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r � <br />APP 2 11992 s00K F'A.E 4..0;-; <br />felt a $500 fine was a necessary amount to deter the illegal <br />activity. According to State Statute, the Code Enforcement Board <br />could not set a lower fine. They would either dismiss it or uphold <br />the fine. <br />Community Development Director Robert Keating stressed that we <br />are trying to have some consistency here so the same type of <br />violation gets the same amount of fine regardless of circumstances. <br />Chairman Eggert asked if in the case where someone builds a <br />commercial building without proper permits, would they be given a <br />$500 fine for each job that should have been done by a licensed <br />contractor, and Director Keating confirmed that each one would be <br />a separate violation. <br />Commissioner Bird asked if there was an ability to shorten the <br />time frame in the violation procedures but still stay within the <br />present system, and Director Keating advised that we have done that <br />to some extent by having a special master. The procedure always is <br />going to be strung out to some degree. The process could be <br />condensed and probably could get down to 60 days, but it would be <br />hard to get it any less than that. This ordinance provides the <br />ability to get it down to 2 or 3 days and we have identified the <br />need to come up with a pretty strict set of policies for this. We <br />don't think every violation needs to be addressed through the <br />citation process. We want to take only the most egregious <br />violations, the most straight forward cases, through the citation <br />process. We always have the alternative of going through the <br />normal Code Enforcement process if we think it is controversial or <br />if there are extenuating circumstances. <br />Attorney Vitunac clarified that only the contractors' fines <br />cannot be reduced. The normal Code Enforcement fine can be reduced <br />by the Code Enforcement Board if they feel it is justified. <br />Commissioner Scurlock was concerned about monitoring all of <br />this and wondered if we are getting to the point where we are <br />trying to say grace over too many things. <br />Chairman Eggert didn't think that people in this county should <br />be victimized by unscrupulous people coming in and doing work when <br />we have a licensing procedure. <br />Commissioner Scurlock stressed that we have a law on the books <br />right now that one must have a license to do work in this county, <br />and if we are having difficulty catching all these jacklegs, it <br />might be better to hire more Code Enforcement officers. <br />Administrator Chandler pointed out that we are not expanding <br />what is being enforced; we are offering an alternative for handling <br />it once the citation has been issued. <br />Director Keating stated that we don't have a good way of <br />enforcing the unlicensed contractors now, and Director Rymer agreed <br />16 <br />