by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Don Wilford gets the cardboard boxes once a month. The paperwork inside, though, doesn’t have anything to do with his leadership of the ICI Home operation in this area. Instead, they refer to numerous statewide cases he must go through in his spare time as a member of the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board.
“The cases have fines and punishments for offenders based on a state prosecutor’s findings,” said Wilford. “Part of my job, along with the rest of the board, is to be convinced the victims were treated fairly.”
Wilford is the only member of the board from Northeast Florida. Members are appointed by the governor and can serve two terms up to two consecutive four-year terms or 11 years total.
The board has two major roles: licensing of contractors through testing and disciplining those who stray. The board is one of many under the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation and its staff is based in Tallahassee.
The 18-member board includes contractors of various disciplines and meets almost monthly at various locations around the state. It just finished a session at the Sawgrass Marriott and will return to Jacksonville for an Oct. 10-12 meeting at the Hyatt in downtown Jacksonville.
Meetings usually last three days and include various committee meetings.
On a normal month, Wilford said he looks over 80 cases. They are called “Probable Cause” cases because the state’s attorney is recommending disciplinary action. If Wilford and others on the Probable Cause Committee agree, the case goes back to the attorney, who will then plea bargain with the accused for a penalty. If the accused wants a “trial,” it all goes back to the entire CILB.
With a full-time workload at ICI Homes and only travel and lodging expenses covered, the reason Wilford takes time to pore over and review these cases is one of ethics and pride.
“I believe the majority of contractors out there are honest,” he said. “I get frustrated when people get taken advantage of and it’s an insult to my occupation, honest workers and myself. We’re all at a disadvantage when crooks take over.”
He noted that only a small percentage of people are dishonest and many times it’s the repeat offenders that inflate numbers. The majority of the cases come from the Panhandle and South Florida; cases from Northeast Florida are rare.
“I think it speaks volumes of the integrity in this market,” said Wilford. “It’s pretty honest, there aren’t a lot of violations and there are aren’t malicious.”
One thing he isn’t sure of, though, is how the market is affecting the number of people trying to acquire or renew a license.
Though he doesn’t know the numbers, he is concerned about the contracting and building industry as a whole. He said he saw the writing on the wall during the housing industry’s peak in 2005 when some companies still went bankrupt in a thriving market.
“I asked myself ‘How could they?’ and then realized it was just bad business practices,” he said. “When and if legit contractors go out of business because of the slowdown, it will open up the market to dishonesty. I don’t want to see the public hurt.”
Under such a scenario, he said the public could be affected by companies starting a job then filing for bankruptcy, leaving the started job unfinished. It would lead to unlicensed and shady business practices that try to take advantage of a down situation, he said.
Some of the upcoming regulations that will make acquiring a license more stringent include meeting a minimum credit score and having proof of enough capital to sustain a business, as well as the educational requirements.
“We want to stress the business side of it and not just rely on an applicants experience,” he said.
Wilford’s first term ends in 2008, but he has determined if he would like to be on the board for a second.
“I’m going to be like a politician and wait until the last minute to decide,” he joked.