Blast from the Past - Wayne Bergman, former city of Lake Worth code enforcement director

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Nothing drives me more crazy than the "gutting the code department" myth that is attributed to Susan Stanton who was hired by Lake Worth in April 2009.  Following is a speech by our former Code Enforcement Manager, Wayne Bergman, (he was also our acting building official at one time) given in September 2010 at the Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Association on the code enforcement process and outstanding cases. At that meeting, he said that the department was only reduced by one.
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I was asked to speak tonight about the Code Enforcement Process.  I supervise the Code Compliance Division of the Community Development Department and our primary purpose is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents and their property through the administration and enforcement of the City’s zoning and property maintenance codes.  Code Compliance inspectors investigate complaints and perform COU inspections, re-inspections and inspections ordered by the City’s Special Magistrate.  Inspectors and support staff maintain the record files on each case.  The inspectors do their best to establish communication with the offending party prior to issuing a Notice of Violation.  Once violations have been corrected and complied, an Affidavit of Compliance is issued.  If there is no cooperation, a Notice of Violation/Notice of Hearing is issued.

Violations can take several different avenues to achieve final resolution.  Some are resolved prior to Special Magistrate hearings and the case is closed by City staff.  Violations that are not brought into compliance are presented before the Special Magistrate.  Special Magistrate orders are submitted to the County Courthouse for the recording of code enforcement liens.  Upon full compliance and payment, a release of fines is prepared.  This is all in accordance with FS 162, Municipal Code Enforcement law.   Through this process the City has received 767 complaints of violations and 481 violation cases were started during the last fiscal year.  Of these, 561of the cases have been brought into compliance. 

Over the past year the City has adopted changes to Chapter 2 of the LWCOO which allows the issuance of civil citations as an alternative enforcement method under FS 162.  The ordinance changes also simplified the process to board-up and secure unsafe structures and changed the way in which the City releases code liens.

Last week the City Commission approved an ordinance that requires the registry of foreclosed buildings, which for the first time will give the City, PBSO and PBC Fire Rescue the lender’s name and contact information and also provide the City and County agencies with the property management company that maintains the property.  We are also proposing doing away with the annual COU inspection in favor of an inspection whenever there is a change in occupancy.  The annual inspection process was not workable and inspections that take place before tenants or owners occupy a building, or portion thereof, is more meaningful and is a better way to address the deterioration of the City’s building stock.  This specific ordinance was approved at first reading and could be adopted later this month.

Some of our New Initiatives:  The Code Compliance Division will improve its community relations efforts by shifting the division’s focus from an enforcement-based approach to a more customer-focused compliance process.  New division policies, training, and an emphasis on providing assistance to tenants and victims affected by absentee landlords is being implemented, and inspectors are now targeting more serious blight and safety conditions.  Code Compliance will utilize a progressive hierarchy of code enforcement with property owners, business operators and tenants by making immediate contact with the resident or tenants and giving verbal warnings for the infraction, when appropriate, with progressive follow-up. 

Some of our current and planned Goals are to:

*Provide assistance and alternatives for families displaced by unsafe buildings.

*Regularly provide code compliance information to neighborhood associations.

*Create and implement a progressive approach to code enforcement.

*Continue improvement in the collection and reduction of outstanding code enforcement fines.  As we discussed with the City Commission this past April, there was the appearance of about $70 million in uncollected code fines.  In truth most of the fines will never be collected.  To demonstrate this, we researched the top 20 largest code fine cases of the then-current 750 open cases and presented our finding to the Commission.

SUMMARY:

$13,932,275 – Top 20 Code Cases
$2,156,050 – Supplemental Cases
$6,981 – Administrative Costs
$16,095,306 - Subtotal
$756,700 – Computer Error
$2,611,700 – Remove Improper Fines
$12,726,906 – Remaining Fines, most of that wiped out by lender-initiated foreclosure actions.

Many of the code cases were simply the result of poor case management by the City in the past and revealed many properties with active, accruing fines, in excess of $1 million, for things such as dead shrubs and tall grass.>  Today we have processed about 100 of the 750 total cases and the phantom fine amount has been reduced from the $70 million in April down to $49 million, with another 650 cases left to review and adjust downward the fine amount that may be actually due the City.

Our Code Compliance staff is comprised of 9 employees and includes an Interim Code Supervisor, 2 secretaries, 5 zone inspectors, and a permit / licensing technician. We are hiring two additional inspectors to be paid by the recently awarded JAG grant.  These two new inspectors will assist the PBSO in targeting properties involved in criminal activities.  We are currently understaffed in the field, with 1 open Code inspector position and another soon to be open inspector position, although we are actively interviewing applicants.  Our Division is open Mon – Fri, 8 am to 4:30 pm, with some inspector time after hours to follow up on complaints.  The Code Compliance Division has a proposed FY 2011 budget of $912,000, which includes the 2 new JAG inspectors, board-ups, property cleaning and some limited demolitions of unsafe abandoned buildings.

Complaints can be sent to us by phone 586-1652, by email or in written form.  You can also provide the Code Compliance division the complaint through the City’s automated on-line complaint system accessible through the website.