uh i am jamie ballard vice chair i'll be handling the meeting today chair stone is absent so we'll start with the opening statements uh before we call the meeting to order before proceeding i will set forth the purpose of this board the code enforcement board is charged with conducting hearings to determine whether a violation of the codes and ordinances of the city of dunedin has occurred in order to meet that obligation all parties or the representatives will be allowed the opportunity to be heard on matters relevant to the alleged violation all witnesses offering testimony or presenting evidence will be required to swear or affirm that the testimony they offer is the truth the city through its staff will present its evidence of the alleged violation after the city has completed its presentation the respondent shall be afforded the opportunity to present its evidence any members of the board the person presenting the city's case or the city attorney may question any witnesses before the board the respondent or his or her representative shall also be permitted to question any of the witnesses before the board and present brief opening and closing statements if so desired the board will then openly deliberate considering only the evidence presented the law and common knowledge by motion duly made and seconded discussed and approved by at least four members of the board an order will be issued the order will contain the finding of fact conclusions of law affirmative action to be taken the order will be forwarded to the respondent by certified mail at this time i will go ahead and call the meeting to order and confirm that we do have a quorum perfect first item on the agenda if there is anybody that wishes in the audience to address this board for any other reason for anything other than on the agenda if seeing or hearing none we'll move on to the consent agenda approval of the draft minutes to code enforcement board meeting of june 2nd 2026 if there are no changes additions or corrections i'll entertain a motion to accept them i'll submit it jeremy reynolds i so move lisa hunt second motion in a second thank you mr bulldog hi miss hunt hi miss ballard hi mr sweetser hi mr reynolds hi mr alexander hi testimony oath of staff in public swearing in of all staff in public who wish to provide testimony please stand raise your right hand thank you okay no affidavits of compliance i don't see any old business so moving on to new business uh first case case two six dash three eight five city versus lara michael a i'll turn it over to rachel yes good afternoon board my name is rachel laurel code compliance inspector for the city of dunedin i'll be showing a powerpoint presentation for the property that is located at one six seven zero country lane the case number is 26 dash three eight five the respondent is michael a lara he resides at one six seven zero country lane uh in dunedin florida the zoning is single family home in the r100 zoning district number of violations uh are one of dco section 105 dash two seven dot one dot one dot one paren f paren one and paren five zoning district design standards site standards for housing and duplexes utility trailers boats recreational vehicles and other recreational equipment standards subsection one utility trailers boats recreational equipment and recreational vehicles may not be parked or stored in any portion of the front yard to include the buildable area unless actual loading or unloading four hour max is taken place subsection five no utility trailers boats or other recreational equipment and recreational vehicles shall be located between the minimum setback established in chapter 103 zoning unless screened by a six foot privacy fence a notice of violation was posted to the property city hall and sent certified mail to the owner on april 29th 2026 with the compliance date of may 10th 2026 the certified mail for the notice of violation was signed for by the owner on may 1st 2026 at 1109 a.m a notice of hearing was posted to the property city hall and sent certified mail to the owner on june 17th 2026 and the certified mail for the notice of hearing was signed for by the owner on june 22nd 2026 at 1143 a.m on april 16th 2026 during a re-inspection on another case i noticed another trailer on the driveway on april 17th 2026 i called the property owner and we spoke about the violation he's he said that since he had to put his commercial trailer in storage he could not afford to keep the trailer in storage he told me that the trailer was not as long as the other trailer and i told him that it did not matter and that the trailer could not be stored on the driveway he said that he would put the trailer inside the garage on april 28th uh during a re-inspection i noticed the trailer was still on the driveway so on april 29th a notice of violation was posted to the property city hall and mailed certified uh to the property owner with the compliance date of may 10th here is the picture of the affidavit of posting notice of violation here's a close-up picture of the affidavit of posting and notice of violation here's the banner page and the usps signature the notice of violation was sent certified mail april 29th 2026 and the notice of violation was signed for on may 1st 2026 at 1109 a.m on may 11th a re-inspection after the notice of violation compliance date i saw the trailer was still on the driveway on may 18th during the re-inspection i noticed the trailer was still in the driveway i called the property owner and he told me that he was very sick and wasn't able to move he said he was waiting on the government to send him the paperwork so he can register the trailer he said that he was starting to feel better and would be able to clean a portion inside his garage to store the trailer inside i told him that i was going to schedule the property to go before the the code compliance board in june but i would grant him another month extension and that if he did not come into compliance by the end of june then the property would be scheduled to go before the code compliance board in july on june 1st i conducted another re-inspection so the trailer was still on the driveway so on june 17 2026 a notice of hearing was posted to the property city hall and mail certified to the owner here is the posting of the affidavit of posting notice of notice of today's hearing on the front door here's a close-up picture of the notice of hearing and here is the banner page and the uh the delivery confirmation from you uh united states postal