Fort Meade considers amnesty for fines, liens on properties. Commissioner could benefit

Fort Meade leaders say that too many properties are encumbered by fines or liens that prevent owners from selling them, blocking prospective new residents or businesses.

That is why the city staff has proposed a one-year amnesty program for fines and liens generated from code-enforcement violations. The proposal seeks to make it easier for owners to bring their properties into compliance with city codes.

And among the property owners that could benefit from the amnesty is City Commissioner Jaret Williams.

The City Commission is expected to vote on a resolution to adopt the program at Tuesday’s meeting, starting at 6 p.m. Because it is a resolution and not an ordinance, only a single vote is required.

Under the proposal, the city would erase all code-enforcement fines and liens if a property is brought into compliance or substantial work is started on correcting violations by June 30, 2025. The city will consider waiving “hard costs,” such as cleanup, demolition, security and lawyer’s fees, on a case-by-case basis.

Burdensome fines and liens are inhibiting economic growth in Fort Meade, Interim City Manager Dustin Burke said.

“A lot of times, the way we learn that a property has a lien is someone will call and say, ‘Hey, is there a lien on that? Somebody wants to buy it,’” Burke said. “And then we’ve got to start that — ‘Well, how much do they owe? What is the interest? What are the hard costs?’ So the impetus has been investors trying to come to town and they can't because liens are in the way.”

Like most cities, Fort Meade operates a code-enforcement department to ensure that property owners comply with regulations. The department can issue fines for such violations as unkempt yards, excessive debris, abandoned vehicles and damaged or unsafe structures.

Continued fines can accrue into liens, legal claims by the city against a property that must be resolved before the property can be sold. Although it is rare, a city can initiate a legal action to take ownership of a property burdened by a lien.

Greg King, the city’s chief of staff and public information officer, said he knows of one residential property facing a lien of more than $1 million.

“Many people get caught up in the code enforcement process and have a hard time getting through it,” Mayor Petrina McCutchen said in a news release. “Sometimes it’s a ‘Catch-22’ of needing to resolve the violations to stop fines and liens, but they can’t resolve the violations because they’re not able to get a permit due to the fines and liens. Whatever their situation, we want our property owners to know that we are a proactive partner in helping them find solutions.”

How many properties would benefit? Fort Meade doesn't know

Fort Meade held a town hall last week on the proposal, hosted by King. When asked how many properties carry fines or liens, he acknowledged that city officials do not know.

Burke said that is a problem for the city.

“We’re trying to inventory everything, and so this includes liens,” Burke said. “We want to get them into a project management system, a tracking system, an aging system, so we know, how old are these liens? And what are their balances?”

Burke said some property records exist on paper stored in filing cabinets.

“So part of my goal is to digitize the whole process, all the paperwork, and then be able to track it,” he said. “Because you can't manage what you can't see.”

The City Commission appointed Burke as interim leader in February. The last permanent city manager, Jan Bagnall, emphasized stricter enforcement of city codes during his tenure, which ended in August.

Under the proposal, property owners would pay a fee and go through an application process. The program would eliminate liens and fines on properties that are being sold, if the new owners agree to make the improvements needed to bring the property into compliance, the news release said.

King, who worked in various governmental roles in South Florida before joining the staff of his hometown in March, said that other cities have offered temporary amnesty programs for fines and liens, such as Fort Lauderdale and Opa-locka.

One city commissioner could benefit from the amnesty

City Commissioner Jaret Williams, who took office in January, owns a storefront property at 119 W. Broadway in downtown Fort Meade that began accruing daily fines before he purchased it in November 2022. The city imposed a lien on the previous owner in October 2021.

The city agreed to a settlement with the previous owner, Banersy Corp., in June 2022, but the owners did not fulfill all the terms, according to a city attorney’s summary obtained by The Ledger. The city then returned to pursuing legal action or foreclosure, the summary says.

The then-city attorney, Chris Berg, wrote that he told Williams before the purchase that the lien would remain on the property after a sale. The attorney had four more conversations with Williams about what was required to bring the property into compliance, explaining that the lien was a separate issue, the summary says.

Walesbilt Hotel Lake Wales asks judge to nullify 2010 deal, return ownership to city

An inspection in February 2023 found no improvements or corrections, and the next month the city filed a lawsuit seeking to foreclose on the property. A judge requested mediation, but the two sides reached an impasse.

As of January, the lien on the property had reached more than $231,000, and the city had also incurred attorney fees and other costs. In the latest court action, Judge Hope Pattey this month set a case management conference for July 2.

Williams did not respond to a voicemail left Friday morning.

Barbara Arnold, a former city commissioner who resigned last year, asked King at the town hall which commissioners would benefit from the amnesty. She said King acknowledged that Williams would.

In an interview Friday, Arnold said she believes the program was created as cover for resolving Williams’ legal dispute.

“He’s tried to get this lifted, and he hasn't won,” she said. “He has not went about the right protocol from the very beginning.”

Arnold said that Williams should have to recuse himself from voting on the resolution. Burke said that is a legal question, but he does not believe Williams needs to refrain from voting.

“This has not been done to benefit any specific commissioner,” Burke said. “This has been done to benefit the community. There is a disagreement between Commissioner Williams and the city that started under the previous administration. Most of those costs are just daily fines that add up; they're not hard costs. And so, that's not real money, as far as I'm concerned.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Fort Meade considers amnesty for code-enforcement fines, liens