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CEB Minutes 07/24/2025July 24, 2025 Page 1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD Naples, Florida, July 24, 2025 LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Collier County Code Enforcement Board, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in REGULAR SESSION at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Room 609/610, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Robert Kaufman Vice Chair: John Fuentes Kathleen Elrod Lee Rubenstein Tarik N. Ayasun Sue Curley (Excused) ALSO PRESENT: Tom Iandimarino, Code Enforcement Director Helen Buchillon, Code Enforcement Jeff Letourneau, Manager of Investigations Miriam Lorenzo, Code Enforcement Danielle Dijon, Code Enforcement Kevin Noell, Attorney to the Board Kevin Summers, Manager - Technical Systems Operations July 24, 2025 Page 2 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I'd like to call the Code Enforcement Board to order. We have no microphones today. If you can't hear me -- BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Move forward. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- increase your hearing aids. We'll do the best we can. Let's start out with the Pledge. If everybody will stand for the Pledge. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We did the minutes. Anybody have any questions or changes in the minutes? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: If not, we'll have those approved. Let's start out with roll call. MS. BUCHILLON: Yes, sir. Good morning. For the record, Helen Buchillon, Code Enforcement. Mr. Robert Kaufman? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Here. MS. BUCHILLON: Kathleen Elrod? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Here. MS. BUCHILLON: Mr. John Fuentes? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Here. MS. BUCHILLON: Mr. Lee Rubenstein? BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Here. MS. BUCHILLON: Mr. Tarik Ayasun? BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Here. MS. BUCHILLON: And Ms. Sue Curley is excused. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Which brings us to my favorite part, the approval of the agenda. Do we have any changes? MS. BUCHILLON: Yes, we do. We have one stipulation. July 24, 2025 Page 3 First stipulation, under hearings, No. 2, CESD20240006911, Susana Torres. And we have some withdrawns. Under hearings, No. 3, CESD20250001191, Jeremy Thompson and Emily Thompson, has been withdrawn. Number 4, CESD20240009549, Jeannite Antoine, has been withdrawn. Number 5, CESD20240010924, Mindrey Soris Dominguez and Noslen Ebanks Estevez, has been withdrawn. Number 9, CESD20250002694, Anyeley Lopez Lopez and Rafael A. H. Ojeda, has been withdrawn. And those are all the changes for now. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Get a motion from the Board to approve the changes to the agenda. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: So moved. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And seconded. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. Okay. MS. BUCHILLON: All right. We're going to start under motion for imposition of fines. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MS. BUCHILLON: ***Number 1, CESD20220010598, HGG Management, LLC. July 24, 2025 Page 4 THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. LOMBARDO: Yes. MS. GUTTUM: I do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. I think we have extra paperwork. MS. BUCHILLON: Yeah. Those are for his. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. And, Counselor, if you'd state your name on the microphone for us, please. MR. LOMBARDO: Good morning. For the record -- next time I will bring a little portable microphone or a megaphone -- my name is Zach Lombardo. I'm here on behalf of respondent. We have filed a motion to extend, and I have some updates to provide to support that. And if it's the pleasure of the Board, I can start there. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Sure. MR. LOMBARDO: So first I wanted to say, "Halleluiah, we have structural approval." So this case, if you recall, is -- and you can tell by the case number this is an old case. This is a building that suffered a building fire. There was some unpermitted work that took place after the fire, and we have been working through a very complicated puzzle with the county as to how to properly document this. Since the last hearing, there have been three full engineered architect design resubmittals, and as of yesterday -- and this is in some of the supplemental documentation I provided you -- you'll have the permit application status. On Page 2, as you'll see in the highlight, structural review was approved. Now, I'll remind you, when we met with the county initially, the plan was pull demo permits, pull bathroom permits, and that's how we'll get this into compliance. After we pulled -- due to those July 24, 2025 Page 5 designs, we pulled those permits, what the client was told was, "Wait a second. There's a 2021 firewall permit. Even though that has an approved structural inspection, you need to go back and do a structural evaluation to close that permit." So at the end of the day, the client consented to do this, and that's what this process is. But what you also have, in what I handed you, is the current plan set that is the architect and the engineer. There's two different staples. A plan set that was approved -- I was hoping to have fire review approved by today, but I provided to you, the fire reviewer is on vacation, so he was unable to review this. But for the first time in any of these hearings on this case I can say that there's actually a path forward here, because the reason we got pushed back was for the structural analysis. So we now have structural approval, and Mr. Craft approved this yesterday. And so we're -- but we have to now get bathroom permits closed. And these permits here do require -- this isn't just paperwork. There is some actual construction that has to take place. This building has sort of a glass front to it, and so some of these big panels have to be replaced with impact glass, as you can see in the drawings. And so there's some real work required here. And what I want to emphasize is, it's been our position the entire time there's no health, safety, and welfare issue here because these are unoccupied, vacant spaces, and that the client is -- continues to be properly incentivized because he's not receiving any rent on these spaces, and the engineering is not free here. So we're working forward on this. We finally have a path. I think we do need, obviously, more time, because it's basically seven permits that have to get closed, as I currently understand it. But if -- because I finally have an ability to show you that we cleared structural. I think that means that there's a real possibility that this can be done. July 24, 2025 Page 6 And so what I'm asking, my client's asking, is for -- to extend the compliance deadline by 120 days -- that puts it in October -- and then we can report back at that time as to whether or not -- where we are in this process. And that's our position. We're available for questions. Let me see if I provided you any other documents. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So the 120 days will get you to where you can start the construction work? MR. LOMBARDO: My hope is that as soon as the fire reviewer comes back next week, this permit will issue, and the construction work will start immediately after that. So my hope is that in October, when we come back, this firewall permit should have a good chance of being closed. But as I understand this, with talking to the county, staff, specifically Mr. Craft, that's not going to be enough to close this case. It's just we then have to go through the bathroom permits. So I -- but those permits have already been filed, but the county won't issue them until this permit gets closed. So, essentially, as of today, all the design work is done. It's in the county's files. And as long as we can get this permit open and closed, we can go forward to the bathroom permits. So I believe that we should see serious construction, if not, closure of this permit and maybe others by the next -- October. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let me ask the county, do you have any objection to extending this 120 days? MS. GUTTUM: I have no opinion. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Jeff? MR. LETOURNEAU: No, no objection. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. IANDIMARINO: A couple clarifications, though, if I may. Mr. Lombardo, would you go ahead and explain the -- because July 24, 2025 Page 7 currently we have fines that have accrued on this one, and Mr. Lombardo had something he wanted to discuss with you, sir. MR. LOMBARDO: Okay. The existing order set the compliance -- we have a copy of it here -- set the compliance deadline in June of 2025. There was an administrative confusion on my office's end. We emailed the county to determine when the compliance deadline was -- because these get served on the client; they're not in the portal. There was a typo in the email we received from Mr. Letourneau I have here. It said the deadline was next week, 7/27, not 6/27. And so we did not file this motion that you have until after the compliance deadline passed; however, it's our position that you can still amend your order. We would have filed the motion within the time frame. All the work was done as if we were going to be filing the motion. Again, to get architects and engineers to do three resubmittals within a couple of months was a serious amount of ability and work. So I don't know if that clarifies it, but -- MR. IANDIMARINO: I'll provide -- Mr. Noell can explain. MR. NOELL: It does. And the way the orders are drafted, if the Board does approve the extension of the deadline to October, then the order will simply say it's extended from the June 27th, I believe it is, deadline -- MR. LOMBARDO: Yes. MR. NOELL: -- till October X date. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Whatever our meeting is. MR. NOELL: Yes. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: As long as there's no typos. MR. NOELL: I can't promise that, but I will do my best. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Anyone make a motion? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: I'll make a motion to grant the July 24, 2025 Page 8 120 days' extension. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: I'll second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. MR. LOMBARDO: Thank you very much for your consideration. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MS. BUCHILLON: So that would be from the June 27th date extension. MR. NOELL: Correct. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That brings us to the stipulations. MS. BUCHILLON: We have one stipulation, and then we can start with the extension of times, okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Yeah. MS. BUCHILLON: ***All right. Under hearings, stipulation, No. 2, CEP -- CESD20240006911, Susana Torres. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. COOPER: I do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Good morning. MR. COOPER: Good morning. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you want to state your name on July 24, 2025 Page 9 the record for us? MR. COOPER: Yeah, Craig Cooper, Collier County Code Enforcement. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Craig. Do you want to read the stipulation into the record for us? MR. COOPER: I do. Therefore, it is agreed between the parties that the respondent shall: One, pay operational costs in the amount of $59.35 incurred in the prosecution of this case within 30 days of this hearing; Two, abate all violations by: Obtaining all required Collier County building permits or demolition permit for the structure, inspections, and certificate of completion/occupancy to permit the garage conversion into living space or return to the original permitted condition within 120 days of this hearing, or a fine of $200 per day will be imposed until the violation is abated; Three, cease and desist the use of the unpermitted garage conversion, shut off all unpermitted electrical power source, and it is to remain off until such electrical work is addressed within a valid building, or demolition permit and related inspections within 120 days of this rehearing, or a fine of $200 per day will be imposed until the violation is abated; Four, respondent must notify Code Enforcement within 24 hours of abatement of this violation and request the investigator perform a site inspection to confirm compliance; Five, that it is the respondent's -- if the respondent fails to abate the violation, the county may abate the violation using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provisions of this agreement, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. July 24, 2025 Page 10 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Has the respondent indicated to you what they intend to do? MR. COOPER: Yes. She's going to submit the final drawings to have it permitted. It's an after-the-fact. When they bought the property, it was already converted, so I believe they thought, "Oh, we have an efficiency we can rent out." And then -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So this is to get a CO, the end of this? MR. COOPER: Right. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Any questions from the Board? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: She bought the problem. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Yep. Anybody want to make a motion? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yeah. I make a motion to accept the stipulation. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. Thanks, Craig. MR. COOPER: Thank you. MS. BUCHILLON: ***Next up, under public hearings, motions, motions for extension of compliance deadline, No. 1, July 24, 2025 Page 11 CESD20230002147, Victor Manuel R. Zacarias and Loyda Avigail Castro Valdez, and also No. 2, CELU20230002149. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm you will interpret everything from English into Spanish and Spanish into English to the best of your ability? MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Yes, ma'am. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. MARINOS: I do. MR. VICTOR RODRIGUEZ: Victor Rodriguez. THE COURT REPORTER: They're sworn in. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you have all the names? THE COURT REPORTER: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do we want hear it on the record? Can you give us your names? I would say "on the microphone," but they took them away. MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: I'm Elder Rodriguez, and this is Victor Rodriguez. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. To the county? MR. MARINOS: This is their motion, so we're going to let them speak on it. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. If you can give us your name for the record anyhow. MR. MARINOS: Oh, Investigator Charles Marinos, Collier County Code Enforcement. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay, Chuck. Okay. So on -- your request is for an extension of time. MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Correct. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And on the extension of time, how much time are you looking for? July 24, 2025 Page 12 MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Well, we started the process by hiring an engineer, and we don't know how long it's going to take for us to continue the process. Probably have half a year or a year. We just turned in the site plan. We don't know what steps we have to take. We're going step by step. We're trying to come into compliance. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. What was the original date of this -- MR. MARINOS: The original date was -- MR. IANDIMARINO: Case opened March 10th, 2023. MR. MARINOS: I was looking for the compliance deadline. I apologize. MR. IANDIMARINO: Thereabouts. MR. MARINOS: So on 4/9/2024, they did a pre-application meeting for a Site Development Plan. In that process, they had looked to use a mobile home as an office. That was denied, but then it turns out the mobile home was a misnomer. It was a modular home -- or a modular building, which is an allowable use but requires a new Site Development Plan pre-application meeting and the whole nine yards. 