e e e e e e I hereby call this meeting to order this is the special magistrate for the town of Highland Beach uh let me Begin by explaining how the process is going to
work I'm going to call the cases in the order in which they appear on the agenda when you hear your case called go ahead and proceed to the front of the room the town will put on its testimony and evidence first you'll have an opportunity to review any evidence that the town is submitting and ask questions of any of the town's Witnesses after which time you can submit your own
evidence and make your own testimony present your own testimony after which I will make a decision this is a quasi judicial hearing which means the formal Rules of Evidence do not apply here however all testimony is taken under oath under penalty of purgery so if you're going to testify today or you think you might testify or there's a
possibility you might testify I'd ask that you rise raise your right hand so you can be sworn by the authority vested in me as a notary of the State of Florida do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you
right I have the minutes of January 14th I believe they are hereby deemed approved and they are assed and executed on this day all right first case is uh CC 24482 Deborah Costa
trust good afternoon uh the town is pulling this case as the properties in compliance okay all right next one is B case number CC 24446 Schulman Roberta personal res trust
2 hey my name is Adam osowski town of Highland Beach code compliance officer and I've have been previously sworn in the property address is 2727 South Ocean Boulevard Unit 36 I inspected the property on October
30th 2024 the violations that remain as cited on today's agenda is 30-1 122a two bathroom remodels without valid permits the notice of violation was served by posting on November 6
2024 after certified mail was sent on October 31st 2024 the notice of violation was returned unclaimed on December 3rd 2024 the respondant was given 15 days to come into compliance
the permit was submitted on February 3rd 2025 it is currently pending under plan review the town's unable to move forward with it um until the property owner submits their Plumbing sub
permit the notice of notice of hearing Was Heard by certified mail sent on January 21st 2025 the green card was returned signed on Jan January 28th 2025 after the no was delivered on January 24th
2025 prior to today's hearing I reinspected the building records on February 7th 2025 and the violations continue to exist I have submitted the following evidence which includes proof of service supporting documents and
photographs the town recommends that the respondent be found in violation of the town code AS alleged in the notice of violation the town ask for 30 days to come into compliance or a fine of $250 for each day the violation remains
thereafter the town is also asking to assess prosecution costs in the amount of $250 payable within 30 days so if I understand this correctly they remodeled a couple of bathrooms without permits and they filed a permit but they're still missing plumbing
permit so it can't be issued correct it all started there was a leak um through the the pipes and then the leak repair turned into the remod remodeling of the bathrooms yeah they often do but you still need a
permit is there anyone here on behalf of the respondent in this case sir can you tell me your name add address and telephone number yes U my name is Joshua Ben Ruby and I work for McDonald Hopkins law firm located at 501 South Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach
so can you tell me your last name one more time Ben Ruby B N R Ubi I one word and you represent the Schulman Roberta personal trust I represent the property owner Mr Schulman yes and I just if if you don't mind if I can just
say a few things um Mr Schulman first of all apologizes that he couldn't make it down he lives up in New York um and he apologizes he couldn't attend I wanted to provide an update for you on the status of the permit application um so as previously stated uh the con licensed
contractor applied for a remodeling permit which was submitted on the 3rd February 3rd and we spoke with the contractor and he told us that the town's currently waiting on the the licensed plumber and electrician to update their registration status uh with the town they were notified just last
week that they needed to upload certain documentation uh and the contractor we spoke to the contractor he's pushing those subs to update that information and the plans have already been approved for the remodel the electrical and the plumbing um by the town and I have
copies of those here and essentially that's just the only impediment to hopefully getting the remodel permit issued we're expecting it to be within a week so obviously this hearing came during the time when we're it's in the process so all we're asking is we're
doing everything we can to make sure that that hopefully that remodel permit gets approved and we're just asking for hopefully an extension to the next hearing to to allow that permit to be approved this week and the work to begin the C's asking me to give you 30 days
any reason that this shouldn't be done within 30 days I believe it can be done within 30 days I don't think there's a problem with that okay anything further from the town are you good all right I'll give you the 30
days than case number 24446 make the following finding a fact in law if I notice is sufficient I find the violation of 3122a exists on the property for the uh remodel repair of two bathrooms without proper permits respondent has 30 days to bring the
property into compliance or a fine of up to $250 per day May issue iess cost the amount of $250 good luck hope I won't see can we make that 30 days March 11 right you like the date certain right what is it March uh 11 March 11th 2020
five thank you sir thank you yeah I I know it does all right K C CC 24160 I am Adam owski and I've been previously sworn in the respondent is Michael equivalent the property address
is 342 20 South Ocean Boulevard 8y this case was originally heard at the code Board hearing on July 9th 2024 the board ruled the respondent had 30 days to come into compliance or fine
of $250 per day would be imposed the board also charged the respondent a $250 cost of prosecution which was paid on December 3rd 2024 on December 23rd 2024 the respondent
notified the town requesting this case be heard so the owner can request a fine reduction the property was in violation for 115 days after the date set for compliance as of today the total fine is $28,750