service a re-inspection was done yesterday uh july 6th 2026 and the trailer is still on the driveway uh mr lara did call the office um today he said he was unable to attend the hearing but he did have intentions of complying so now i'll leave it to the board to deliberate okay board members do you have any questions does the city have any recommendations in terms of compliance time frame or a penalty recommendation for case number 26-385 uh number of violations one of dco section 105-271.1.1 paren f paren 5 paren uh paren 1 and paren 5 zoning district design standards site standards for housing and duplexes utility trailer both recreational vehicles and other recreational equipment standards requesting compliance on or before july 21st 2026 which is 14 days from today's board hearing or given the severity of the violation is minor i am requesting a fine in the amount of 150 dollars per day for each day the violation continues to access so board members we have a recommendation did anybody have any questions hearing none i'll entertain a motion now this is jeremy reynolds i'm moving case 26-385 to find the respondent michael a lara in violation of the city of dead eden code section dco section 105-27.1.1.1 subsection f1 and 5 for the property located at 1670 country lane in order to respond at michael a lara to come to compliance by storing the trailer appropriately owner before the 21st of july if not in compliance a fine of 150 dollars a day will be imposed until compliance is met respondent's order to contact the code compliance office for a reinspection of property to verify compliance with this order i so move we got a motion need a second lisa hunt second any further discussion second sweet sir hearing none i'll call for the vote all right mr bulldog night miss hunt aye miss ballard aye mr sweetser aye mr reynolds aye mr alexander aye motion passes unanimously an order will be issued okay next case uh 26-432 city versus michael lara rachel yes uh good afternoon board members my name is rachel laurel co-compliance inspector for city of dunedin i'll be showing a powerpoint presentation for the property that is located at 1670 country lane case number 26-432 the respondent is michael a lara he resides at 1670 country lane in dunedin florida the zoning is single family home in the r100 zoning district number of violations is one of ipmc 302.8 motor vehicles as adopted by the dunedin code of ordinances except as provided for in other regulations no inoperative or unlicensed motor vehicle shall be parked kept or stored on any premises and no vehicle shall at any time be in the state of major disassembly disrepair or in the process of being stripped or dismantled painting of vehicles is prohibited unless conducted inside and approved spray booth notice of violation was posted to the property city hall and sent certified mail to the owner on april 29th 2026 with a compliance date of may 10th 2026 certified mail for the notice of violation was signed for by the owner on may 1st 2026 at 1109 a.m a notice of hearing of hearing was posted to the property city hall and sent certified mail to the owner on june 17th 2026 the certified mail for the notice of hearing was signed for by the owner on june 22nd 2026 at 11 43 a.m this is my initial inspection on april 16th um i was doing a re-inspection on another case and notice an unregistered vehicle on the driveway on april 17th 2026 i called the property owner and we spoke about the violation he told me that since he had to put his commercial trailer in storage he could not afford to keep the vehicle in storage i told him that he could not keep the unregistered vehicle on his driveway and he would have to register it or remove it from the property so on april 28th 2026 during the re-inspection i noticed the unregistered vehicle was still on the driveway so on uh here's another picture showing that um it has military numbers on it and it could be registered but it is not um and this is the other side of the vehicle so on april 29th 2026 a notice of violation was posted to the property city hall mail certified to the property owner with the compliance date of may 10th uh here's a close-up picture of where the tag should be on the vehicle it still has its military uh identification on the vehicle here is a the affidavit of posting and notice of violation that was uh posted to the front door and here's a close-up picture of the affidavit of posting notice of violation here is the banner page and the uh delivery uh signature page from the united states postal service on may 11th uh re this is my uh re-inspection picture after the notice of violation compliance date i saw the uh vehicle was still unregistered and being stored on the driveway this is as both pictures you can see it still uh there's no tag on either side of the rear of the vehicle re-inspection uh was done on june 1st um and the vehicle still doesn't have current registration but i did speak to the owner on may 18th and he told me that he was very sick was unable to move he said he's still waiting on the government to send him paperwork so he can register it i told him that i was going to schedule the property um to go before the code board in june but i'll grant him another month extension um for him either to register it or to remove it and put it back in storage until he gets the paperwork and is able to legally register the vehicle june 17th the you can see the vehicle still does not have current registration here's both sides of the vehicle still has the government id on it so a uh affidavit of posting and notice of today's hearing was posted to the front door here is a close-up picture of the affidavit of posting notice of hearing and here is the banner page and the uh signature page from the united states postal surface showing the notice of hearing was delivered this is a re-inspection um that i did yesterday showing that the vehicle still um is not registered so i'll leave it to the board to deliberate board members do you have any questions for staff same thing on this one 21st hundred and a half yes okay recommendation recommendation for case number 26 dash 432 uh one violation of ipmc 302.8 motor vehicles as adopted by donating code of ordinances requesting compliance on before july 21st 2026 14 days from today's board hearing for the owner to register the vehicle or remove the vehicle from the property or given the severity of the violation is minor i am requesting a fine in the amount of 150 dollars per day for each day the violation continues