6/19/2025, the new document got turned in. So they are in the very beginning steps of that second Site Development Plan application. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Do you have any other comments from the county? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You're asking for an extension of time. Six months or a year is a big spread. What do we think that this could take? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Well, we're already two years into the case. July 24, 2025 Page 13 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Right. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Do you want to give them another year? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I'm open to any motion from the Board on what they want to do. MR. LETOURNEAU: The county's more comfortable with six months at this point than a year. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yeah. I think six months, get an update, go from there. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Yes, I agree. Do you want to make a motion to that effect? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yeah. I'll make a motion to grant an extension of time for six months where you guys can come back and provide us an update on the current situation that you're in. MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We have a motion. Is it seconded? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Fees. MS. BUCHILLON: Oh, 59.49 for the first one and -- they're both 59.49 each. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So there's going to be -- 59.49. Let me do the math, sorry. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It's 60 dollars times two, minus two. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Singapore math. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: It's going to be 118.98. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Like I said. MS. BUCHILLON: So pay ops cost. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Whatever, due within 30 days, operational costs, okay? MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Okay. July 24, 2025 Page 14 MS. BUCHILLON: So the motion is for both cases? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: For both cases. MS. BUCHILLON: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So we have a motion. Do we have a second? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a second. Any discussion on the motion? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: It's a good motion. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I think it's a lovely motion. And all those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Nay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Six months. I don't know the exact date of the meeting, but we'll have you come back, and we expect to see lots of progress because for the past couple years it's been sitting. MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Yes, okay. MR. NOELL: And just real quick, I -- it appears that the respondents' names -- or the respondents that are present today are different than the names in the -- in the notice of violation. Who was Elder Rodriguez? MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: That's me. MR. NOELL: Okay. Did you guys purchase the property from Victor Zacarias? MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: No. This is my father. MR. NOELL: Okay. You're Victor? July 24, 2025 Page 15 MR. VICTOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes. MR. NOELL: Last name Zacarias? MR. VICTOR RODRIGUEZ: Rodriguez Zacarias. MR. NOELL: Okay, thank you. And then you're just preparing to assist your -- you're here today assisting your father in translation? MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Correct. MR. NOELL: Thank you, guys. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. You're all done. MR. ELDER RODRIGUEZ: Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: See you in six months. It will be colder out. The next one is? MS. BUCHILLON: ***Up next under hearings, No. 1, CESD20240003974, Alison Drayton. And this is the one you have a form for representation that we put on. It looks like this. Yeah, that one. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MS. PULSE: I do. MR. BERWICK: Affirm. THE COURT REPORTER: Can you state your name on the record. MR. BERWICK: My name is Richard Berwick. That's B-e-r-w-i-c-k. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. BERWICK: I have some goodies. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We have the letter from you. MR. BERWICK: Yeah. I mean, I made copies. I don't know who I hand these two. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have them. July 24, 2025 Page 16 MR. BERWICK: No, no, separate documents. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And you're asking for an extension of time? MR. BERWICK: I am seeking that as grace, yes. Yes, Mr. Kaufman, I'm seeking that as grace. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. BERWICK: Alison Drayton, as the document I provided, she's a Stage 4 cancer patient, and we only completed chemo treatment in May, early June. Currently, she's not physically well to undertake anything. We had a leak in the condo just at the -- by the door in the walls, and it forced us to remove the walls, and then we also discovered that there was a bit of mold. So we removed as many of the panels to ensure there's no spread. And in doing that, we thought that we could just put back the -- do the necessaries and get it -- the drywall back in, but we got -- I must say, before I continue, thank you so much for having Dee on your team. I thought you guys hired dragons. I didn't know you hired angels, so I appreciate her. I was angry the whole time until I met her. So thank you, guys. I was mad, but not anymore. So she has informed me throughout the process that there's going to need fire prevention stuff and all that shebang. So Alison lives in South America, in Guyana, and she's more or less just recovering. And I am her partner, so -- and I live in Jamaica and in Guyana. I live with her. I have my children in Jamaica. So I had a hearing in June, but I had to go back -- my son was graduating, and I wouldn't want to miss that. So my extension is on the basis that she's not in a position, and I'm her primary caregiver. And I'm a man to my word. If you give a date and you authorize it or sanction it or grant it, I will do everything within capacity to ensure that it is completed. July 24, 2025 Page 17 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Has there been a building permit pulled on this? MS. PULSE: No, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So we're starting with that? MS. PULSE: Yes. MR. BERWICK: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So you're going to pull a building permit. MR. BERWICK: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Are you aware of what you need to do going forward? Has the code officer given you that information? MR. BERWICK: She has given me. She's very abreast of the nature of her job. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: She's an angel. MR. BERWICK: She is. She is. She is. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We got that. MR. IANDIMARINO: Your Honor, if I -- or -- if I may. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Sure. MR. IANDIMARINO: Tom Iandimarino, director, Code Enforcement. If we would hear the case, we can hear the case, present evidence, and then you can make your determination as to whatever you wish to grant at that time. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. BERWICK: I'm asking for six months. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. IANDIMARINO: Understood, but we need to hear the case and either have a finding of fact, or not. MR. BERWICK: No problem. MR. IANDIMARINO: And then we can go from there. July 24, 2025 Page 18 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So you want to present the case? MS. PULSE: Yep. Thank you. For the record, Dee Pulse, Collier County Code Enforcement. This is in reference to Case No. CESD20240003974 dealing with a violation of Collier County Land Development Code 04-41, as amended, Section 10.02.06(B)(1)(a) located at 3605 Boca Ciega Drive, Unit 104, Naples, Florida, 34112, Parcel 53701720005. Personal service was given on May 16th, 2024. Our office received this case as a referral from Contractor Licensing, and it was investigated by Officer Broughton. It was revealed the unit had water damage. Water connections have been shut off. Building official has determined a permit is required to restore the unit. As of today, violation remains. I would like to present case evidence in the following exhibits: Two photos taken by Officer Broughton of April 16th, 2024; a photo taken by me on April 8th, 2025; the aerial view of the property and the zoning for the property, which is Residential Multifamily 16. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Has the respondent seen the photos? MS. PULSE: Yes, sir. MR. BERWICK: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you have any objection to the photos being entered into evidence? MR. BERWICK: No objections, Your Honor. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Motion to approve? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Motion to accept the photos. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. July 24, 2025 Page 19 BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. Okay. Actually a screen I can see now. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: All I see is Miriam. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: There was some touchup done. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Ouch. MS. PULSE: This is just -- this is a photo of the front door of the unit. Officer Broughton posted a stop work order. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: This is where the leak was? MS. PULSE: Yes, sir. And this is what -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Could you go back to that photo one second? MS. PULSE: Sure. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Is that outside -- MS. PULSE: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- or is there something on top of it? MS. PULSE: This is outside, and there is levels above. Is that what you're asking? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I was curious how you get a leak in the door if it's covered. MS. PULSE: Oh. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MS. PULSE: So the next photo is what Officer Broughton was able to see from the front door. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So you're showing construction was done -- July 24, 2025 Page 20 MS. PULSE: Yeah. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- and there was no permit pulled? MS. PULSE: Right. They removed all the damaged drywall. I looks like they removed flooring. And my next photo is just a basic background of the building, 3605. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Was the contractor that did that work licensed? MS. PULSE: It was a water remediation company, but they didn't have a permit to demo. It was an emergency situation. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: And, Dee, when were those photos taken by Tim? His name was Tim, you said? MS. PULSE: Tim Broughton. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: When were those photos taken? MS. PULSE: Contractor Licensing. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: What dates? MS. PULSE: 4/28/24. I mean 4 -- sorry, 4/16/24. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MS. PULSE: This is the aerial view of the property, and -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So let me make this -- so, basically, you have a leak in the door? MS. PULSE: The leak was inside the unit. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. It was inside the unit. They went to someone to fix it. MS. PULSE: Right. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: But they didn't pull a permit? MS. PULSE: No, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So that's the whole case. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I've got one question. Who -- how did they get in the property, Tim; do they know? Was it opened by the contractors, or was somebody home? July 24, 2025 Page 21 MR. BERWICK: I believe the contractor was -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Okay. MR. BERWICK: -- working, because we got a call from the neighbor down the -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yeah. This is going to be one in a few, but I'm probably going to make a motion that I don't think a violation exists. I think that the photos were taken a long time ago. If the contractor opened the door and the homeowner wasn't present, that's a little uncomfortable, too. Dee has no photos of the interior unit. This is what my thoughts are. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Anybody else have any thoughts on that? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: I like his. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Make your motion. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I mean, this is kind of my thought, guys. We can talk about it. Code's going to be a little upset with me, I understand. MR. LETOURNEAU: I would -- for the record, Jeff Letourneau, Collier County Code Enforcement. I would say that that photo was taken from a legal vantage point. I'm not sure who opened the door, maybe the contractor, and the Contractor Licensing investigator snapped the photo. As far as Code's concerned, that's legal evidence from a legal vantage point. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: But the code of -- the Contractor Licensing employee is not here to testify. MR. LETOURNEAU: He is not. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I've got pictures of a hedge, Jeff, from Dee, of the building, and a photo that was from 2024 and, you know, typically I do come in at bat for you guys 100 percent. I just think in this particular case it's a little rough. July 24, 2025 Page 22 MR. NOELL: I think there's a -- so a couple things legally for the Board to consider. The question of the right of entry and things of that nature isn't necessarily the purview of this board. This board's purview is to determine whether a violation exists or not. If there was a contractor -- so the issue on the testimony of a contractor providing access to take a picture, that would get into a little bit of that area that's not necessarily a purview of this board on whether there's, quote-unquote, constitutional violations or things of that nature. That would be in a venue before a Circuit Court judge. This board is tasked with the ordinance to determine whether a violation exists or not. So your motion on, you know, finding no violation, that would be a proper motion, absolutely. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yes. MR. NOELL: The analysis, though, wouldn't involve on the access to the site. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Do we have a determination at all that we can go off of? Is there a determination that -- MR. NOELL: Yep. So there's the other part of the law that this implicates -- and it's a great question -- is what amount of hearsay can this board rely on to make its determination. And hearsay -- MR. LETOURNEAU: We have the investigator here. MR. NOELL: I know. Let me just finish advising the Board, please. Hearsay is out-of-court or out-of-his-hearing statements by a party that's not present before the Board. And the law says, the ordinance says, that the Board cannot make its decision based solely on hearsay. So if the only testimony before this board was "an investigator told me," that would -- to address your concern, that would be a glaring concern, because that's the absolute only evidence. It's hearsay. So to your point -- that's a great question. I understand -- so July 24, 2025 Page 23 that's my legal advice on those issues. And then if we want to continue with the hearing, I understand that the investigator's here if the Board wants to continue questions. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Yes. MR. NOELL: Sir, you'll get a chance to talk and to ask questions and to address the Board. Just for the decorum of the hearing, so we don't lose our place, the county's still putting on their case. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Dee, do you want to introduce the next witness you have? MS. PULSE: Yes. This is Officer Broughton from Contractor Licensing. THE COURT REPORTER: I need to swear you in first. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. BROUGHTON: I do. Investigator Timothy Broughton from Contractor Licensing. I'm assigned to Code Enforcement also, a unit within Code Enforcement. Investigator Pulse has briefly showed me a photo, and I -- some recollection to the case. If someone can pose a question, I can answer. MR. LETOURNEAU: Did you take the photograph? MR. BROUGHTON: I did. It's timestamped with my name of April 16th of 2024 at 1:59 p.m. MR. LETOURNEAU: And do you recall who opened the door for you to take this photograph? MR. BROUGHTON: I do not, but I do believe, if I can recall, I knocked at the door, and there might have been some workers in there cleaning up, and they opened the door, and then they left it like that. But I did not enter the property. MR. LETOURNEAU: So you didn't open the door yourself? July 24, 2025 Page 24 MR. BROUGHTON: Absolutely not. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Tim, you had a question? Is the county finished? MS. PULSE: Yes. Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Tim, do you have a question? MR. BERWICK: Richard. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Richard. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Richard, I'm sorry. MR. BERWICK: No problem. That's fine. But following -- I can't see your name. If we're not 100 percent sure, and this is a hearsay, we're going -- with all due respect to Mr. Timothy, he did say he can't recollect if he opened it or not originally. Then you asked a secondary question, "Did you open it?" and that's when he said -- he said no. So we're working on hazy memories now. MR. NOELL: And, sir, you'll get a chance to do -- because what you're telling the Board now is kind of your summary or your closing arguments, so to speak. You'll get a chance to do that with the Board at the end of the hearing. Right now we're still in the hearing. Do you have any questions of either of these witnesses from the county? MR. BERWICK: No. MR. NOELL: Okay. MR. BROUGHTON: If I could add something. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Go ahead. MR. BROUGHTON: I have 30 years of law enforcement experience, and I would never open a door without permission from the owner. So that door was open or somebody opened it for me. I don't enter into a property without the permission of the property owner, and they would sign a waiver for me to enter. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I totally believe you. Trust July 24, 2025 Page 25 me. I get it. That would, like, never happen. MR. BROUGHTON: And if I had my report to testify from, then I would be able to probably give some more information. But I can tell you that I've never entered into somebody's dwelling or opened their door without their permission or looked through a window without their permission to take a photo. That door was open or opened for me. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: That would be creepy, yeah. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Richard, you have -- you already stated more or less what the case was about in the beginning. Do you want to summarize what you said before now? MR. BERWICK: If ever -- if all that has been presented still stands, I just -- I'm just asking for a little bit more time, six months, to rectify anything that needs to be done. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: We've got to work with what we've got. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: The photo was taken in April. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: 2024. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It's a little bit over a year ago. And you're looking for -- you're looking for more time. See if I understand. MR. BERWICK: Correct. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You're asking for more time to be able to pull a permit, get it inspected, and get it CO'ed. So that's what the time is that you're looking for. MR. BERWICK: Correct. In addition, I don't want us to look at this case very linear. There has been many things that have happened. If we only look at it in terms of dates and time, it feels like a sufficient time has passed. But since then, we had a death scare which kind of shifted the focus. And I look in this room, and I don't July 24, 2025 Page 26 see a heartless person in this space. So it might feel like time is only linear, but it's not, because there are still variables that contributed to the delays. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: The first thing that the Board needs to do is to find out whether or not a violation exists. MR. BERWICK: Sure. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So anybody want to -- BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: I'll make a motion that the violation exists based on the evidence presented. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We have a motion. Do we have a second? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. So a violation exists. And now we're trying to figure out what the solution to the violation is. MR. BERWICK: Sure. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You've indicated that you need six months to a year to get everything done. Probably don't need that much time, I would guess, to pull a permit. The scope of the work looks like it's just about done. So it would be a case of not much construction needs to be done. It's just the paperwork. MR. BERWICK: But I don't live here, and that's why I'm just July 24, 2025 Page 27 asking for that kind of time frame. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you have somebody who is handling the situation there as far as -- MR. BERWICK: No. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- giving somebody the ability to enter the unit to finish up cleanup, et cetera? MR. BERWICK: No. And the reason why we -- there could be conflicting stories is because I also wasn't present on site when the inspector came as well. And I -- going forward, I would love to be more actively involved, but as -- like I said, it's just the matter of the geographic. So if you could, I would really appreciate it not be considered just a linear, black-and-white case but one that has a little bit more understanding for also my responsibilities. The unit currently has the air flow and operation. There is no water. There is no eminent threat or danger to any other units, because that was why we paid for the mold remediation to happen. So everything is within -- it's in a controlled environment. So I don't know where we go from here. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I mean, you've gone through -- to us, our main concern is compliance, and you've done -- THE COURT REPORTER: I can't hear you guys. I'm sorry. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I apologize. Lee said he would like to hear a plan, and I'm refreshing his memory that Richard initially stated during the hearing that he is a man of his word and that he would -- if granted the time, he would absolutely work on this. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Okay. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: That's what he had stated in the beginning. MR. BERWICK: Thank you, Mr. Fuentes. July 24, 2025 Page 28 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So your plan is going to have to show that -- somebody needs to give access to the unit and do the necessary paperwork that has to be done. I don't think it's that much that needs to be done. But I understand the situation with the geographic problem with it. I will go to the county and ask them what their solution might be. Dee, do you have a recommendation for us? MS. PULSE: Yes, sir. I recommend that the Code Enforcement Board orders the respondent to pay all operational costs in the amount of $59.28 incurred in the prosecution of this case within 30 days and abate all violations by: Number 1, obtaining all required Collier County building permits or demolition permit, inspections, and certificate of completion/occupancy for the restoration within blank days of this hearing, or a fine of blank per day will be imposed until the violation is abated. Number 2, the respondent must notify the code enforcement investigator when the violation has been abated in order to conduct a final inspection to confirm abatement. If the respondent fails to abate the violation, the county may abate the violation using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provisions of this order, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Anybody want to make a motion from the Board? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So typically, Richard, I'm a little hard on things like this, and, I guess I didn't -- the case for me is a little off and on. I'm going to grant you a lot of time, but there's going to be -- or I'm going to make a motion to grant a lot of time, but there's going to be a heavy dollar per day if you don't meet the compliance date, and I don't think I would probably grant another July 24, 2025 Page 29 extension only because -- or I wouldn't make a motion for one only because of the amount of time I'm going to give you, because I understand the variables here. I would make a motion that we give this gentleman 365 days from this hearing, since it was only brought to us today, and it's already been a year since the photo and so forth and so on; however, the fine per day is going to be pretty high. It's going to be $350 per day, which is 150 normally [sic] than we would add. Meaning, we would like to give you the time for you to fix it, but knowing that if you don't and you're not a man of your word at this point, that those fines will accumulate very quickly. But that does give you a year, not six months. MR. BERWICK: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And the 59.28 to be paid within 30 days. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: And then the 59.28 need to be paid within 30 days. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: I second that motion. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So we have to vote on the motion to see if that's what it is. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. The motion passes. Now you have a comment? MR. BERWICK: No. I was just saying if Howie Mandel was here, he'd say, "Deal or no deal?" And I say, "Deal." July 24, 2025 Page 30 BOARD MEMBER ELROD: On the other hand, if you finish sooner, you come back to us -- or you tell them, and it goes away. MR. BERWICK: Okay. No problem. MS. PULSE: When it's done. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: As soon as it's done, if you notify her and it's in time -- within the year, you never see us again. MR. BERWICK: That's unfortunate. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I know. A lot of people want to see me. But, yeah, if you manage to finish this on time and you come back, no fines, we want to shake your hand and say, "Good job. Thank you for complying with us." And that's all we want at the end of the day, someone who's willing to comply. The first initial response was, "If I'm a man of my word, give me the time I need, and I will fix it." So let's work on fixing it. Three hundred sixty-five days is a lot of time. MR. BERWICK: No, no. And I appreciate that. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So please keep that in mind. If you come back and it's not fixed, the chances are this board's going to say, "Hey, you know, no leniency." MR. BERWICK: No, I understand. I understand. And I thank you guys for your time. Very sorry that we met on such adverse circumstances. Mr. Fuentes, thank you. Mr. Kaufman, brother kin, respect. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Thank you. MS. BUCHILLON: Thank you. ***Next case, we're still under hearings, No. 6, CESD20250002585, Hoyte Benson Decker, III, and Guilhermina Sofia Decker. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Six. MS. BUCHILLON: Number 6. Oh, I'm sorry. We have a July 24, 2025 Page 31 change to the agenda. We have another stipulation. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Get a motion from the Board to accept the agenda change. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Motion. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. MS. BUCHILLON: It's going to be No. 7, CESD20230000282, Gilbert Lordeus and Facilite Liberal. So we'll call that one after this case. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MS. LYNCH: I do. MR. DECKER: I do. MS. DECKER: I do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Good morning. MS. LYNCH: Good morning. For the record, Courtney Lynch, Collier County Code Enforcement. This is in reference to Case No. CESD20250002585 dealing with violations of Collier County Land Development Code 04-41, as amended, Section 10.02.06 B)(1)(a), Section 10.02.06(B)(1)(e), Section 10.02.06 point -- oh, I'm sorry -- 06(B)(1)(e)(i) for multiple animal enclosures, large enclosed barn structure, and a small roof July 24, 2025 Page 32 extension without a valid permit located at 3820 12th Avenue Southeast, Florida -- Naples, Florida, 34117. Folio 41046240003. Service was given March 18th, 2025. I would now like to present details of the case. I received this case on March 6th, 2025. The property owner agreed to allow me to perform a site inspection on March 12th, 2025. After signing -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let me slow you down a little bit. MS. LYNCH: I'm sorry. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And if I could turn up your volume a little bit. MS. LYNCH: Sorry. Okay. After signing an entry consent form, Mr. Decker escorted me onto his property to witness the structures in question. I obtained a building determination that confirmed structures [sic] were required for the animal enclosure, the enclosed barn, and the roof extension. I issued a notice of violation on March 18th, 2025. Subsequent inspections revealed that no permits have been applied for as of yesterday's prehearing inspection, and the violation remains. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Now, the structures that hold the animals are in the barn? MS. LYNCH: No, sir. They're separate. I would now like to present evidence in the case in the following exhibits, and that would be in photos, and then I have the building determination if you'd like to see that. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Has the respondent seen the photos? MS. LYNCH: They have. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you have any objection to the photos? MS. DECKER: I have no objections to the photos. July 24, 2025 Page 33 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Can I get a motion from the Board? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Motion to accept the photos. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. MS. LYNCH: And there were six photos taken by me on March 12th, 2025. So there is going to be multiple of the animal enclosures just because they're larger. So here's one. And then this is the barn. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It looks like an outhouse. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Birdhouse. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: What is it? MS. LYNCH: They're trying to get something off the screen for you. And then I have one more picture after this. MS. LORENZO: Give us a minute, please. MS. LYNCH: All right. And then this is the roof extension there, and that is the evidence for the pictures. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Is this a large piece of property? MS. LYNCH: Oh, that's a good question. How many acres is it? MS. DECKER: 2.73. MR. DECKER: 2.73. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. July 24, 2025 Page 34 MS. LYNCH: And that's all the pictures. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Could you go back to the beginning of the pictures again. MS. LYNCH: Of course. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do them a little slower for me. MS. LYNCH: So let's go backward slowly. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's the barn? MS. LYNCH: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: What's in front of there; is that -- in lieu of a garage door -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: We have a ladder, it looks like a pressure washing machine, vegetation. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's in front. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: That's in front, yeah. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Is the barn permitted, just not enclosed? MS. LYNCH: It is not permitted. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: No, she said all structures are not permitted. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Next. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Chicken coop. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Are these cages on the -- I see a building in the background there. Is that the respondent's house? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: It looks like the -- MS. LYNCH: So the background would be the neighbor's house. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's the neighbor's house? MS. LYNCH: Uh-huh. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So I'm guessing that the neighbor had a problem with this. They didn't want to look out their house and July 24, 2025 Page 35 see -- MS. LYNCH: They were concerned with the setbacks, how close it was to their property line. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Did it meet the setbacks? MS. LYNCH: They never got a permit, so I don't know. I never measured it myself. It is close, but I'm not sure if it meets the setbacks. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: The setbacks there are about 30 feet. MS. DECKER: Thirty-five. MR. DECKER: Thirty-five. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Thirty-five. Okay. Next. MS. LYNCH: Oh, so this would be the first one. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's the first one, okay. MS. LYNCH: Yeah. So we can go back. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Sir. THE COURT REPORTER: You need to state your names first. MR. DECKER: Hoyte Decker. THE COURT REPORTER: What? MR. DECKER: Hoyte Decker. THE COURT REPORTER: And your name? MS. DECKER: My name is Guilhermina Sophie Decker. You're welcome to call me Sophia. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Sophia? MS. DECKER: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And? BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Hoyte. MR. DECKER: Hoyte. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Hoyte. Okay. Great. Your turn. MS. DECKER: If I can start off by saying that these structures July 24, 2025 Page 36 that you see on the property, minus the cages -- we put the cages up -- were all there before -- when we bought the property. And I have evidence, actually, from your records that show the pole barn and the lean-to on the side of the house that were part of the home. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: When did you buy the house? MS. DECKER: We bought the house in 2018, and from my -- from digging in and you sharing information as well, we found that the pole barn was put up in 2003. The structures -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let me -- MS. DECKER: Go ahead. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- just ask a couple questions. MS. DECKER: Sure. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So the pole barn was put up in 2003? MS. DECKER: According to your records, yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you have any idea whether or not that was permitted when they put it up? MS. LYNCH: We could not find any -- I provided them the property card, and there was no evidence of a permit. MS. DECKER: I have here the property card, if you'd like to review it. I also have the original sale of the house with the survey showing that the pole barn's on the property. The reason why I'm presenting this to you-all today is because I want you to know that any improvements that Hoyte and I have done to the property we have absolutely pulled a permit for, and we have not tried to pull one over on you or do anything illegally. The reason why we're even here today is because my neighbor has retaliated against us. He has cleared his entire property. He's on a pencil lot, and he's cleared his entire property. In doing so, he tore my fence down, and so I called to note the violation. Also, his entire water system goes onto my property, and so his July 24, 2025 Page 37 property is damaging my property. I called the county. Because we can't do it anonymously, he knew that it was I that called you guys. And that's okay with me because the truth is is he's damaging my property. And so in retaliation -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: He reported on you? MS. DECKER: -- he reported to us. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: The only problem -- and you're not going to like this, unfortunately -- MS. DECKER: Okay. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: -- is that whenever you buy a property that already has an existing violation -- MS. DECKER: It did not have an existing violation. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Well, it's not permitted. So at the time -- MS. DECKER: Yes. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: -- you may feel that even though it was already there before you purchased it, the violation still exists whether we caught wind of it or not. MS. DECKER: And that's okay. And we're willing to comply. What I'm trying to make you aware is that we were not aware. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: That's okay. MS. DECKER: We thought that because it was on the survey and because it was on the record that it was permitted. And so that's our negligence, and I -- and I'm okay with that. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: You'd be surprised how often we get that. So don't -- you know. MS. DECKER: I'm not surprised about that. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: And we understand. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let me stop you. MS. DECKER: So if I -- okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I hate to keep interrupting you. I'm July 24, 2025 Page 38 trying to clarify. MS. DECKER: It's okay. Please do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Jeff, if you have a property card, does that indicate that the county has already CO'ed the property? MR. LETOURNEAU: No, it doesn't indicate that. The Property Appraiser goes out, I think, annually, and any new structures that are on the property they draw in on the property card. They don't inform us whether or not -- they don't look into whether or not there's a permit at that time. They just draw it on the property card to note, you know, probably more taxes are going to be due due to they have another structure on the property. When we get a permit -- say that structure was permitted, we would send the Property Appraisers that permit number, they would go out there and draw it on there, and then they would put the permit number onto the property card at that time if they're, you know, spurred by us to go out there and do it. So I would say that our records on permitting are very good since 1992, and if Courtney didn't find a permit either on the property card or on our records, there wasn't a permit obtained for that barn. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let me ask one follow-up to that. Are you paying taxes on that structure? Do you know if you're paying taxes? MS. DECKER: We are absolutely paying taxes on the structure. We've been paying -- we called -- go ahead. MR. DECKER: Other owners prior to us have been paying taxes on it, so -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I've got to turn your mic up. MR. DECKER: How come if you are triggered to send out -- a Property Appraiser goes out every year and you find another structure on the property, why wouldn't the building department get involved at that time to rectify another structure being put on the property? July 24, 2025 Page 39 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: The reason I ask the question is Jeff indicated that when they first go out, they can -- it's there, we'll draw it in, but they don't start charging you taxes until it goes through the -- MS. DECKER: But we do. We pay taxes on it, and we pay insurance on it, and that's why we're here. You know, that's why all this is happening, because I want to make sure that you understand that we haven't done anything to violate the law. We thought that this was permitted, and I accept the fact that we didn't know. And then it took us some time to get things situated, because how far away does it have to be from the property? What kind of enclosure is acceptable without a permit? So my daughter just graduated from Lorenzo Walker. She studied vet tech. These are her little projects. So she feels awful about it. But we are ready now to pull the demo permit because we have obtained structures that are safe for our pets as well as accepted by the county that we will not need a permit for, like, a dog kennel, for instance, is what the example is. So we put up several dog kennels. We've moved the structure, that main big, brown structure that she -- like, the chicken coop that you said, we've pulled the dog kennels away from that so that we are not in violation of the -- MR. DECKER: Setback. MS. DECKER: -- setbacks, and we are ready to pull a permit for the demo of the small feed shed and the big shed because we didn't know that -- we knew that it wasn't a permanent structure, so we didn't think that we needed a permit for it. Now we've been made aware. We are rectifying it. And then we've put up other enclosures that are accepted by the county that will not need a permit for the little chickens. So I don't know -- I think that covers it. Even something like we July 24, 2025 Page 40 have a fence on our property, we've pulled the permit for the fence because we saw a fence permit. It turns out it's not for the whole fence. It's just for two pieces that go across our property. So anyway, we've been learning about this. I just didn't want to come here today and make -- and have you -- have it presented that we were violating or trying to do something behind your back. We -- these structures were there, we're now aware, and we are rectifying it with the county. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: In summary, what would you like done, us? What would you like from us? MS. DECKER: Well, in a perfect world, you would grandfather that 25-year-old pole barn in and my lean-to because it's been there since the property -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Unfortunately that can't happen. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Unfortunately -- MS. DECKER: Okay. You asked. But what I would like to do is we are -- we have a relationship with you guys. We have a pool company. We work with you guys every single day at the county. Also, we have an open permit right now. We're putting in a pool. We put in sliding glass doors. We are going to redo the windows and the garage door. We pulled a permit for all kinds of stuff. So we're involved with you guys very much so right now. We just kind of put this in the shuffle of things, and then I'm -- again, my own -- I didn't realize we had a time frame to meet. So I would say that the whole -- everything will be all sealed, done, and we'll be out of your hair by the end of the year. But if you'll grant me some more time, just -- I had to -- I had to move the animals and find proper enclosures before I could pull the demo permit. That's what's delayed that. And then we're working with John Walsh about the pole barn lean-to. It turns out we just need July 24, 2025 Page 41 some anchoring things. I don't know. Hoyte can tell you a little more about that, but it's a simple solution for it, so we'll be putting in a permit for that. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Let's start off with a motion to see if a violation exists. MS. DECKER: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Anybody want to make a motion a violation -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I'll make a motion that a violation does exist. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And we have a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. Okay. So a violation exists. My next step is to go to the county and ask them what their resolution is, their recommendation. MS. DECKER: Of course. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And then we take that into consideration on what we ultimately publish. MS. DECKER: Okay. All right. If I could go back to what you asked, I'm asking of you. If I could ask anything of you guys today, I would ask that you address the water issue that we have on our property because of the neighbor next door. July 24, 2025 Page 42 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's -- MS. DECKER: I have a -- I know it's a different case, but it is my property. And if we could just get him to keep his water on his property and not create this -- especially right now. I'm just taking it in the chin. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Is that a separate code case? MS. DECKER: I think it's a violation that he has to come here and ask -- and answer to you-all. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Well, in order for that to happen, there has to be a case, and the person -- you can file a code case to that effect. MS. DECKER: I have. And I believe that she's also addressing this situation. I've also contacted counsel because I don't know what my rights are, and he is in a trespassing violation. So counsel has advised me to then give you the opportunity to make him rectify the situation. If not, I already have a civil case against him for $2,500 for repairing of the fence, and then I will have to also go there for trespassing charges, which will cost me more money. So I'm asking you -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let me -- MS. DECKER: -- to save me some money. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- explain how this works. So you initiate a code case for what's going on between you and your neighbor. MR. DECKER: What my neighbor's doing to his property that's affecting mine, yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Whatever -- it's affecting your property. MS. DECKER: That's correct. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: The code officer will come out, take a look at everything. July 24, 2025 Page 43 MS. DECKER: She -- I believe she has. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: She's probably seen it already. And then whether the county believes that a violation exists, then they will notify your neighbor. MS. DECKER: They have. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And then the neighbor has -- they will probably give them a sufficient time to rectify that. And if it doesn't happen, then they will be here. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Let's let the county read the recommendation. MR. DECKER: Can I add to that? Because I made this violation about three months before she -- he made a violation on me. So y'all did nothing with it. My determination was done prior to his. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. DECKER: So he's had three months' grace with nothing happening. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: We can't talk about his case if he's not here today. We're here for your case. MR. DECKER: I'm talking about my case. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I'm not saying we're not going to address it. MS. DECKER: We're talking about our case. We put an order of violation. We've said, "Hey, you guys, this is happening." BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: You've got to let me finish. THE COURT REPORTER: I'm sorry. I can't -- MS. DECKER: Sorry. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: First of all, you need to understand something: We're going to try to work with you. The route that this is going doesn't kind of feel that way. It's getting a little hostile, it feels. So let's just take a moment and realize that the case the July 24, 2025 Page 44 investigator -- it has different processes. She has to go investigate, maybe there's a moment where she's talking to them. Maybe they're looking at permits. Who knows what the issue is with their case. It doesn't mean it's not valid. It doesn't mean it's not going to come before us. It just means that today yours is here. And for all you know, his was here last month. We don't know. Give her a moment. (Simultaneous crosstalk.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Let's go to the county. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Let her make the recommendation. Let us help you first because your presentation was phenomenal. At the rate it's going, it doesn't feel that way. So let's leave it there. Let's start again. Let her read the recommendation, and your concerns regarding the other case will be addressed when that gentleman comes. If he's not here this month, he might be here next month. But it doesn't mean -- just because you report it first, it doesn't work that way. Every case is different, okay. Every case is different. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So... MS. LYNCH: Recommendation: That the Code Enforcement Board orders the respondents to pay all operational costs in the amount of $59.28 incurred in the prosecution of the case within 30 days and abate all violations by obtaining all required Collier County building permits or demolition permit, inspection, and certificate of completion for multiple -- the multiple animal enclosures, enclosed barn, and roof extension unit within blank days of this hearing or a fine of blank days [sic] per day will be imposed until the violation is abated. The respondent must notify the code enforcement investigator when the violation has been abated in order to conduct a final inspection to confirm abatement. If the respondent fails to abate the July 24, 2025 Page 45 violation, the county may abate the violation using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provisions of this order, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Thank you for the recommendation. I have a side question. MS. LYNCH: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Are you -- have you been given this other case that they're talking about? Just a side question. MS. LYNCH: Uh-huh. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you have -- MS. LYNCH: Yes, I have the case on the neighbor. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MS. LYNCH: But if you're referring to their case as they are wanting to report -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Yes. MS. LYNCH: -- no. The water one, that one went to the county engineer, and there was -- at the time, there was no violation of water, so I can't address that until there's actually water present. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So -- MS. DECKER: There is water. MS. LYNCH: But at the time -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We'll -- BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Different case. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Different case. Okay. Well, let me ask you, how long do you think it's going to take to come into compliance? MS. DECKER: I think that we can demo it in the next -- we just have to apply for the permit to demo. Once we get the permit to July 24, 2025 Page 46 demo, we can get it done, and then you guys can come out and see that it's all gone. That would be in compliance, I'd say, in the next 30 days. I just need to work with John Walsh. I'm kind of subjected to his -- he's very busy, so -- and ours is minor compared to what he's dealing with, so I will get on the horn with him and get the pole barn and the side -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Will six months be enough for -- MS. DECKER: -- lean-to addressed. So I would say within the next month I'll be pulling a permit on that. Is that okay? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Does six work? MS. DECKER: Six months is great. I will be out of your hair in months. MR. DECKER: Probably not be able to finish it, but to submit. MS. DECKER: Well, yeah. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Well, you guy are -- you came across as you're willing to comply, and that's what we like in a compliance board here. MS. DECKER: Absolutely. And that's why we're here is because we want to make sure that you understand that we did not do anything out of compliance, that we obtained a property that had this, and then we just didn't realize until this case came about. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: We understand. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So let me make the motion, okay. Make a motion that you pay the 59.28 within 30 days -- MS. DECKER: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- and we grant six months -- MS. DECKER: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- to come into compliance, or a $250-a-day fine after that. MS. DECKER: Perfect. July 24, 2025 Page 47 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay? MS. DECKER: That sounds great. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So hopefully everything will be done, and we won't see you again. MS. DECKER: That's okay. And I just want to let you know, Mr. Fuentes, that the only reason I brought up the water was because he asked what you guys could do for me. I'm just presenting to the Court that there is a water thing. That's why -- and that's mainly why I even made the call is because my property is being affected. I just -- BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: I'll second the motion. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: If in six months -- five months you're not done, you can come back and ask for more time. MS. DECKER: It will it be done. It will be done. It's really not that complicated. It's just that I didn't realize I had a timeline, and I'm sitting out there finagling with my daughter about which, you know, enclosure we should get. So it's all -- that has nothing to do -- it's not that we don't want to be in compliance. And then when I saw this, I was like, "Oh, lovely. I didn't realize." So I apologize and thank you for your time this morning. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Great. We enjoyed having you July 24, 2025 Page 48 here. Thank you for coming. MS. DECKER: Thank you. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Thank you. MS. BUCHILLON: ***Next up, stipulation, No. 7, CESD20230000282, Gilbert Lordeus and Facilite Liberal. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. COHEN: I do. Good morning. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Good morning. MR. COHEN: For the record, Wade Cohen, Collier County Code Enforcement. The stipulation was signed a little earlier, and Mr. Lordeus was not feeling well and departed with his family. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. COHEN: Therefore, it is agreed between the parties that the respondent shall: Number 1, pay operational costs in the amount of $59.28 incurred in the prosecution of this case within 30 days of this hearing; Number 2, obtain all required building permits or demolition permit, inspections, and certificate of completion or occupancy for the converted garage within 180 days of this hearing, or a fine of $250 per day will be imposed until the violation is abated; Number 3, cease and desist the use of the unpermitted garage conversion, disconnect all unpermitted utilities until a valid permit, inspections, and certificate of completion or occupancy has been issued within seven days of this hearing, or a fine of $250 per day will be imposed until the violation is abated. Respondent must notify Code Enforcement within 24 hours of abatement of the violation and request the investigator perform a site inspection to confirm July 24, 2025 Page 49 compliance; And, No. 4, that if the respondent fails to abate the violation, the county may abate the violation using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provisions of this agreement, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So this is basically -- we have lots of them -- a garage conversion. MR. COHEN: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Was anybody living in it when -- MR. COHEN: Yes, sir. There's somebody living in it now. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's a problem. MR. COHEN: Indeed, it is. I will be out at the residence next Friday at 2 p.m. to ensure that they're gone and the utilities have been turned off. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And the respondent is aware of that? MR. COHEN: Yes, indeed. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: I'll make a motion to accept the stipulation as written. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: (Absent.) BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) July 24, 2025 Page 50 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. MR. COHEN: Thank you. MS. BUCHILLON: ***Next up, No. 8, CESD20250001144, Arle Gonzalez. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. COOPER: I do. MR. GONZALEZ: I do. MS. MORENO: I do. MS. LORENZO: She's translating. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm you will translate everything from English into Spanish and Spanish into English to the best of your ability? MS. MORENO: I do. THE COURT REPORTER: And what is your name? MR. MORENO: Melissa Moreno. MR. COOPER: Good morning. For the record, Investigator Craig Cooper, Collier County Code Enforcement. This is in reference to Case No. CESD20250001144 dealing with the violations of Land Development Code 2004-41, as amended, Sections 1.04.01 and 10.02.06(B)(1)(a), Florida Building Code & 8th Edition (2023) Building, Chapter 1, scope and administration, Part 2, administration enforcements, Section 109.1 and 111.1. Permit PRBD20170728286 has expired with fees due, and a certificate of occupancy has not been issued. The property is currently occupied. Located at 3463 70th Avenue Northeast. Folio 39086680004. Service was given on January 30th of 2025. While researching Case CEROW20250001100, I noticed a Permit No. PRBD20170728286 has expired with the conditions still July 24, 2025 Page 51 open, and a certificate of occupancy has not been issued. The property is currently occupied. I'd like now to present the case evidence in the following exhibits: Notice of violation, permit fees, screenshot of that, screenshot of the permit conditions, and a screenshot of the permit conditions 2. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Has the respondent seen the photos? MR. COOPER: They've seen everything I'm going to present. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Can I get a motion to accept the photos? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Motion to accept the photos. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And it's seconded. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. Okay. MR. COOPER: This is -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It's an eye test for me. MR. COOPER: See if I can make it larger. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Good. MR. COOPER: Is that good? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Yeah. MR. COOPER: Okay. July 24, 2025 Page 52 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You might as well explain what you're showing. MR. COOPER: That's what I was going to say. Okay. Okay. So the Permit PRBD20170728286 was issued on August 17th of 2017. It was extended on November 1st of 2019. It was extended on May 24th of 2022. It was reactivated March 24th of 2025, and it expired on June 17th of 2025. There has been no certificate of occupancy or temporary CO. Fees due are $20,681.45. There's four conditions open: Elevation certificate, elevation certificate under construction, impact fees, and the curbside solid waste collection. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So you were out there? MR. COOPER: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And you met with the respondents? MR. COOPER: I did. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And? MR. COOPER: I would like to refer to the respondent. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Well, just your interaction with them. You met with them and said -- they own the property? MR. COOPER: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: They did the construction? MR. COOPER: Well, there was a part of language barrier. I was there -- we really couldn't communicate very much, but I tried to -- because my Spanish is not -- pretty much nonexistent. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Neither is mine. Okay. I understand what you're saying. Okay. All right. You're done? MR. COOPER: Yes. I would like the respondent -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Ma'am. When you speak, even in the translations, we need to hear it so that we know what's going on. MS. MORENO: Okay. Sorry. July 24, 2025 Page 53 Okay. So when he started building the house, he ran out of money. That's why he hasn't been able to close out the permits. He was here in March, like you said. He reactivated the permit, and then he found out that because they removed some vegetation from the property, he's not being able to get the -- some of those conditions closed as well to be able to get the CO. So today he's able to pay the fees, the closing fees -- the impact fees, but he's still not going to be able to get the CO until he gets a decision from the state with the vegetation removal stuff. MR. COOPER: I don't believe that that's correct. There's a separate vegetation case on the property. That really doesn't have much to do with the impact fees to get the certificate of occupancy. That case is different. MS. MORENO: They won't close -- they won't close the permit if he doesn't have the vegetation removal stuff. MR. NOELL: Ma'am, can you just translate that, what was said to him, please. MS. MORENO: Is the only that he has to do to close out the permit is pay the impact fees? MR. COOPER: There's two -- once he pays the impact fees, then that will cover -- well, obviously the impact fees, but it will also cover the curbside solid waste collection. Then he still has to get the elevation certificate, an elevation certificate under construction. Then that's it. There's only two conditions once he pays the impact fees. MS. MORENO: I'm aware -- this is not him saying, but I am aware because I've been helping him with everything in the permit -- that there is an inspection that wasn't passed because of the vegetation removal. So if he doesn't pass that last inspection on the house, he won't be able to get the CO. Those two are connected. Yes, he can pay for the impact fees, but he's not going to get the CO July 24, 2025 Page 54 unless he passes that last inspection, because a permit is not going to be closed unless you pass all your inspections. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's a separate case. So as far as we are concerned here in Code, we're concerned with the case that's being heard now. And if the agent says -- the officer says it needs A, B, and C, once that's done, this case is done. Then he has a problem with the vegetation or whatever; am I correct? MR. COOPER: I don't see how the separate case of vegetation removal -- and I understand they take a long time -- has anything to do with the certificate of occupancy for the home for the original building permit. The original building permit -- MS. MORENO: There is a vegetation removal -- there is a vegetation review that is done on a property in the Estates or -- whenever it's bigger than an acre. If that review doesn't pass -- or those inspections for that review don't pass, then he won't be able to close. MR. COOPER: Then they would just have to correct the vegetation. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yeah. So typically the vegetation removal permit, what it is is you've cleared too much of your property, typically. MR. MORENO: Yes. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: In order to correct that violation, he has to replant, plain and simple. Michaelle Crowley would have said the same thing. MS. MORENO: He was here, and they sent him to Fort Myers, and so he's waiting for that -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: But -- but it shouldn't have to do anything with the dwelling itself. You're not building a new home. You're just trying to get the original CO -- the home that was already in place CO'ed. July 24, 2025 Page 55 MS. MORENO: But there is one inspection. If you go to the activities in the permit, there is one inspection that is linked. That's why the permit went into expire, and he had to reactivate it. It's not that he passed all the inspections and didn't pay the fees. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Jeff, do you have that? MR. LETOURNEAU: I do -- I'm seeing -- MS. LORENZO: Can you translate to him? MR. LETOURNEAU: Yeah. For the record, Jeff Letoureau, Collier County Code Enforcement. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Was this dwelling built initially, and that's the building permit we're talking about? MS. MORENO: Correct. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So, legally, he shouldn't even be living in it. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I understand now. He probably needs a vegetation, then. MR. LETOURNEAU: Well, no. A permit was issued in 2017. He's been working on the house since then. I don't know when he moved into the house; I can't say that. And that's an extenuating code violation because there's no CO or temporary CO. Now, the only thing I'm seeing right now besides whatever conditions -- I haven't looked at those -- is there's an 801, which is a site drainage that hasn't passed. There's also maybe a question about a spot survey, too, but I'm not sure about that because that's empty here. MR. COOPER: I'm looking at the CO hold, but it was resolved. MR. LETOURNEAU: Oh, that's been resolved in the CO. Okay. So it looks like the site -- I'm not sure if somebody in the building department or zoning is holding up their CO on the house on a site drainage being passed. Is that what you're saying? MS. MORENO: (Nods head.) July 24, 2025 Page 56 MR. LETOURNEAU: I don't understand that logic, but I don't know the whole picture; however, I think if he pays the impact fees due, I can -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: This violation can be terminated. MR. LETOURNEAU: I can give him my card, and they can call me. I'm going to try to straighten out why -- if and why this permit's being held up by the vegetation removal. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Can I -- another question. Does that mean -- this started eight years ago. No taxes have been paid since then, since 2017? MR. LETOURNEAU: I can't speak for that. MS. MORENO: Sorry. Yes, he has been paying taxes for the past five years for the house. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So let me ask another question so that there's less confusion, I hope. Jeff? MR. LETOURNEAU: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: When he goes to pay the taxes, the -- MR. LETOURNEAU: Impact fees. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- impact fees -- MR. LETOURNEAU: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- are they going to charge him for the years that he didn't pay? MR. LETOURNEAU: No, I don't -- I don't think so. I don't know, but I don't think so. I think he just has to come down and pay what's -- whatever the fees that are located on there, almost $20,600. He pays that, I think that, you know, you're good -- he's good to go. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I can't speak for whether the Tax Collector has been collecting taxes. I'd have to do the research. MR. COOPER: And the impact fees are a condition for the July 24, 2025 Page 57 permit, along with the others. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Right. MR. LETOURNEAU: I think normally a CO on a single-family home, that spurs the Tax Collector to start collecting taxes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Correct. Okay. So let's find out whether a violation exists. Anybody want to make a motion? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: I'll make a motion a violation exists. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second that a violation exists. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. Do you have a recommendation for us, Craig? MR. COOPER: I do. MR. NOELL: Can we hold on? As you're getting that, can you please translate that? Thank you. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Craig. MR. COOPER: All right. Is it big enough? Okay. Recommendation: That the Code Enforcement Board orders the respondent to pay all operational costs in the amount of $59.35 incurred in the prosecution of this case within 30 days and abate all violations by: July 24, 2025 Page 58 One, satisfying all outstanding conditions and unpaid fees associated with Permit PRBD20170728286 and obtain the required certificate of occupancy within blank days of this hearing, or a fine of blank per day will be imposed until the violation is abated; Two, the respondent must notify the code enforcement investigator when the violation has been abated in order to conduct a final inspection to confirm abatement. If the respondent fails to abate the violation, the county may abate the violation using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provision of this order, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. Would you like me to go back to No. 1 again? MS. MORENO: No, that's okay. I was able to. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We're all set? Okay. I'd like to make a motion: $59.35 paid within 30 days. The property comes into compliance within 30 days, or a $250-a-day fine thereafter. The reason I say 30 days, it sounds to me, unless someone can correct me, that all he needs to do is write a check, and he says he has the money to do that. MR. COOPER: The elevation certificate. MR. LETOURNEAU: And then get -- and then the -- whatever the one inspection he's got left, which is a site drainage inspection. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So it's not an elevation certificate? MR. LETOURNEAU: Well, I think -- I think he needs the elevation certificate, the site drainage inspection, and the fees paid. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So how long -- typically an elevation certificate will take -- MR. LETOURNEAU: I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why he hasn't gotten it already. I mean, he's been building the house for eight years. I mean -- July 24, 2025 Page 59 BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: And if it's not approved, we could be looking at a big boo-boo. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We'll find out. In the meantime -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So come back in 30 days. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: What about the tenant? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: He is the tenant. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. What about -- are we going to let the tenant stay? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: If it's 30 days, he can stay. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: It's got to be part of the motion. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I didn't address it. I didn't address that. Typically, if you're in violation, you don't have a CO, it should be unoccupied. MR. COOPER: Or they can apply for a temporary CO. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Right. MR. LETOURNEAU: And I would say, normally, that we would ask for the property to be evacuated; however, he has passed all the electrical and all the other utilities. So I think that's it. Just a site drainage. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: The big thing is the amount of money that's owed. MR. LETOURNEAU: That's it. That's the -- you know, and I will say that I can see a -- I can see where maybe the clearing of the property has affected the ability to pass the site drainage somehow, you know. They might be tying it together, like she has been saying, yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Well, you're going to give him your card? MR. LETOURNEAU: I am. I don't know if I can fix it, but I'll get to the bottom of it, I'll tell you that. July 24, 2025 Page 60 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So in 30 days, we'll find out. MR. LETOURNEAU: Right. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's my motion. Do I have a second? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Second. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I have a second. MS. MORENO: I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: All in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. MS. MORENO: I didn't hear what you said. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: He has 30 days. If not, 250 bucks per day. He does need to pay 59.35 within 30 days as well. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. And -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Jeff Letourneau talks Spanish, so he'll be able to help you guys moving forward. MS. BUCHILLON: You wish. MR. LETOURNEAU: Un poquito. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We're going to take a 10-minute break, maybe 15-minute break, effective now. (A recess was had from 10:36 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I call the Code Enforcement Board back to order. Next case, Helen. MS. BUCHILLON: Next case, we're still under hearings, No. 11, CEPM20240003012, Nancy A. Thorsen. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: What happened to 10? July 24, 2025 Page 61 MS. BUCHILLON: I'm sorry. Oh, 10, respondent's not here, so it stays for the last. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Okay. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. MIGAL: I do. MS. THORSEN: I do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Good morning. MR. MIGAL: Good morning. MS. THORSEN: Good morning. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It's morning. You're in charge. MR. MIGAL: Thank you. For the record, Rick Migal, Collier County Code Enforcement. This is in reference to Case No. CEPM20240003012 dealing with a violation of the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), Chapter 4, Sections 454, 454.2.17, 545.2.17.1, 454.2.17.11 -- 1.1, sorry, 454.2.17.12, and 454.2.17.13, residence with swimming pool barrier requirements for an in-ground pool with no permanent pool barrier in place on an improved Estates-zoned parcel located at 5230 Palmetto Woods Drive, Naples, Florida, 34119, Folio 38283761002. Service was given on December 17th, 2024. This case was opened as a referral from the Collier County Building Department. On April 30th, 2024, I met with the son of property owner Nancy Thorsen and explained the complaint and the violation. I witnessed no pool protection whatsoever and explained the health and safety aspects of the situation. The son promised to erect a temporary barrier over the weekend. Upon reinspection, I observed the temporary barrier had been July 24, 2025 Page 62 installed. When asked when the permanent barrier would be installed, Ms. Thorsen explained that the pool is leaking, and she had been wrangling with the pool company to fix it and was preparing to take legal action against the pool company. As the repair would most likely require excavation around the pool, she did not want to rebuild the cage that she had had prior to the hurricane until the pool was fixed. Several reinspections yielded no progress towards the installation of the permanent pool protection. As of yesterday's prehearing inspection, the temporary barrier is still installed, but it is lacking the permanent protection that is the -- yeah, so the violation remains. I'd like to now present case evidence in the following exhibits: Two pictures taken by me on 5/1/24, one picture taken by me on 2/6/25, and two pictures taken by me at yesterday's prehearing inspection. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Make a motion to accept the photos. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. MR. MIGAL: So this is the first picture taken on my first visit July 24, 2025 Page 63 showing no pool protection whatsoever. This is a second picture of the pool on that date, May 1st, 2024. This is the picture showing the pool protection installed on February 6th, 2025, or -- sorry. The picture itself was January 31st, 2025. This was yesterday's pictures showing one aspect of the pool protection still in place, the temporary, I should say, pool protection, and this is a second aspect showing the pool protection around the rest of the pool. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I don't know if it's my eyes, but I really can't see anything. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: It's there. MR. MIGAL: Around towards the other side of the house. It is there. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. I see the poles, okay. MR. MIGAL: Yeah. You can see it underneath the overhang of the building pretty well. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. MIGAL: Fairly well. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And this was -- stems from -- MR. MIGAL: I'm sorry? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- December of '24? MR. MIGAL: Yes. April 30th, 2024, is when I made my first contact. December 17th was the date of notice of violation. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: On the initial violation that you did, did you state "temporary right away, permanent within" -- what was the date on that? MR. MIGAL: Well, temporary was already in place by the time the notice was given. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Right. MR. MIGAL: And I gave -- what we give on notices of violation typically is a 30-day, and then we spoon-feed, so to speak, July 24, 2025 Page 64 as necessary. In this particular case, Ms. Thorsen was still trying to negotiate something with the pool company to fix the -- as she'll explain, fix the leaks before she made a commitment to a permanent barrier. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MS. THORSEN: Good morning. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Ma'am, could you state your name on the microphone that's not there. MS. THORSEN: On the microphone? I can be loud. My name is Nancy Thorsen. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Your turn. MS. THORSEN: Okay. Sorry, I've got a little PTSD going on here. Hurricane Irma in 2017 was not good to me. I had significant damage to my home. There used to be a pool cage that came off the top of the house all the way out to the corners. It was a giant Jenga game into the pool in addition to major structural work that I had to have done as well, too. It took me four years to sue the insurance company to pay for the damages. Then the insurance company proceeded to go out of business, United Property and Casualty. Yeah, thank you. I have to laugh, too. I had contracted for the pool. The company that put the pool in, installed the pool initially, had done great work for me. I contracted them to do the repairs. They stripped the pool. The pipes were broken underneath the deck. That's where all the leaks were generating from. The Marcite, everything had been damaged in the pool. It was a $40,000 repair job to the pool, of which now and then proceeded to continue to have leaks and nothing but problems, the beams breaking away from the deck. It's a mess. July 24, 2025 Page 65 I hired an engineer. The pool company's recommendation was to hire a structural engineer. I hired an engineer that determined that there were voids underneath the deck where they did the pool repairs. As soon as I provided that report back to the pool company is when they became a bit obstinate in their responses to me, blaming my palm tree. That palm tree right there was the cause of all the problems; my sod, my gutters. I've never had gutters on my house. So everything that they could come up with to argue why the pool was still experiencing leaking was -- I could refute with common sense, okay. I have retained -- I have contacted an attorney to help me with this because they are just digging -- the pool company is digging their heels in and not helping me. I hired an attorney who has asked me to go ahead and get bids for the pool repairs so that they could take that -- those bids with a letter of demand back to the pool company. I really don't want them to fix my pool anymore. I would like somebody else to fix my pool, but I have to get these bids in order to submit to the attorney to file with the pool company. I can't get any of the pool companies to provide me a bid. I can't get them to return my phone calls. I can't get them to -- it's been a -- I've been through -- I think I'm at five pool companies now trying to get them to give me a solid bid. So my request before you-all today is an addition of time to collect those bids so that we can go ahead and proceed with the demand letter against the pool company. My concern is that if I do anything else to alter the property, being digging for fencing, drilling into the pool decks for baby barriers and such like that, that's just going to give the pool company another line of defense, an argument why it's not their fault. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: So real quick, Rick, the July 24, 2025 Page 66 enclosure -- temporary enclosure currently is 100 percent up? MR. MIGAL: Hundred percent. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Okay. So at least there's no safety issue. MR. MIGAL: Right. MS. THORSEN: Right. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Quick question: Did you ever have a settlement from that insurance claim that you had? MS. THORSEN: I did. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Did they ever offer you? MS. THORSEN: I settled with them back in 2021. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: And they paid you? MS. THORSEN: They did pay me. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Okay. They did. MS. THORSEN: And that was the monies that I used to pay the pool company. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Okay. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Where we are at now, we have to vote on whether a violation exists. But I haven't met an attorney yet that can put a pool fence up. Excuse me. So waiting for attorneys is kind of a waste of time. We need to come up with some date when this is going to get resolved. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: The problem is the safety/health issue. That's the problem. MS. THORSEN: I understand. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So -- MS. THORSEN: But the current -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Nobody's giving you an indication on when this thing is going to be resolved? MS. THORSEN: I met with another pool company that appears to be very promising. We came up with a plan as to getting a leak July 24, 2025 Page 67 detection company out there to do another -- another assessment of where the leaks are. And I checked with him earlier this week to get an update. He hasn't heard back from the leak detection company. So it's kind of a snowballing of people responding. So that's the passage of time that's challenging. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Kathy? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: But currently there's no health issue or safety issue? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: But the problem is you can't have a temp barrier up that long either. Jeff, what's typically the time frame on that? MR. LETOURNEAU: Well, there is no time frame on the temporary barrier. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: There is none? MR. LETOURNEAU: No. We just ask them to put it up to buy them some time to get the building permit for the permanent. Since she put it up right away when Rick was out there, we gave her all the way till December before you issued the NOV, and here we are in July after that at this point. We're just asking for a building permit be obtained and some sort of barrier put up, whether it be a fence or another screen enclosure. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: And, technically, if she puts a fence, she would be in compliance, correct, with the permit? MR. LETOURNEAU: If she gets a building permit for a pool fence and gets the inspections and CO, she would be in compliance, yes. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: A perimeter fence would not suffice? MR. LETOURNEAU: A what? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: A perimeter fence. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: A perimeter fence. July 24, 2025 Page 68 MR. LETOURNEAU: A perimeter fence would suffice if it was actually permitted as a pool fence. See, a pool fence might have other hoops you have to jump through. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Certain height. MR. LETOURNEAU: Yeah. Height, the width of the stuff. There might be requirements for -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Laches. MR. LETOURNEAU: -- something on the windows, on the doors or whatever, yeah. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Nancy, it might be worth considering looking into alternatives besides a barrier itself, like a pool enclosure; maybe a fence. At the end of the day, they just want to make sure it's, you know -- MS. THORSEN: No, I understand. So I guess -- I guess my question would be, with all these great minds here, how do I protect myself? If I do put a fence, it's kind of -- economically, it's difficult to put a fence up that I'm going to tear down. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: That's your attorney. MR. NOELL: Ma'am, we definitely can't give legal advice. But you definitely want to check with your attorney. MS. THORSEN: Yeah, because I'm just giving them ammunition. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Well, a perimeter fence wouldn't necessarily be right around the pool. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Which is why she mentioned it. I think she was -- BOARD MEMBER ELROD: It would be further away so it wouldn't interfere with anything within the pool. And if you had large enough gates, any contractor could get in and out without destroying it. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Kevin, doesn't state July 24, 2025 Page 69 statute on pools pretty well specify what type of fence, how high, child proof locks, et cetera? And the county falls in behind the state statute? MR. NOELL: I don't know the answer to that right off the top of my head. I know that, you know, the county sets forth what the violation is and what they need to do to get in compliance. So they'll be the ones, you know, to either bring it back saying -- or not bring it back because she's in compliance, or to come back and say she's not in compliance, and here's why not. So I can't answer that right now. MR. LETOURNEAU: The county building department follows the regulations of the Florida Building Code on a pool fence. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We need to determine whether a violation exists or not. And I'm thinking that since this should have been resolved somewhere between December and now, that amount of time that's been -- gone by certainly would indicate that this is a violation. MR. LETOURNEAU: That's what we're here for. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Right. So I make a motion a violation exists. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And we have a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So now what is the remedy? We're going to look for a suggestion from the county. MR. MIGAL: Okay. The recommendation is that the Code July 24, 2025 Page 70 Enforcement Board orders the respondent to pay all operational costs in the amount $59.28 incurred in the prosecution of this case within 30 days and abate all violations by: No. 1, obtain all required Collier County building permits, inspections, and certificates of completion/occupancy to erect a permanent pool barrier within blank number of days of this hearing, or a fine of blank dollars per day will be imposed until the violation is abated; Number 2, the respondent must notify the code enforcement investigator when the violation has been abated and ordered -- in order to conduct a final inspection to confirm abatement. If the respondent fails to abate the violation, the county may abate the violation by using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provisions of this order, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. So I go back to you. Do you have any idea -- we'd like to help you out by giving you sufficient time to wrangle all the cats together so that something can be done. MS. THORSEN: Uh-huh. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So I come to you asking if you have some sense -- MS. THORSEN: I would -- I would like to believe that I could get a definitive plan of action, permit and a plan in place by the end of the year. Whether or not it will be completed by the end of the year, that's to be determined. But it's taking so long for everybody to respond. It's just -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Well, the actual putting a fence up, a permanent fence, shouldn't take long. It's all of the crap that goes on before that -- MS. THORSEN: Right. July 24, 2025 Page 71 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: -- that you're talking about. MS. THORSEN: Right. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So thoughts from the Board? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Good pretzels. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Good pretzels? BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: I have a question for the respondent. Is there a gate of any type around the temporary fence? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: No. That's why we're saying if she puts a fence up -- BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: So the only access to the pool is from the house? MS. THORSEN: At this point, right, other than I do have a pole that I constructed for -- MR. MIGAL: She has a pole in a pole in the ground, and you have to lift it up. It goes this deep (indicating) into the ground, and then she can pull it apart and go in that way, but... BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: So if somebody was having a problem or in trouble in the pool and somebody was on the outside of that fence, they wouldn't be able to get in to help that person? MS. THORSEN: Oh, they would. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: How? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: They jump it. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: How? BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Walk over it. MR. LETOURNEAU: I don't think that fence is that sturdy that you couldn't knock it down, yeah. MR. MIGAL: It's not that strong of a fence. MS. THORSEN: Yeah. I mean, they could -- they could easily get in, yes. I mean, like I said, I constructed -- because my pool guy is the gentleman who serviced the pool. I had to construct that so July 24, 2025 Page 72 they could get in and out of the pool area. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Let me see if I can -- I'm going to make a motion on this: $59.28 paid within 30 days, and 120 days to get everything done, which brings you to the end of the year. August, September, October, November, December, five months. Five times -- it's 150 days. I'll change it to 150 days, or a $100 fine thereafter. Now, if you get to the point where you get all of the other stuff done except for the putting up of the construction, and it's after Thanksgiving, I would suggest that you come back before the Board -- we don't have a meeting in November -- and say this is -- I've got everything done, they're putting up everything, it should be done in the next 30 days or whatever. MR. NOELL: And do you want that temporary fence to stay in place during -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Oh, yeah. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: It has to, yeah. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Absolutely. MR. NOELL: Is that part of your motion? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Temporary fence has to stay up. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And it's seconded. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Nay. July 24, 2025 Page 73 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. It carries. So you have till the end of the year. It will probably be too cold to go in the pool anyhow, unless you've got a big heater, but I wish you luck. MS. THORSEN: Thank you. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: And, again, if you don't get it done, come back before the Board. MS. THORSEN: I would just like it to be over. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Thank you. MS. THORSEN: Thank you for your time today. MS. BUCHILLON: ***Next case under old business, B, motion for imposition of fines and liens, No. 2, CEPM20220002333, Treetops of Naples. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Treetops of Naples. I believe it was Mr. Arthur, correct? MR. JOUBERT: Yes, correct. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. MUSSE: I do. MR. JOUBERT: I do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. MUCHA: Introduce yourself. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. My name is Arthur Joubert. I'm on the board of directors for Treetops of Naples. I've been before you before. In fact, on the last meeting we had on these -- MR. MUSSE: Jonathan Musse, Collier County Code Enforcement. MR. ARTHUR: What's that? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Jonathan. MR. MUSSE: I'm going to read this first. MR. JOUBERT: I thought you were going to go first. Sorry. July 24, 2025 Page 74 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You're going to read this into the record for us, and then let the respondent go? MR. MUSSE: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. MUSSE: Past orders: On June 27th, 2024, the Code Enforcement Board issued a finding of fact, conclusion of law and order. The respondent was found in violation of the referenced ordinance and ordered to correct the violation. See attached order of the Board, OR6382, Page 2091, for more information. The violation has not been abated as of July 24th, 2025. Fines and costs to date are as follows: Unit 5221, fines have accrued at the rate of $200 per day for the period of September 26th, 2024, to July 24th, 2025, for a total fine amount of $60,000 and -- $60,400. This has to be updated, as I'm seeing two of these -- two out of three of these units are in compliance right now. So it would be a different time -- the fines would not be up to par at 60 -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So the two of the three. Do you know when the two came into compliance? MR. MUSSE: I would have to look that up. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You need to do the arithmetic on that to see what it is. MR. MUSSE: Right. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: But while you're doing that -- MR. MUSSE: Do you want me to finish? Oh, go ahead. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You probably need some time to figure it out. MR. MUSSE: I do. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: During that time -- MR. JOUBERT: Okay. Good morning, everyone. It was last June that I was here on these three items. And I have some good July 24, 2025 Page 75 news, and I have some news that we still have to do some work. On 5206, that was owned by Matthew Falcon. He was a newer owner. So after this meeting, I contacted him and let him know that the permit -- the building permit for the subfloor work had never been signed off. So I suggested he call his title company, which he did, and within three or four months, he got the permit signed off. That's on 5206 Treetops Drive. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Do you know the date that that was done? MR. JOUBERT: Yes. And the next one is 5401 Treetops Drive. That's owned by Bonnie Walsh, and that one there, she had a floor which was in very bad shape. So I contacted Bonnie, spoke with her and her daughter several times. And she said, well, the cost of repairing the subfloor, it's a common element, so it's -- the responsibility is for Treetops of Naples. And I said to her when I was talking to her on the phone a couple times, I said, “Look, if I owned your unit, I would fix it, and if Treetops didn't do anything, then you can sue Treetops or work with Treetops to get it paid.” But, I said, the most important thing is we have to get your floor fixed. So she talked back and forth. She had a couple of contractors talk to me. She ended up hiring a contractor right away after she got the bids, and she had it done by the end of the year. By the end of 2004 [sic], it was all done, and her permit was closed out. So those two, the permits are all closed off. The work is all done. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You said 2004. MR. JOUBERT: 2004. The third one -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: You mean '24. MR. JOUBERT: '24, yeah. I'm sorry. God. Yeah, 2024. The third one, which is 5221, I have to give you a little bit of an explanation because it's really -- it's not complicated, but it's very July 24, 2025 Page 76 difficult. I visited with the owner, Stacia Bradley. It's a woman. She lives alone. And she -- I think she bought it three or four years ago. I also looked up in the records and found out that Treetops had signed a contract with Huffman Construction, which is still in business, to do the subfloor work. So on these condos, when we do the subfloor work, there's work above the subfloor that if it has to be done, it's done by the owner, not by Treetops. So Treetops entered into a contract with Huffman. Huffman did the work within the reasonable amount of time, but he never got it signed off. I spoke to Michael Huffman, and I spoke to his sister. Her last name was Harrelson of Huffman Construction. And he basically said to me, "Listen, I'm all done. I don't know why it wasn't signed off." So when I did more checking, checked back with the condo owner, Stacia Bradley, she hired Amaro Builders to do the work above the floor, and it was really mostly cosmetic work. There's some woodwork that has to be done. Sometimes they have to remove the cabinets and put them back. So she hired Amaro Builders. I said, "Okay. Well, I'll contact them," because she said they got a permit. So I said, "I'll contact them, and we'll get this thing solved." Same day, by the time I did some tracking, I found out that Amaro Builders was no longer in business because the owner had passed away sometime in either late 2003 or early 2004 [sic]. So now -- CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: '23, '24. MR. JOUBERT: 2024. So anyways, I went back, and we looked to see how everything was, and the place is beautiful. I mean, it's done. But we found -- I July 24, 2025 Page 77 found under the sink is a party wall with the condo unit in the back. It has a firewall. And whoever did that work did not do -- and it wasn't Huffman, because that's above the slab -- did a lousy job. So I called another contractor -- Amaro was out of -- it was Amaro that did the work. They were out of business. So I called another contractor that does some work for us, Peter Cal at Carlton Construction. And I said, "Peter, can you go take a look at this and see if you can fix it?" So he took a look at it, gave me a price, got a permit, and he fixed it. This is all in a period of five or six months, seven months. So I said, "Ah, this is great." So he called for an inspection, and when the -- the inspectors came, it was a gentlemen named Mr. Shek (phonetic). He was from the fire -- the fire plan examiner, and then Lieutenant Kristen King from Greater Naples Fire Department. And they came to inspect it, which we thought was just going to be for the party wall. But they were looking at all the place, and they saw some other cosmetic work. And they said, "Well, we weren't called for any inspections on this." And they came up with a whole -- that was -- this was, like, two months ago. They come up with a very long list of items that they wanted taken care of. So now I had Hoffman who didn't want to go back and then Amaro who couldn't go back, and then Peter only just to fix that little part of work, but they had some other things that they wanted some verifications on, some supplies that were done there. So I asked Peter to check what happened. And he checked with the code -- the building department and spoke with a -- what was his name? -- Goldberg, yeah. What was the name? MR. MUSSE: Bogert, Michael Bogert. MR. JOUBERT: Yeah, Michael Bogert. And sent -- Michael sent me an email and said, you have to file a complaint if you want to July 24, 2025 Page 78 have some action to see if that work can be done. So that's -- that was this past month. So that's what I have to do now is file a complaint, which I'm going to do while I'm in the building. File a complaint, if it can be done here, and then figure out all the list of things that's on the fire department, which we're not even sure if any of that work was done from a standpoint. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Well, our position here, we can -- since it's not in compliance, is to either extend the time or impose the fine. Did you figure out -- MR. MUSSE: Yeah. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Since two of the three are in compliance now -- MR. JOUBERT: Right. MR. MUSSE: November 8th. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Excuse me? MR. MUSSE: November 8th, 2024, both of them. That is 43 days. So $86,000 instead of 60-. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. MUSSE: Or $8,600 instead of 60,000, sorry. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: I would like to -- MS. LORENZO: Which two? CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We're all about compliance, and you've been doing yeoman's work in coming to -- getting everything into compliance. It would be so much easier if you could get the last unit into compliance and come back before the Board where the violation is in compliance, and then we can figure out what to do with the fine. That's my thought on it, unless somebody else has a thought on that. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: We can't untangle the three of them. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We can untangle it on what we July 24, 2025 Page 79 impose as a fine. MR. LETOURNEAU: If you can give him a continuance, I promise I will have it straightened out by the time you get it back here next time. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. MR. LETOURNEAU: Yeah. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. And come back, and at that time we can resolve -- MR. LETOURNEAU: We'll have it figured out, yeah. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: How long do you think you could come into compliance? MR. JOUBERT: Pardon me? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: How long do you believe it would take you? MR. JOUBERT: I don't know. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We've already given you -- BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Arthur, I feel bad. MR. JOUBERT: Is three months out of the question? BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: You've been dealing with Treetops -- MR. JOUBERT: I never failed on anything that I've done, so it's going to get done. I just don't -- MR. LETOURNEAU: We're not going to object to three months. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Yeah. We've already given you 20 years. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Yeah -- no. But he came into a big mess. You came into a big mess. MR. JOUBERT: Yeah, 2004. Yes, thank you. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: You know, I get it. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: So 90 days? July 24, 2025 Page 80 MR. JOUBERT: Pardon me? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Ninety days. MR. JOUBERT: Yes. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: I'll make a motion to give him 90 days. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second. Any other comments? MR. LETOURNEAU: Continuance. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Continuance. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Continuance. BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Plus the operational costs paid in 30 days. MR. JOUBERT: The $59, yeah. MS. BUCHILLON: And 35 cents. MR. JOUBERT: And I do -- he's helped me a lot, and I do communicate with him on a constant basis, so it's not like we're doing nothing. We just hit a big wall on this thing. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: I think you're doing great. I had the prior property manager that I was working with, and it was very difficult with Treetops, so you're doing the best you can. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. July 24, 2025 Page 81 MR. JOUBERT: Thank you. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: So we'll see you back here when it's a little cooler outside. MR. JOUBERT: Yes. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Where are we? MS. BUCHILLON: ***Back up to hearings on our last case, No. 10, CESD20250000027, Martin Galvan Mendoza and Esmeralda Guijarro. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MR. COHEN: I do. Good morning, again. For the record, Wade Cohen, Collier County Code Enforcement. This is in reference to Case No. CESD20250000027 dealing with violations of Collier County Land Development Code 04-41, as amended, Section 10.02.06(B)(1)(a), a garage converted to living space, including, electric, plumbing, and a mini-split A/C without required permits located at 4500 28th Avenue Southwest, Naples, Florida, 34116. Folio No. 35999720000. Service was given on 1/3/2025. Details of the case are as follows: It was open by complaint on 1/2/25. The initial inspection with an entry consent took place on 1/1/25 by myself. On 1/3/2025 a determination and NOV was issued. The owners are cooperative. They applied for a permit to address the issues, that being Permit PRFH20250206820, but that permit was subsequently rejected, and after no corrections done to address the reasons for it being rejected, it was scheduled for hearing. I posted the hearing notice on 7/10/25. At that time I encountered the owner. The owner led me into the garage to show me that he had done the demo work to remove everything but failed July 24, 2025 Page 82 to obtain a demo permit. So he has done the work, and we discussed the need to get the demo permit immediately. My hope was that he would have followed through with that in the week or so that has transpired so that we could have dropped this from the docket today. Unfortunately, that did not occur. But I do believe that he will take care of it. As I said, they've been very cooperative. I'd now like to present case evidence in the following exhibits. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Get a motion to accept the exhibits? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Make a motion to accept. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Motion and second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: (No verbal response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. MR. COHEN: So outside, the mini-split, the electrical work. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Refrigerator. That looks like a toilet. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: It's clean. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Sink. MR. COHEN: This was the picture taken when I went out to serve the notice. It's not a great picture. The lighting was poor. But he's removed all the plumbing, disconnected the additional electric, and cemented over where he capped the plumbing. So he may run into some issues over there with the demo. But as I said, there's July 24, 2025 Page 83 nobody living in there. He's returned it to the state that it was previous. And I believe he will follow through with the demo permit. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Okay. Let the record reflect that the respondent is not present. Helen, do you want to -- for the record, the notice. MS. BUCHILLON: For the record, respondents were notified regular and certified mail July 10, 2025, and it was also posted at the property and courthouse July 10th, 2025. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. At this point, I'd like to make a motion that a violation exists. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. And you have a recommendation for us? MR. COHEN: I do, sir. Recommendation is that the Code Enforcement Board orders the respondent to pay all operational costs in the amount of $59.28 incurred in the prosecution of this case within 30 days and abate all violations by: Number 1, obtaining all required Collier County demolition permits, inspections, and certificates of completion or occupancy for the converted garage within blank days of this hearing, or a fine of blank dollars will be imposed for each day any violation continues; July 24, 2025 Page 84 Number 2, the respondent must notify the code enforcement investigator when the violation has been abated in order to conduct a final inspection and confirm abatement. If the respondent fails to abate the violation, the county may abate the violation using any method to bring the violation into compliance and may use the assistance of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to enforce the provisions of this order, and all costs of abatement shall be assessed to the property owner. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Okay. Let me make a motion on this. Given the fact that Code has -- thinks that this will be done soon, 59.28 paid within 30 days in order to get the demo permit; 60 days to come into compliance. That's probably more than enough time; or $100-a-day fine thereafter. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Second. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? BOARD MEMBER ELROD: Aye. BOARD MEMBER AYASUN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Aye. BOARD MEMBER FUENTES: Aye. BOARD MEMBER RUBENSTEIN: Aye. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: It carries unanimously. MR. COHEN: Very good. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We're done, Helen? MS. BUCHILLON: Yes, we are. CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: Are we going to change our venue for next month? MS. BUCHILLON: Yeah. Next month we should be back up in the BCC board. July 24, 2025 Page 85 CHAIRMAN KAUFMAN: We love it here. It's closer. But my hearing has to improve. We have no microphones. We are adjourned. ******* July 24, 2025 Page 86 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 10:34 a.m. CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD ___________________________________ ROBERT KAUFMAN, CHAIRMAN These minutes approved by the Board on ____________, as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________. TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS COURT REPORTING BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC. microphones. We are adjourned. ******* There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 10:34 a.m. CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD O ER FMAN, CHAIRMAN ATTEST CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT & COMPTROLLER These minutes approved by the Board on A-LyL8+4,?6).,c,---as presented y or as corrected TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS COURT REPORTING BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC.