Pensacola magistrate orders $25 daily fines to begin for three properties

Special Magistrate Matthew Hargraves of the City of Pensacola Code Enforcement Authority ordered previously assessed $25-per-day fines to begin March 4, 2025, for three properties after city code officers testified the properties remained out of compliance with the International Property Maintenance Code and city nuisance ordinances.

The orders follow a Feb. 18, 2025, hearing in which each property was found to be in violation and given a compliance deadline of March 3, 2025. At the March 4 hearing, officers presented recent site inspections and photographs showing the violations persisted and asked the magistrate to commence fines as previously authorized.

Officer Jason Hendricks testified in the first matter, case 24-6407, concerning 2222 Magnolia Avenue, that cardboard boxes, plastic containers, buckets, loose litter and other items remained openly stored on the property despite the February order requiring those items be removed or stored in an enclosed structure. The property owner is listed as Kelly Brianne and was not present. Based on Hendricks’s inspection and the February order, the magistrate found the property was not in compliance as of March 3 and ordered the $25-per-day fine to commence March 4, 2025.

In case 24-45647, 3440 Rothschild Drive, Officer Kevin Smith said his inspection showed “little to no obvious change” since the Feb. 18 hearing; a dumpster was in the driveway but the cited violations remained. The property owner is listed as Nancy Modsett, trustee, and was not present. The magistrate ordered the previously assessed $25-per-day fines to begin March 4, 2025.

In case 24-6927, 708 North N Street, Officer Ron Bowden presented photos from Feb. 18 and new photos taken the morning of March 4 and told the authority he believed the house caught on fire over the weekend but that the violations continued. The owner is listed in the file as Jerry Gully (listed in the transcript as "state of Jerry Gully"). The magistrate concluded the property was not in compliance and ordered the $25-per-day fines to commence March 4, 2025, citing the court’s authority under Florida law and Pensacola municipal code.

Officers for each case relied on photographs taken both at the Feb. 18 hearing and during inspections the morning of March 4. The magistrate’s rulings were delivered on the record; no separate vote tally was recorded in the transcript for these orders.

These rulings concluded the meeting’s notifications-of-noncompliance agenda items. The hearing then moved to a separate case concerning sanitation service and a request to find code violations.