Hearing officer upholds dumping citation for 2335 NW 20 Ninth Street; $525 fine

Darcy Siegel, the City of Miami hearing officer, found the property owner of 2335 Northwest 20 Ninth Street liable for a dumping violation and ordered a $525 civil penalty, while waiving administrative costs.

The finding follows testimony from a city waste inspector and disputed testimony from the tenant and a family member who translated. The inspector presented photographs taken May 23, 2025, showing a pile of garbage that included a piece of mail bearing the owner’s name and address. The tenant’s family member told the hearing officer the household sees people, including homeless individuals, going through and dumping trash near the property and said the family did not have photographic proof from the date cited.

Siegel said she would find that the citation was properly issued to the property owner, Maria and Rafael Septapien Jr. (owners shown in the property records entered into evidence), and issued the $525 order. She specifically noted the evidence linking the discarded items to the property through the mail with the owner’s name and then signed an order imposing the penalty. Siegel waived the administrative costs of the hearing.

Inspector Harris of the city waste department testified that he issued the citation under City of Miami Code section 22-6 after photographing the refuse, posting the summons at the property and documenting mail found in the pile. The inspector told the hearing officer that he had to search through the pile to locate the identifying mail.

The tenant, Felix Gutierrez, was present and represented at the hearing; a household member who translated for Gutierrez said the family could produce camera footage showing people coming to the area but did not have footage that proved the owner dumped the items on the date the inspector cited. The translator/household member said homeless individuals sometimes remove items from trash piles and that some of the refuse could be construction-related. The hearing officer acknowledged these points but said the evidence in the record tied the particular discarded items to the owner.

The hearing officer’s order makes clear that the finding is against the property owner, not the tenant. The transcript shows the owner(s) listed in the property appraiser documents entered as evidence. The order is subject to the usual appellate remedies described at the hearing (appeal to the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Appellate Division within 30 days of issuance, as explained during opening remarks).