CLB Minutes 07/18/2001 RJuly 18,2001
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
CONTRACTORS' LICENSING BOARD
Naples, Florida, July 18,2001
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Contractors' Licensing
Board, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business
herein, met on this date at 9:02 a.m. In REGULAR SESSION in
Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with
the following members present:
CHAIRMAN:
GARY HAYES
LES DICKSON
CAROL PAHL
SARA BETH WHITE
WALTER CRAWFORD, IV
ABSENT:
DANIEL GONZALEZ
RICHARD JOSLIN
ARTHUR SCHOENFUSS
BOB LAIRD
ALSO PRESENT:
PATRICK NEALE, Attorney for the Board
ROBERT ZACHARY,Assistant County Attorney
THOMAS BARTOE, License Compliance
Officer
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~/li/zs~i ~8:13 9~14032395 CO~HUNITY DEVELOPHEN P~E 82
AGENDA
COLLIER COUNTY CONTRACTORS' LIC~ENSING BOARD
DATE; July 18. 2001
TIME: 9:00 A.M.
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
CQyRTHOUSE COMPLEX
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD WILL NEED A RECORD OF
THE PROCEEDINGS PERTAINING THERETO, AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A
VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THAT
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED.
I. ROLL CALL
I1. ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS:
II1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES;
DATE: June 20, 2001
V. NEW BUSINESS:
David J. Redshaw - Req. Io qualify a 2~ entlly.
William D. Bennett. Jr. - Req. to qualify a 2~ enlJty.
Joseph P. Blasucci - Req. to qualify a 2'~ entity.
Constantin Verdes - Req. to waive exam for lile & marble license.
OLD BUSINESS:
Approve ordinance amendments,
2'~ Entity Form - use of revised state form.
VII. PUBLIC HEARINGS:
VIII. REPORTS:
IX. DISCUSSION:
X. NEXT MEETING DATE:
August 15. 2001
July 18,2001
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I want to call this meeting to order, July
the 18th, 2001, nine o'clock a.m., Collier County Contractors'
Licensing Board. Any person who decides that -- to appeal a
decision of this board will need a record of the proceedings
pertaining thereto and, therefore, may need to ensure that a verbatim
record of the proceedings is made, which record includes that
testimony and evidence upon which an appeal is to be based.
I'd like to start roll call to my right.
MR. CRAWFORD: Walter Crawford.
MR. DICKSON: Les Dickson.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Gary Hayes.
MS. PAHL: Carol Pahl.
MS. WHITE: Sara Beth White.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Do we have any additions or deletions
to the agenda? Mr. Bartoe?
MR. BARTOE: Staff has none.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Anyone else? I need a motion to
approve the agenda.
MR. DICKSON: Dickson, so moved.
MS. PAHL: Pahl, second.
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
All in favor?
Opposed?
Very well. New business: David J.
Redshaw, request to qualify a second entity. Are you here, sir?
MR. REDSHAW: Yes.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Would you come up to the podium,
please. I'm going to ask that you be sworn in, if you would, talk to
the court reporter.
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July 18,2001
(The oath was administered.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Your name, sir, for the record?
MR. REDSHAW: David James Redshaw.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: And your reason for being here this
morning?
MR. REDSHAW: Is to qualify a second company, Collier
County licensing.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: What company do you qualify now?
MR. REDSHAW: Macon, Incorporated, of Southwest Florida.
MR. DICKSON: He does get an A. He got No. 9 correct.
MS. PAHL: I just looked at that.
MR. DICKSON: Inside joke.
MR. REDSHAW: Okay.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: What does Macon do?
MR. REDSHAW: Macon is a structural contractor.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: And this second entity you're talking
about ...
MR. REDSHAW: -- is a concrete placement company.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Is it your company?
MR. REDSHAW: It's -- will be.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay.
MR. CRAWFORD: The reason for the second company is
because placement of concrete is kind of a different trade --
MR. REDSHAW: We -- we do the same with our company, but
this is just additional manpower -- MR. CRAWFORD: Okay.
MR. REDSHAW: -- for the amount of work going on in Collier
County, more qualified personnel.
MR. CRAWFORD: Mr. -- Chairman Hayes, for the record,
Macon is a subcontractor on one of my projects. I don't know if that
is a disclosure issue or not, but they are the subcontractor on the Bay
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July 18, 2001
Colony maintenance facility.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I think just mentioning it is good
enough.
MR. CRAWFORD: Okay.
MR. DICKSON: Mr. Redshaw, your credit report is good.
However, there are some tax liens that are way back there. And my
understanding is that's supposed to be purged from a credit report
after seven years?
MR. REDSHAW: Yeah. Yeah.
MR. DICKSON: You may -- you may want to follow up with
these people.
MR. REDSHAW:
it's -- MR. DICKSON:
Yeah. We try all the time to get that stuff--
They're all over seven years old.
MR. REDSHAW: Yeah. They're all -- they're all taken care of
too. They've been paid. It's federal, and everything has all been --
CHAIRMAN HAYES: They're quick to put them on but not so
quick to take them off.
MR. REDSHAW: Terrible. Terrible. We talked to a number of
companies to take care of it for us, pay, you know, and it's still ...
MR. DICKSON: If I'm not mistaken, there's some legal liability
for them to not take it off but -- Mr. Chairman, the packet's in order.
I mean, we -- everything -- the first packet I've seen that's been
absolutely perfect in a long time. I move that the request be
approved.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Dickson, make a motion. I need a
second.
MS. PAHL: I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Pahl, second.
MS. PAHL: Pahl, second.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: All in favor?
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July 18, 2001
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Very well, Mr. Redshaw, your
paperwork is all down here right now, so you're not going to be able
to finalize your paperwork today. It will have to be tomorrow when
the paperwork's back up at the county on Horseshoe Drive. Then you
can go in there and take care of business.
MR. REDSHAW: ! appreciate that.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay.
William D. Bennett, Jr., request to qualify a second entity. Mr.
Bennett, are you here?
MR. STOKES: He's tied up. He got stopped. He's -- he's
getting a ticket right now. He should be here any second.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Legitimate excuse. Okay. We'll go on
to the next one; come back to him.
Joseph Blassarie, Blazzarie (phonetic)?
MR. BLASUCCI: Blasucci.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: B lasucci. You are here.
MR. BLASUCCI: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Blasucci. I'm going to ask you to get
sworn in, Mr. Blasucci.
(The oath was administered.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Your name, sir.
MR. BLASUCCI: Joseph Blasucci.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: And your reason for being here?
MR. BLASUCCI: I want to qualify a second company.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: What company do you qualify right
now?
MR. BLASUCCI: Five Star Construction Company,
Incorporated.
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July 18,2001
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Once again, on Line Item 9, all
businesses -- list all businesses, firms, entities, or contracting
businesses you have been associated with during the last ten years. I
see Aries Aluminum and W. D. Bennett, Jr., but I don't see that
business.
MR. BLASUCCI: No, sir. None of those companies are mine.
MR. DICKSON: Five Star. He got his right too.
MS. PAHL: Yeah.
MR. BARTOE: I think you're looking at the wrong packet, sir.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Got W. D. Bennett, Jr.
MR. BARTOE: That's the wrong packet.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I know that.
MR. CRAWFORD: He actually got the question right.
