HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Office of the City Attorney SRSecond Reading Ordinance
CITY OF MI.AMI
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
MEMORANDUM .
TO: The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Julie O. Bru, City Attorney
DATE: June 1, 2012
RE: Proposed Ordinance for City Commission Meeting — June 14, 2012
Amending Chapter 2/Article X of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as
amended, deleting the provision under Section 2-845 which requires a court
reporter to be present at a hearing.
Matter ID No.: 12-1056
File No. 12-00523
The attached Ordinance, adopted on first reading May 24, 2012, is being presented by
the Office of the City Attorney for second reading at the June 14, 2012, City Commission
meeting.
The City of Miami ("City") records all code enforcement hearings for the benefit of the
public and a copy of such recording is available upon request. In addition to recording, the
City currently retains court reporting services to transcribe every code enforcement hearing.
The costs of providing court reporting services far outweigh the benefits to the City and its
citizens in providing a court reporter at every hearing and incurring costs upwards of
S50,000.00 per year. Moreover, a small fraction of appeals are taken from cases before the
Code Enforcement Board, thus requiring the use of a transcript. Based on said reasons, the
City would greatly benefit from the savings during these fiscally challenging times by not
obligating itself to provide court reporting services at every code enforcement hearing. Also,
the Florida Statutes do not require the City to furnish such services.
c: Johnny Martinez, P.E., City Manager
Elvi Gallastegui, Agenda Coordinator
Attachment(s)
3'18088