Voice of the People: Justice Pays Off

Here’s a little Christmas present for all those Grand Terrace property owners who received notice in March 2013 from the county of San Bernardino to remove debris and/or weeds from a portion of their property and were cited and fined an amount between $100 and $500 for each infraction. I’ve got news for you; the Superior Court of the County of San Bernardino decreed on Oct. 18, 2013 that the Agreement to Provide Fire Hazard Abatement Services, dated April 4, 1995, between the county of San Bernardino and the city of Grand Terrace that provides for limited nuisance abatement services on public properties, does not grant the county of San Bernardino the legal right to, (1) subjugate the laws of the city of Grand Terrace and/or, (2) levy fines or collect fines from Grand Terrace citizens. The court found that “the San Bernardino County Code is not enforceable within the territorial and jurisdiction limits of the incorporated city of Grand Terrace”. That means that if you are a Grand Terrace property owner and you paid the county of San Bernardino a first citation fine of $100 or a second citation fine of $200, or a third citation fine of $500, and if you were slammed with a 50 percent late fee, the county owes you money back! Refer them to Case No. CIVDS 1308474. It took a lot of work to obtain justice. After I removed the weeds on my property, I took photos. When the county fined me for weeds and for miscellaneous debris, my photos proved I removed the weeds. The county waived that fine. On June 27, 2013 the appeal officer refused to reverse the citation for the debris. I drove to San Bernardino, paid my $25 and filed a court case for judicial review. On Oct. 4, 2013 the Honorable Pamela Preston King reversed the administrative hearing officer’s ruling and dismissed the underlying citation based on sworn testimony and documentation that the agreement between the county and the city does not grant the county the right to levy or collect fines from Grand Terrace citizens.