Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 12-24-2010 Regular — reading text

Powell Drive (Kenwood), Fort Walton Beach Dear Mr. Bolduc: I am Drew Brown, one of Ann Brown' s sons and holder of Power of Attorney for my mother. I understand front your February 11, 2010 email correspondence to my brother, Jeff, that the City has levied administrative fees of $650 and fines of $83,250 on my Morn for the condition of her house. The purpose ofmy letter to you is to request a reduction in the fine amount. As you know, Mom' s house was gutted by fine. We have had considerable conflict with our We had several insurance con4)any ( Citizen' s) over how much Mom should be reimbursed. contractors and engineers provide opinions on whether or not her house should be restored or razed. The consensus was that it should be razed The insurance company opined that it should be rebuilt. In either case, the amount of money they offered was far short of the amount required. as Our dispute with the insurance ti The conflict led to the house' s protracted state of disrepair. 0 company is yet unresolved and is fast approaching the point to which we will seek legal remedy. eu The unresolved insurance issue put us in an untenable position.The insurance company didn't M a care about the, fines ( they told us " that' s between you and the City") and the City can' t get n. involved in the insurance dispute. Tearing the house down before the, insurance conflict was a Meanwhile, the fines continued to resolved was ill-advised, according to our legal counsel. ct: accrue, so we made a family decision (Mom has Alzheimer' s) to go ahead and raze the house and take our chances with the insurance matter. This was completed on February 4, 2010 and per a 0 Our costs have reached nearly your February 10 email to Jeff, stopped further accrual of fines. 28,000, which of course, is on us until (or if) the insurance matter is resolved. C To date, all expenses associated with the fire_and the tearing down of the house have rested W squarely on the family. As a family we found ourselves in a damned if you do damned if you 0 don't situation.. ' Upon legal counsel's advice if we tore the house down we would be boxing a ourselves in as it related to our dealing with the insurance company. If we didn't tear it down we faced our current situation with the city. Eventually, we followed the city's instructions, and in co N derogation of legal advice, we tore the structure down. N to O 0 Even though we did not complete the razing of the house as quickly as the city would have liked, T we did take extraordinary steps to secure the property and deter vagrants, children and others that might have been attracted to such a burned out structure. We locked the doors, boarded up the windows and other possible entrances and we locked any and all passages through the fences that as surround the property. We stayed in communication with the city and worked to minimize any L v problems that the structure may have posed. Fortunately, there were no negative consequences of c leaving the structure standing as long as we did. a 136 Coun Packet Pg. 129 __ --- 1 L  14.2.b I understand City' s need to address the condition of the house. At the same time, as we look to the possibility of reducing the fines, I appeal to you consider our dilemma. Further, I' ll touch on the obvious, not to lecture, but in the hope that you will identify with me. Fire makes victims. out of anyone it touches. Even if the insurance company reversed position and did the right thing > our loss as a family is still staggering. Mom' s house, and most of what was in it- 40 years of p living- is gone. — a 3 My request to you is to help us stop the bleeding. My mother has lost enough Respectfully, I a.. ask to you reduce the fees and fines to: $ 650 for administrative fees, plus $ 1, 000 in fines. Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact me at any time at 256 -527 -4755. I look forward to your hearing from you. Sincerely, 137 Council M packet Pg. 134  14.2. b June 14, 2010 651 Powell Drive NE a T Packet Pg. 131  1- 14.2. b -] June 1, 2010 651 Powell Drive NE 0 d 3 O CL a O U rn ti 0 T m ca CL m c U Q O O U a L 3 O a T kn co N N cC O O T V E V it Q Packet Pg. 132  14.2.b November 12, 2008 651 Powell Drive NE L 3 0 a. rn ti 0 T- W N N W O O r V V C E t V a Packet Pg. 133  14.2.b PL,. Carole Jones From: Tim Bolduc Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 3: 27 PM To: ' Joseph D. Lorenz' Subject: a City Council Meeting June 22nd c Attachments: cc.100622.Brown Code Case Update 651 Powell Blue.doc; cc.100622.Brown Code Case Update 651 Powell.doc; cc.100622. Brown Code Update Pictures. pdf a 0 3 0 a. Joe, here is the agenda back -up that staffwill be providing for the meeting. It is my intention to cover the history, the code events of the last month and turn it over to you for the legal. to