to exist perfect okay um i think we're ready for a motion sorry i'm sorry uh lisa hunt um quick question um does this vehicle um is it eligible for the 21 registration 21 registration yeah because it's a historical vehicle he he and it's an antique he's registered as a veteran so he does get um financial i saw his license plate was a hundred percent so yeah he can register this vehicle i did inquire with one of our uh deputies okay so it is legal for him to to register this vehicle was in storage along with the trailer and for some reason he brought it out of storage and he put it on his driveway all right he's well he said he had to put a different vehicle in his storage he had to put his trailer he had a commercial trailer on the property that a complaint came in on okay and he's he put the commercial trailer in storage and then he moved this vehicle in the trailer out of storage and put it on his driveway understood i just wanted to i was um i was inquiring about it myself just now and it looks like he would qualify for just a 21 registration fee for that vehicle through the state i don't know yes but i'm going to assume so maybe if you talk to him again could let him know okay he should be able to do that online even if he's sick okay yeah i will okay that's all sorry thank you alexander um given that this is a vehicle a truck and a trailer sort of connected is it ever uh uh uh combining since we've already uh authorized or uh a 150 for the trailer and now it's 150 for the truck is there ever any consideration for being both together is that something apologies for being new i'll leave that for you all to decide okay well it's being brought as a separate case for two different violations so we are viewing it as the trailer versus the vehicle itself i just thought maybe we would entertain a lower amount for the second yeah you're more than welcome as a board you can deliberate and decide whether um this could potentially warrant a lower fine amount since the trailer has already been essentially potentially fined if not stored properly so yeah okay that was my question thank you there's no minimum there's only a maximum of 250 so you can go as low the board can entertain a fine as low as it wishes you know okay thank you yep jeremy reynolds i move in case 26-432 to find the respondent michael a lara in violation of the city of dudeden code section ipmc section 302.8 for the property located at 1670 country lane order the respondent michael a lara to come into compliance by registering and licensing the motor vehicle removing it from the property on before july 21st 2026 if not in compliance a fine of fifty dollars per day would be imposed until compliance is met the response is ordered to contact the code compliance office for a re-inspection of the property to verify the compliance with this order i so move alexander a second got a motion and a second i'll call for the vote thank you mr bullduck hi miss hunt hi miss ballard hi mr sweetser hi mr reynolds hi mr alexander hi thank you okay motion carries unanimously and order will issue thank you very much moving on to 5c which is case 26410 city versus suncoaster trust clearwater uh reserve trust vick and james trustee uh who will be handling this one just give me one second please okay thanks and i do believe that there is somebody here for that address yes okay so when we're ready for you we'll call you up okay good afternoon code board members my name is michelle gilbert co-compliance inspector with the city of dunedin i'll be presenting a case for 53 highland avenue case number 26000-410 the respondent is sun coast third trust james r ficken addresses 53 highland avenue dunedin florida three four six nine three four and this bush be six nine eight zoned r60 which is a single family residential i have two numbers uh for violations the first is dco section 34-1a environmental offensive accumulation should be unlawful for any person to accumulate leave dump or store openly on any premises with the residential zoning classification any building materials automobile tires inoperable or derelict vehicles or any and all other articles of personal property which may be seen from public right-of-ways or abutting properties for a period greater than three days unless the storage of such articles on residential premises is specifically allowed under the provisions of this code number two dco section 34-32 environment premises to be kept clean of events of accumulation should be unlawful for any occupant or owner of any house yard store lot or parcel of land to refuse to keep the same clean or to permit any trash weeds or any offensive matter of any kind to accumulate in or on such premises and such accumulation shall be deemed to be a public nuisance notice the violation was sent certified mail posted to property emailed and also emailed to property owner for both addresses on 5-6-2026 with a compliance date of 5-15-2026 received certified mail delivery confirmation for notice of violation for the rental property it was delivered to the individual on 5-8-2026 at 10-09 a.m and the homesteaded property was returned unclaimed uh 6-2-2026 at 2-35 p.m notice of hearing was sent certified mail posted to rental property homesteaded property and emailed to property owner 6-17-2026 and received certified mail delivery confirmation for notice of hearing to both addresses uh residential property was delivered uh they had did a delivery attempt 6-20-2026 at 10-05 in the morning uh notice was left due to an authorized recipient not being available to take the mail and then the homesteaded property uh delivery attempt was made 6-20-2026 at 11 15 a.m and a notice was also left due to no authorized person uh available at the time and this is um notice of violation for the rental property sent certified um to property owners rental properties may 6 signed for may 8 2026 at 10 or 9 a.m and then the notice of violation sent certified mail to homesteaded property may 6 2026 returned unclaimed uh june 2nd 2026 235 pm here's my notice of hearing that was sent certified mail to the recipient of the rental property june 17th on 2026 attempted delivery again on 6 20 2026 was returned at 10 0 5 a.m for no one being available and my banner page for uh notice of hearing that was sent certified mail to homesteaded property june 17 2026 with the attempted delivery on 6 20 26 11 15 a.m because no one was available so what i'm starting with here today is the complainant uh this was an online complaint submission the complainants photos of