Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 06-08-04 Regular — reading text

Councilperson' s. The II"""- City Attorney responded that is not a black and white answer and gave as an i' example, the Code Enforcement Board issue where she made the interpretation of the Statutes that staff has the discretion to grant an extension because they have the discretion to grant the compliance date. She believed the City Manager brought a policy issue to the Council and if the Council does not want to grant extensions, then the Council needs to make that policy decision. She mentioned at the Code Enforcement Board meetings many of the compliance dates are extended and that is not unusual, and her opinion was that staff has the discretion to grant further compliance. She thinks where an issue comes in is, when are they required to bring it before the Board; and she does not know because there is a policy, from the operation of the Council and the Code Enforcement Board for many years that says, let' s work with the citizens, do what we can do to get compliance. She said if the policy needs to change, then that is where the Council comes in and if the Council wants to take the hard line approach, it is not necessarily what is in the best interest of the City. She said that is where she sees this issue, it is riding the line of going to staff: then Code Enforcement Board and once it is presented to the Code Enforcement Board there is no discretion, it is in the Code Enforcement Board' s hands and, again, the only thing the Council can do is say, we want to change our policy. She said the Pirates Bay issue is very convoluted and complicated with at least three attorneys involved. The Mayor commented if the Council knows that a citizen is working diligently to do everything they can tq make it right, that the Council wants to help them and if it takes an extension, that is what it takes. Mr. Anderson noted that most code enforcement situations are individual or small complexes, and Pirates Bay is 120 units and impacts a lot more people. He thought it a good idea to give as much time as possible to work out the situation because there have been single family residence out of compliance for a number of years due to extenuating circumstances, and mentioned his confusion as to why Pirates Bay is more important than any other code enforcement situation. He noted the aerial view that was provided I"'" by staff and questioned how that would i help him make a decision when he is waiting for staff to advise Council. He further commented that staff is getting a lot of requests for additional information as they go about their analysis. Mr. Campbell agreed staff seemed to be getting a lot of interference. The City Manager stated whether it is a single- family residence with high weeds or Pirates Bay, it has been staff's direction in the past to work with the homeowners to every extent possible. She said the people they grant extensions for have to show they are making some forward progress. It is clear, in Pirates Bay, there are certain issues that do not resolve themselves quickly so staff has granted extensions and is working with them to resolve the issue piece by piece. . She noted every request staff gets for information is time spent answering that request and not other staff work. She said they are happy doing to provide the information but it is frustrating when they have spent hours researching and providing pages of documentation, then the information never comes up again. Dr. Pullen commented just because it is referred to the Code Enforcement Board does not mean the Board will come down with a hammer. He has seen the Board extension give after extension to people or ask staff to help people out. He expressed it is difficult for the code enforcers have very to to act not only as a policeman but the judge, where if it is passed on to the Code Enforcement Board the staff can make their recommendation. He has seen many instances where staff makes a recommendation and the Code Enforcement Board goes along with it. He said by using the Code Enforcement Board it lets the Board do the job and staff does not have to be judge and jury. He said he could see the benefits of establishing a time line when it should be turned over to the Code Enforcement Board because they show a tremendous amount of compassion for the citizens, and then the staff cannot be blamed.  j 5- 18- 04 o o 22;1 r~~ :-, .-'~ >- ~':- '\ i~;qt.~:0:;i'~y:rr' . -,. v' i< ,: The City Manager expressed her thought that the citizens feel better when staff is able to give them a letter of extension rather than forcing them to the Code Enforcement Board which typically means fines start accruing from that point forward. She said staff is ,comfortable with the discretion they have and they do not feel any pressure to not be able to strictly enforce the codes of the City while at the same time being able to grant extensions. . Mr. Anderson recalled a few meetings ago the CDS Director brought Council their philosophy on Code Enforcement and Council said it was a good approach and agreed with it. He said Council had the opportunity to say that is not what they want, that we want a strict timeline. Mr. Kelley commented Council members do not often know the weight with which their words might carry with someone. The message that a City Councilperson is sending when they intervene themselves and go off on a completely different tangent confuses staff and members of the community who think they are out there trying to overcome the inconsistencies in the ordinances. Council always has to be aware that what they say or do will carry weight and as leaders of the community, when Council members say something, rightly or wrongly, people listen and believe we know what we are talking about. He expressed his concern when Dr. Pullen is out there interjecting himself that members of the community may think that he endorses what he is doing. He said his intent with the memo last week was not an endorsement, but merely a piece of paper provided that if they want to consider that is fine and if they do not want to, that is fine too. He expressed his concern that when City Council people are out there doing their own thing, it could put Council on the spot if it looks like Council is endorsing those actions and that Council is a part of those actions; and that is simply something Council should be aware. Mr. Tucker expressed his belief that Council can police themselves and would like to make sure that any time a subject comes up where you feel that I have or mike has that we have gone beyond the traces, then ask us to explain our position, and then if you want to, ask us to censure that person for what they' ve done. Think we can do it ourselves, Pirates Bay will resolve itself on staff s time, but I want to keep a collegiate spirit here where we look after each other and when one of us gets a little outside of where we should be then we correct our problem. Mr. Anderson expressed that is what he is after and wants to make sure that it is legally sufficient. Dr. Pullen stated he would accept the criticisms. He requested he not be told what he can and cannot do as far as getting information, which is exactly what he has been trying to do. He said, as he has told people who voted for him, he has made this a full time job. He thinks the Charter and Roberts Rule of Order are sufficient and the Mayor can slap his hands whenever she wants. The Mayor expressed her thought that the way each one who reads the Charter may interpret it differently and before spouting off to citizenry, to go to the City Attorney. Council hired the City