magistrate - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T13:11:12Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/magistrateBriny Breezes: Town setting rules for new code magistratehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/briny-breezes-town-setting-rules-for-new-code-magistrate2021-04-28T14:52:52.000Z2021-04-28T14:52:52.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Briny Breezes is preparing to hire a special magistrate to resolve code disputes with homeowners when all else fails.<br /> Though cases of noncompliance are rare, they have been troublesome for town officials and staff during the last three years.<br /> On April 22, the Town Council gave unanimous final approval to an ordinance that defines eligibility for magistrates and clarifies their role. <br /> Council members also accepted Town Attorney Keith Davis’ recommendation on whom they should hire: Kevin Wagner, who has worked as a magistrate in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Tequesta.<br /> “I’ve worked with him, and I don’t know anyone who’s better suited,” said Davis, who also has served as a magistrate for West Palm.<br /> In 2018, the council voted to authorize using magistrates to resolve code disputes, rejecting the alternative of appointed citizen review boards. But until April, the town didn’t have clearly defined qualifications or rules for how the magistrate hiring and use should operate.<br /> Magistrates typically are retired judges or experienced lawyers who work as freelance, independent contractors on an “as needed” basis. They usually earn about $175 to $250 an hour.<br /> Briny needs the services of a magistrate only a few times a year. The overwhelming majority of code cases are settled quickly without dispute or complaints, officials say.<br /> <strong>In other business:</strong><br /> • Town Manager William Thrasher had a mixed report on replacing the town’s aging, leaky water mains.<br /> The good news for the council is that the Briny corporation is willing to contribute as much as $80,000 toward the project.<br /> But the not-so-good news is that the town likely will need to hire an engineer and probably won’t be able to piggyback onto an existing Gulf Stream contract because of legal complications.<br /> Using the Gulf Stream contract would have allowed the town to cut through red tape and proceed with hiring a contractor to do the work quickly. Mallard Drive has had a rash of water main breaks recently and repairs likely are also needed elsewhere in town.<br /> Thrasher said he’s confident the project will move forward despite the hurdles, and the council is expected to discuss the plan at its next regular meeting on May 27.<br /> • The council unanimously approved the first reading of a new sign ordinance that officials hope better aligns the town with corporate rules and addresses concerns about protecting free speech. The ordinance restricts signs’ size, placement and hours of display, but steers clear of content. </p></div>Briny Breezes: Town chooses magistrate process for code disputeshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/briny-breezes-town-chooses-magistrate-process-for-code-disputes2018-01-31T18:14:30.000Z2018-01-31T18:14:30.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Briny Breezes council members took the advice of new Town Manager Dale Sugerman on Jan. 25 and voted to bring in a special magistrate to resolve disputes with homeowners who refuse to comply with building codes.<br /> The vote was 4-1, with Alderwoman Christina Adams dissenting. Adams favored creating a code enforcement board made up of residents to decide the violation cases.<br /> Sugerman, the first town manager in Briny’s history, argued to the council that, while either a magistrate or citizens board would work, the magistrate was the better choice.<br /> “Both processes would result in nearly identical expense to the town,” Sugerman said.<br /> With the magistrate process, the town would have to pay an hourly rate to a retired judge or specially trained lawyer to hear the cases. With the citizens board, the town would have to pay a lawyer an hourly rate to represent the board members.<br /> Sugerman said the magistrate approach is preferable because of the difficulty in finding residents to fill the board. The volunteers would need to have some experience with codes or building, they would have to be in town year-round to hear cases in the summer, and they would have to be free of conflicts of interest or bias against neighbors who might come before them.<br /> In a close-knit, close-quartered community like Briny, those criteria would be hard to meet.<br /> The special magistrate will be brought in only as needed, and that won’t be often. Council President Sue Thaler said “99 percent of building violations are resolved” quickly with minimal disputes.<br /> Sugerman said he expects magistrates to charge between $175 and $275 an hour and told the council he would have more information for the February meeting.<br /> <strong>In other business:</strong><br /> • Many Briny residents have wondered in recent months what duties a part-time town manager would perform. Sugerman, who has worked as a municipal manager for 40 years with recent stops in Delray Beach and Highland Beach, gave the council and residents a rundown of his first month on the job.