the backyard this was april 23rd of 2026 from the neighboring property and this shows the backyard and this the state of the backyard at this time and this is also a complainant photo showing the front yard you'll see a refrigerator um you know a lot of outdoor furniture that should not be outdoor furniture in the front but the indoor furniture in front of the driveway a garage door there's a little chaise um there's some shelving 426 this is also the complainant's photo um from her driveway showing the refrigerator with the doors open uh there's a bunch of furniture leaning up against the tenant's vehicle there is a bed frame um an actual full bed frame there this is another one of the complainant's photos from 5 5 26 showing all of the accumulation every day this is like an ongoing thing with this tenant living there uh we don't know what she does all we know is that she just has tons and tons of stuff coming to the house on a daily basis whether it be morning afternoon or evening it shows here uh from the complainant's um cameras again that she's the tenants outside um loading and unloading items from the vehicle that's june 15th of 2026 uh again you can see the refrigerator still remains this is two months going in uh actually may or april so may june then um mid-june and it was secured with a rope which is against standards the doors have to be removed again you can see this is nighttime now she's back out there june 15th and she's loading and unloading the vehicle again so this uh starts our inspections um and when we went there i was there every inspection that was conducted was done with my co-compliant supervisor julie phillips the inspection of the property owner and the tenant was present at the time indoor furniture was in the driveway front of the home on top of her vehicle and the refrigerator being stored uh in the driveway as well at that time we did request that everything be removed at time of inspection this shows that they had uh bins and and whatnot a desk chair out in the front on the property in the front of the home this was april 24th of 2026. april 27th everything was still there you can see that the refrigerator remained the bed frame everything was still leaning against the uh the house and the refrigerator this here is my affidavit uh of notice of posting for my notice of violation which was posted to property on 5-6-2026 to the front door this shows more items being stored in the driveway refrigerator you can see fish tank there's a bunch of toys another piece of furniture that belongs on the inside of the house more items being stored at the side of the house beside the driveway and the refrigerator remains along with a lot of garbage i don't know if garbage day was missed but this is stuff that the neighboring property has to look at all the time again uh may 7th 2026 new items arrive to the home um she has them on top of her vehicle the refrigerator remains and then she just starts offloading um you'll see right there there's a indoor chair in the front thereby there's a table wooden table um which doesn't belong outside in the front the 11th there's mattresses uh there's indoor furniture there was just a bunch of stuff that was just dropped off in the front yard and just left there this is the date on the daily again there's another angle of that one from the uh 5-11-2026 you see all of the indoor furniture on the front lawn along with the mattresses another pile and this time her car was gone so you can see more stuff in the driveway there she's added a indoor silk plant to the front and pile of furniture in the front yard more items in the driveway the refrigerator remains this is now uh may 26th of 2026 the refrigerator was still there it was a constant battle she said that that she didn't want to store it in the garage um it was for the house she had bought something else to put in the house anyways as you see it still remains in the front um next to the neighboring property this is the 29th the end of may june 1st this refrigerator was still there then it was secured on the 15th and then you see another fridge in front of the garage door that just popped up with a bin there there's a rug on top of the refrigerator this was the um june 16th walking up to the property in the front door there's a bunch of a personal items uh that are uh accumulated at the front door along with an ac unit that's just been taken apart june 16th there's a couple of mattresses some more indoor furniture a rug that's all rolled up there the plant still remains the refrigerator still remains a closer look bins with things in them pillows so the fridge has been sitting at the front of the house since april 24th on 2026 i took this picture june 16th 2026 and i sent the the owner an email saying that um he said he secured the doors with a knot of rope but unfortunately um it's a violation of the state safety law of florida state statute 823.07 that can't be there and it can't have doors on it so notice the hearing was posted to the front door on uh june 17th uh 2026 and at that time the tenant was present at the time of the posting and then we also went to the homestead of property and posted the notice of hearing because um the first notice of violation was returned unclaimed so we posted the notice of hearing to the uh homesteaded property for the owner of the property on june 17 2026 uh then you can see on this on 6 17 2026 the refrigerator was removed uh and the only reason why it got removed is because i did send an email stating that if it wasn't removed i was going to start writing a civil citation um for every day that i saw it um because it was a safety issue again the 17th the indoor plant remains and there's a table there's a some more stuff there's a piece of a table behind there so all during this time we hadn't been able to gain access to the rear yard there was always an excuse uh from the tenant as to why she couldn't um to why we weren't allowed in the backyard um so we made a couple attempts to get into the backyard the first attempt was on 6 23 at 1 p.m but when we got there with the sheriff's department um the paperwork was incorrect for dates and times so uh we um actually the sheriff the sheriff that was there stated that um the paperwork had to be corrected and then reposted because um we had to give her proper um you know time to be able to access the rear yard without any difficulties um so the notice of intent was posted uh on 6 23 at 1 55 p.m by mr ficken on the tenant's door um and the inspection was completed with the sheriff's department present on 6 24 at 2 p.m at 2 p.m uh you'll see when we showed up the driveway the mattress and chair and then the indoor plant others a bunch of other stuff that it's accumulated on a little table there something's there's always something different every day so we finally gained access walking in this is now this is walking into the backyard um and this is after uh the son that was there she wasn't there present at the time she was at a uh an appointment um and her young son was there at the time and he had to get a pry bar and a screwdriver and a hammer because the actual gate was screwed shut and nailed shut so no one could get in the backyard which is a violation that has to be a means of egress in case of a fire it should not have been like that there's ever a fire in that house and that was the only way for them to get out they would never have been able to get out safely um so this is walking into the backyard uh again the means of egress being blocked because it was the gate was screwed or nailed shut this is june 24th of 2026 and i'm just bringing you through so you can see what we saw along the way there's so much stuff it's just all stacked all over the place that's a big bean bag chair that definitely doesn't belong outside um there's bins there's food food um this here's uh you'll see a lot of tarped uh areas and what she's doing is she's tarping anything that indoor furniture putting tarps over it so that the rain or you know environment will get to it but everything is ruined back there it shows one of the piles you know a rug multiple bins the cat carrier um there's the shelf that's broken so this is the back porch area um and there's two doors there you can't see the second door because it's completely blocked it's another means of egress completely blocked back there you can't walk around the one side um there's toys and personal items and there's just stuff there's so much stuff it's it's hard to itemize every single thing that was sitting on that porch back there and there's another view of it you see a chair there's bins everything's blocking that area towards there now when i asked her about it she said that the lock was broken on the door and i asked her she reported it to the the landlord and she said he knew about it that's all i got with that this shows another area of tarped indoor furniture there's a rug on the tree there's a big old uh credenza thing sitting there a bunch of shelving units then we get a bed and the bed is kind of blocking all the other stuff that's on the other side that's being tarped and you'll see there are the desk chairs there's a box spring the wooden chairs there's a table more bedding stuff and there's a fire pit with piles of debris to burn um and at the time this is before we started getting any little bit of rain that we have had it was a there was a band they weren't supposed to be doing any types of fires at all um but that is her fire pit that she has back there so i went um july 2nd and there was a tabletop up against the garage door the plant's still outside and it's all behind her car um and then the front front yard there you can see that broken ac is laying on on the sidewalk right beside her vehicle um and that's all i have so we can you guys can deliberate thank you one moment yeah one moment i'm just gonna just see board members do you have any questions first just a quick question from city staff i didn't hear um any testimony in regards to the posting of the notices at city hall so i just wanted to confirm they're in there they're in there yeah so all required notices yes everything's posted to city hall thank you emailed uh posted to city hall uh to both properties all of it um there are also uh the neighbors here to speak as well just so you're aware and we received uh formal consent to enter the property by the property owner correct just the outside the rear yard yes he was with us at the time along with the sheriff's department so perfect thank you so much that is all from you okay um okay uh board members do you have any questions for staff if not mr ficken would you please come up and state your name and address for the record james ficken 1608 north osseola avenue clearwater florida okay thank you um and you have anything that you would like to address to yes i have a question for michelle you know since we got started with this well first of all i mean i'm just caught in the middle of this and so i wanted to ask michelle since this started can you think of anything that i could have legally done during this whole process that i didn't do in order to encourage the tenant to remove the stuff or to allow me to remove the stuff this because it's mr ficken's property and he has his tenant all that he had to do was get notice of intent to enter the property which he did um that's all i can speak on it he has been trying and trying and trying but every time like i said every time we asked to be at entrance we have not been able to gain entrance the only time we got to go in the backyard was um with the notice of intent to enter that was posted with the sheriff the sheriff present and my supervisor present and mr ficken of course perfect um mr ficken i think that what is before us here today and and city attorney please jump in is that we are here to determine whether or not a violation exists and um and you know what means or what to do after that uh as far as timing and uh if fines will be imposed so at this time uh i'm not sure if the board members have any questions for mr ficken so mr ficken this is also your time to provide testimony to the board so is there anything else you would like to add yeah at this time went by the property this morning uh the gate is blockaded again uh the um according to the uh pictures provided by the neighbor the uh fire pit has been restocked with uh new uh twigs and branches ready to start a fire again uh as far as uh being told that the uh the second door to the garage is the lock is broken it's not broken it's just accessible for the inside and so and she's never reported that to to me uh you know like i say i've been caught in the middle of this i've been working with code enforcement board from the beginning to try and encourage her to bring the property in compliance and mitigation i've done everything that i can possibly do uh to get it done i've started an eviction proceeding and i've provided uh the uh notification to julie and to share with you that uh that seems to be the only thing that uh i can manage to do