Public Safety Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay, start this over again. Good morning. This is the Friday, the August 21st meeting of the Liberal Metro Code Enforcement Board. My name is Chris Wantland. I am chairman of the board, also a member. With me here today is, to my left, is Ms. Pam Waddell. Online, I believe I have Ms. Christine Snyder. We have three members present, so we do have a quorum. Ladies, do we have any new business, any motions?

No new business.

Ms. Schneider?

No new business.

Okay. Do we have any old business?

No, sir. Nope.

Okay. With that being said, that concludes our business, and I will go ahead and adjourn our August 21st meeting of the Code Board, and we'll get started with our docket. Okay, good morning. This is the Friday, the August 21st docket, Louisville Metro Code Enforcement Board. My name is Chris Wantlin. I am a member of the board. We'll be hearing cases today, as will Ms. Pam Waddell, seated to my left. I have Ms. Christine Schneider online, and Ms. Niafalo is still out on medical. With me in the hearing room today from the code enforcement staff is Mr. Devron Abrams, who is our coordinator, who will be calling cases today and recording today's proceedings. Um, I also have, let's see, uh, God officer Tim closest here, providing security for us here at the facility today. I'm also joined by assistant county attorney, the honorable Michael spin law, uh, representing the board as counsel and keeping me out of trouble is the honorable Haley keen seated to my right. Uh, we're, uh. Operating virtually today is defined with the chaos or guidelines for open records meetings. Um, additional individuals may participate in cases if they have relevant information, those individuals will be sworn in and identified as needed at the onset. I want to clarify the role of the board and the scope of today's proceedings. The board is administrative body of limited jurisdiction. We are here only to consider appeals of specific citations that have been properly documented for today and we cannot hear matters that are not on today's docket and we do not address unrelated disputes or complaints. The board does not interpret the law or provide legal advice. Our function is to act as a fact finder based on the evidence presented, whether the conditions existed at the time of inspection to support. The issues of a citation are the applicable metro ordinances. I will read the following one time and one time only. However, it will apply to all cases heard here today, whether in person or virtually. All participants must be sworn in before speaking. Please wait to be sworn in by Ms. Keene before you do so. Once sworn, you are testifying under oath and your testimony is a matter of public record. This is an official proceeding. Any false statement you make may be referred by this board for prosecution for either perjury or false swearing. While these proceedings are less formal than a court of law, the board will consider relevant, relevant, relevant and reliable information and will determine the credibility and weight to be given to that evidence. Please do not interrupt anyone while they are speaking. I will ensure that all parties with relevant, relevant, relevant. information will have a opportunity to be heard. You may not get to say what you want to say when somebody is speaking. Once they're finished, make a note in your head, and once they're finished speaking, then you can make your statement. If any time things get out of hand, I will cease all communications until order is restored. After hearing from both the county and the appellant, the board will determine whether to uphold the citation any associated fines. The board has added its discretion based on the evidence to adjust the fine or to conditionally discharge it. Each case is decided on its own facts, weight and merit and prior outcomes do not control the result in any other cases. Once again, the board cannot provide legal advice to any party. Once your case is finished, please wait for a staff member to give you a copy of today's order. If you're appearing virtually, a copy will be mailed to your address of record with the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration. Okay, you will call our first case.

NF-SWMS-26-000158914 39th Street.

The county is actually going to object to this one being called. This is the third time it has been on our docket. The previous two times we have had our officer here and the appellant has not been present. I believe there was a default judgment entered in both times. And during the second hearing, the county requested that this not be placed back on the docket. I understand it was done so last night and the county would object to this being.

So this got placed under the dark of night on our docket. You had no notice of it?

No, we found out about this this morning.

No, no, that's dirty, Poole. ENF-SWMS-26-000158, address being 914 39th Street, is hereby dismissed. I'm sorry.

Well, I'm going to uphold it, but I'm dismissing that appeal. Next case.

NF-SWMS-26-000227 6505 Bethany Lane. What do we have here for 6505 Bethany Lane?

Okay. Yeah.

Um, what happened with that case? Do we have an agreement on it? Yeah.

I need to read it in the record.

Okay.

Please. Do I need to sign the agreement?

I think you did not.

No.

Was that the service member? Which one was that?

No, that was, this one has been like passed a couple of times, but they had an agreement. It was not the service. It's not the service one. No, it was a different one. It was on our document.

It was waiting on the signature.

Yes.

Yes.

But I'm saying I need to.

Yeah, yeah.

And if we don't have it here, then just.

Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Yeah, let's read it.

Dash dash dash 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 2.

And the county reached an agreement with the owner of the vehicle that will be impounded for 3 months. I believe. Three months, $1,000 in tow costs? That's correct.