the town recommends the fine be reduced by 85% to $4,325 payable within 30 days or the fine will revert back to the full amount is anyone here on behalf of the respondent Michael
quinlen come on up Sir morning honor Gavin McLean on behalf of the homeowner Michael clan um Sor can you tell me your name one more time just a little Gavin McLean Gavin McLean yes from a clean law PLC and you're representing Michael wman
yes go ahead yeah so um my client unfortunately hired a plumber who didn't do very good job and he had to terminate that plumber services this isn't a case where my client was trying to do work under the
table or without filing permits he actually filed the necessary permits what happened is he ran into a disagreement with his plumber he fired him then he went on extended vacation for I think to Europe for several months and while all this happened that's when you know he apparently was getting
notice of the uh hearing and everything else like that um he was wasn't in the country to attend fortunately um but when he returned he did hire the proper plumber I spoke with Adam things are in lined so I'm asking if more than 85% if
we can you know get my clients fine reduce up to possibly 100% pay the court cost whatever else is necessary well we don't really have court cost but you can make me an ask what are you asking for you want me to I can tell you right now I'm not going to reduce it to 100% so okay oh
95% you got to give me a number I I'm not doing the math I'll do the math $1,437 how does the town feel about that number [Music] $437.50 I mean he he filed his permits
he did everything he needed to do he just unfortunately was out of the country when all this happened well he did let it run for 115 days that's yeah he's you know I mean I'm glad he take months 115
days is a long time to let it run yeah may we should just have calculators in here huh exactly right 20 years ago it had to be doing this by hand e uh Town comes back uh 90 our final
offers 90% which is $2,875 clean I think that's fine as long as my C get 60 days the town doesn't object to that what 60 days
April 11th all right uh 24172 reduced to $2,875 payable by April 11th 2025 or returns to the original amount all right e CC 2486 Seth
Fishman we have another fine reduction 24 172 oh yeah I'm sorry I just skipped didn't I sorry my bad uh the case number CC 24172 it's the same property own there I am Adam owski and I have been
previously sworn in the respondent is Michael equivalen the property address is 3420 South Ocean Boulevard 8 y this case was originally heard at the code Board hearing ing on August 13th 2024
the board ruled the respondant had 30 days to come into compliance or a fine of $250 per day would be imposed the board also charged the respondent a $250 cost of prosecution which was paid on December 3rd
2024 on December 23rd 2024 the respondent notified the town requesting this case be heard so the owner can request a f reduction the property was in violation for 82 days after the date set for compliance as of today the total fine is
20,500 the town uh recommends the fine be reduced to 2,50 and payable within 30 days or the fine will oververt back to the full amount Mr McLean I assume you're here for this one too yeah you want to make your
appearance gav M on behalf of Michel B um I don't have an issue with the amount I just asked for another 60 days like the previous one speak can get e April 11th yeah all right in KCC 24172 I reduced the fine to
$250 payable by April 11 2025 or it returns to the original amount all right let me try again here case number CC 2486 Seth Fishman right my name is Adam owski and I've been previously sworn in this is
case number cc24 d86 the respondent is Seth Fishman the property address is 2575 South Ocean Boulevard 303s at the December 10th 2024 hearing the special magistrate stayed the fines
and scheduled this case for a status update hearing today as of February 7th 2025 per Robert Fishman Seth Fishman's father he has stated the court of appeals has not yet rendered a decision in the criminal case
Robert Fishman does have a Contractor on retainer to take over the pro permit but the permits are still expired as of today the notice of hearing was served by certified mail sent on January 21st
2025 it was delivered on January 23rd 2025 the respondents are asking for another extension so they can get a decision from the court of appeals and the respondent is represented here today
whoever is representing the respond when you come up and tell me your name please my name is Robert Fishman I am the father of Seth Fishman and I have the power of attorney uh unfortunately uh Seth is in the Miami
Correction Institute and he's been in lockdown since Christmas and by lockdown what I mean is you can't call him he can't call you you can't email him he can't email you you can't write to him it's complete shut down and it's not him
it's the whole uh institution and they're doing this because there's something going on with the uh staff and uh I don't know if it's Donald Trump or something else but they just locked everybody down and it's been going on I haven't spoken to him since before
Christmas so in the interim when I found out from Adam I've spoken to him over several months when there was when they when he advised me of certain violations I took care of it there was a something with the fire code that had to be closed down and we
took care of it I paid it we had a bill here to pay I paid it I took care of it with this here I as I said I haven't even been able to speak to my son I finally got a contractor uh here which was located uh
uh recommended by uh one of the trustees from the t uh the town of Highland Beach Tow houses because I don't know anyone here I live in New York I'm not even a you know a winter resident here uh so
I'm here for the first time and I don't know how long you know I just came down for this hearing uh What uh I'm saying at this point the reason for all these problems my son prepaid a contractor Mr ban uh
and he paid him several 00,000 to do the construction and he was supposed to do the construction have the subcontractors everything and take care of all the permits and ensure everything in uh November in the
beginning of 2022 my son was sentenced at at that point and he was put into the Brooklyn Detention Center his attorney there was a Mr Bloom in this area worked out out something uh Baran just stopped working we didn't
know why or what Baran uh when he stopped uh working he didn't call us he didn't do anything he already was prepaid the attorney brought an action
against him thism the Bloom on behalf of Seth they entered into a settl a settlement agreement in uh the court in Palm Beach County and this was an agreement was uh signed