What does Five Star Construction do?
MR. BLASUCCI: I'm a building contractor.
MR. CRAWFORD: Building contractor.
MR. BLASUCCI: I do residential remodels and light
commercial.
MR. DICKSON: Why the carpentry request?
MR. BLASUCCI: Well, basically, there's a need for it, and I
can't find carpenters out there. I know it's very hard for a lot of
people to find carpenters out there. And I had a guy that used to
work for another company and worked on a lot of my projects when I
was with BCB as a super for them, and he was free-lancing. He
wanted to leave the guy he was with, so I hired him. He has a whole
bunch of guys, and so we're ready to go. There's no other owners.
MR. DICKSON: Okay.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: This packet also seems to be in order.
MR. DICKSON: So far it's a good credit report.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: On the final page of the packet, a letter
dating June 29th stating that the worker's comp. Liability insurance
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July 18, 2001
has been applied for and should be in your possession as of July the
2nd.
MR. BLASUCCI: Actually, the payroll company just started --
just -- I signed up with them, and they'll give it to me when I call in.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: They won't give you your liability
certificate.
MR. BLASUCCI: No. The liability I have -- it's through
Zurich. I'm getting it from Weems (phonetic) Insurance. It wasn't
bound on the 2nd. It was bound two days ago.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. That will have to be added to the
packet, I guess, Mr. Bartoe.
MR. CRAWFORD: Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve
Elite Carpentry for a second qualification.
MR. DICKSON: Dickson, I'll second.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: All in favor?
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Very well, Mr. Bennett, you, too -- like
Mr. Redshaw ahead of you, your paper won't be at the county until
tomorrow, but I am going to tell you you're -- you're going to have to
have that certificate when you go down there.
MR. BLASUCCI: I'm picking it up right now after I leave here.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Excellent.
MR. BLASUCCI: Thank you, sir.
MR. BARTOE: Usually, Mr. Chairman, when insurance
companies insure a company such as his, a copy of it gets faxed over
to our office staff, and they may already have it on file.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Gotcha. Thank you, sir.
MR. BLASUCCI: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Constantin Verdes, request to waive
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July 18,2001
exam of-- for tile and marble license. Mr. Verdes, are you here?
MR. BARTOE: Mr. Chairman, if I may, he is not present. We
did not get his test scores until yesterday from the only time he did
take the test, and he took it July 7th. And he's -- he's attempting to
get a tile/marble license, but staff does not have a complete
application for him. And office staff has been attempting to contact
him for over months now with the only phone number he provided,
and it's coming up that it's no longer in service. And -- and his test
scores for the one time he did take them on July 7th were a 36 for
business and law and a 50 for tile/marble.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: When did he take it?
MR. BARTOE: July 7th. I don't think the board can take any
action because of him being absent. But should he get ahold of staff,
I -- I think we should have a complete application. Does the board
agree?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: No question about it, even before he
comes in here.
MR. BARTOE: Does the board feel he should take it at least
one more time before appearing here?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I would make a recommendation, just
being one member of the board.
MR. DICKSON: Thirty-six and a fifty is not going to fly.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: There is going to have to be some
serious extenuating circumstances and affidavits of experience all
over the place.
MR. DICKSON: We all had to pass ours.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So, as far as I'm concerned, we can't
take any action on it today then.
Mr. Bennett, are you here?
MR. BENNETT: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Would you come up to the podium,
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July 18, 2001
please, sir, without your ticket.
MR. BENNETT: Sorry about that.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I'm going to ask you to get sworn in, if
you would, by the court reporter.
(The oath was administered.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Your name for the record.
MR. BENNETT: William D. Bennett, Jr.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Mr. Bennett -- and your reason for
being here this morning.
MR. BENNETT: We were looking to qualify Seminole Wind
on my aluminum specialty and concrete license.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: This is a second entity. What entity do
MR. BENNETT: I currently work on doing screen enclosures
down on Marco Island; that -- that is under William D. Bennett, Jr.
MR. DICKSON: So you don't qualify Aries Aluminum?
MR. BENNETT: That was before the hurricane or af-- as the
hurricane took place down on Marco, for a couple years we were
pretty busy, as you can imagine. But soon thereafter we worked
ourselves out of a job. So after two years or so of putting things back
together, we basically ran out of work. And if we didn't have
anything new, we didn't have anything on the books. So we ended up
closing Aries Aluminum, basically came up to Naples and worked for
a couple of years subcontracting for miscellaneous people. One day
the phone rang on Marco, and we've been back at it full time since.
MR. DICKSON: My reason for asking is you can only qualify
one second entity, so Aries is gone.
MR. BENNETT: Aries is gone. It has been now since, I
believe, '93 1/2, '94, something like that. MR. DICKSON: Okay.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. So you're currently qualifying
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July 18, 2001
W. D. Bennett?
MR. BENNETT: Yes.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: And you want to add Seminole Wind
Hurricane?
MR. BENNETT: Correct.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Is this your other business or --.
MR. BENNETT: Actually, Tom Stokes and I have been friends
for about 15 years now. We've worked on a couple of different
projects together over the years. But basically I was trying to keep
the screen and the shutters separate, and Tom has something going
that he was looking for some help on, and that's where I became
available.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So you guys are going to be
competitors? MR. BENNETT:
MR. DICKSON:
No. Basically, partners.
He's got the resolution.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Uh-huh. You still working at
Aluminum Specialties?
MR. BENNETT: Uh-huh, sure. Yeah, we do a lot of new
construction, screen enclosures, soffit, siding, fascias down on
Marco. I don't do a whole lot up in Naples, but mainly on Marco. I
live down there, so we've concentrated on the island over the years.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Is Seminole Wind Hurricane Shutters a
new business?
MR. BENNETT: I believe they've been together about a year
now and lost a qualifier along the way and was looking for someone
new.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Sounds reasonable to me.
MR. DICKSON: Mr. Chairman, the packet's in perfect order.
That's three in a row. I move that the request be approved.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Dickson, motion.
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July 18, 2001
MS. PAHL:
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
Pahl, second.
Pahl, second.
All in favor?
Any other discussion?
Opposed?
Very well, Mr. Bennett, in spite of your
ticket.
MR. BENNETT: That was the last thing you want to start your
day with. He wasn't receptive to the idea that I was running late.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Your -- your paperwork is here, and so
you're not going to be able to settle this issue at the county today. It
will be tomorrow.
MR. BENNETT: Okay.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: The paperwork will be back, and you
can go in there and see Mr. Bartoe, I guess, and he'll have it all in
order for you.
MR. BENNETT: Sounds real good. Thank you. Bye.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. Under old business, approval of
the ordinance amendments.
MR. BARTOE: Mr. Chairman, I think we -- we approved
ordinance amendments, but we want -- staff wants the board to look
at one more possible amendment of-- an addition to our ordinance of
-- that we can bring before this board state-certified contractors and
registered and local contractors for all the same violations.
And this morning I passed out a packet to you containing the
wording in Charlotte County's ordinance and Cape Coral's ordinance
on how they handle that situation. As you know, at the present time,
the way our ordinance reads, for state-certified contractors, the only
violations are fraud, willful code violations, not having proper
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July 18, 2001
insurance.
