§ 8CC-6. Scheduling and conduct of hearing.

(a)

Upon receipt of a named violator's timely request for an administrative hearing, the Hearing Officer shall set the matter down for hearing on the next regularly scheduled hearing date or as soon thereafter as possible or as mandated in the specified Code Section which is enforced pursuant to this chapter.

(b)

The Hearing Officer shall send a notice of hearing by first class mail to the named violator at his last known address. The notice of hearing shall include but not be limited to the following:

(1)

Name of the Code Inspector who issued the notice.

(2)

Factual description of alleged violation.

(3)

Date of alleged violation.

(4)

Section of the Code allegedly violated.

(5)

Place, date and time of the hearing.

(6)

Right of violator to be represented by a lawyer.

(7)

Right of violator to present witnesses and evidence.

(8)

Notice that failure of violator to attend hearing may result in civil penalty being assessed against him.

(9)

Notice that requests for continuances will not be considered if not received by the Hearing Officer at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the date set for hearing.

(c)

The Hearing Officers shall call hearings on a monthly basis or upon the request of the Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners. No hearing shall be set sooner than twenty (20) calendar days from the date of service of the notice of violation.

(d)

A hearing date shall not be postponed or continued unless a request for continuance, showing good cause for such continuance, is received in writing by the Hearing Officer at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the date set for the hearing.

(e)

All hearings of the Hearing Officer shall be open to the public. All testimony shall be under oath. Assuming proper notice, a hearing may proceed in the absence of the named violator.

(f)

The proceedings at the hearing shall be recorded and may be transcribed at the expense of the party requesting the transcript.

(g)

The Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners shall provide clerical and administrative personnel as may be reasonably required by each Hearing Officer for the proper performance of his duties.

(h)

Each case before a Hearing Officer shall be presented by the County Manager or his designee.

(i)

The hearing need not be conducted in accordance with the formal rules relating to evidence and witnesses. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if the Hearing Officer finds it competent and reliable, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule to the contrary.

(j)

Each party shall have the right to call and examine witnesses; to introduce exhibits; to cross-examine opposing witnesses on any matter relevant to the issues even though that matter was not covered in the direct examination; to impeach any witness regardless of which party first called him to testify; and to rebut the evidence against him.

(k)

The Hearing Officer shall make findings of fact based on evidence of record. The Hearing Officer shall make the findings of fact immediately upon conclusion of the hearing. Once commenced, no hearing shall be deferred, however, the violator shall have the option to request a reschedule of the hearing. A request to reschedule shall only be considered prior to the commencement of testimony and presentation of evidence. In order to make a finding upholding the Code Inspector's decision, the Hearing Officer must find that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that the named violator was responsible for the violation of the relevant Section of the Code as charged for purposes of a civil violation notice, or that the violation continued to exist for the time period set out in the notice of assessment, for purposes of a notice of assessment.

(l)

If the named violator is found guilty of the violation, or if the violation is found to be a continuing violation pursuant to a notice of assessment he shall pay the reasonable costs of the administrative hearing and the costs and expenses of the County for investigation, enforcement, testing, or monitoring. The costs and expenses of the County for investigation, enforcement, testing, or monitoring shall be calculated and submitted to the Hearing Officer, to be attached to the final order for amount owed, in standard format as prescribed by departmental administrative orders of the County Manager. All costs of enforcement shall be paid within thirty (30) days of the date of the administrative hearing unless an alternate timeframe is established by the department.

(m)

The fact-finding determination of the Hearing Officer for purposes of a civil violation notice shall be limited to whether the violation alleged did occur and, if so, whether the person named in the civil violation notice can be held responsible for that violation. The fact-finding determination of the hearing officer for purposes of a notice of assessment shall be strictly limited to length of time that the violation existed. Based upon this fact-finding determination, the Hearing Officer shall either affirm or reverse the decision of the Code Inspector. If the Hearing Officer affirms the decision of the Code Inspector with respect to a civil violation notice, the Hearing Officer, pursuant to Section 8CC-4(f), shall determine a reasonable time period within which correction of the violation must be made, provided however, that such time period shall be no more than thirty (30) days. If the Hearing Officer reverses the decision of the Code Inspector and finds the named violator not responsible for the Code violation alleged in the civil violation notice, the named violator shall not be liable for the payment of any civil penalty, absent reversal of the Hearing Officer's findings pursuant to Section 8CC-8(a). If the decision of the Hearing Officer is to affirm, then the following elements shall be included:

(1)

Amount of civil penalty.

(2)

Administrative costs of hearing.

(3)

Date by which the violation must be corrected to prevent imposition of continuing violation penalties (if applicable).

(n)

The Hearing Officer shall have the power to:

(1)

Adopt procedures for the conduct of hearings.

(2)

Subpoena alleged violators and witnesses for hearings; subpoenas may be served by the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Department or by the staff of the Hearing Officer.

(3)

Subpoena evidence.

(4)

Take testimony under oath.

(5)

Assess and order the payment of civil penalties as provided herein.

(o)

(1)

A Hearing Officer shall postpone and shall not conduct a hearing if the named violator, prior to the scheduled hearing date, files with a duly authorized County board of appropriate jurisdiction, if one exists, an administrative appeal concerning the interpretation or application of any technical provisions of the Code Section allegedly violated. It shall be the responsibility of the violator to provide evidence at the time of the hearing to show that such administrative appeal has been filed with the County board of appropriate jurisdiction. However, once an issue had been determined by a Hearing Officer in a specific case, that issue may not be further reviewed by a County board in that specific case. A named violator waives his right to administrative appeal to other County boards if the violator does not apply for such appeal prior to the violator's code enforcement hearing before the Hearing Officer.

(2)

Upon exhaustion of a timely filed administrative appeal and finalization of the administrative order by such board, the Hearing Officer may exercise all powers given to him by this chapter. The Hearing Officer shall not, however, exercise any jurisdiction over such alleged Code violations until the time allowed for court appeal of the ruling of such board has lapsed or until such further appeal has been exhausted.

(3)

The Hearing Officer shall be bound by the interpretations and decisions of duly authorized County boards concerning the provisions of the codes within their respective jurisdictions. In the event such a board decides that an alleged violation of the Code is not in accordance with such board's interpretation of the Code provision on which the violation is based, the Hearing Officers shall not be empowered to proceed with the enforcement of the violation.

(Ord. No. 85-33, § 1(6), 5-21-85; Ord. No. 86-22, § 1, 3-18-86; Ord. No. 90-6, § 1, 2-6-90; Ord. No. 94-207, § 3, 11-1-94; Ord. No. 99-55, § 4, 5-25-99; Ord. No. 00-53, § 3, 5-9-00; Ord. No. 05-19, § 5, 1-27-05)