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Magistrate: Amsden's company guilty of erecting signs without permits


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Magistrate: Amsden's company guilty of erecting signs without permits
http://www.ocala.com/article/20150225/ARTICLES/150229792

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By Susan Latham Carr
Staff writer
Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 5:21 p.m.


A city of Ocala code enforcement special magistrate on Wednesday found Amsden Sign Advisors Inc., owned by former city councilman and county commissioner Mike Amsden and his wife, Sue, guilty of illegally erecting signs without building permits in seven cases. They also failed to get the necessary inspections.

By Wednesday morning when the hearing began, two of the seven cases, some of which have dragged on since 2011, had been brought into compliance, with a third being complied with that day. Four were still out of compliance.

"The permit process was started," Code Officer Dwain Thomas told Magistrate Thomas Dobbins about each of the seven cases. "Until the permit is issued, it is still in review."

The city reviews sign permit applications to make sure the sign will comply with regulations. Once the application passes the review process, the permit is issued. An inspection is done after the work is completed to ensure the sign was installed as allowed by the permit. A contractor is not allowed to begin work until the permit is issued.

The Amsdens were brought before the magistrate because in all seven cases the work was done without a permit. The permit process was begun in all the cases but was not completed. Nor were any inspections done.

Sue Amsden, co-owner of the firm, appeared before the magistrate. Mike Amsden did not.

"The first three permits were at a time my husband actually had another job," Sue Amsden told Dobbins. "He was (Marion County) commissioner at that time. I was working by myself. It was simply an oversight on my part because I had a lot of bases to cover."

Amsden apologized, saying she takes "full responsibility."

"I'm trying to get them cleaned up," she said about the cases not in compliance with city regulations.

She said when the bottom dropped out of the economy, business fell off and finances became difficult. She said she still is in a "recovery mode," although this year has been better.

"I am requesting additional time so I can get them cleaned up," Amsden said to Dobbins.

City Code Enforcement Supervisor Matthew Leibfried told Dobbins that Amsden "has made the effort to move forward to get into compliance."

Janet Fuller of Fuller & Fuller, who contracted with the Amsdens for a sign for her firm's building off Northeast 20th Avenue in June 2011, went to the hearing Wednesday, although she did not speak.

"I wanted to be sure we were not going to be assessed against our building," Fuller said by phone later in the day. "My understanding was if there is a fine imposed it could be levied against the property."

Asked if she paid the permit fee to Amsden, Fuller said, "I haven't pulled the bill, but I believe the permit price was included in the cost of doing the sign."

Fuller said she paid the Amsden bill.

According to city records, the Amsdens' quote for the Fuller sign was $2,653, which included $234 for permit costs.

"We have been in business for 35 years," Sue Amsden told Dobbins. "I know better than anyone what's right and what's wrong. I am not denying I did it. I just need extra time for the sake of finance, if nothing else."

Amsden asked Dobbins if, perhaps, she could pick up the permits and work out a payment plan.

"We are not the Building Department," Dobbins said. "I doubt that would occur."

The city's Building Department issues sign permits. Two of the seven cases where the permits were applied for but not obtained began in 2011. The cases were turned over from the Building Department to the Code Enforcement Department in November 2014. At the end of November, the Amsdens were granted a 30-day extension on all the cases.

Amsden asked Dobbins if he could abate the $250 fine for each of the seven cases.

Leibfried said the $250 fine is what is requested in all similar cases.

Dobbins found the Amsdens guilty in all seven cases. He ordered they do no other work within city limits without a permit. He gave them 120 days to get the four non-compliant cases into compliance and ordered them to pay the prosecution costs in the seven cases, which totals $944.

Dobbins also ordered that the permit fees for the four non-compliant cases be doubled. Those fees, plus a state surcharge, total $1,030.

When it came to the $250 fines for each of the seven cases, Dobbins did show mercy. For the three cases in compliance, he fined the Amsdens $25 each. For the four cases that are non-compliant, he fined each case at $50.

All together, the Amsdens are liable for $2,249.

Sue Amsden sat on a city review committee in 2006-08 concerning sign regulations. Her husband served on the County Commission from Nov. 18, 2008 to Nov. 19, 2012.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

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Something seriously wrong here. Been in business 35 years and get behind over permits? The total including fines was only $2249.00. A business that is 35 years old and can't come up with that is circling the drain. Don't know how they got away with it for almost 4 years. It would never happen where I live & work.

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