MR. NEALE: Since Tom passed this along, I did take a quick
look at the state statute. Obviously, I want to see if this is actually
the case, so I want to talk to the folks in Talla -- in Jacksonville about
what their opinion is. But in 489.131, which is the section of the
statute on accli -- applicability of the ordinance, in there it says that
nothing in this subsection shall be construed to allow local
jurisdictions to exercise disciplinary authority over certified
contractors.
My reading of that -- and I think the reason our ordinance was
amended the way it was back a number of years ago was because this
was passed by the state legislature, my memory is, about six or seven
years ago. And when that was done, our ordinance was amended to
change the language that had formerly been similar to the Charlotte
County language to the language that we currently have. Now, as I
say, I haven't had a chance to look back in our legislative history nor
in the state's, make sure that's the case. But just the -- the immediate
reading of what 489 says is that this board has no authority over
state-certified contractors.
MR. CRAWFORD: So Charlotte County is doing it, but we
don't know if that's --
MR. NEALE: My impression of the Charlotte County
ordinance is that it's one that was passed -- it was amended in 2000
apparently, but I don't know whether they caught that then, okay?
And that particular section -- yeah. So my -- my sense is that that's in
there, has been in there all along, and nobody ever caught it to pull it
out.
MR. DICKSON: But my question is, two or three years ago
there was a house built that I thought had passed based on a four-year
backlog of cases with the state board that all counties would have
disciplinary authority over state-certified contractors, and the state
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July 18, 2001
would be an appeals board.
MR. NEALE: Well, the interesting thing is -- and this is Florida
Statutes 2000. I haven't gotten the 2001 revisions, but I -- as far as I
know, there were no revisions to this section. There is some
language in here that contradicts internally the statute. Not terribly
unusual. We see that fairly often in statutory construction. But the
specific part in here, which is Part 7-B, specifically authorizes the
local governing body of a county or municipality or its local
enforcement body is authorized to enforce the provisions of this part
against locally licensed or registered contractors as appropriate. So
that specifically gives this board the authority to discipline locally
licensed or registered contractors.
Then you come back to this other section, and it says, however,
nothing in this subsection shall be construed to allow local
jurisdictions to exercise disciplinary authority over certified
contractors. My sense may be -- and -- and, Mr. Dickson, ! have to
say I had sort of the same memory of this as they got all backlogged;
they needed help. They made an appeal board. That was my
memory of what had happened. And it appears that this may have
been put in by state-certified contractors to keep it at the state level. I
-- I don't know that for sure. I don't -- I'd have to look at the
legislative history to see exactly if this sentence appeared but --
MR. DICKSON: You don't know when it appeared?
MR. NEALE: You know, I -- I do not have my older versions
of Florida Statutes in here.
MR. DICKSON: Because we've -- we've revoked licenses of
state-certified contractors.
MR. NEALE: Well, what we have done is we have --
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Suspended.
MR. NEALE: -- recommended revocation. We suspended
permit-pulling privileges here in Collier County which we can do
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July 18, 2001
under the -- the provision of this ordinance, and I don't have it right in
front of me, that in order to protect -- oh, here we go. Under
Subsection 3 of 489.131, it says nothing in this part limits the power
of the municipality or county to in -- to, A, regulate the quality and
character of work; B, enforce other laws for the protection of public
health and safety. And it's my understanding, my -- my memory, and
it's -- it's not a hundred percent good at this point, that when our
ordinance was drafted, it was the public health and safety provision
that allowed us the -- the county commission to go forward and adopt
some level of regulation against state certifieds, which was removing
permit privilege -- pulling privileges and so forth if they were found
guilty of a fraud and other -- other matters, so I think that's what
happened.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I was under the impression at that same
timing, though -- I have the same recollection -- that it went so far as
to say that we could even impose fines and retain such payments.
MR. NEALE: The board can do that against the locally licensed
or registered. But the best I can read it, that's not permitted against
certifieds. I -- I think, frankly, the Collier County ordinance probably
goes as far as -- and this is preliminary. You know, Mr. Zachary and
I haven't had a chance to review it in any depth, but I think the
ordinance probably goes quite a ways past what -- what even the --
the original intent was. We -- this board has taken on a fair amount
of authority and over state certifieds.
MR. DICKSON: Who are you -- who are you going to contact?
MR. NEALE: I'm going to talk to the executive director up
there in Jacksonville. Well, actually, I'll talk to the legal staff in
Jacksonville, the state construction industry licensing board.
MR. DICKSON: Do you realize they're no longer in
Jacksonville as of July 1 ?
MR. NEALE: Okay.
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July 18, 2001
MR. DICKSON: Contractor licensing board moved to
Tallahassee.
MR. NEALE' To Tallahassee. I knew they were moving. I
wasn't sure of the effective date.
MR. DICKSON: There's a great deal of confusion right now.
MR. NEALE: Well, then I probably will wait until August
before I call them because they probably can't find each other in the
first month. I knew they had a move in -- in -- afoot so -- my
editorial comment on that-- my sense is if they are being moved to
Tallahassee, that there's a move afoot among the legislature to
somewhat reduce their power and delegate the power further out to
the municipality as opposed to continue to centralize it. Typically,
just from other things that I've dealt with in the state, there seems to
be a motivation or a focus in state government generally to delegate
things further down to the county municipalities. So I'll talk to -- I'll
talk to some folks and see what the sense is on that.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Again, that seems to be -- and I don't
have anything in writing that I can verify on 489's revisions, but it
seems to me that that was exactly the reason for allowing us the
jurisdictional ability to impose fines and collect them, was for that
exact reason, so that they were entertaining the single-tier licensing
issue --
MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: -- at that time. And at that same time
we -- various municipalities in Florida objected severely to it because
it took all of our jurisdiction away from us to enforce licensing on a
local level, period. And part of their compromise to do that was,
okay, you're going to have to -- you're going to be able to impose the
fines and do the collections on the local levels and still enforce 489
on a local level. Now, I was under the impression about two years
ago that was brought up and discussed, and if there was an
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July 18, 2001
amendment in 489 since that time, I would have thought that's what it
adopted.
MR. NEALE: Yeah. And--
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Do you remember that, Pat?
MR. NEALE: Vaguely I do. I know there -- we had -- this
board had a great deal of discussion about two or three years ago over
the whole issue of the potential single -tier licensing removal of
jurisdiction and so forth. And this amendment in here, the statute
which changed the structure, was done in -- and added the consumer
representatives, was done about four years ago, I believe. I think it
was '98 to add that change so --
MR. CRAWFORD: Mr. Neale, is this an issue because of the
pool contractor we had in here last month? Was that the reason?
MR. NEALE: Yeah.
MR. CRAWFORD: The news reported that this -- this board
didn't have the jurisdiction to enforce anything with that pool
contractor.
MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
MR. CRAWFORD: And I would assume it is the consensus of
this board that we would prefer to -- to handle state contractors, if it's
allowable by the --
MR. NEALE: That's -- certainly we will continue to -- I'll do
some more research on the issue between now and next month and
see if there is any possibility that we can do that, you know. Mr.
Zachary and I will take a look at that.
MR. DICKSON: In the past we have handled state contractors.
And on two or three occasions we've had a state investigator present -
MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
MR. DICKSON: -- to see what we did to that state contractor
because they were going to pursue additional charges at the state
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July 18, 2001
level.
