Hearing officer finds owner guilty but suspends fines until Nov. 6 pending exterior progress

The hearing officer presiding at the Fort Thomas administrative hearing found the property owner guilty of city ordinance violations tied to citations issued Aug. 3–5 but announced the board would suspend enforcement of daily fines through close of business Friday, Nov. 6, conditioned on demonstrable exterior progress and required inspections.

“The Board...is going to suspend some of the fines and we're going to ask that you pay $800” early in the hearing, the hearing officer said, then later clarified the final judgment: “I'm suspending the fine. All of it. Not $800, $0.” The suspension was paired with stipulations: the city’s fireproofing/insulation inspection by Mark and ongoing inspections by Will Hunt (City of Fort Thomas) as necessary, a requirement that exterior yard maintenance continue and that no new safety or building‑code violations arise.

Counsel for the city emphasized the limited scope of the hearing. Under Kentucky law, each citation is treated as a separate administrative action with a strict seven‑day appeal window, counsel said, meaning citations issued after Aug. 5 were not before the Board and remain final unless separately appealed. The hearing officer and board members nonetheless said they would encourage the city to withhold further daily finding until Nov. 6 for the specific appealed citations, while warning that fines would resume if the exterior was not brought into compliance by that date.

The Board asked staff to put the decision and stipulations in writing and to send copies to the owner, Mr. Kramer and the city legal team, and to Will Hunt. No formal roll‑call vote on the decision was recorded in the transcript; the hearing officer stated the Board had reached a decision during deliberations.