Regina Hill's Orlando home was condemned. After the suspended commissioner complained, the city declared it an error.
But by that evening, after its owner, suspended city commissioner Regina Hill blasted the city's order on social media as an 'attack' intended to thwart her planned political comeback, officials declared the home should never have been deemed unfit for human occupation.
Days later, it remains unclear why the complaint was escalated.
'After code enforcement management reviewed the complaint and assessed the home, it was determined the house shouldn't have been condemned,' said Andrea Otero, a city spokesperson. 'The house was, however, unsecured so code enforcement boarded the windows that were cracked. There are processes and procedures that were not followed and are being addressed.'
Officials would offer no further details.
Hill doesn't live at the home, which was purchased in her name along with that of the woman at the center of an explosive elder abuse indictment, which led to Hill's suspension from the city council last year.
A court order prevents Hill from having contact with the woman or from setting foot on any of the properties involved in the proceedings – including the one on Domino Drive. The case is currently slated for trial in May.
Separately, a lawsuit filed by an attorney representing the elderly woman seeks to have a judge force a sale of the home, as well as another one Hill owns with the elderly woman. Investigators allege Hill used the woman's financial resources and credit rating to buy the properties, and that the woman, who is mentally impaired, did not understand what was happening.
The code enforcement situation began on Feb. 27, when a neighbor reported the property apparently because a homeless person was sleeping in the shed behind the home. It also had been the subject of a complaint earlier this year for an overgrown yard.
Hill said she discovered the condemnation notice on the door when she drove by the property Monday to make sure a lawn service had come by over the weekend. Upon her arrival, she saw code enforcement personnel on the property and the notice they had posted.
'I didn't understand why I wasn't notified that they were condemning the house,' she said. 'From one complaint, you go to condemning a house?'
Hill said she believed the city's action was a political decision, noting she had filed to run for election in District 5 last week. Hill tagged interim commissioner Shan Rose, who was elected to represent the district after Hill's suspension, in her initial post on the matter.
However, the complaint was made to code enforcement six days prior to Hill filing paperwork with the city clerk.
Rose said she had nothing to do with the complaint or the condemnation and wasn't aware of the details of the situation.
Photos of the property released as part of the code enforcement investigation show a lakefront home with windows and doors that are now boarded up. The photos also show a damaged dock with a bicycle on it, as well as some broken windows. The report has is short on detail as to if they found evidence of anybody sleeping there. An Orlando Utilities Commission official told code enforcement that utilities weren't hooked up to the home.
Hill said the home was damaged during Hurricane Ian, and she had the home gutted to renovate it before her legal troubles surfaced.
'I'm really disgusted,' she said.
rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com
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