MR. NEALE: Those were brought, if I remember correctly,
under one of the other subsections -- MR. DICKSON: Okay.
MR. NEALE: -- of the ordinance, of the Collier County
ordinance, because there's an -- the section is 22.201 -- 22-201.1 in
our -- in the Collier County code. Subsection 2 of that provides that
if someone willfully violated the applicable building codes or laws of
the state, city, or Collier County, that constitutes misconduct and
grounds for discipline.
MR. DICKSON: Oh.
MR. NEALE: And it's my recollection that the previous state-
certified contractors that had been prosecuted in front of this board
were prosecuted under that subsection. And that may be a -- a more
easy -- not more easy, but it may be something that it's more -- the
board may be more able to find proof of that someone willfully
violated the bill of codes of the state, city, or county as opposed to
proving fraud, which is a very clearly defined legal violation. There
are certain elements of fraud that need to be proven before basic
elements that need to be proven.
MR. CRAWFORD: So that was the real reason for last month's
-- it wasn't a jurisdictional issue.
MR. NEALE: My sense -- my -- my belief is that it truly was --
the difficulty was in proving up fraud --
MR. CRAWFORD: That was my understanding.
MR. NEALE: -- as a -- as a legal concept. That was the real
problem that both Mr. Zachary and I had with the -- with the issue.
Possibly if it had been brought forward under willful violation of
building codes, that might have been something that could have gone
forward. But as this board is well aware, the charging document is
the one that -- that has to be relied upon.
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July 18, 2001
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Mr. Neale and Mr. Zachary, both of
you, I'm going to tell you that the jurisdictional ability of this board
needs to be clarified, period. And we need to do it and do it formally
and do it soon so that we know just what we can act on and what we
cannot because I'm sure that all of us up here thought a license was a
license. We do all know the difference between registered and
certified, and we do know the basic jurisdictional separations.
However, when we first start to hear a case, it's not any substance to
us whether it's registered or certified. It's a licensed contractor doing
business in Collier County, and we are charged with somewhat of the
discipline and protection and administration, if you will, on this board
of some of those requirements to do it legitimately. And if we don't
have any jurisdiction over a state-licensed holder, then we need to
know that before we even bring up a case.
MR. NEALE: And that's -- our ordinance, as it currently stands,
clearly delimits the authority of this board against state-certified
contractors.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: In your opinion.
MR. NEALE: A separate section.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: As we speak, we have-- the only
jurisdiction that we have on this board for a state-licensed contractor
is permit-pulling privilege revocation.
MR. NEALE: Well, the way our ordinance currently is written,
the authority we have, the discipline that this board can impose
against a state-certified contractor, and it's in Section 22-203, if after
hearing the Contractors' Licensing Board finds that there has been
misconduct by a state-certified contractor within the meaning of 22-
201, said board may deny the issuance of Collier County or city
building permits or require the issuance of permits with specific
conditions. Notification of and information concerning such permit
denial shall be submitted to the state department of business and
Page 19
July 18,2001
professional regulation within 15 days after the Contractors'
Licensing Board decides to deny the permit.
MR. CRAWFORD: Which is a pretty powerful statement to not
-- to disallow permits.
MR. NEALE: That's -- this board-- and it's my recollection that
this board was granted that power by the county commission based
upon the public health and safety abil -- provision of 489.131 so that
if-- you know, if it's that egregious that it's violating -- en --
endangering public, health, safety, and welfare that this board can't
stop a person from pulling permits.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I have run into this ambiguity in the
past before, Mr. Neale. And I am seeing it again here right now. On
one hand, we can't do anything to anybody until state gives us
authority, just like the -- we were speaking about even our own
jurisdictional license holders. We don't have any authority to do
anything over them as a county municipality unless the state said we
could do it. And, on the other hand, we're going to pull the -- the
county commission says we're going to pull permit-pulling privileges.
Well, that's a form of discipline. How in the world can-- on one
hand, we don't have any jurisdiction over anybody unless the state
says so, and now we're going to make our own rules locally and
enforce them. I'm confused.
MR. NEALE: The way -- yeah. The way this -- it's my
understanding and how the reasoning went was that the State Statute
489 permits or says that the state cannot interfere with the county or
municipality protecting the public health, safety, and welfare of its
citizens and that it may regulate permit-pulling privileges. That's one
of the other sections. That said -- and even though it does say we
cannot discipline state-certified contractors, what it does -- our
ordinance does say that we can go after state-certified contractors for
certain very clearly defined matters that fall within the purview of
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July 18, 2001
489.131 and that the -- this board may act against them in such a way
to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, which is denial of
permit-pulling privileges. So it's -- it's probably, frankly, a little bit
of a stretch to assume that authority. But I think our county
commission, when this was passed, and this board, when it
recommended to the commission, took a -- took a step to protect the
people of Collier County that is pretty much cutting edge and -- and
does go forward to -- right to the edge of what the statute permits
versus state-certified contractors.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: There's going to be times in the future;
there's been times in the past where there was clear evidence in this
board's mind to impose everything we could impose as penalties on
activities. And I just don't want us to come up here, do something
like that, and all of us get sued over it.
MR. NEALE: Well, the -- it's very clear in our -- in our
ordinance that the only penalties that can be imposed versus State of
Florida certi -- certificates of competency is to deny the issuance of
Collier County or city building permits or issue permits with specific
conditions.
Further, if that is done, the state board must be notified within
15 days so that the contractor who has that sanction imposed against
him can appeal it to the state board.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Mr. Bartoe, are you clear on that?
MR. BARTOE: I'm clear on that, yes.
MR. DICKSON: I have a question: Mr. Neale, I'm going to put
you and Mr. Zachary on the spot --
MR. NEALE: Something new.
MR. DICKSON: -- because I want to go on record. I started
serving on this board in 1990. It hasn't been consecutive, but never
before since 1990 has what you're talking about come up. We've
always had full authority. Mr. Bartoe, you've been with the licensing
Page 21
July 18, 2001
board that long as well. This issue has never come up before. Can
we have your assurances that this will be resolved and we'll have a
clear -- clear direction by next meeting?
MR. NEALE: Well, the issue has come up because the
ordinance was amended even in the time that I've been sitting as
counsel for the board. So it's something that was amended --
amended and addressed within the past six or seven years. It's -- I
think part of it is it's rare that a state-certified contractor is brought in
front of this board. I think that's the big issue.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: It definitely doesn't happen all the time.
MR. NEALE: I -- I -- I can only remember, in the time that I've
been sitting with this board, maybe twice that a state-certified
contractor has been brought before the board.
MR. DICKSON: I remember a couple of builders, general
contractors.
MR. NEALE: That I believe were-- were -- were state
registered, not certified, I think.
MR. DICKSON: Okay.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Mr. Bartoe --
MR. NEALE: That's always -- you know, that's the clear
difference, is if someone is a state-certified contractor, according to
statute and according to our ordinances, it's very clearly delimited
what this board has the authority to do. If it's a registered or local --
state registered or locally licensed contractor, this board has a great
deal more jurisdiction granted by the ordinance -- granted by the
statute and interpreted by the ordinance. So it's -- and it -- you know,
it's -- for a layperson sitting out there, it's -- it may be hard for them
to distinguish. Fortunately, this board clearly understands, in general,
the difference between state certified, state registered, locally
licensed. And, you know, I think, one thing that may -- may help in
the future is that when a case comes forward, staff and the county
Page 22
July 18,2001
attorney's office clearly state that this is a state-registered contractor,
this is a locally licensed contractor, or this is a state-certified
contractor.
Certainly when it gets to the penalty phase in any of these when
I'm discussing the penalties available to the board, I will clearly
delineate to the board, this is the kind of-- and I may have not done
that in the past because, I guess, I've known and the board has
known. But I'll clearly delineate; this is a locally licensed -- this is a
state registered-- or this is a state certified, locally licensed stated
registered. Same broad range of penalties applies. State certified, it's
a fairly -- as -- as we just read, it's a very narrow range of penalties
that the board can impose.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Mr. Neale, I completely agree with Mr.
Dickson on this issue. However, I'm hearing you say -- and I'm going
to ask you, are you formally going to say for the record that -- state
the limits of our jurisdiction, or do you want this month to look at
489 and confirm before you make --
MR. NEALE: I want to look at it, but the limits of our
jurisdiction are already in the ordinance.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Yes. But are you interpreting -- your
interpretation of that is exactly as you have already spoken?
MR. NEALE: Well, not -- I'm, frankly, talking about the Collier
County ordinance, not 489.131. The Collier County ordinance
clearly limits what the authority of this board is versus state-certified
contractors.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: But the -- the limits are not imposed by
our ordinance. Ours is a concurrence of the state limits.
MR. NEALE: That's the way it always is. We wouldn't have a
Collier County ordinance if the state ordinance didn't permit us to
have one.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Well, that's what I was getting to with
Page 23
July 18, 2001
Mr. Bartoe. Then there is no -- not going to be much use in us
amending our ordinance to say anything any different than 489.
MR. BARTOE: Staff would like to see a recommendation from
the board to do that if after Mr. Neale, Mr. Zachary's research it can
be done.
MR. NEALE: We -- you know, I wouldn't have any problem
with the board making that recommendation. As I've said to the
board, though, my first pass at this doesn't offer a lot of hope.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Well, exactly.
MR. NEALE: That's something that certainly we'll look at and -
CHAIRMAN HAYES: That's what I wanted to clarify today so
that I can actually ask that I can charge Mr. Zachary; yourself, on
behalf of Collier County Commissioners; and Mr. Neale, on behalf of
the board here, that we, in fact, know exactly the limits of our
limitations and whether or not we can amend our ordinance to
include such disciplinary actions as we deem necessary as a board.
I'd like to make that into an actual formal recommendation from the
county attorney's office, ifI may, in writing, if possible, so that we--
our hands are tied by the letter of the law.
Opinions, at this point, Mr. Zachary have gotten us in trouble the
last few meetings. If it's not a written formal opinion, I'm not sure it's
enforceable or valid. And I'm -- and the way -- I'm so dissatisfied
with it as it is that I'm sure not real happy about going to that unless I
have to.
MR. NEALE: Well, you know the -- the issue is, this is where
we currently are. The current status is, if it's a state-certified
contractor, they have to commit one of four violations, and then the
limits of the authority of this board is to remove permit-pulling
privileges.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Period.
Page 24
July 18, 2001
MR. NEALE: That's it as it stands today and the way it's been
for several years.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. Then the recommendation of this
revision that Mr. Bartoe presented is null and void.
MR. NEALE: Well, not -- I mean, if-- if-- through our
research we can find that there is a possible amendment to the Collier
County ordinance that conforms with state law that will permit some
broader range of discipline, then certainly we could do that. But, you
know, just as to the current status of the law -- the current status of
the law is as it is in the Collier County ordinance.
MR. DICKSON: Okay. But for the record, Charlotte County
and Lee County have both added this one-line phrase which states
that their jurisdiction includes any violation of Section 489.129 or
Section 489.533, Florida Statutes, whether by a certified, registered,
or local contractor.
So before next month's meeting or by next month's meeting
you're going to tell us if we can add that to the Collier County
ordinance.
MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
MR. DICKSON: Correct. That's all I'm looking for. I make
that in the form of a motion.
MR. NEALE: Just the -- I want to bring to your attention, the
Cape Coral one is a 1990 ordinance. MR. DICKSON: Okay.
MR. NEALE: Or-- yeah. So I would suggest that it -- there
might have been some significant changes since the time that that
was adopted that they may not have kept up with.
MR. DICKSON: So my notion is that by the August meeting
you will have -- you -- both of you, you and Mr. Zachary, will have
researched this to see if we can add this to our Collier County
ordinance.
Page 25
July 18, 2001
MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
MR. DICKSON: So moved.
MR. CRAWFORD: Crawford, second.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I have a motion and I have a second.
Any further discussion on the issue? (No response.)
MS. PAHL: Not really, but I would just like to say that I agree
there's some urgency in getting this clarified because very possibly
there may be a case pending out on Marco that has been in the
newspaper most recently.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Then all the more reason to make --
MS. PAHL: All the more reason.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: -- expedite it.
Any further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Calling for the vote. All in favor?
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Very well, then, we'll make that an item
of agenda next month's meeting then. MR. NEALE: No problem.
MR. DICKSON: Just a comment for -- for the both of you,
since you're not contractors like I'm a state-certified contractor.
MS. PAHL: Uh-huh.
MR. DICKSON: That gives us the privileges of going
anywhere in the state. No county can deny me to work in their
county. They have to give me permits. And my discipline, should
there be any, comes from the state, does not come from the county.
Having worked the entire state, I can tell you a lot of reasons why I
believe it should be that way, because there -- I had an office in
Page 26
July 18, 2001
Orlando. Orlando is 31 cities and four counties if you work there.
And the differences between each of the cities and the counties can
be absolutely mind-boggling. So I wanted the state jurisdiction and
the state discipline to go to.
The only problem with that is that the state, in my last
conversation with them, is four years behind on cases because of the
massive amount of licenses that are out there. And I've heard the
figure, and I don't remember it, but it's astounding how many licenses
are there. And they just meet once a month as well. CHAIRMAN HAYES: Huh.
MR. DICKSON: So that's what we need to resolve. And that's
the only reason that there was a window that we were going to have
authority over state-certified contractors was to help out the state.
Now, that's what we need to resolve. It may be the state's in a
position to stay caught up.
MR. NEALE: Or the alternative is the state just -- legislature
has decided not to grant that authority to the local counties.
MR. DICKSON: To show you how bad it can be, Dade County,
which I've done work over there as well -- Dade County only takes
action against local and registered contractors. Their board is 1500
cases behind. So if you put the state on top of those 1500, we're in
pretty good shape here in Collier County. It ain't -- it's not that way
around the rest of the state.
MS. PAHL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. Mr. Bartoe?
MR. BARTOE: Mr. Chairman, staff would still like to see a
recommendation from the board to adopt wording similar to
Charlotte County's if after research it is shown that we can legally do
that.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I think that's exactly what's going to
happen. As long as we can get a go-ahead.
Page 27
July 18, 2001
MR. BARTOE: But staff would like to see that
recommendation for this wording to be in there today because we've
been adopting changes to our ordinance for how many months now.