Okay, so upheld. Next case.

ENF-ZON-26-000180-4, 6904 Terry Road.

Good morning, ma'am.

Good morning.

Can you please state your name for the record? Michael Lynn Henderson. And what's your affiliation with the property? I live there. Okay. Are you related to Rocky LaVon? That's my kid's father, my boyfriend. Okay. But you are not on the deed?

No, I'm not on the deed.

Okay. So unfortunately, we can't take testimony from you today because we have to have either Mr. LaVon present or an attorney needs to be present or you need to be on the deed.

Um, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and defer to you, Mr. Watland about matter of E. N. F. Z. O. N. S. Two six zero zero one eight zero dash four. The address being 6904 Terry Road. I have no one present as the individual here that is filed. The appeal does not have standing on this. So unless the property owner files an appeal or there's an attorney present, I can't hear anything. So this appeal is dismissed.

Okay, so will he file another appeal and have an attorney come in?

When was this cited? Because it might be past the point of... He only had 30 days to file an appeal, and if he didn't file it properly, I can't extend it.

Well, this has been appealed six times and closed six times.

Ma'am, I can't take testimony from you.

I'm sorry. This citation was issued June 30th.

Okay, we asked the point of appeal if it decided again, he can appeal otherwise we can't hear anything.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next case.

In F dash dash 0, 0, 1, 0, 3, 2 dash 2, 40, 1, 0, 7, river park drive.

Is anybody here for 4107 River Park Drive?

Good morning. This is John.

Good morning, Mr. Benz. You're here for GNCS LLC?

Yes, sir.

Do you have anyone present to testify today, Mr. Benz?

I thought Clay Smith was going to be on with me. Let me check my screen to see if I see him. Clay Smith is on with us.

Okay, and Mr. Smith is your camera on and your microphone on.

Why can you turn your camera and Mike on.

Yes, Mr. Smith more. Hello, please mute their microphones. Please. Okay. There we go. All right, Mr. Smith, are you ready to give testimony?

Yes, I'm ready.

Please raise your right hand and state your name for the record.

Clay Smith.

Do you swear from the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I swear.

Great, thank you. And then Mike, are you presenting this one?

I am.

State your name for the record.

Mike Wiltshire.

Do you swear from the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

So this property was cited for operation of a transitional house without the proper permitting. Since then, the applicant has applied and had a pre-app approved for the conditional use permit was completed on August 12th, 2026. The issues were not only operation of the transitional house, but that the house had been divided up into three apartments. So at any rate, the conditional use permit pre-application was just completed and I suppose they'll be proceeding with the formal CUP will be the next action requested.

Is that correct, sir? Mr. Smith? Yes, it's correct. Actually, we have to do the we were advised by the board. I met with him on Wednesday and of this week, and I was advised to do the formal hearing and then go move forward with the conditional use permit after that hearing provided. There's no objection from the community. And for the entryway, we did have an inspection on site where somebody, we worked with Alicia to come out and inspect alongside of our project manager. Everything was removed and up to what they expected to be done with the exception of a doorway needs to be cut in between two units. And we've dispatched a work order for that to be done this coming week and have it re-inspected.

Alrighty, um, in that case, the, the county would request that we push this out 30 days just so we can check and make sure that that has been done and that, um, that. Permit has gone in September. That's fine with us.

I am.

If possible, Mr. Watland, could we have the October 2nd date that you had given me a week or so ago? I'm not going to be available. It looks like around the 18th and the 25th of September when the 30 days would be up.

The problem is, Mr. Benz, this is not a property management case, but I guess... What would your date be?

Let me look at my calendar and see who we can move around.

I was going to move it to the 18th of September, but if you tell me that's not a good date for you, then I can move it to October the 2nd and hopefully we'll have resolution by then. It might even be conditionally discharged.

I am in, I believe circuit court. It looks like that morning on the 18th.

Okay, so is October the 2nd a good 1 for you?

Yes, sir. I'm already scheduled to be here that day. So that is okay.

So in the matter of ENF-ZON-26-001032-2, the address being 4107 River Park Drive, we're going to pass this to October the 2nd. Like I said, hopefully by then you might have all the T's crossed and I's dotted and we might not even have to come back and we can conditionally discharge it. So we'll see you back on the 2nd.

Thank you, Mr. Benz.

Thank you, sir.

Next case.

ENF-BRD-26-00857-22017 Street Road. I also have ENF-BRD-26-00858.

Are we going to have with this case? So what's your name for the record?

Donald English.

Okay. Can you please raise your right hand? Please raise your right hand. Do you swear from the testimony about to give us the truth told you that nothing about the truth?

Yes.

