It's 2 p.m. on February 12th, and today's Code Enforcement Board meeting is now open. Bobby, can we get a roll call,
please? Yes, sir. Mr. Thomas's here. Doctor. Mateo here. Mr. Ogle is absent. Excused, Mr.
Stephan. Here, Mr. Abercrombie. Here. Mr. Paul here. Miss Kern here. Miss Merrick's here. Miss
Lambert here, please. Your roll call. Thank you. Would you all please stand for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance?
Dear Lord, please give the members of the board both the wisdom and the empathy to make the proper decisions on behalf
of the citizens of Tarpon Springs. Amen. Pledge of allegiance. Pledge. Allegiance. Flag. United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice, justice for all.
Alright. Be seated please. We'll now go over the hearing procedures that are utilized by the board. It is the intention
of this board to promote, protect and improve the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Tarpon Springs by providing an equitable,
effective and inexpensive method of enforcing various codes within the city of Tarpon Springs. Any aggrieved party may appeal a final administrative order of this
board to the Circuit Court. Such appeal shall be filed within 30 days of the execution of the order to be appealed.
Florida Statute 286. Dash. Excuse me. 286.0105 requires any party appealing a decision of this board to have a record
of the proceedings to support such an appeal. The procedure of this board is as follows. First, the city presents its witnesses and exhibits, after
which the alleged violator is able to ask the city's witnesses any specific questions regarding their testimony. Secondly, the alleged violator is allowed to
make a presentation and present his or her witnesses and exhibits. Then the city can question the alleged violators. Witnesses. After both rounds of
testimony, both on the part of the city and on the part of the alleged violator, each party is asked to give a closing argument, first by the city and
then by the alleged violator. After those three steps are taken, this board will close the public hearing portion of the case to discuss it and make appropriate and excuse me and
take appropriate action. Before we begin the public hearings, we will have all potential witnesses stand up and be sworn in by the secretary of the
board. Bobby. You're going to testify. You need to stand up and be sworn in. Testimony
you're about to get to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do thank you. And please, if you have a your cell phone with you, would you
please turn it to silence or off? And now, would the
inspector please present the companies, the companies that the city's first with our first
case, please? Yes, sir. My name is Mike Rollison. I'm the code enforcement officer for the city of Tarpon Springs. Last month, we came before the board with the property at 200 East
Tarpon Avenue. The board instructed us to return with an update. And at this time, I'd like to update the board. They have installed all new piping
that was that satisfied our building official. They've conducted a pressure test and they have submitted to condense the parcels into one. So all of
the city's issues have been alleviated. So we are not going to be submitting it as a case moving forward. And we were good to consider this as a case
closed. Yes, sir. All right. Very good. Okay. Moving on.
Case number C two. Is that the next one you'd like to do? I can do C two. That works. All
right. Case C two it the number is 20 5-800000705 haralambos I
kitsos. That's no. The next one is actually 722. It's the C for Saint Mary USA LLC. Okay. It's
the affidavit of noncompliance. That's fine. All right then Mr. Kitsos case will have to wait. We'll go to case 25 80000722.
Saint Mary USA, LLC for South Pinellas Avenue, Tarpon Springs, Florida. 34689. It's number 12
2715 dash 8990 82-070-0101 and violation codes 212 building permits 274. Business tax
receipt required 56.06 mobile food dispensing vehicles as accessory to food and drink establishments. So as you recall, this was before the
board last month. This was for the food truck at Spartan Gas. They have not gotten their business tax receipt and the truck was still coming and
going. It looks like they may have moved the truck out now finally, but they still have not gotten their business tax receipts in. So I'm submitting
an affidavit of noncompliance with your board order. That's
why I'm assuming we need to vote on accepting a yes, sir. And I placed the language now for the motions again in each.