And if we get that okay and Mr. Neale, Mr. Zachary find out, okay,
it's legal to do that, then we're one step ahead of the game.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So you're telling me that if we would
make a motion that if after review of the county attorney's office the
said wording be added to our ordinance -- MR. BARTOE: Yes.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: -- we can make a motion to do that today
if we get the county attorney in and our attorney's approval?
MR. BARTOE: Yes. If after research it's fine, we can legally
add that to our ordinance.
MR. DICKSON: Mr. Chairman, that was my intent. I just
didn't understand the urgency. I will amend my motion to say that
prior to next month's meeting, if this can be resolved and found that
we are perfectly legal to add this statement which was previously
read, that I move that that be added to the Collier County ordinance.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I think we need to do that as a second
motion. We've already approved the first motion. So your second
motion will be that if after approval has been given, then we make a
recommendation to add it.
MR. DICKSON: Okay. Should approval be given and found to
be legal to add the statement as previously mentioned, I move that
that statement be added to the Collier County ordinance immediately.
MR. CRAWFORD: Crawford, second.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Any need for clarification?
(No response.)
Page 28
July 18, 2001
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
MR. BARTOE: Good.
CHAIRMAN HAYES:
I'm calling for the vote. All in favor.
Opposed?
How about that, Mr. Bartoe?
Thank you.
Good enough.
MR. ZACHARY: As long as we're at it, you-all have had a
chance to review the ordinance revisions, so I sort of thought of this
meeting as a chance to add, subtract, clarify, or whatever you want to
do. So is there anything else that you-all have noticed?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: That was my next move here, Mr.
Zachary, was to do that very thing.
We were presented at last month's meeting sections of our
licensing ordinance for our review that was previously workshopped
as recommended amendments in hopes that the 30 days or so that had
passed since our last meeting we've been able to review the additions
and deletions of this amendment packet; that we're aware, for
example, that additions to this -- these ordinances were underlined,
and deletions were slashed through. It made it a little bit quicker and
easier to get to the point when we reviewed it. Anybody have any
discussion on them?
MR. CRAWFORD: I think it's in pretty good shape. I think at
this time next year when the new Florida building code goes into
effect there's going to be quite a bit of changes. MR. NEALE: Big changes, yeah.
MR. CRAWFORD: But I think we're prepared to make those
changes now. That code will not be in effect until the first of the
year.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I agree with that.
MR. DICKSON: My-- my only question is -- and I will admit
Page 29
July 18, 2001
that I have not studied this like I should. Has anyone looked closely
at the hurricane shutter installer license? Did you find that --
MR. NEALE: If someone would look at that between now and
next month, because it was --
MR. DICKSON: That was my biggest --
MR. NEALE: It was drafted as a combination of-- by several
counties' ordinances and the direction of this board, and hopefully it
reflects the -- the wishes of this board.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: What section was that?
MR. DICKSON: It's on page No. 8. It's underlined. The whole
thing is underlined because it's all new. If anyone's not aware of the
new Florida code -- code, which now looks like it's going to go into
effect January 1, 2002, will require every single-family home,
multifamily home to have hurricane shutters. This is probably the --
the biggest new business to come into the State of Florida in a long,
long time.
MR. NEALE: And there will be people waiting around-- you
know, once this is adopted, there should be people waiting around the
block to obtain this license. So --
MR. DICKSON: Boy, it's the business to go into.
MR. NEALE: Or if they're not waiting around the block, then
some of the people from Mr. Bartoe's office will be out there with
their citation book working pretty hard so --
MR. BARTOE: And, Mr. Dickson, it's my understanding the
test with that new license is a much better test as far as installing
shutters than your aluminum-with-concrete license.
MR. DICKSON: Yeah. This -- this section just kind of scares
me because I see a lot of problems initially because there are going to
be a lot of people getting into it.
MR. NEALE: And there is a grandfathering provision in here --
MR. DICKSON: There is.
Page 30
July 18, 2001
MR. NEALE: -- for aluminum contractors, including concrete or
aluminum. Please review that to make sure that's with your wishes.
The other one that, at least for my point of view, I would like
you to take a look at, because it involved a lot of discussion of this
board, is the fire-sating and stopping issue. It's appeared in a lot of
places. I know Mr. Crawford had a fair amount of input on that, and
that would be --
MR. CRAWFORD: I reviewed that, and it's directly in line with
what we talked about.
MR. NEALE: Okay. The other one is the sealing and striping
contractor. There was addition on there to allow a certain amount of
patching. It sure would help if we had some -- had some feedback on
that to make sure that conforms. So those are really the only areas
that I had --
MR. ZACHARY: Yeah. And to add one thing, I think the glass
and glazing also included the -- it was including the hurricane
shutters if it was an integral system with -- with the windows, so
that's another area I think we ought to be real clear on that -- that
because I -- if you say that they're going to be -- that's going to be the
area that -- that's of interest, then to make sure that that's correct.
MR. NEALE: And that's directly below the new hurricane
shutter awning contractor so --
MR. DICKSON: Mr. Bartoe, are you aware if they've
established a state-certified license for hurricane shutter installers?
MR. BARTOE: No, I'm not aware.
MR. NEALE: I did not see it come out in the 2001 legislature.
MR. DICKSON: You didn't?
MR. NEALE: No.
MR. DICKSON: Because usually that -- those requirements are
a little more stringent.
MR. NEALE: Yeah. I'm still -- I'm still digging through the
Page 31
July 18, 2001
legislative amendments from 2001 because, as you well know, they
scatter amendments to the ordi -- to the statutes all over the place.
And I was up to the point where they had all passed but now have to
make sure and see what's been signed into law by the governor. But
hopefully by next month I'll have had a chance to review that.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: What section was the fire-sating?
MR. NEALE: It's scattered all through it. It's in about eight
different areas, I think.
MR. ZACHARY: I think the identified areas that might have
put holes in anything, plumbing, electrical, so on. Anything that we -
CHAIRMAN HAYES: That's right. I remember that.
MR. ZACHARY: We plugged that fire safety.
MR. NEALE: Then it was, you know, the scope of the contract.
MR. DICKSON: Starts on page 5 -- page 4 -- page 3, and it's on
every page thereafter.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. All right. So we're going to look
at those particular points for you, since we don't seem to have any
concerns over the rest of it, and make our final recommendation on
that and on the -- and on the state-licensed jurisdictional issue at next
month's meeting. We'll give you-- we'll -- we'll give you our
approval or recommended final change. Is that okay, Mr. Zachary?
MR. ZACHARY: That's fine.
MR. DICKSON: But we may have that one-line sentence
already added by next meeting; right?
MR. NEALE: If that's permitted, it will go in there for your
approval.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Right. Okay.
I don't have a copy of it with me, but the second-entity form --
we were talking about revising it, the use of a revised state form. I
think we wanted to adopt the state form, but we wanted to revise it,
Page 32
July 18, 2001
some of the particular needs, not very much, but just like type -- title
at the top and change some wording in there when it said state --
MR. NEALE: Fee -- the fee level, the bonding provisions, some
of those other things that don't necessarily apply, you know.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Do we have that?
MR. NEALE: I don't think we have it in final form yet.
MR. ZACHARY: That's a work in progress.
MR. NEALE: Yeah. It's one of those that it's not as -- it's not as
easy to amend as it might be because it's not as easy to get it into the
word processor as it might be. The state didn't have it on an
electronic format, so there's a lot of cut and paste going on.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So do we need more than this month to
finish that up?
