Code Enforcement Hearing

CODE ENFORCEMENT HEARING MINUTES Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM Historic City Hall, Commission Chambers – 225 East Main Street, Suite 105 www.cityofwauchula.gov CALL TO ORDER Special Magistrate Mitchell called the hearing to order at 9:30 am. Staff present: Raina Bergens, Code Enforcement Officer Stephanie Camacho, City Clerk ADMINISTER OATH Special Magistrate Mitchell administered the oath to those testifying. MINUTES FOR APPROVAL 1. Minutes for 02/27/2025 Code Enforcement Hearing Special Magistrate Mitchell approved the minutes. OLD CASES 2. Case #: 23-170-M Property Owner: Roy Brown Address: 121 W Main St Bergens testified some work had been done and there was still some work left to complete. Bergens also stated no permits were pulled for any of the applicable work. Sam Brown-Parks attended via Zoom and stated she believed an application for permits was submitted. Mitchell read an email into the record from Felise Skinner, Building Permit Tech for Hardee County Building Department, which was sent to Bergens at 8:47 am on the date of this hearing. The email read “121 W Main St – We have not received any permit requests for this property. Roy Brown came in and attempted to get the permit thinking that Katina had it submitted but she was missing documents the day she came in. We let Roy Brown know that we still needed everything for it and he has not come back for that particular one in a while. The last permit we have for 126 E Townsend Rd was back in 2019 for a roof.” Mitchell asked Brown-Parks if she had any evidence to for him to consider as far as a permit being applied for. Brown-Parks stated she had nothing to contribute and was expecting the contractor or her father to be in attendance. Bergens stated she spoke with the contractor the day before the hearing and told him that he would need to get with the Hardee County Building Department to see what permits he needed.  Mitchell explained to Brown-Parks that no one was present to represent this case and his expectation was that a permit would be applied for by this hearing however, there was no evidence that had been done. Bergens stated the City was requesting approval to proceed with the foreclosure process. Special Magistrate Mitchell noted the respondent did not appear and stated he had no basis to hold this case up therefore, Mitchell authorized the City to move forward with the foreclosure procedure. 3. Case #: 23-175-M Property Owner: Roy Brown Address: 126 E Townsend St Bergens testified some work had been done and there was still some work left to complete. Bergens also stated no permits were pulled for any of the applicable work. Brown-Parks attended via Zoom for this case as well. Special Magistrate Mitchell noted the respondent did not appear and authorized the City to move forward with the foreclosure procedure. 4. Case #: 24-164-L Property Owner: Michael Makowski Address: 211 Pennsylvania Ave Bergens stated this case was continued at the November 2024 hearing and there were currently no fines on the property. The property owner was present and stated he had been doing work a little at a time and planned to reach out to someone for help with the rest. Special Magistrate Mitchell found a violation did exist and gave 60 days (5/30/25) to remedy or a fine would be imposed of $100 per day. NEW CASES 5. Case #: 25-013-TPSU Property Owner: Hardee County Industrial Development Authority Address: 827 S 6th Ave Bergens provided photographic evidence and stated this case was opened on 1/9/25. Sarah Evers, Hardee County IDA Evers presented a timeline of progress and correspondence regarding the case. Evers stated there was a commercial tenant on the property and they had been notified of the violation and were working on moving their items into the building in order to remove the containers from the property. Evers requested an extension and expected the containers to be moved by May 6th. Evers also noted that there was a finite date for this to be done because there was a purchase contract already on the property with a closing deadline. Special Magistrate Mitchell found the property to be in violation and gave a compliance deadline of May 30th or a fine would be imposed of $200 per day. 6. Case #: 25-020-Z Property Owner: Luis Angel Lugo & Brigida Lugo  Address: 223 Indiana Ave This case was in compliance prior to the hearing and pulled from the agenda. CERTIFICATION OF FINES / LIENS 7. Case #: 24-095-L Property Owner: Kathy Stephens Address: 802 Alabama St This case was in compliance prior to the hearing and pulled from the agenda. PUBLIC COMMENT / NON-AGENDA ITEMS No additional public comment was presented. ADJOURNMENT Special Magistrate Mitchell adjourned the hearing at 10:02 am.