BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners sought and received reassurance from contracted Building Official Rob Perry that he would be fully available to the city if hurricane recovery services are needed in the future.
“How well are we going to be served as a community?” Mayor John Chappie said during a building department work meeting on March 31. “We got stuck in a bad situation and had contract labor and they did not have the personnel to really support our community in a time of crisis.”
Perry is employed by Tew & Taylor, and that firm has a contract with the city to provide the city’s building department services.
Chappie asked Perry what process the company has in place to provide help in an emergency situation.
“I would get with Emergency Operations,” Perry said. “I’ve done this before.”
Perry said he previously did disaster recovery work as a contractor.
“I would set up a small team here in the building department,” Perry said.
Chappie said, “I don’t ever want to go through hurricanes where I’m making phone calls, or our attorney is making phone calls, to neighboring cities asking, ‘Can you help us out?’ I want an assurance that Tew &Taylor will be there for our city when we get hit.”
Following the 2024 hurricanes, the city did reach out to Holmes Beach for assistance with building department services.
City Attorney Erica Augello asked Perry how many other jurisdictions he currently serves as a Tew & Taylor staff member.
“I’m just here,” Perry said.
“You would be required to be actively participating. You might not be an employee, but you would be required to work those hours, obviously at your hourly rate,” Augello said.
Perry said he and one of his employees would help with damage assessments following a hurricane. He said a team of two people could conduct building assessments in three days.
“The bottom line is we had a contract building official who said he doesn’t work weekends or overtime,” Commissioner Scott Bear said. “During the middle of the hurricane recovery, that’s what we needed; so we’re trying to make sure that we’re going to have a building official available during hurricane recovery.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Perry said. “I will be here helping you out, if it’s seven days a week, 24-7. It’s not just the building department. This is a whole team effort.”
Bear said he would like something in writing that’s enforceable.
“We’ve already got the first amendment (in the Tew & Taylor contract) to appoint Rob as the building official for the city. We can do a second amendment that will include disaster services or a higher volume of services as needed,” Augello said.
Chappie said he was satisfied with that.
“Let’s put something in writing to give you confidence and peace of mind,” Perry said.
Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce noted that the two major back-to-back storms in 2024 were unprecedented.
“We need a building official that’s going to be present and working,” she said.
Augello pointed out that as a contractor – according to city code and the city charter – the building official employed by the city is considered a department head.
“A contracted person cannot be a department head,” she said. “He’s not an employee of the city. There’s something that needs to be contended with: Rob’s supervisory capabilities.”
Augello noted that in other jurisdictions, contracted building officials walked off the job following hurricanes because they found more lucrative opportunities elsewhere.
“Those jurisdictions were left in the lurch,” she said. “If you have an in-house building official, you have a little more control with a full-time employee.”
She said both are valid options that can work.
“I need you to understand what the legal landscape might look like to make your best decision,” Augello said.
Chappie then said, “We want to move forward with Rob and come up with something to amend the contractual agreement. We’re headed into a hurricane season and we need to get as much confidence in the services that will be provided as we possibly can.”
Perry said Tew & Taylor has about 45 employees, but he will be providing the services for Bradenton Beach.
“I think we’re all in agreement that Rob and Erica will be working an amendment and come back to the city commission as soon as possible,” Chappie said.
During the work meeting, it was announced that Luis Serna will no longer serve as the city planner for Bradenton Beach. Perry said Serna accepted another job with a large company.
Chappie said the city already issued a request for proposals seeking a new city planner. City Clerk Terri Sanclemente said the city received responses from seven candidates. The city commission will determine which, if any, of those candidates serves as Bradenton Beach’s next city planner.