to get access to the property to mitigate these services all these circumstances is is is to evict uh the tenant and so like i say that process has started and so she had seven days to uh get to to to cure the cure the violation of the lease which specifically mentions uh taking care of these violations and so the seven days expired this past friday they they did hardly anything they did get to do some a couple hours work on saturday and maybe a couple hours work on sunday and they have made some progress on getting some of the stuff out there somewhere in the vicinity of maybe 30 or 40 or 50 percent of the of the offending items have been removed so they are making progress but it's not done now and uh the earliest i could have possibly uh filed the uh complaint for the eviction was yesterday and so depending on what this board comes on with i'll try and it looks like i'm probably going to have to spend hundreds of dollars to file a complaint to get the eviction going to uh get her to be removed by the sheriff so that i can get access to the property and then it'll take you know only about a day or so to get all that stuff uh out of there or to the front porch or whatever but you know i've done everything i possibly can do to to mitigate this and come in compliance and uh so uh i think the whole process is unfair i'm caught in the middle you know i haven't done anything wrong and and the board comes after me and they can't do anything to her and the only thing i can do to her after encourage her over and over and over and over again is to go through the eviction process right and unfortunately those are the risks that the landlord takes when they rent out their property you are ultimately responsible so that's why we're here so i ask you give me enough time for the eviction process to to proceed so that i can get access and and get the get the uh get the uh all that stuff out of there jeremy have a question okay when did you first become aware of the situation of this property i guess uh first uh last part of april first part of may okay so so may first is that fair sure okay so you're aware that you have a tenant who's a material breach of their lease that's creating a safety hazard a public safety hazard on your property why was it what prevented you from filing for eviction back in may well i did file i did file for eviction i thought you said you just filed last friday well i could i could have filed again for the second eviction we did file for an eviction earlier thank you i have no further questions okay um board members any other questions i have a question sweet sir how long have you had this tenant particular tenant there since uh february middle of february since just this year yes okay so everything we see in the photographs have been since february yeah well it didn't really didn't really get going until uh i'm just curious how that much can accumulate that fast well she brings she brings stuff in every day i'm talking about the backyard and the back porch and yeah she brings you know this you know every day she brings in stuff and sometimes she takes stuff out but but even even with all these notices and all these complaints uh she was still bringing stuff in uh the last last last week or so and the only thing that's slowing her down from bringing stuff in is is the repeated um violations for driving with a suspended license so i think she's she's uh decided to not drive as much with uh bringing more stuff in that's not really for our board but um okay uh thank you um mr ficken does anybody else have any questions for mr ficken uh dan boldock if you if you file the eviction what is the time process for that to follow through well uh if i file it uh today or tomorrow it goes to the to the uh court and uh it takes uh you know then it takes the summons that the summons that the summons have to be delivered to the process server and that takes two or three days and then uh the the defendant has five days to uh respond and then uh then uh the um usually the uh default uh filing is made with the court and then they the court sends it to the judge and he has a day or two or three uh to uh to deal with it sometimes it takes longer in one case in one case uh the judge had a conference to go to so it took a week to uh get through it and then he finally he finally makes a decision and and then that goes to the mail and then the the uh writ of possession is in is is entered and then we have to contact the deputy sheriff and sometimes he takes three days to go out there uh for the first time and then he has to give him another notice another day and then he can come out and put him out so you know maybe maybe three weeks if everything goes smoothly it could be done okay okay i i think that's uh i think that um that's a wish that's true because it's because there's like there's like four different four different entities all of whom you know can take a day or two or three and sometimes they they move pretty quickly and sometimes they're all delayed and all those are beyond my control uh quick question lisa hunt um so what you filed yesterday no i haven't i haven't filed yesterday i've i filed the notice the seven day uh notice a violation of the lease with right to cure last week okay and that expired last week okay i filed it the week before last week on the what is what is the date there i think june 20 june 26th of the at the bottom of the page there you're 26 and so and so uh that expired this past uh friday and of course the courts weren't open saturday or sunday and so now they're open and i can file the uh complaint and uh then that then i have to take that to the process server and then they serve at the process and once they get that done uh then there's five days to respond not counting weekends and then uh then it goes to the uh the clerk for a motion uh for clerk's default and then they they file get that paper they file it to the judge and it goes on as i previously explained right so with that with all due respect um i would recommend um that uh you that you seek some legal guidance too just to make sure you have all your ducks in a row just my opinion but um do you have anything else mr friggin so is it your testimony today that you're requesting three weeks three to four weeks for compliance of the cited violations do you think that time frame is reasonable it depends on all the third parties of which there are about four uh and and there's all sorts there's all sorts of places where that could you know uh be a a snafu and it might take