§ 72-1015. Appeal process.

(a)

Any person aggrieved by a decision of the DRC on the matter of exemptions or denial of a certificate of capacity under this article may appeal in writing to the LDM within 30 days of the decision of the DRC. The LDM shall establish a schedule of hearing dates and application deadlines for each respective hearing. The LDM shall review the application for sufficiency, and insufficient applications shall be returned to the applicant for additional information. Upon acceptance by LDM, the application shall be assigned a hearing date.

(b)

The county council shall appoint one or more hearing officers, all of whom shall be attorneys duly licensed to practice law in the State of Florida and who have five years of experience as a practicing attorney. Said hearing officer may be on the staff of the Division of Administrative Hearings, Florida Department of Administration. Each hearing officer may be appointed for a term not to exceed one year. A hearing officer shall be removable for cause by the Volusia County Council. A hearing officer shall be compensated at a rate and manner as determined by the county council.

(c)

No person who is or who may become a party of record before the hearing officer, nor anyone appearing on behalf of a party of record shall communicate ex parte with any hearing officer about any application currently before him.

(d)

Hearings before the hearing officer shall be held as scheduled by the LDM. All hearings shall be open to the public. The hearing shall be taped, and minutes of the proceedings before the hearing officer shall be kept. Said recordings and minutes shall be filed with the LDM.

(e)

The participants (parties) before the hearing officer shall be the applicants, representative of Volusia County or any department or division, and any substantially affected person and witnesses with relevant testimony. The hearing officer shall set reasonable time limits on presentation of the case; the order of presentation shall generally be as follows:

(1)

Volusia County summary of the application, staff and department findings and staff testimony.

(2)

Applicant and applicant's witnesses.

(3)

Persons with relevant testimony.

(4)

Amended report of staff, if any.

(5)

Rebuttal and summation of the applicant.

(f)

To the maximum extent practically the hearing shall be informal. However, fundamental due process shall be observed, but the rules of evidence shall not apply. Reasonable cross-examination of witnesses shall be permitted, but questions shall be confined as closely as possible to the scope of the direct testimony. The hearing officer may call and question witnesses as he/she deems necessary and appropriate. All witnesses shall be sworn in, and the hearing officer shall decide all questions of procedure except as otherwise provided herein. Irrelevant, immaterial, unduly repetitious evidence shall be excluded. Any part of the evidence may be received in written form, and all testimony shall be under oath.

(g)

The hearing officer shall render a decision on the application within 30 days of the hearing unless for good cause that time period should be extended.

(h)

Thereafter, the decision of the hearing officer may be appealed by an aggrieved party who participated in the hearing. In the event of said appeal, the aggrieved party shall file a written appeal to the county council within 30 days of the decision of the hearing officer. Said appeal shall be based on the record made at the hearing before the hearing officer and shall not be a hearing de novo. The aggrieved party shall state fully the specific grounds for the appeal and the facts relied upon. The county council shall consider only those items specified by the aggrieved party. No appeal shall be granted in whole or in part unless five members of the county council concurs [concur].

(i)

Other appeals of the decision of the DRC shall be as provided under subsection 72-502(g) of this article.

(Ord. No. 90-33, § LIX, 9-27-90; Ord. No. 2008-25, § III, 12-4-08)