ANNA MARIA – Former Anna Maria building official David Gilson is again serving as the city’s contracted building official.
Gilson’s contracted services are being provided through the city’s recently extended and revised building department services agreement with Joe Payne Inc.
Gilson replaces contracted building official Craig Greene, whose services were also provided by JPI. Greene was recently relieved of his Anna Maria duties after Mayor Mark Short and the city commission received multiple complaints from Anna Maria builders, property owners and a construction industry consultant who often disagreed with Greene’s interpretation of city code and found it challenging to interact with him.
On Sept. 25, the Anna Maria City Commission approved the multi-item consent agenda that included the extension and revision of the agreement that the city and JPI entered into earlier this year. During the Sept. 25 meeting, Mayor Mark Short confirmed Gilson is again serving as the city’s building official.
The JPI agreement approved that day includes a revised compensation formula that no longer provides JPI with 50% of the building permit fees generated in Anna Maria. The building official, floodplain management, inspector, permit tech and other services provided by JPI are now provided at an hourly rate.
According to the new agreement, the hourly rate for the building official services provided by JPI is $135 per hour. The hourly rate for floodplain management services is $125. The hourly rate for inspector service is $90. The hourly rate for permit tech services is $75.
The newly-extended agreement with JPI states the firm will provide the city with a certified building official who, on average, spends two days per week at city hall and works remotely for the remainder of his time. The agreement states the provided building official will return permit-related calls within one business day. The agreement notes someone serving as a deputy building official may cover the building official’s duties in the event of “occasional absence.”
As an additional precautionary measure, the cities of Anna Maria and Holmes Beach have entered into an interlocal agreement that establishes the parameters and compensation if one city’s building official or building department needs assistance from the other city while their building official or inspector is on vacation, out sick or otherwise unavailable.
Gilson began serving as Anna Maria’s contracted building official in September 2021. He vacated that position in January 2022 after accepting a similar position with the city of New Port Richey, which alleviated the 90-minute daily commute Gilson was making to Anna Maria.
When announcing Gilson’s departure, then-mayor Dan Murphy said Gilson had done an outstanding job for the city.
In May 2022, he returned as the city’s full-time, city-employed building official and left for unknown reasons.
Gilson did not attend the Sept. 25 meeting.