a little bit longer but that is correct but if you were to provide the board with a timeline today what would that timeline be for you for correction of the violations to uh file the complaint tomorrow and you know the process starts and it goes through like i say the clerk of the court and process server and then back to the clerk of the court and then the judge and then back to the clerk of the court and then to the sheriff and then uh and that's that's that's the way uh the process goes and uh like i say i think i think four weeks could there's a real good chance it could be done in four weeks maybe three four weeks of course there could be a snafu somewhere along the line of among the four uh parties that i have no control over that could add days to the process thank you are there any closing statements that you would like to add again i've done everything i can uh you know to to solve this problem um and it's just unfortunate that the the whole system is set up to where i'm caught in the middle and i wish there i wish y'all could think of some way that you could you could exercise your powers of persuasion uh against the person who's causing the problem and refusing to solve it rather than me being the man in the middle who's who's taken uh the brunt of whatever uh punitive message uh punitive message punitive measures you may impose that's noted um thank you so much for for that mr switzer mr ficken there there's one more question mr ficken can you please one more question okay i appreciate you know the issue about gaining proper legal advice if you don't have it maybe get it i have a question is would your lease procure you could you clean it up yourself no you're not allowed to go on your property exactly your lease has there's nothing in it that says yes or no that would help mitigate some of the i i tried i tried to i tried to do that and uh you know back when the first deadline occurred and i broke through the blockade on the on the on the gate to get access to the backyard and the tenant is yelling screaming and carrying on and i started trying to move some of the property and she came in and tried to uh pull the property out of my hands ended up being a violent encounter i ended up falling down and uh have bleeding on my pants and i still have ongoing medical issues so i've done everything i can okay up to and including uh going on to uh the property and trying to remove the stuff okay thank you thank you so much now now i've got medical injuries resulting from that violent encounter thank you mr ficken thank you i do have a question for staff is there any records in the last two or three years about any violations on this property in the past on this property yeah not that i'm aware of nothing aware okay thanks okay all right board members i'm going to ask staff for their recommendation um first we have another um person that would like to speak oh okay the neighbor okay is the neighbor being called as a witness the tenant as well okay hi i'm so i'm the neighbor i'm sorry um is the this is the neighbor correct is she being called as a witness by the city i'm sorry is she being called as a witness by the city no she wanted to speak on behalf of okay so this is public comment essentially yeah she's this is the neighbor that submitted the the complaint and also submitted photo okay but i need to know if she's either being testifying as a witness by the city or the respondent or at this part of public comment she was making public comments public comment okay perfect thank you okay please state your name and address for the record um sheila hyman on the neighbor next door 47 highland avenue um my concern has been the ongoing problem so i didn't even file a complaint for two months thinking all of this furniture activity was just moving in you know they're going to get it put away at some point but then it escalated it's beyond just moving in it's a pattern of behavior um then there's increased criminal activity that has never been in our neighborhood before we had the police on our street for two weeks straight for multiple reasons there were people living in a car on the property for two weeks um they were calling the police on her she's calling the police on them and then the fire in the backyard was really my final straw because you're going to burn down the whole neighborhood that backyard has never been raked in 20 years that house is set empty so this is the first person to live in it and they cleared a spot on the sand and built a fire you know it's not going to get better anytime there's a violation um or an inspection she immediately gets more stuff it's just never going to change um i think june could have been more timely with the whole eviction process i don't know what all the dragging out is on that to me there should be some legal process and you follow it bing bang boom we're done but here we are it's july and we're still in the situation there's a refrigerator in the front yard today another one a little black one the fire's still there and the debris is still there so i just want it to all go away thank you okay and now we'll hear test uh the tenants and this is also public comment at this time is she being called as a witness as a tenant not for us okay so we can receive her testimony as public comment public comment please come up yes yes i do okay please state your name and address for the record melissa lazio uh 53 highland avenue denean florida okay and go ahead with your comment so i had um met with with um mr ficken and and saw the property the property was had been empty for 19 years i was not aware that it was empty for 19 years until i spoke to a couple of the neighbors not her but the neighbor on the other side i didn't know that we could bring other um neighbors as for testimony and everything because the other neighbors come by and compliment me all the time because i have been putting so much work into the property mr ficken and i had an agreement which on my way here i dropped the phone it's because i'm not getting any sleep and everything i have a child on a heart and liver transplant list who he knew about i am a single mother with two children the agreement was because the house was not up to code whatsoever nothing worked the water did not run the drains did not drain there was asbestos tile that there was this much dirt and everything there was all kinds of furniture and everything in the backyard and in and all kinds of property inside and there were three vehicles parked on the property and in the garage