Code Enforcement - Hands are tied

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Our Code Enforcement Department, consisting of 8 inspectors and 1 fire inspector, has dedicated and hard working employees who are very professional at what they do. In the City of Lake Worth, it is a challenge every day, not only because of all the blighted and neglected properties but by the process in general. And then when they get through all the investigative work and everything it involves to finally present the case to the magistrate who listens to the evidence and makes a decision and imposes the ultimate fine, the amount often times is reduced to peanuts. It is no wonder why people continue to get away with murder here and our City looks like it does. And don't kid yourself. One of the biggest offenders is the City itself with some of the property it owns.

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Sec. 2-87. Civil penalties.
(a) The maximum civil penalty for a civil infraction cited under this article shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00).
b) If the person who has committed a civil infraction does not contest the citation, the civil penalty shall be as follows:
(1) For a Class I infraction, fifty dollars ($50.00) plus court costs.
(2) For a Class II infraction, seventy-five dollars ($75.00) plus court costs.
(3) For a Class III infraction, one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00) plus court costs.
(4) For a Class IV infraction, two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) plus court costs.
(Ord. No. 92-25, § 1, 11-18-92)

Take the Gulfstream Hotel as a prime example. Back in April, the owner, Schlesinger, moved 9 storage containers onto his property which is a vacant lot ADJACENT to the hotel. He was using this as a staging area for a project he was building in another town. On July 31^st, there was finally a fine imposed--$250.00 a day per container IF the containers were not moved by the end of day on August 8. That is over 4 months of putting up with an owner who fully understood that our process was flawed to his favor and he could take his jolly time. He knew that the process was cumbersome and it was a Code process tied up with bureaucracy. After all, his lawyer was the former P&Z Chair for the City of Lake Worth and also a former member of our CRA. He also knew that magistrates were lenient with code offenders. It was cost effective for him to continue the violation. He gets off with an administrative fine of $75.75 for each of the five containers left plus a re-inspection fee for each container of $30.

126 N F Street is a special case. This property is owned by Michael and Mary Lynn Maloney who live in Boca. They bought the property in April 2004 for $135,000 which is 1200 sq. ft consisting of 3 rental units in Tropical Ridge where you can find the majority of violations. They managed to rake up $124,500 in code violations, something that you can't do overnight! They brought their attorney to the hearing who cried that these poor people only make less than $58,000 dollars in adjusted income from an interior design business…they bought this property as an investment for their children’s college education and did not want to pay ANYTHING towards this fine. (Just mention the word "children" and you get them every time) No proof of income was presented although I don’t think that should have anything to do with what they owe the City of Lake Worth for being slum landlords. Yeah, boo, hoo, hoo. Drive up from Boca and correct the problems. Go to Home Depot. Repair the fence. Cut the grass—whatever. These people live in Boca Raton and find no problem with trashing our City. Let's check and see if they have a rental license.

Obviously the Magistrate, Glen Torcivia, who seems to bend over backwards for these offenders, disagreed with me as he wanted to reduce their fine by 95%. And to make matters worse, they incurred a brand new violation on the property the day before the hearing. That's really sticking it our face. I am not sure what the final fine was but it was a lot less than 95%.

I have observed both magistrates now and one seems to have sympathy with the City and the other with the violator. This might be an unfair assessment based on just a few hearings that I have attended and I will give the benefit of the doubt.

In a nutshell, these men and women of our Code Enforcement Department work hard to improve our city. They are beating their heads against the wall due to the system. Now I learn that this department may be reduced by our city manager to two code enforcement officers or eliminated. Could this even be possible? We need 100 officers on our streets, not two. Let us all tell our city government. And we do NOT want any more outsourcing.