Resident tells commission of $100-a-day code fines; other speaker raises minibus, sidewalk and cemetery complaints

Cynthia Haas of Hallandale Beach told the City Commission on April 23 that she faced what she described as steep code compliance fines after a magistrate issued a final order in a case about hazardous tree branches.

Haas said she was initially given 60 days to come into compliance but that it took 166 days to complete the work. "There was a fine accrual of a hundred dollars a day since November 6 until April 22," she told the commission, and said the total imposed on her was now "16,600." She said she had documented communications with city staff and believed she had followed city code enforcement officers' instructions while trying to resolve the hazard.

City Attorney Jennifer Marino told Haas from the dais that the magistrate is…