by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
New requirements for pulling City building permits are further entangling a process that was consistently criticized during the mayor’s transition process, said the owner of Towers Contracting Company Monday.
Shortly after taking office July 1, Mayor John Peyton designated 13 subcommittees to examine City operations and suggest personnel and organizational changes. The subcommittees examined varied City functions from fire fighting to street cleaning and heard from hundreds of public and private sector advisers. During more than 60 days of meetings, a common thread emerged throughout the subcommittees’ work. All but two of the subcommittees heard complaints about permitting delays.
Contractors complained that it took weeks or months to pull permits, pushing back completion dates and costing builders time and money. Now, new requirements put into place Oct. 1, are further frustrating contractors.
The City now requires contractors to provide a copy of their contract to pull repair and alteration permits. Charlie Towers, the head of Towers Contracting, said he was told the City put the regulation in place to prevent contractors from undervaluing their projects. The City charges less to permit an $8,000 job than a $10,000 job.
City Chief Inspector Tom Goldsbury said one of his plan reviewers discovered in January contractual discrepancies that would have cost the City $7,000.
“And that’s just one inspector, I have several,” said Goldsbury. “These requirements were necessary because too many contractors were lying to me.
“Not everybody is doing it, most of them are probably doing fine. But if they are going to play these kinds of games then we have to respond or its costing the City money.”
However, Towers said it was unfair to further regulate an entire industry to clamp down on the actions of a few.
“If there’s bad guys out there doing this, then go out there and put a stop to it,” said Towers. “Like the police do with speeding, go out there and pull over the bad guys, but don’t put the blame on all of us and make all of us pay.”
Towers said many of his repair and alteration jobs are relatively minor affairs. He said they are often sealed with a handshake or a verbal agreement between the contractor and the property manager. Requiring paperwork on smaller jobs only adds to an already complicated process he said.
“A contract is required, but there’s nothing that says what the contract has to be,” said Towers. “The contract could be a shake of a hand and a dollar; it could be written on the back of a napkin; it’s really none of the City’s business what form the contract takes.”
Mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy said the new requirements were put in place to insure that City contractors understood what was required of them to do business with the City. She said several JaxPort subcontractors’ work was delayed when they showed up for work without an understanding of City requirements.
“We want to put redundancies in place so we can be consistent with contractors working with the City,” said Murphy. “There’s certainly no intention to slow things down; we just want to make sure that t’s are getting crossed and i’s are getting dotted before they start work with the City. People were showing up to do work without the proper permits and that was a source of delay.”
In response to the complaints aired to the subcommittees, Murphy said the mayor commissioned a committee to “tighten up” the permitting department. The committee, headed by Public Works John Pappas and Ed Hall, had its first meeting last Wednesday.
“Their job will be to remove unnecessary overlaps and redundancies; to make the permitting process more accessible,” said Murphy. She said the committee would work quickly.
Quick changes are exactly what Towers seeks. He said the permitting department should be better staffed and funded to give contractors more help.