<br /> During the first three weeks of January, Sugerman said, he reported to Palm Beach County on the town’s plans for using penny sales tax revenues, met with a FEMA representative to seek reimbursements from Hurricane Irma, attended a League of Cities meeting, surveyed residents on code and rules enforcement, screened candidates for the deputy clerk position after Jackie Ermola announced she was resigning Feb. 16, worked on resolving golf cart-crossing issues with the state, researched obtaining drawings of the town’s utility system, scheduled a meeting with the Boynton Beach police chief to discuss safety issues, and provided guidance to the council on hiring a special magistrate.<br /> • Briny plans to mark its 60th anniversary as a community with food, drink and celebration on March 24, general manager Theresa Pussinen says. Corporate officials will release times of events — including a possible golf cart parade — and more details next month.<br /> In 1958, Michigan native Ward Miller sold the land that became Briny to a group of trailer campers, and a community was born. Five years later, Briny was incorporated as a town.</p></div>Briny Breezes: Town delays decision on magistrate after residents’ outcryhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/briny-breezes-town-delays-decision-on-magistrate-after-residents-2017-05-03T16:44:03.000Z2017-05-03T16:44:03.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960721285,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960721285,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960721285?profile=original" /></a><em>More than 60 Briny Breezes residents, including speaker Joe Coyner, showed up at the April 27</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>council meeting to complain about a proposed ordinance that would create</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>a magistrate position to resolve building code disputes.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> Just about every municipality in Florida uses a magistrate to settle disputes over code violations between homeowners and local government.<br /> Briny Breezes doesn’t, and that’s not likely to change without a fight.<br /> In a scene reminiscent of a decade ago when Brinyites considered selling their land to developers, an overflow crowd packed Town Hall to protest a change residents believe could mean selling out their idiosyncratic culture.<br /> Apparently it all started in Joe Coyner’s bathroom. A 30-year Briny resident who serves on several of its corporate committees, Coyner wanted a new shower and hired someone to install it. No one obtained a permit from the town.<br /> A building inspector saw parts of the old shower outside Coyner’s mobile home and cited him for a violation. The town charged him $171 for the missing permit and another fee to expedite the paperwork. Coyner says he talked to legal and building experts outside the town who say no permit was needed, so he says no inspection of the work is needed.<br /> Coyner and Briny officials have been locked in a standoff for months now over the permit charges and inspection. Besides Coyner, two other cases, involving work by an unlicensed contractor, are similarly stalled because of disputes over code violations.<br /> In March, the Town Council by consensus asked its attorney, John Skrandel, to draft a proposed ordinance for discussion at the April 27 meeting. The ordinance would allow the town to hire a magistrate to resolve its code disputes. A magistrate is an authorized official, usually a lawyer, who acts as a judge to rule on cases and impose fines.<br /> Word of the magistrate idea touched off a firestorm. Dozens of Brinyites signed a petition opposing the move, and the fire marshal’s limit of 70 filled Town Hall for the meeting.<br /> “I am totally opposed to setting up this magistrate form of government,” Coyner said. “We have very competent people here. … We can solve our own problems.”<br /> “You’re destroying the fabric of Briny,” said Joe Masterson, whom the town accuses of working as an unlicensed electrical contractor in the park.<br /> “This is creating an adversarial relationship,” Tom Byrne told the council. “I don’t like what I’m seeing.”<br /> Several residents complained the town shouldn’t bring in “outsiders” to solve problems that should be handled internally — Brinyite to Brinyite.<br /> “This is an overreaching action. This is something that’s not needed,” said former Mayor Roger Bennett, who argued cases of noncompliance are too rare to warrant the new law and new expense.<br /> Council President Sue Thaler and Deputy Town Clerk Jackie Ermola agreed that stalemates are infrequent, saying about 99 percent of the code disputes settle quickly and amicably.<br /> “But for the 1 percent that don’t, then what?” Thaler asked. She said the council has no authority to deal with homeowners who ignore violations and fines.<br /> “What do we do with people who won’t obey the law?” Alderman Bobby Jurovaty asked. He said he was concerned about uncorrected, serious violations that would pose safety threats even to neighbors — electrical fires, for example.<br /> After more 2 1/2 hours of often heated debate, the council voted to table the proposal until October, when Briny’s snowbirds return and the park is full of opinions. Aldermen Jim McCormick, Christina Adams and Chick Behringer voted for the postponement; Thaler and Jurovaty opposed it, arguing the town shouldn’t allow the problem to fester for six more months.<br /> At 4 p.m. Oct. 12, the council plans to hold a joint workshop with the Planning and Zoning Board to discuss the magistrate idea. The public is invited.</p></div>