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Home My WebLink About2023-01-19 Email (1)_Redacted1 Mezzapesa, John From: Sent:Thursday, January 19, 2023 12:18 PM To:Mezzapesa, John; Loew, Michael; Codron, Michael Cc: Subject:Re: Unwarranted Code Enforcement Fees Hello Mr Loew, et. al. Thank you for reaching out with a phone call to discuss this matter. To summarize what we talked about and what I learned from our conversation over the phone, I wanted to bring the group in on these points (in addition to the four questions I proposed earlier):  The city has made an error and incorrectly doubled the Consolidated Inspection Fee of $2,012.43 and used that for charging me the same amount as the Special Investigation Fee. Clearly this is not in line with code, as provided by Mr. Mezzapesa, which states the Special Investigation Fees are equal to 100% of the normally established permit fee (key word being permit). Please notice also the code uses the singular verbiage of fee, not fees. This being established, for my case, the normally established permit fee is $213.29 according to the city’s adopted Master Fee Shedule (and what I’ve already paid); the special investigation fee is not any of the other fees that are in addition to the building permit.  You proposed pursuing a route that would reduce my special infestation fee equal to the consolidated plan check fees of $730.14. I expressed that I appreciate your willingness to come down on unreasonable costs, however, I want to do things by the book and that option would not be acceptable. Clearly the solution is only charging me $213.29.  I was informed that the code enforcement officer (Nick Buckley), was supposed to post a stop work notice at my ADU site. This never happened to my knowledge. Since procedures are not being followed, I’m not sure how you can continue to substantiate a code enforcement fee against my permit when we never received proper notification. It was mentioned that two violations/notices are required to impose this fee and that did not happen.  At first I was told Special Investigation Fees are related to making up for costs of city employees to carry out the code enforcement (or something to that effect). Now, I’m being provided with clear municipal code in black and white that says the special investigation fee is equal to the cost of the normal permit. These two approaches are at odds and given that I speak to multiple city officials and have been provided the wrong answer on several occasions, I’m concerned about how well your department understands and applies code enforcement fairly. I believe some training for the department may be in order and some past cases may need to be reviewed to ensure fees were levied legally. Thank you all again for your time. I really appreciate ensuring we do things the right way and don’t guess at them. Let’s go by the book! I’ll await a final response on how to resolve this matter and reimburse me for overpaid fees. Please send the response via email for my records. Best, On Jan 19, 2023, at 10:38 AM, wrote: Hello Mr. Mezzapesa, 2 Thank you for that added information. I do have follow‐on questions: 1) For the Code Enforcement Fee, we were never provided a “Stop Work Notice”. Please check your records and let me know if you you ever mailed something out because we have never received any notification like this and this is striking me as new information. I also called Ferreira Inc to see if our contractor received something on our behalf and they tell me they have not. If this is true and you never notified us of a stop work order but it was initiated in your system, that brings up multiple issues.  Why were we not informed?  Who was in charge of informing us and why didn’t they do their job?  Why does the city act on assumption in leveling fees without verifying they are warranted?  I don’t believe this fee can be applied if we were not informed. What you guys do internally we can not guess at. 2) For the Special Investigation Fee, the code states that it is equal to 100% of the normally established permit fee. In this case, according to your 2022‐2023 Master Fee Schedule on page 5 (also what I paid on my receipt), the fee for a Building Plan Rev ‐ Residential ‐ Minor is $213.29. So, why are we being charged over 10 times that amount? This seems in error. 3) As mentioned, we are new to the city and recently bought our property. So, we are not well versed in municipal code and we had no idea that we couldn’t start like for like remodeling using a licensed contractor. You mentioned that the Deputy Building Official does not support waiving or reducing our fees. I would like to understand more clarity on why this is? As mentioned, we received an unexpected visit from code enforcement and immediately took action to correct the discrepancy based on just Nick’s verbal warning; well before we received the single and only notification from the City (being our courtesy warning). 4) What kind of a courtesy warning is a warning if you immediately tack on any fees? That doesn’t seem to fit the definition of a warning. Are there some mistakes in your correspondence that you would like to clear up? Thank you for the continued efforts to clear up this issue. As I mentioned, this is a lot of money to us! Thank you. Best On Jan 19, 2023, at 9:39 AM, Mezzapesa, John <JMezzape@slocity.org> wrote: Hello I can understand your concern regarding the additional fees included with your permit. The special investigation fee is established by the CA Building Code in which we amend to state the following…. <image001.png> The above code is specific in describing the cases in which the building official has the authority to waive all or a portion of the special investigation fee. I have spoken with the Deputy Building Official and there does not seem to be support for the waiving or reduction in fees. 4 out to Nick’s supervisors as seen below, with no response after 7 days upon COB today. I know you guys are closed for customer service this week for some sort of system upgrade. May I come to the counter to get a refund next week? What is the best way to address this? I appreciate your time and I know that you are busy. Thank you very much. Best, Begin forwarded message: From: Subject: Fwd: Code Enforcement Fee Questions Date: January 12, 2023 at 9:30:01 AM PST To: jmezzape@slocity.org, mloew@slocity.org Good Morning John and Mike, I recently visited the counter last Tuesday and paid fees associated with my ADU remodeling building permit at 671 Howard St; image attached. To my surprise, there were two additional very costly fees that I wasn’t expecting to pay ($412.51 for Code Enforcement and $2012.43 for Special Investigation). My wife, and I did receive a courtesy warning (attached) from the city dated Oct 28, 2022 concerning unpermitted construction. However, we immediately complied and ceased work well before the 11/28/2022 deadline indicated in the warning letter. We have never received further correspondence from the city and it was our understanding that the issue has been resolved. So, it appears to me that a mistake has been made in charging us additional fees associated with Code Enforcement in order to obtain our building permit. How should we resolve this matter? Can I either come to the counter for a refund or can we be credited $2424.94 towards a remodeling building permit for our front house (667 Howard St) which my construction team (Ferreira Inc) plans on submitting soon? Thank you for your time with this matter. Best, 5 <image002.jpg> Begin forwarded message: From: "Buckley, Nick" <nbuckley@slocity.org> Subject: RE: Code Enforcement Fee Questions Date: January 12, 2023 at 8:59:34 AM PST To: Cc: Greetings This email is a follow up to our phone conversation earlier where we discussed permit fees as well as the notice of violation. If you would like to discuss our noticing process further I would suggest contacting the Code Enforcement Supervisor John Mezzapesa at jmezzape@slocity.org, 805-781-7179 Further discussion regarding fee schedules and permit fees could be directed to Deputy Building Official Mike Loew at mloew@slocity.org, 805-781- 7157 Sincerely, Nick Buckley Code Enforcement Officer <image003.png> 7 letter. Why are either of these fines being assessed if we only received a warning and immediately complied? 2. On the City’s Comprehensive Fee Schedule (fiscal year 2022‐2023), I see the Code Enforcement Fee on page 44 for $412.51. So, if this fee is in fact warranted, I understand how the amount was determined. However, I do not see a fee or value for a $2012.43 Special Investigation Fee anywhere within the document. If this fee is warranted, can you please explain how that value was determined? 3. Even though I didn’t understand all the fees yesterday and some may be incorrect, I paid them so that the permit approval could proceed without delay. Can any incorrectly assessed fees be credited towards a permit application for the front home (667 Howard St) that my construction team will be turning in very soon? Or, can I come back to the counter for a refund? Thank you in advance for your time to help us understand this matter and clear up any discrepancies. Best,