If that makes it easier for you guys. It's a motion number five. I move in case number 25
80000722 to find the respondent. Saint Mary USA, LLC did not correct the violations on or before two 826 for the property located at four South Pinellas
Avenue and to accept the affidavit of noncompliance. I'll second. Okay. It's been made and seconded. We'll have a
voice vote. All those in agreement to accept this say yes yes yes yes yes. And anyone opposed? Please say no. And the
yeses have it. So it's accepted. That brings us to back to Mr. Kitsos case. That's case number 20 five. Dash 80000705
Haralambos I Kitsos 1010 Hamilton Avenue, Tarpon Springs, Florida. 34689 P.id number ten
dash 27 dash 15 dash 87822-009. Dash 0010. The code violations eight. Dash 52. Prohibitions
42.00. Parking of recreational vehicles in residential areas. Yes, this is another update to a case you guys gave an order on for 1010 Hamilton. It was a
boat that was in a trailer falling apart. It's now on a new trailer and it has been moved to the driveway. So I am submitting an affidavit of compliance for that case. Thank
you. And that's motion number four. You want to say choose to use it. Yeah. I'll make the
motion you want. You, Mr. Chair. I can make a motion. I move forward on it. Go right ahead. All right, I move that in case
number 20 5-80000705 to find the respondent. Mosquitoes in compliance with the City of Tarpon Springs code of ordinances, section eight Dash
52 and 4.00 for the property located at 1010 Hamilton Avenue and to accept the affidavit of compliance for a second. I'll
second. Okay. Any discussion? Apparently not. We'll take a voice vote. All those in favor of accepting, say yes. Yes, yes,
yes. All those opposed say no. There are no no's. So it's accepted. That brings us apparently, hopefully to our
last case, which is CC3 case number 20 5-80000585 Anthony Marcello, trustee, The Anthony
Marcello Trust 25 West Martin Luther King Junior Drive, Tarpon Springs, Florida. 34689.
It's number 13 2715 dash 89946-0100070. Code violations eight dash 40. Duty of
maintenance of private property eight Dash 41 nuisance conditions and 3603 fences, walls and hedges. There's an
approximate fine due of $4,610. The daily fine of $50 running from nine, ten, 2025 through
1211 2025. $4,600 satisfaction fee of $10. And from what I understand, this is a request for. So this is a fine reduction request, which you
all have his narrative and supporting documentation. This is the same. I'm just passing it down for Bobby. For the record. Yes. Thank you. And
after you guys make your discussion and considerations in tab three in your book, I have both motions there for either rejecting or approving.
So after your discussion, whichever you want to do, just plug in any of your numbers or dates you want to change and you're good to go. Do you want
to hear any recommendation from the city? I'm going to? That's exactly what I'm going to ask for right now. Yes, sir. Is there a recommendation from the city as to how we can rectify
this? Yes. The city was okay with reducing the fine from 4610 to $1010, but you can do whatever you want. We understand that. But that's
based on on your opinion of of the reaction from the alleged violator. Yes, sir. All right. Does anyone need to discuss
whether we should follow the city's recommendation and reduce this fine or whether we should do anything else in
regards to it? I'd like a clarification from the city as to whether the 1000 number came from. We made that determination based on the
amount of time and back and forth it took us to get the situation resolved, and the fact that this was there had been a previous case that had come all the way to the board
and was pulled before the property was cleaned up the first time. So just simply for the time and effort the city went through, I have a question.
Yes, ma'am. Right ahead. Is there a listing of past practices on how many, what percentage of the fines were reduced and to what amount? Like you just said, you based
the decision on how many how much time you put in clearing the first part of the violation. So is there any history that we have showing what the fines have been and when they've been
reduced? And for what reason do we keep a record of that? No, I don't have that kind of record. The city code enforcement
department has changed over a period of time refining some of these issues. And this is the suggestion, as Mike said, based
on the amount of time involved to get this particular case done. So they're all done by a case by case recommendation.
The city at a minimum, wants to make sure we recover all our administrative costs and time. That's for the employees that are involved in this, because
really, we're looking for a situation where the city is not out of pocket for code enforcement yet. We don't want to punish anybody with the
higher amount if possible. Once somebody comes in compliance, we are we do have situations where they don't come in compliance, and then we have to deal with that issue at a much
higher number. But the idea here is, I believe, as Mike has said, is to pass history. And this particular case, what what the city has had to do. But of
course, it's up to the board to make whatever decision you want to. Well does anyone not in agreement with the city's
recommendation to reduce the fine to $1,010 actually got a question, according to a letter, a statement and everything else, can you give him community service and say, hey, we need
you to do a few thousand dollars worth of cutting grass? It's win win for everybody. But we have to do money only. Yes. Okay, it's not a bad suggestion, but we're not set up for that. Okay? I was just asking that,
sir. No problem. All right. Anyone else? So what is the. He says he doesn't have any money based on his. Do you have the ability to to give him as much
time as you want? That's the way Mike has presented the recommended, recommended, recommended motion. So you have. So time is necessary, right. I
saw that how many calendar days going again. So what if what happens if he doesn't pay it would. So by ordinance the the maximum amount of time you can give is 365 calendar days. So
just as an example, if you said we reduce it to $100 and we give them 365 days, if he does not make that payment within 365 days, it returns to the
original amount to the original amount. Correct. So so whatever situation, if you do $100 in 30 days or $1,000 in 365, if
that's payments not made, it just returns right back to the original amount. Well, do we have any idea as to. What this
person can pay? He is here if you'd like to speak with him. And he's also submitted his documentation. Well, I can see from the documentation his financial situation, but I'd
like to directly ask, sir, what what would you be able to pay and how much time would you need? What is recommended? I will make sure it gets paid.