MR. NEALE: We'll have it for next month when we bring the
ordinance in.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So we can have that also with the
amendments answer.
MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So we'll just move this old business
stuff, Mr. Bartoe, to next month's agenda?
MR. BARTOE: I -- I have a question. Do we really need this
form? We had three individuals before you today with paperwork
they had filled out. We had no problem with any of them, and we
recently a few months ago adopted Lee County's resolution of
authorization form which was in each packet. Do we actually need
this form?
MR. NEALE: The -- the only reason it was recommended is it
just -- it simplifies this board's life, at least from -- our view is that a
lot of the questions that this board typically answers are already
answered in the state form. And you have to answer yes or no and
swear to it so --
Page 33
July 18, 2001
MR. NEALE:
MS. WHITE:
have that.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I think, for clarification and
streamlining, Mr. Bartoe, we were looking at just adding it to the
packet, is the only thing we really wanted to do.
MR. NEALE: What it would -- what it would end up doing is
replacing a whole lot of the front of this packet. You know, I mean,
it would replace basically that much of the packet (indicating), you
know.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I agree that we don't necessarily need it.
Our ducks are pretty well in a row. But I believe our original intent
for even looking at it was since it has to only -- all we're doing is
giving it a blessing. We can't legally even approve that, that it's
going to the state for approval, that we need to file it in format that
the state recognizes, would streamline the whole system. MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
MS. WHITE: Why can't we just change the questions and -- and
the two questions we ask everybody is, No. 1, who do you presently
qualify? Which company do you presently qualify? Number 2, what
is the name of the new company you want to qualify now? So why
don't we just change the questions on this form?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: We can do that too. But, like, I'm
saying the original thought when we were looking at that was simply
to streamline the whole thing, and we would have the same answers
that the state's going to ask already in place by the time our
recommendation went to the state.
The -- the state form which runs to --
Do we have a copy of the state form? We don't
CHAIRMAN HAYES: We do.
MR. NEALE: It's been routed around two or three times.
MS. WHITE: All I have is resolution of authorization.
MR. NEALE: Yeah, I know. This is a form that the board was
Page 34
July 18, 2001
supplied with a while ago. It's a seven-page form, but it does answer
questions -- I mean, the questions that this board always asks are
answered within the form. The first question is, explain why you
wish to maintain your present license while qualifying this additional
business. That's the first question this board always asks. MS. WHITE: Yeah.
MR. NEALE: The second question is, has the proposed entity
been previously qualified? If so, explain why the previous qualifier
is no longer willing to qualify the entity.
Third question is, if the proposed entity has been qualified
within the last 12 months, list the last three jobs completed by the
proposed entity. Include dates of completion, address, description of
work, name of previous qualifier, name of owner so that you can find
out what this guy's been doing in the past.
The other one that I think for this board provides a lot of
information is, list the last three jobs completed by you under your
existing license. Include date of completion, address, etc. Then does
the business -- do the businesses you presently qualify and/or wish to
qualify have any outstanding liens against them or against the
property of consumers as a result of construction work or a contract
they had with your firm?
Yeah. They have to list their principal suppliers for the last six
months; list, in the business they're currently qualifying, principal
suppliers, businesses they're applying to qualify, list the persons
authorized to pull permits on their license. The one that this board
always asks, how are you being paid by the businesses you presently
qualify: salary, percent of profits? How will you be paid by the
business you are applying to qualify? Which gets to Mr. Dixon's
issue which is the rental of license that comes up. And then the --
one of the other questions that's asked a lot, what percentage of
ownership do you have in your present business? What percentage
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July 18, 2001
will you have in the business you want to qualify? Do you have
check-writing authority, yes or no? If so, provide a letter from the
bank saying you do. List officers or partners or owners of the
business you are applying to qualify. Give title or position held. List
officers, partners, or owners of businesses you presently qualify and
title or position held. Does the business you presently qualify and
wish to qualify have any other licenses presently qualifying those
businesses? Then notarized statements by the authorized agents and
then a financial responsibility questionnaire that asks, have you ever
undertaken construction contracts or work that a third party such as a
bonding or surety company completed or made financial settlements;
had claims or lawsuits filed for unpaid or past-due accounts;
undertaken construction contracts or work which resulted in liens,
suits or judgments; had a lien filed against you by the IRS or State of
Florida, tax -- corporate tax division; made an assignment of assets in
settlement of construction obligations; been charged or convicted of
acting as a contractor with lie -- out a license or been subject to
disciplinary action; been through bankruptcy. If you have, you have
to attach a copy of the order, the discharge order, and a copy of the
notice of commencement; and been convicted or found guilty of a
crime. So those are all things that are asked in there. There's a very
clear assignment of authority by the entity, organizational
relationships. Do you qualify any other business, so forth?
The reason that this was brought before the board -- and it's
been, I think, quite awhile ago now, was because if all those
questions are answered in this form, No. 1, it gets rid of the infamous
Question 9. It actually sort of asks us in a way that most people will
understand it. Number 2, it answers basically all the questions this
board ever asks in one sheet of paper. So it -- and it forces them to
swear to it under oath. So, you know, with that this board should be
able to rip right through the second entities and have all their
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July 18, 2001
questions answered.
And what's more important, frankly, from my point of view,
from a legal point of view, is that this board has clear -- a clear
evidentiary trail other than the testimony that this person has sworn to
all these things. So you say if he's ever found -- if it's ever found that
that person did not tell the truth, it's not that we have to dig back
through the transcripts of a hearing to find out that they hadn't, it's
right there in writing. If they made a false statement, that's a clearer
violation of the law, and the board can pull their license.
MR. CRAWFORD: Mr. Neale, does that form have a space for
the picture? You know we have a space for the picture, and -- MR. NEALE: I think it does actually.
MR. CRAWFORD: -- I think that's kind of handy to have a
picture.
MR. NEALE: Yeah. It's -- it's -- it's got a space that says it's a
space reserved for board use, but it's got a little square box --
MR. CRAWFORD: If we could enforce that a little bit, that's a
nice detail.
MR. BARTOE: I believe we have their photo on file with their
existing license.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: You might just refer in that box in --
photo on file. That will get the job done, I guess, huh? MR. CRAWFORD: I guess.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Because you're right. If they're
licensed, we definitely have that already.
MS. WHITE: So this form that you just read, Mr. Neale, is that
going to be in addition to the packet, or is that going to replace ?
MR. NEALE: This would-- this would replace essentially
everything in the front of the packet, everything up to the credit
report.
MS. WHITE: All right.
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July 18,2001
MS. WHITE:
we don't replace it
CHAIRMAN
copy of that form?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: That's what I'm thinking, Mr. Bartoe, in
the long run. But just the mere adding of that form at this time would
start to streamline, and over a period of time some of the other forms
would -- could fall by the wayside, and it would be all be in one
packet then.
MR. NEALE: I have to say, once the board takes another look
at this form, I think you'll realize that there's no need to run parallel
forms. If this one's in there --
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I completely agree.
MR. NEALE: -- it subs -- substitutes for everything else that's
in the packet.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: But I'm saying once the staff starts to
use that form in conjunction with what they have, they're going to see
-- make that determination theirselves. There's no sense of being
redundant. We can get rid of this old -- old sheet here, exactly.
