Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Miami-Dade steps up to fine people breaking rules
Mayor: Enforcers are ‘going to go everywhere’
Miami-Dade just made it much easier for people to get smacked with a fine for breaking the coronavirus rules.
All of the county’s code and fire inspectors now have the power to issue tickets of up to $100 for individuals and $500 for businesses, bringing an increase to the number of officials — in addition to police — who can enforce the rules.
The commissioners unanimously passed an emergency ordinance at a special meeting Thursday.
Because people, specifically young people, have not followed the rules, Mayor Carlos Gimenez said this ordinance is a necessary tool to enforce the county orders in a “much more aggressive fashion” as coronavirus cases continue to climb.
“We’re going to put a heck of a lot of people out there,” Gimenez told commissioners. “Our people are going to go everywhere.”
The ordinance was originally set to go into effect 10 days from Thursday, but the ordinance was changed to take effect immediately. Time is up for people to choose not to follow rules without repercussions, Gimenez said.
Gimenez said before the ordinance passed, only police officers could issue citations for violating an emergency order because it was considered a criminal violation. The ordinance will now allow all code inspectors to issue fines to people and businesses who are caught breaking the rules, not just law enforcement officers.
“This is an all-hands-ondeck approach. We need to have not just police officers, but all inspectors —our code inspectors, our fire inspectors — on deck to enforce the rules we know people are not complying with,” Gimenez said.
The county’s code says any person who violates the code could be fined up to $500 or imprisoned for up to 60 days or both.
Without this emergency ordinance, Gimenez said police officers would need to give “a notice to appear or a $500 fine and a criminal record” in order to punish anyone not following the rules.
The ordinance will also allow people who were fined to serve community service hours instead of paying money by opting to participate in the county’s Diversion Program. By entering the program, violators will have a couple of options.
One option is to pay a $50 processing fee and serve one day of community service for every $100 of fines.
The second option is to complete two days of community service in order to not pay any amount toward the $100 fine, according to the diversion program’s violator options.
Commissioner Sally Heyman, who worked with Gimenez on the ordinance, said the goal of the ordinance is to “increase the manpower desperately needed to follow up on these executive orders” to ensure people are listening without having to arrest them.
Though there are 12 cities who are not included in the ordinance and will not be able to write tickets, the remaining cities in the county will be allowed to have code inspectors write tickets immediately.
Gimenez said each of the 12 cities will be contacted with the needed paperwork in order to join the ordinance on Thursday night.
Gimenez told commissioners he has no further plans to lock Miami-Dade down but that it is still an option. He said his medical experts have advised him to “stay the course” and see how numbers may change after his decision to close indoor dining at restaurants.
Because customers cannot wear masks while eating, Gimenez said this was part of the reason indoor dining had to stop again. But gyms, barber shops and salons can stay open because mask-wearing is still possible.
Gimenez said if everyone had followed the rules, enforcing the orders with fines would not have been necessary. But specifically young people have not complied, he said.
“If everybody were wearing a mask, if everybody were following the rules, we wouldn’t have to take these measures, but they’re not,” Gimenez said. “Unfortunately, now, this has gotten to the point where we have to take some more action.”