by Mr Baran and I had signed here as power of attorney for my son because he was incarcerated he had been moved to Florida from Brooklyn I have a copy of the agreement I'd like to give the court so they have it here so they understand
what's going on Mr Baran took his several $100,000 and he decided to put huh I can take that okay yeah yeah he decided to put his monies into other Ventures he was doing he bought two
properties and he didn't have the money to pay his contractors and his contractors walked off the job Mr Fish this is probably more more detail than I really need well I'm just getting to the end of it I'm sorry I'm goingon to I'm going to accept as true the fact that your son has problems and he has
problems with the people that are working for him but fundamentally I'm not a court I'm not a judge you know this is in a court of law it's a special magistrate hearing on Code Enforcement so really all I need to know is why aren't you in compliance and and what are you asking me okay I spoke to the
contractor about 20 minutes ago and he said everything's been s said to this woman who's in charge of permits and he called Adam several times he's been speaking to Adam and I've been speaking to Adam and as far as I know he says everything has been
completed and it just has to be signed off there's one or two items but he's he's been working on it since I was able to hire him and I've hired him you know some time ago let me hear from the city again what what's the status as far as as the city I'm sorry the town understand that's okay just need the
microphone um as of this morning the permits still show expired um the one question the town does have is based on the criminal case who own who's in control of the property
right now the government is holding it they have a lean on it there there's they have a restraining order that we can't do anything with it I'm taking my own funds to pay the fell to do the permits Etc Seth's funds has have all
been tied up the court of appeals case was heard in September wa Circle back there are you under a court order not to repair the property I'm sorry are you saying you're under a court order not to repair the property we have we no one's
going to pay pay for it they've tied up all his assets they won't let us touch it and the court of appeals has had a hearing in September okay his attorneys of the federal district court in the southern district of New York out of
here we expected it to come down by now if the take away the forfeiture and restitution he will go back get back his properties at that point he can go and he can pay for everything and take care of everything all right so so what you
asking me to do sir I'm sorry what are you asking me for I'm asking for extension of time how much time are you asking me for I would like it to go into April because we have a case in the uh in Palm Beach County against the the uh
the defendant the contract now what I don't understand and I look up for records is the contractor seems he never followed up you know to to keep the permits up date or anything else my son was
incapacitated the building at this point nothing's been done to do any further work on it after this may area I'm kind of confused here so you're saying you can't do anything but that you did do something I did minor things I he said there was a penalty I paid $500 to to
have to fire theart and come and say but you said you submitted the permits huh you said you submitted the permits permits have been submitted by the contractor and he says everything should be done he says there's a problem with the computers so you're talking about permits that were submitted a really
long time ago I'm sorry you're talking about per the permits that were submitted you put on for a new permit when I received the violation that I first noticed from Adam this was in the PO because I don't think the town has any record of anyone filing any new
permits double I have something on my cell phone which shows something and he says it all right well he's looking for that so what you're asking me for is uh is to continue the stay until April yeah because I'm hoping the court of appeals
will be finished I have a a trial scheduled on against the defendant the contractor in April the contractor is his uh his attorney offered 60 70,000 to settle the
matter but we don't even have the authority to settle a matter if we could but there's more involved because the agreement I just gave to Adam shows that he he's got he's he put his 66,000 into escrow and a list pend on his properties and another
66,000 is to go in there which is it's honestly it sounds like you have some complex problems here it's a mess yeah I'm too old for thisor I have to be honest I'm retired 20 years I don't practice I mean in the in terms of Code Enforcement though much of that is
really it's it's just beyond what I'm supposed to to address and a c I I understand that I'm just trying to let you know that we we've not been negligent we're trying to do the best we can on this I'm sorry okay I'm
sorry your honor to the town uh would like to uh Grant another 90 days to get this straightened out if you feel that's appropriate I know they're asking till April we can add another month onto that
and turn it into 90 days because of the complexities of the case and we're still unsure as to whether or not this is what we heard initially from the attorney uh for the property owner was
that basically the the federal government had the property locked down they didn't want anything done but we forced we had to have them take care of some life safety issues with fire sprinklers that had some issues so that was taken care of and it was you know so
it's at a place where it's safe being empty um for Life Safety with the other residents but we'd be happy to Grant 90 days instead of the 60 that he's asking to give them more time if you feel that's appropriate does the town want to schedule for another status hearing at
that point so status on May 13th that would push us to what May 13th for status oh that's one okay thank you so we'll just do it to May 13 all right let me just do this on the
record here all right case CC 2486 I hereby extend this day to May 13 2025 and I set it for status hearing on that dat Mr Fishman yes um this settlement agreement it looks like this is an original I don't know that
you want to leave it with the magistrate and he doesn't really need it so we can take a photage that and make the copy no I I don't need it okay well so it's not controlling on on this proceeding anyway I think that's it right all right
seeing no further business before us we are adjourned