| | | | | | | | CITY OF OAKLAND PARK, FLORIDA
CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM REPORT
AGENDA ITEM NO. 25 | | MEETING DATE: 9/8/2021 |
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| | | | | | | | | PREPARED BY: | City Attorney's Office | DEPARTMENT HEAD APPROVAL: | CITY ATTORNEY |
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| | | | | | | | | 1. | BACKGROUND/HISTORY
| | | Issue Statement Forest Park is an apartment complex located at 2829 South Oakland Forest Drive, between NW 31st Avenue and Oakland Park Boulevard. The complex has 190 units spread across multiple buildings, which are serviced through 33 different utility accounts with Oakland Park. Forest Park is owned by Atlas Residential, a private real estate company with various properties throughout the country. All City accounts for the property are held by the corporate owner, not individual tenants. All accounts are delinquent by 13 to 17 months. Payments ceased at different times for individual accounts, but no payments have been received on any accounts since June 2020.
Recommended Action: The City Commission approve the initiation of a lawsuit against the property owner and related entities of the Forest Park Apartment complex to collect all outstanding monies due the City.
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| | | | | | | | | 2. | CURRENT ACTIVITY
| | | Multiple efforts have been made at the local and corporate levels of Atlas to establish a payment plan to bring their accounts into good standing, these efforts have been unsuccessful. The City requested multiple times that ownership enter into a payment plan arrangement. After Atlas Residential failed to enter into a payment plan, the City filed a utility lien on the property on July 2, 2021. The City continued to request the owner enter into a payment plan arrangement, but the property owners were unresponsive to staff outreach. As of July 31st, the combined amount owed to the City is $450,531.36. |
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| | | | | | | | | 3. | FINANCIAL IMPACT
| | | The filing of the lawsuit would provide a mechanism for the City to collect the outstanding balance. |
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| | | | | | | | | 4. | RECOMMENDATION
| | | City Commission approve and authorize the filing of a lawsuit to collect outstanding sums due to the City of Oakland Park for utility services provided to the Forest Park Apartment Complex. |
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