended Motion . 3 ~ Motion made to send this ordinance as amended to the City Attorney's office for review before it goes to City Council. Moved by Marty Mosman. Seconded by Marjorie Becker. Vote taken and Motion carried. Council Liaison Bob McCaslin requested that when this ordinance is adopted, the Code Advisory Committee to be in attendance so Committee Members can be introduced. VI. ~ Code Enforcement Monthly Activity Report VII. Christian Contos provided a brief Monthly Activity report comparing December 2006 with December 2007 as well as comparing the entire years 2006 and 2007. There was not a great deal of difference between the years. The major difference was in the number of weed incidents which were up almost 800, and in the snow which was almost double. He indicated that because of the efficiency of Code Trak, Code Officers are able to spend more time on the street now. Sergeant Contos discussed Englewood Police Officer Pearson's work with the Metro Area Graffiti Task Force, and how graffiti in Englewood has declined significantly compared to adjacent communities. A new Code Officer District Map was distributed to the Committee. Topics for Future Meetings A. Request for City Council to give the Committee feedback on what they decide to do about the policy change regarding snow removal warning and ticketing. B. Decriminalization of weeds. C. Chair Hoagland's report on discussion with Nancy Reid, City Attorney's office, regarding the abatement memorandum. VIII. General Comments A. Kim Love, Citizen and President of Englewood Unleashed, was present to comment on the following items: B. • There is definite improvement over the leash issues of dogs entering the Canine Corral. • He inquired whether the police department been notified it will patrol Canine Corral when Code Enforcement Officers are off after hours and weekends? Christian Contos advised the department has been notified; however, callers must specify there is an "in progress event" happening. • From Code Trak statistics, it appears repeat offenders at the Canine Corral have increased over last year. • He offered to donate a web camera so that Canine Corral can be kept under surveillance. Discussion ensued regarding technical and legality issues. ~ Mike Flaherty discussed a Power Point presentation on the 2007 citizen survey. This presentation is a summary of the survey results and includes a lot of information relating to code issues. It also puts code issues into context with other City issues as 4 • • • • IX. • • perceived by Englewood citizens . If the Committee is interested in seeing this presentation, it takes 20 to 30 minutes. After a brief discussion, it was decided the presentation will be scheduled in March. -Motion made to adjourn this meeting. Moved by Brian Bleile. Seconded by Jill Wilson . Vote taken and Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm . Submitted by: dw a,._ ~ 5