All right. And I'm just trying to verify who the witness. I'm going to get the officer sorted. Can you say your name for the records and your affiliation with the, uh, with Metro?

Yes, ma'am. My name is Officer Robbie Ratliff. I'm an officer with Louisville Metro Animal Services.

Please raise your right hand. Do you swear a verbal testimony about to give us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Okay. And was there a witness that submitted the complaint to the department or?

The department is the witness.

Okay.

Could you tell us what happened with this case here?

Oh, yes, sir. Mr English was cited 2 different times for his dogs not having microchips and or Louisville Metro animal licenses.

Has that has that changed? Do we have microchips? Do we have yes. Do you have any any documentation of that?

No, I didn't know what I was coming for. Okay. Because I did have them done at the. Metro department.

If I may, he has license and microchips verified on three animals. We just don't know how many other animals he still has that are not in compliance yet.

Understood. Understood. How many animals do you have in your home?

Well, right now I had three, and then my grandson brought his dog back, and my granddaughter brought hers back. But they're supposed to be moving out. All right. Until they get in a place where they're supposed to be moving to. I'm going to make sure they get licensed and all that. They said it was licensed, but I don't know.

Right. Well, we can't have any, any animals on your home that aren't microchips or license that it's even if they are your, your children's kids, your grandchildren's kids, your friends, kids, whoever, as long as they're on your property, they're your responsibility. So we can't have those, those animals there without those chips. Um, I will leave this 1 of the board's discretion, but I will submit that they're the testimony that has been given will establish the conditions the citation as it was issued that there are animals on this property and their licensure and. Chip status is unknown and we can't verify it. And that's what I'll submit to the board.

Okay.

When did we anticipate these animals to be leaving your property, meaning the visiting animals?

I hope next month. Next month? Yeah, because they probably getting their place. They were moving and they didn't have no place to put them right then.

Um, if the, if the animals are there, and the animals are staying there for at least a month, we're going to have to ask that the, uh, the citation be upheld and at least a portion of the fine be upheld because that is a long time for non shipped and non licensed animals to be on a property.

Go ahead, you got it.

Uh, looks like 150 on each of them.

So, we got 150 and 150. yes, sir. And these two additional animals, like you said, are not yours. They're family members who are supposed to be moving out next month. But we do have the requirement here that they have to be licensed. They have to be microchipped. Yeah. No, no, no. We have to go. I mean, this has been going on for a while. You know, yeah. So we don't know if they're up on their shots. They've had the rabies and everything else. So kind of ties my hands, Mr. English, and I think your family members are going to owe you some money or owe you some dinner because in the matter of ENF-BRD-26-00857, I'm going to uphold the citation. I'm going to uphold... The $150 fine, however, I'm going to conditionally discharge 100 of that $50. So one of your grandkids owes you 50 bucks. The matter of NF-BRD-26-00858. Uh, still another $150. I'm going to hold the citation, the $150 fine. And I'm going to conditionally discharge a hundred dollars of that as well. So the other grandchild owes you 50 bucks or better or however you want to do it. But those dogs have to be licensed. They have to be, they have to be chipped. So now they owe you and you'd say, Hey, look, he took a hundred dollars. You owe me 50, you owe me 50. So make sure you get your money. If they don't move out and if they do get called back again and we end up with something ending in 859, we get another case, that $200 that I conditionally discharged to give you a break will come back into play. So I don't want to do that. I don't want to dig deep in your pocket, okay?

All righty.

All right, sir.

Sir. All right, thank you.

ENF-SWMS-26-000227 6505 Bethany Lane 6505 Bethany Lane Is anybody here for 6505 Bethany Lane?

All right. The matter of VNF-SWMS-26-000227-6505 Bethany Lane. Appellant is not present at 8.52. We start at 8.30. Their appeal is dismissed, and that citation and fine are upheld in its entirety. What's the fine on that, gentlemen?

Good morning. Can you please state your name for the record and your affiliation with Metro?

Tarek White, Louisville Metro Solid Waste Enforcement.

Do you swear in front of the testimony you're about to give us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Thank you.

How much is that fine? That's $1,250?

Yes, $1,250. Basically, he already paid the fine. He was just trying to get his bond back.

Oh, then it is dismissed because I have no jurisdiction. He's paid the fine, and if he wants to get his bond money back or his fine money back, he needs to go talk to OMB. That's not something I can bless off on, so that is dismissed.

X.

Do we have anyone here for a hearing online?

The Germans, I think I have one other case on your all stock it this morning.

Not you again. Which one you got, sir?

I believe I have 3130 Grand Avenue. Garland. Maybe. 31 maybe garland 31 30 garland avenue family trust shelter case is that the correct property this is correct yes okay okay i just wrote the wrong name down all right

Who's presenting this one? Is this Mike again? Okay, so Mike, you're going to present again. All right. And Mr. Smith?

We need to read the... Oh, sorry.

We got to call the case. I'm jumping the gun.

ENF-SHL-26-000027-3, 3130 Garland Avenue.

So my understanding is that this property has been cited for operation of the transitional housing without required permits, and that the last inspection in July, to our knowledge, hasn't made any progress on getting the permits for the transitional house of this property.

I see that we are redocketed from 724. Mr. Smith, is there any update on this property?

Can I note, I'm going to interject real quick and just remind Mr. Smith, you've been previously sworn just for the record, so you're still under oath.

Thank you, Ms. King.

Yeah. Yes, we did file a CUP case with zoning. They opened it up and we had our free hearing on Wednesday along with the other case. And I was advised by the board that this, of the four cases that we are currently working, would be the easiest case. If we reduce our occupancy by one person, we could skip the public hearings and move to a conditional use permit. So we'll be fast-tracking this one to a conditional use permit and applying for the shelter license after that.

Now, you mentioned there was a pre-hearing date. Did they give you a hearing date?

No, I'm sorry. It was a pre-hearing. When we file the CUPS, they call them a pre-application. Oh, okay. Understood.

We wouldn't object to another 30-day continuance so that they can get this taken care of. It sounds like it's well on its way.

Okay.

So in the matter of ENF-SSHL-26-000027-3, the address being 3130 Garland Avenue, I'm going to push this out to that same October the 2nd date, Mr. Benz. Yes, sir. And like the same one, hopefully it'll resolve itself and we can get off the docket before then. But if not, we'll see you on the 2nd of October.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ladies, have a good weekend and see you all next week.

Thank you, Mr. Benz.

Anyone else online? Anyone else online whose case has not been called? Last call. Anyone online whose case has not been called?

Mr. Abrams, let's call the no-shows.

Enf-BRD-26-00817-6004, Gloria Lane. Notice was sent on this? Yes, sir.

For non-appearance, uphold the citation and the $150 fine.

Yes, sir. Next. ENF-BRD-26-00859-6634, Strawberry Lane.

Notice was sent?

Yes.

Copy.

$150. Yes, sir.

Uphold the citation, the $150 fine. That's all we have?

That's it.

Do we have any other business anybody on the doc?

Christine looks so thrilled. She got up on vacation.

Come on, the winery opens up in a few hours. Oh, boy.

I'm sorry, I'm cutting into your happy hour.

I know, right?

As background, this is the case that there was a mix up with codes that led to them not being at the hearing. They were defaulted upon and they appealed it to district court. We had a hearing at district court and we asked that the case be put on hold until we could redock at them so that they could have a chance to plead their case before that hearing.

Okay.

You said not that those materials like Monday or something.

Yeah, I believe that's correct. I'm not sure what the address was. Did I put the case number in there?

Of course I didn't.

At least if I can put it on my phone.

Robbie Howard here online. Let me turn my video on. It's the Alderawi case, Robbie. I don't know. Yeah, I was going to say that was just on last Friday. We were going to see if we could send notice to him for a new hearing date. And then, depending on that, how that hearing went, then we would know what to do with the district court case. But as Michael said, it sounded like there was a mix up that that we may have some responsibility. And so we felt like the best course of action was to just give him a new hearing in front of the code board.

How far out do you want to put it? Robbie?

Uh, whatever standard 30 days or you would. I'm not sure which it's a regular code enforcement case. Isn't it? Michael? Is that right?

Yes, yeah, it should be a regular code enforcement case. I believe it might be a zoning case.

For some reason, my email is not working, so I'm having trouble pulling it up.

Robbie, do we know if that's a property maintenance or if it's a zoning case?

I thought it was a property maintenance case, but I could be wrong.

Do you happen to have the case number? Because they're kind of hunting for it.

I've got the case number. Well, not not that case number. I have the court case number.

Yeah, I can look it up if you want.

Oh, I got it. Hold on. I got a citation. I have the case number. I have the property. The property is. Give me the case number, Michael. Case number is it is a zoning case. It is ENF-ZON-22-000419-8.

So it is a zoning case, I guess. That was your question, right?

Yeah. Okay. So in that matter, we will pass that for the 25th of September. That should give you plenty of time to get notice out and whatever else we need to do.

Michael, you might want to let Devron know we have to issue new notice on that one. Yeah, Debra, we're going to have this. You need to notice on that one. I didn't realize he was sitting right next to you.

All right. Well, we got that one clarified. Anything else? Mr. Spindle, you have anything else?

No, sir. That is all I have.

Nope. Okay. Thank you. Have a great weekend. I say we adjourn.