From: Lonnie Groot
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 3:38 PM
To: City Council
Cc: Jim Landon; Oel Wingo; Nestor Abreu; Barbara Grossman; Michael Donovan; Bill Wry; Clare Hoeni; Carol Goewey
Subject: 221 London Drive; Dallas & Tanya Seibert; Cree & Morrow Realty, Inc.
Mister Mayor and City Council:
Mr. Neil Kopach and Ms. Tanya Seibert have asked to be recognized at the City Council meeting on February 20 in order to speak about the proposed settlement pertaining to the City liens on the property located at 221 London Drive.
Although the foreclosing bank has offered $500.00 (as I recall) to settle the matter, Ms. Seibert advised me on the telephone today that she believes that the bank has proposed that the sum of $5,000.00be escrowed at closing to address the liens.
Please see below for further details, etc.
Thanks.
Lonnie Groot
City Attorney
From: Neil Kopach, REALTOR [mailto:
Sent: Tue 2/13/2007 2:02 PM
To: Lonnie Groot
Subject: Re: [SPAM] Validity of a Property Lien
Mr. Groot,
This email is to confirm that my buyers (Tanya Seibert) and myself
would like to speak at the council meeting on Tuesday the 20th. Thank
you....
Neil Kopach, REALTOR
Cree & Morrow Realty, Inc.
23-B Florida Park Drive
Palm Coast, FL 32137
1-800-255-0694
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lonnie Groot" <>
To: <>
Cc: "Jon Netts" <>; "Jim Landon"
<>; "Oel Wingo" <>;
"Nestor Abreu" <>; "Barbara Grossman"
<>; "Michael Donovan"
<>; "Bill Wry" <>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 9:05 PM
Subject: [SPAM] Validity of a Property Lien
Mr. Kopach:
I am responding to your e-mail and the e-mail that was forwarded to me by
Vice Mayor Jon Netts in order to assist you to obtain a response to your
inquiry.
You are correct that a City Council agenda item is being prepared by City
staff for consideration at the City Council's meeting of February 20, 2007
(a day meeting commencing at 9:00 a.m.). However, I do not have the power or
authority to approve the release of any lien which is in favor of the City.
At this time, absent full payment of the amount of lien asserted by the
City, only the City Council has the authority to settle/satisfy liens.
At this point, after discussions with City staff, it is my understanding
that the City has secured a swimming pool located on the subject property
and has maintained the property's lot (cutting the grass, etc.), and has
incurred costs resulting from those actions, aside from the fine assessed by
the City's Code Enforcement Board (CEB) and the lien on the subject property
which resulted from the CEB's Order of Non-Compliance in Case #2006050472
and the CEB's an Order Imposing Administrative Costs.
It is my understanding that these CEB liens total over $19,000.00 while the
costs relating to the securing of the swimming pool and the maintenance of
the lawn total over the $500.00 amount which, I understand, is the amount
offered by the foreclosing lender to settle this matter. I am uncertain as
to what the exact City staff recommendation will be for the February 20,
2007 City Council meeting and the agenda item to be considered by the City
Council, but I would imagine that the City staff would not recommend
settlement for an amount less than the total costs of the City relating to
the matter.
I note that the subject of your e-mail is "validity of a property lien" and
I must advise you that I will only render a legal opinion as to such issue
if and when asked to do so by my client - the City. I can advise you that
the City would have legal arguments that can be asserted to claim the entire
amount of the liens articulated above although the sequence of the events
are as you stated and it can be argued that the City is in an inferior
position relative to the foreclosing mortgagee. The City's overall goal is
code compliance and the recovery of costs associated with code enforcement
and related activities. However, the City has successfully foreclosed on
property in the past based upon liens arising from a CEB proceeding.
I genuninely hope that this information is of assistance to you.
Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. Please feel free to
call with questions and to let me know if we can be of further assistance
relative to this, or any other, matter.
Please reply ANYTIME. Also, please feel free to contact me at either at my
work telephone number (386-986-3709) or on my cell phone (386-931-5539) or
at home (386-789-6235) ANYTIME.
Have a really great day! Thank you.
Lonnie N. Groot
City Attorney
City Hall
2 Commerce Boulevard
Palm Coast, Florida 32164
(386) 986-3709
PLEASE NOTE: Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written
communications to or from state officials regarding public business are
public records available to the public and media upon request. Your e-mail
communications may be subject to public disclosure.
NOTICE TO RECIPIENT
This e-mail message and any attachment to the e-mail message may contain
information that may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient, please do not review, retransmit, convert to hard copy, copy, use
or disseminate this e-mail or any attachments to it. I am committed to open
government and all non-exempt public records are available to you, but I
need to know if e-mails are not being received by the intended recipients.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify me immediately by
return e-mail or by telephone at 386-986-3709 and delete this message.
Please note that if this e-mail message contains a forwarded message or is a
reply to a prior message, some or all of the contents of this message or any
attachments may not have been produced by the sender. Your cooperation will
be appreciated.
______
From: [mailto:
Sent: Mon 2/12/2007 3:30 PM
To: Lonnie Groot
Subject: Validity of a Property Lien
The following message was sent to you via the form at the City's website
from Neil Kopach - :
Good afternoon Mr. Groot, I am wondering if you would be able to assist me
in a matter. I am a realtor locally with Cree & Morrow Realty, Inc. and I
currently have buyers (Dallas & Tanya Seibert) who are in contract to
purchase a home located at 221 London Drive in Palm Coast. The following is
the issue with this property and closing the sale of this home to my buyers:
The previous owner of the home, Walter J. Smith, had a Lis Pendens seeking
foreclosure of the mortgage filed against him by his mortgage lender,
Countrywide Home Loans, on February 22, 2006. On July 12, 2006 the Code
Enforcement Board of Palm Coast initiated an Order of Non-Compliance (case
#2006050472) against Mr. Smith and his property for unsanitary pool
conditions, which Mr. Smith had not remedied by July 11, 2006. This order of
non-compliance was recorded with the clerk of court on October 4, 2006. Also
on July 12, 2006 the Code Enforcement Board initiated an Order Imposing
Administrative Costs against Mr. Smith, which was also recorded with the
clerk of court on October 4, 2006. On September 14, 2006 the clerk of Court
executed and filed a certificate of sale for the same property to Fannie
Mae. This certificate of title was recorded with the clerk of court on
January 12, 2007. The pool conditions mentioned in the code enforcement
board order had been remedied in November. I have been informed from the
title company handling the closing on this deal (Watson Title in Ft.
Lauderdale) that you have approved the release of this lien. Can you tell me
if this is the case as the buyers and myself were scheduled to be heard at
the council meeting on February 20, 2007 to hear this matter? Thank you very
much for your assistance in this matter. Respectfully yours, Neil Kopach
PLEASE NOTE: Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written
communications to or from City of Palm Coast officials and employees
regarding public business are public records available to the public and
media upon request. Your e-mail communications may be subject to public
disclosure.