MR. BARTOE: Yes.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. That makes sense to you?
MS. WHITE: I mean, I don't think we ought to put somebody
through having to fill out all this paperwork if it's not necessary --
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Well --
-- even from day one. So either we replace it or
if it covers everything.
HAYES: Let me ask, Mr. Bartoe, do you have a
MR. BARTOE: Of the one Mr. Neale just read?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Yes, sir.
MR. BARTOE: Office staff has them because we have state-
certified contractors would want to qualify a second company all the
time, so we have it on file.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: That's what I'm saying. Ms. White, I
would suggest you grab one of those forms and look at it first. I kind
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July 18,2001
of agree. I don't want them to jump through any more hoops than
they have to, but some of the things that Mr. Neale just read we ask
up here on the board anyway. And if those are already answered and
lined out in writing, we can -- we don't have to do anything but look
at that form, I make a motion, we approve it and go. MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
MS. WHITE: Well, what does the old form -- what questions
are on the old form that are not on the state form?
MR. NEALE: The old form has none of those questions that I
read out on it essentially.
Right. But what does it have that we would --
It has them, but it has them in a much different
MS. WHITE:
MR. NEALE:
format. Go ahead.
MS. WHITE:
MR. NEALE:
state form.
MS. WHITE:
MR. NEALE:
I said, what is not covered in the state form?
Well, there's nothing that's not covered in the
Well, then--
I agree with Ms. White that just when --.
MS. WHITE: -- let's go with the state form.
MR. NEALE: You know, change from one to the other. Rather
than have them fill in the space for their name twice, have them fill in
the space for -- you know, did you ever qualify another entity twice is
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Well, the original thought, Ms. White,
when we first started talking about this, like Mr. Neale said, months
and months ago, was to already go ahead and do that. But Mr. Neale
wanted to review it and take out the sections or change the sections
where it says on that state form the State of Florida, blah, blah, blah.
We want to change that to the Collier County, blah, blah, blah. And
there's a few other spots like that. So it was more or less technical
logistical amendments to it. It wasn't anything actually to do with the
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July 18, 2001
questions and the wording other than change this to where we're
going through the state, go through the county; referring to the state,
refer to the county and the state.
MR. NEALE: And, frankly, the part of it that needed more
change than anything, the form itself that they have to fill out needs
relatively few changes. Where it needed changes was in the business
organization guidelines which the board all -- this board also felt
would be helpful because it's a very clear two-page statement of what
the person has to bring in when they submit. It says that they have to
bring in the notarized statement by the authorized agent, the entities,
and credit report not more than six months old, proof that the
licensee's been active in construction for the previous 12 months with
the present entity. It just lists all of these various things, financial
statements, which this board indicated that they didn't really want to
bother having people bring in financial statements. Bank statements,
that's something this board needs to decide, frankly, whether they
want people to bring them in or not with consultation of staff,
verification of bank balance. That's what the state wanted, has in
their form. I don't know if that's formal as that --
CHAIRMAN HAYES: We already went through that, Mr.
Neale, and I believe you probably -- if you don't have it written
somewhere --
MR. NEALE: I got it somewhere.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: -- have it in recollection that we did not
ask for -- or we did ask to delete those sections -- MR. NEALE: Uh-huh.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: -- those portions. We didn't want them
to hurt any worse than they already were. MR. NEALE: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: So what I'm saying is, if he'll go ahead
and make those -- like he's said, he's got a concern of getting it into
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July 18, 2001
electronic format, is all he's trying to do to have that ready for us for
next month. So I would like to have it issued out in our packet so we
can review it whatever few days we can prior to it, and we can
perhaps take action on it next month formally.
MR. NEALE: We'll -- we'll get it so it's out in the packet next
time.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. All right. Being no other old
business, do we have any public hearings? (No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I don't see anybody waiting around.
How about any reports? Anybody got any reports?
MR. CRAWFORD: Mr. Bartoe left, but did we find new
members for this board? Does anyone know? MS. PAHL: Mr. Bartoe is back.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: No. As a matter of fact, I don't know. I
do know that I was sent some information from the county that they
were advertising for those positions, but I have at this point not heard
anything. Mr. Bartoe, I think you discussed earlier that you haven't
heard anything from the county that they found any replacements.
MR. BARTOE: No. Staffs going to check sometime this
morning, see if there's been any replacements yet.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. All right. You don't have any
report items, do you?
MR. BARTOE: Staffhas none.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. Any other discussions?
MR. CRAWFORD: The same pay for the new-- newcomers?
MR. BARTOE: I'm sorry?
MR. CRAWFORD: Same pay schedule for the newcomers?
MR. NEALE: Yeah. They don't get a new raise.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: We don't get a raise. They don't either.
Okay. At this point we know of two items on the agenda for
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July 18, 2001
next month, that being the approval of the ordinance amendments and
approval, final review, hopefully, of the second entity state form for
next month. So it looks like August 15th, may be a need for a
meeting at this point? You don't know of any other things coming up
for next month, do you, Mr. Bartoe?
MR. BARTOE: Yes. I know of one contested citation.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay.
MR. BARTOE: And no doubt we will have, because of the job
Mr. Ossorio's done, request to qualify second entities.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. I'm going to say to the board
members again, we only have -- at a full board we only have nine.
So I'm going to tell you we need five, minimum of five people to
show up, for a board meeting for a quorum. And if we have less than
five, we cannot have that meeting. And since there are three
vacancies that may or may not be filled by next month, I'm going to
need your commitment until such time as we've got a full enough
board that we'll have a quorum without a problem. Nothing any
worse than coming in here, two or three of us, and not being able to
make a quorum. Okay. So next meeting is August the 15th at this
point.
I need a motion for adjournment.
MR. DICKSON: I have one question: Since we're all going to
be here next week -- next month -- we're in this dilemma, and we
were in it this month. Mr. Gonzalez said he was going to be here
today. Do you want--
CHAIRMAN HAYES: His term has elapsed.
MR. DICKSON: Not Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Joslin.
MS. PAHL: Mr. Joslin.
MR. DICKSON: Should we find out why he wasn't here?
CHAIRMAN HAYES: That's not a bad idea.
MR. DICKSON: Do you want us to do that, Mr. Bartoe, or do
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July 18, 2001
you want to do it or --
MR. BARTOE: I can ask him or -- it's up to you.
MR. DICKSON: I just -- we've had some members that have
taken attendance here very lax.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Uh-huh.
MR. DICKSON: And with new people coming on, as vice-
chairman -- let me be parliamentarian for a minute. But I want that to
stop. If they're going to serve on this board, they need to take the
monthly meeting seriously and not say they're going to attend and not
show up. And if that becomes a pattern, then we'll remove them and
find someone else. Tough.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: Okay. Anything else?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HAYES: I need a motion to adjourn.
MS. PAHL: I move that we adjourn the meeting.
CHAIRMAN HAYES: All in favor?
(Unanimous response.)
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 10:14 a.m.
CONTRACTORS' LICENSING BOARD
GARY HAYES, CHAIRMAN
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July 18,2001
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF DONOVAN COURT
REPORTING, 1NC., BY BARBARA A. DONOVAN, RMR, CRR
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