so the agreement was was he was going to pay me to clean up and clear out this property and also to work work on the property so the first two weeks we had to live in our driveway in in my vehicle i had to rip out all the flooring and everything asbestos tile and everything and all this stuff all this you know and and get the try and get the drains to work the water heater pump didn't work i had to replace the element element and i mean nothing in this property work but he was supposed to pay me my son started getting ill and he wasn't giving any money for any of the work or anything so i wasn't going and doing my my other job which i i do like maintenance handyman like stuff and everything so i wasn't i wasn't bringing in any extra income we were on a week-to-week fsi was going to give him first last and security but they wouldn't do it because the house was not up to code they wouldn't do it because it wasn't because they couldn't and so here i'm busting my butt well then my son gets very sick and i don't have any nurses there's a shortage of home health nurses well we're trying to figure out why he's in so much pain and he's having these behavioral seizures that's the reason why the police have been out there is because my son is having behavioral seizures no it's just this way she knows i'm sorry because my son's having behavioral seizures but he's never had one of these before he has six different kinds of grandma epileptic seizures with sudep um he said six open heart surgeries three strokes he's on a heart and liver transplant list everybody's all the physicians are trying to figure out what's going on he ended up in the hospital and at the morton plant hospital for the first week now this is after he's not he's not paying me my son's really sick and everything and i've got i've pushed all this property i've pushed this property out and now i have no income coming in so i have to close out my two storages that i had my personal property in and some and and some work property i'm going to need you just to pause for just a moment um i don't know how this works for the public comment portion because i know that the um three minutes has expired oh so well it's up to code right now if i just took the pictures but then the phone dropped ma'am so you are limited to three minutes as part of public comment the the respondent didn't call you as a witness and the city didn't call you as a witness so we will have to but i reside there and the he has he has but you're ma'am can i say something else just close it up then i'll allow you just one closing statement okay my son has been in the hospital for the past um it was 17 weeks michelle was aware of it he's only been out of the hospital for two and a half weeks i wasn't able to and and he and he blocked me that's and he struck my 10 year old child and myself and broke my fence down with with an axe that's because and i found um him peeping in the back window that's why i had the protection on there so i'm sorry that that was the reason why i needed the gate because i'm a single mother and i need to keep my child my children safe and a lot of that property is his and i have pictures i can produce more pictures and if they came out to the property and saw there is no those violations are not there and the reason why that many black fridge was there is because that refrigerator that was the whole cause of it was his and he didn't replace it ma'am okay okay that that's enough we're way beyond the three minute mark thank you for your testimony today thank you um sir she was not called as a witness i'll let you do a rebuttal but she was not called as a witness okay most of what she said is irrelevant and it's all most of it is lies and if you want to go point by point we can go over about 30 of her her lies but it's all irrelevant and it's all almost all false remember our issue or what's come before the board today is to determine whether or not a violation exists so that's what we're here to determine and and to and if a violation exists then we're here to determine how much time may be needed for this to be cured so what i'm going to do now is i'm going to ask you to sit down and i'm going to ask the um staff for their recommendations i asked you to put any weight on what she said because it's almost all lies thank you okay my recommendation for case number 26 000 410 for 53 highland avenue the number of violations being two dco section 34-1 parenthesis a environment offensive accumulation and dco section 34-32 environment premises to be cleaned of offensive accumulation i'm requesting compliance honor before july 28th 2026 given the severity of the violations as major i'm requesting a fine on the amount of 250 per day per violation for each day the violations plural continue to exist thank you thank you board members are you ready for a motion sure jeremy reynolds i'm moving case 26-410 to find the respondents suncoast third trust clearwater rest trust pick and james r tray in violation of the city of the dean code sections dco section 34-1 sub section a and dco section 34-32 for the property located 53 highland avenue respondent is ordered to the respondent suncoast third trust clearwater rest trust pick and james r tray to come into compliance by removing all offensive accumulation and debris from the property on or before july 28 2026 if not in compliance a fine of 250 dollars per day will be imposed until compliance is met respondent is order to contact the code compliance office for a re-inspection of property to verify compliance with this order i so move excuse me uh per violation per day mr reynolds i'm sorry the date per violation per day yes yeah yeah yeah per violation per day thank you so much thank you thank you i forgot there was two no worries i just wanted to confirm thank you very much we have a motion on the floor sweet sir i second it okay we've got a motion in a second i'll call for the vote thank you mr bulldog hi miss hunt hi miss ballard hi mr sweetser hi mr reynolds hi mr alexander hi okay motion carries unanimously and order will issue all right i believe that concludes our cases for today on to other business um code enforcement board member comments hearing none city attorney comments none none city staff comments no ma'am thank you hearing none thank you i'm sorry no okay all right uh next meeting date set for august the 4th 2026 uh jeremy reynolds i move to adjourn okay got a motion to adjourn lisa hunt second all right all right all right all right all right thank you everybody