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Editorial: Pinellas Construction Licensing Board should be abolished

 
The only way to restore faith and sanity to the process is to abolish the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board and follow the lead of Hillsborough and other counties that utilize building departments and law enforcement to regulate contractors.
The only way to restore faith and sanity to the process is to abolish the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board and follow the lead of Hillsborough and other counties that utilize building departments and law enforcement to regulate contractors.
Published Sept. 21, 2017

There are essentially two facts that need to be understood about the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board: It is a one-of-a-kind agency in Florida without any accountability to the state or the county. And to be kind, for years it was run haphazardly as an independent fiefdom, with missing financial records, poor decisionmaking and shocking indifference to consumer complaints. The obvious remedy is for the Florida Legislature to abolish the agency and turn over the job of regulating contractors and protecting consumers to county officials who can be held accountable by the voters.

A grand jury's recommendation that the board continue to operate independently with additional county supervision makes no sense considering none of Florida's other 66 counties do it this way. The grand jury's determination is even more head-scratching in light of a blistering 180-page investigation by the county's inspector general that revealed rules violations, ethical questions, inefficiencies, misuse of power and a lack of oversight and accountability. Reducing the size of the licensing board and requiring more reporting as the grand jury recommends is not going to fix a framework that is structurally flawed.

The investigative work of the Tampa Bay Times' Mark Puente triggered the grand jury investigation and the inspector general's review, which confirmed the Times' findings and found many more examples of unacceptable behavior. The idea that the board had been allowed to operate as its own rogue agency for so many years without anyone in state or local government paying any attention may be the best argument for its elimination.

Constructive changes are already underway with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office taking over the investigative arm of the licensing board under a six-month experiment. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri described the previous system as grossly inadequate with consumer complaints being ignored, a lack of due process and a tracking system that was virtually non-existent. Gualtieri said the experiment will be reviewed early next year before deciding whether the Sheriff's Office will continue handling investigations.

That should be a no-brainer. Unlike the licensing board, which only has the power to issue fines, the Sheriff's Office brings the threat of arrest for unlicensed contractors. The county just needs to figure out a funding mechanism to compensate Gualtieri's department through contractor fees and licenses — and take over the rest of the licensing work.

The licensing board faces serious financial problems, which is another reason why the time is right to move in a new direction. The grand jury cited the funding "crisis'' and suggested seeking a loan from the county, but it also acknowledged the board did not have an effective collection process when it came to delinquent fines and fees.

So what, exactly, did the board do well? Poor bookkeeping, poor investigative polices, poor enforcement, poor customer service, poor transparency and abhorrent management are not the hallmarks of an agency that needs tweaking.

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, has signaled his intention to introduce legislation that would follow the grand jury's recommendation to keep the licensing board independent with more audits and annual reviews. That is a terrible idea. Pinellas is the only county following this model, and it has proven to be unworkable. The only way to restore faith and sanity to the process is to abolish the licensing board and follow the lead of Hillsborough and other counties that utilize building departments and law enforcement to regulate contractors.