Longboat Key commissioner calls for Code Enforcement Board changes after record fine

Incensed by a $49,106 fine levied against an absentee Longboat Key homeowner, Commissioner Phill Younger is calling for changes in the way the Code Enforcement Board does business.

Younger, who sat on the code board for roughly three years before becoming a commissioner, said the fine is just the latest evidence the Code Enforcement Board is ill-equipped to do its job.

“The bottom line, and I mean no disrespect to anybody who serves on the board, is it’s not working. It hasn’t been working,” Younger said. “We need to take a different approach.”

Younger said possible solutions include reducing the number of board members from seven to five, or having a magistrate operate the code board. The magistrate could be a lawyer who knows land-use laws and understands the codes, he said, although it does not have to be an attorney.

“Even while I was there, I realized there are people serving on it, although fine people, who weren’t really qualified to be doing what they were doing,” Younger said. “That has continued to happen over the eight years I’ve been gone from them.”

Randy Mann, of Mount Sterling, Ky., received the $49,106 fine for alleged code violations involving a deteriorating fence, roof and drainage issues and unsound stairs. Mann accrued a $100 daily fine for the fence violation for 160 days, plus another $100 daily fine for the roof and drainage issues and a $50 daily fine for the staircase problems, both for a total of 219 days. Administrative and recording fees were also added to the total.

It is by far the largest lien recorded by the town since 2000, according to Sandi Henley, budget analyst for the Longboat Key Finance Department.

The previous record was set in 2009, when a $13,250 lien was attached to a Longboat Key homeowner’s property, according to Henley. That is the only code enforcement fine of more than $10,000 in the past 16 years, according to Henley’s research, with a few others topping $5,000.

Code board fines are converted into liens for collection purposes. The commission will be asked to rule on whether it will wipe out the lien, reduce it or let it stand at its 7 p.m. Nov. 7 meeting, according to Town Attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale.

Code board member Beverly Shapiro said she hopes the commissioners will “have their back” and uphold the fine, which she said was fair. She blames Mann for the bill, saying he ignored all inspection and violation notices.

“He waited until he was ready to make the changes,” she said. “He wasn’t willing to do it for the town. I don’t think the town should lower the fine. I don’t feel sorry for the man.”

Shapiro said the code board’s biggest concerns are correcting safety issues and ensuring code compliance so one neighbor doesn’t interfere with another’s property.

“He thumbed his nose at the town,” Shapiro said.

The code board rejected an appeal from Mann, who was represented at the Oct. 10 hearing by real estate agent Tom Hanly, of Sarasota. Instead, the board recommended that the commission uphold its original fine.

Younger indicated the lien amount could be changed by commissioners.

“I have questions about the validity of some of the charges that were brought,” Younger said. “That’s strictly my opinion. It is an unusually high lien.”

Hanly said his client is looking to lower the lien.

“What he said to me was when I told him the decision: ‘Should I get an attorney?’” Hanly said. “It’s just a ridiculous amount of money.”

Through Hanly, Mann requested the lien be cut in half, which would still make it the largest code enforcement violation in Longboat Key history.

Mann wrote in a letter to Mayor Jack Duncan in September that he began to work to correct violations shortly after learning the property was in violation.

“I just don’t know why it took so long to do the repairs,” Hanly said. “To me, that’s a mystery. Once he contacted me, I got estimates. He said the house would be improved. He approved the estimates, and we did everything very quickly.”

Mann did not return repeated calls for comment from the Longboat Observer.

“Sitting on the other side, the amount that is involved … $50,000 is an awful lot of money considering the violations,” Hanly said. “There are many houses that were much, much worse eyesores than this.”

Mann’s home at 549 Hornblower Lane is now listed for sale at nearly $1.9 million. Mann bought the home in a short sale in 2010 for $1.2 million.