You'll have to speak up. I can't hear you. Whatever is recommended by the board, I will make sure it gets paid. I didn't think I was going to have to pay that much. Fine. I didn't even know it was in that
$4,000 range of amount. It's just the communication wasn't there. I moved out of my house. I did not get the letters. So, so much time went by and I can't even believe it accrued to this much. But I understand
the point. I don't want Tarpon Springs wasting their time on me, or tax dollars or anything to chase me down to get a fix. So whatever is a fair amount, I'll pay it. I've never neglected that property. I
cleaned it up, got rid of the homeless, always took care of it. Just a bad time in my life. So that's it. So, sir. I'm sorry. Board member, care to make a recommendation as to how
much time? I'd like to ask him a question? Sure. All right, so if the fine is reduced to the recommended amount or something else, were you saying you go
pay it? Do you want. I understand that, but do you need time to pay it or will you pay it up front? Pay it. So if it's $1,010, you will pay with. Yes sir. Okay. So you don't
need, you know, a reasonable amount. Just give me 30 days at least, if that's okay. Yeah, that's. That's what I'm asking. Do you need some more time or how does that since we've, we've reviewed your obviously
your information here but money's coming in right now. So it's just whatever I have I'm juggling I understand. I just want to make sure that, you know, we don't do something unreasonable, and you say, well,
I can't pay anything or I can. I'll pay it up front, or will I, do I need more time? Do I need that's why I'm asking it a little more than that. That would help me. If you can't, that's fine too. And it will.
Whatever the number is, it will be paid within 30 days, if that's okay. So 30 days is is appropriate is reasonable for you to to make that done. So that's a discussion we can have. But that's that's what I wanted
to ask if that's even any other questions. That was a good question. I appreciate you bringing it up. I don't have anything else. Now we need a motion. Anybody ready to make a motion? I can make the motion.
I have no issue with the the the city's recommendation of $1,010 and give the gentleman 30 days to to pay it. If that's
something. There's a recommended wording. Yeah. So the so I'll do the approval piece. Is that so I move that
in this case 20 5-800000585 to find the respondent Anthony Marcello trustee. And Anthony Marcello trust. I did correct the violations for the property
located at 25 West Martin Luther King Junior Drive in Tarpon Springs, but did not pay the fine of the $44,610 and to approve the request for
reduction and reduce the fine of the $4610 to $1010, inclusive of administrative costs, and and order the respondent to pay the reduced
fine of the amount of $1,010 within 30 calendar days of this order, and if not paid by the deadline of this order, the original fine amount will be
due. Second, the motion has been made and seconded. We can take a vote on it. All those in
favor say yes yes yes yes yes yes. Anyone opposed? Say no and the motion passes. Thank you,
thank you sir. Inspector. Any further? Just items from give you a little bit of an update of where we are in the new year.
We've done north of 60 inspections and we have opened 26 cases so far this month
alone. So we're we're moving. All right. Any. Board comments?
Yes, sir. This is an administrative question. Is there any mechanism within the city to allow for someone to do
a payments on a, on a recurring monthly payments, as opposed to one flat out fee? Normally what we have as we did today is if somebody comes forward and
makes that request, we will bring it to the board's attention and allow you to decide. The city obviously is not objecting to that. Again, what we're trying to do here is
get compliance. And if somebody needs a time period, that's, as Mike said, up to a year. We're willing to do that once somebody comes in compliance. I mean, we've gotten the major
part done, and it's just a question of whether or not they can afford the fine and payments, and we certainly would work with them. And as
you heard Mike say today, we were not objecting to any time period. It's just and of course, you asked the individual the question. And so we we're fine
with that. Anything else? You have minutes to be approved on your agenda today. I'm sorry I couldn't hear minutes from
January 8th needs be. It's not. Yeah. It's in your as I was going through I'm going through your online agenda. Number five
is the accepting of the minutes from January 8th, 2026. All right. Does anyone object to accepting the minutes? All
those in favor say yes. Yes. Okay. Anything else? Any. There's no public comments. I don't see anybody in the public
gallery. Public comments? No, no public comments. Any any board further board comments. Okay, well, then let the record
indicate that the time is 2:23 p.m. and this board meeting is
closed. Thank you.