Agenda Item No. 11
CITY OF YUCAIPA
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Fermin Preciado, Director of Development Services/City Engineer Benjamin Matlock, Planning Manager/City Planner 7LJ
FOR: City Council Meeting of June 12, 2023
SUBJECT: Request for Reduction of Code Enforcement Fines — 9889 Azurite Street RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council review the facts and circumstances related to code enforcement fines that have been issued as a result of uncorrected Municipal Code violations located at 9889 Azurite Street, and consider maintaining, reducing, or modifying in some manner the civil fines and penalties that were levied.
BACKGROUND:
On June 9, 2008, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 283, which established procedures governing the imposition, enforcement, review, and collection of penalties for violations of the Yucaipa Municipal Code. In accordance with the adopted procedures, each unpaid civil fine is also assessed a 10% penalty fee applicable to fines unpaid after the due date, and also includes interest at a rate of 10%. Each year, these unpaid civil fines would then be applied to a lien on the residence. At the City Council Meeting of September 13, 2021, a study session was held to discuss the current Administrative Citation process, with Council ultimately directing staff to pursue a contract for a third -party collections agency to collect the outstanding fines, and to assess the fine reduction process as needed. At the City Council Meeting of June 13, 2022, Council approved a contract with Data Ticket for third -party collections, which went live in early 2023.
DISCUSSION:
On September 7, 2021, the Code Enforcement Division received a complaint through the City's online portal regarding overgrown vegetation, trash, and inoperable vehicles at a single-family residence located at 9889 Azurite Street. Code Enforcement staff conducted an investigation of the complaint on September 9, 2021, and validated the issues identified in that complaint including overgrown vegetation (weeds) throughout the property, a black Hyundai sedan with flat tires and no plates/registration, openly stored materials in the driveway (lumber, buckets, tent trailer), and miscellaneous debris scattered through the rear yard. Following this inspection, a Notice of Violation was mailed to the property owner's legal mailing address, as provided by the San Bernardino County Assessor's office records, on September 16, 2021. 211
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Code Enforcement conducted a reinspection on September 30, 2021, with no progress made.
Following the inspection, a warning was then issued, with a copy sent via certified and regular mail. Following this mailing, some progress was made towards abating the overgrown vegetation although the other issues identified remained. Consistent with the City's Administrative Citation process, the first fine was then issued on October 26, 2021. Following this initial fine, ongoing inspections and subsequent citations were then issued, as well as a recordation of a "Notice of Action"' for the property,
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After the 4th fine, the January 30th, 2022, inspection found that the inoperable vehicles were removed, and the overgrown vegetation was further abated. However, the debris and materials remained onsite. It should be noted that no communication with Code Enforcement staff was provided by the property owner, and no mailings were returned to the City as "undeliverable" or "unable to forward." It was not until the 91h fine was issued, and vegetation had grown back in addition to the remaining outstanding trash and debris, that the first Certified Mail was returned as "unclaimed," which typically occurs when the Post Office is unable to obtain a signature for the letter. With the unclaimed Certified Mail, Code Enforcement then modified their approach to notify the owner by continuing with the regular mail notice and also by taping a copy of the notice to the mailbox.
Through the rest of the 2022 calendar year, ongoing inspections found no progress towards the code enforcement issues, and additional citations (a total of 20) were issued. In 2023, the City implemented Data Ticket for code enforcement citation collections, and two different fines were issued through Data Ticket for this case. Following the second Data Ticket citation, a representative for the property owner (son-in-law) contacted the City, paid off the last (22nd) citation amount, and worked with staff to correct the code violations. Today, the case is now considered closed. However, the first 20 citations remain unpaid, and have a current balance with penalties and interest of $10,098. In addition, one additional citation (21 It fine) with Data Ticket in the amount of $500 plus admin fee also remains unpaid.
The representative indicated that in December 2019, the property owners moved back to their other home in Eastvale, California, and began renting the home. The representative notes that they believed that their mailing address had then been corrected with the County Assessor's office to direct their mail to their other property in Eastvale. It should be noted that the 22nd fine, provided through Data Ticket, was the first citation directed to the updated mailing address in Eastvale. Because of the mailing address record issue, the property owner has requested that the City consider a reduction of the fines. They have also noted that once the corrected mailing address was available, they worked to promptly respond to the code issues and have since made all the necessary corrections.
City Council has previously indicated that, where it has been appropriate to waive the Code Enforcement fines, the actual costs incurred by the City should be borne by the property owner.
Staff costs are determined by an actual time/hourly rate assessment for Code Enforcement activities whereby each task is allocated the time sufficient to complete it. Based on the activity logs for this case, the total "staff costs" is in the amount of $3,762.95.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The City has incurred costs of $3,763 related to this Code Enforcement Case. The unpaid citations (both City -issued and from Data Ticket) is in the amount of approximately $10,600. 213
CONCLUSION:
That the City Council consider the property owner's request to reduce or modify in some manner the civil fines and penalties levied on the property as a result of Municipal Code violations located at 9889 Azurite Street.
Attachments: 1. Request for Reduction of Fines
Approved
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ATTACHMENT 1
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