LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Posted on 07 January 2016 by LeslieM

RE: Code Compliance harassment

Dear Mayor Robb, City Manger Hansen and City Commissioners:

As a resident, General Contractor, homeowner and a part of Deerfield Beach since the early 1970s, I am writing this letter so that the city leaders are aware of the abuse of power, harassment and resentment that the code compliance team [Calvin, Giordano & Associates] is causing in the community with their interpretation and misuse of the codes. They are supposed to help and serve the residents, not create animosity, anger and fear by their SWAT team “sweeps” and their over-the-edge enforcement of code compliance and violations, which is supposed to be at a minimum standard.

Unfortunately, they establish their own minimum standards and write violations in volume because there [is] no established or accepted standard for comparison, and it seems there is very little supervision or control by the city over their activities and abuses.

I called the building department twice (around May/June and then in Nov.) and Norman Bruhn came out both times. He was very helpful and understood my concerns and the seriousness of my neighbor’s structurally damaged seawall. In the 17+ years I lived at this address, I have witnessed two seawalls collapse on the south side of our lagoon, causing lawsuits, thousands of dollars in repair costs, plus a lot of grief, stress and aggravation. Norman said he, or the engineering department would refer this matter to code compliance.

I was hopeful code compliance would help in preventing another seawall disaster (including further damage to my seawall) and would have the owner make the required repairs. I really felt that code compliance would be professional, responsible and help resolve this serious structural seawall problem.

Was I in for a rude surprise! The code compliance team looked at the seawall on Nov. 6 and, between that date and Nov 20, they wrote no less than 28 violations for the eight homes on the southeast side of NE 8 Ave. There are only eight homes on that side of the street on the lagoon, and Bernard Pita’s team wrote violations for every one of them, no matter how petty or frivolous.

Pita said he still has to “sweep” the other side of the street causing more harassment, anger and resentment toward the city.

On Dec. 17, I talked to Assistant City Manager Brian Donavan. First, I want to say that Brian has always been helpful. He is always very professional, honest and nice. He was sympathetic on the poor timing of these violations.

Brian explained that these “sweeps” were in fact standard practices, common and accepted procedures and were done previously by BSO when they supervised code enforcement, even though there is no law, code or ordinance governing them. I would like to know how many sweeps and violations BSO wrote out in their time in Deerfield Beach code enforcement, compared to [Calvin, Giordano & Associates].

I am astonished that the city officials would tolerate and condone these abuses against their citizens. The city should immediately stop and cancel Calvin, Giordano & Associates, contract, rescind all their violations, and reassess code policies and practices.

Frank J. Kenney

Deerfield Beach

[excerpt of letter]

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