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Council presses APHA on affidavit compliance, fines and potential billing of staff time
Summary
Council members asked whether APHA can recoup staff time or impose automatic penalties for affidavit noncompliance; staff said fines exist in the regulations but due process limits immediate enforcement and staff time is not currently billed to owners.
Council members raised questions about enforcement costs and whether APHA can send invoices to owners for staff time spent enforcing violations.
One council member asked directly whether APHA could bill owners for staff hours spent on enforcement. Matthew Gillen, identified in the presentation as APHA executive director, replied that staff do not currently bill owners for time. "That's staff time. That's our job," he said, while noting legal costs incurred when cases reach a hearing officer or district court can be awarded to a prevailing party.
Jackie Marinaro added that fines for violations are in APHA regulations and can be significant once a final agency action is reached. "They get into the $45,000 range," Marinaro said, describing that fines are reserved for the most egregious violations and are imposed by the hearing officer or through a court order when due process has been satisfied.
Council members suggested exploring administrative penalties for clear, binary failures (for example, not filing the affidavit). Staff said the affidavit process already includes multiple outreach steps—1,300 affidavits mailed in April with follow-up notices in July, September and a November letter—and that APHA is discussing how to make the process more straightforward to increase compliance.
No formal policy change was made at the work session; staff indicated they would consider the council's suggestions and report back on options to reduce administrative burden and increase affidavit response rates.
