Building Problems

A look at the troubled Miami Beach Building Department reveals questions about the quality of its leadership

By Ben Torter

Miami Beach Building Director Thomas Velazquez qualified one of the subcontractors on this Continuum I condominium project. Photo by Angie Hargot

The recent high-profile arrests of two current and one former Miami Beach building employees has brought a lot of attention to the structure of the city’s building department, notably its leadership.

The general rhetoric coming out of the city manager’s office is that it recognizes that the building department has deep problems, but that since hiring Director Thomas Velazquez a little more than two years ago, policy changes have improved the operation and reduced the likelihood of more corruption. However, critics of the department say it isn’t working better and that morale is very low.

A look at the top three positions in the building department reveals possible leadership deficiencies, and a tenuous connection between Velazquez and E & F Contractors, Inc., a company that did all the drywall and stucco work at the Continuum I condominium project at 100 South Pointe Drive.

Last month, Mohammad Partovi, Andres Villarreal and Henry Johnson were arrested on charges of bribery, official misconduct, racketeering and money laundering. Johnson worked for the planning department, which works closely with the building department.

The arrests were made after former Chief Electrical Inspector Thomas Ratner, who was arrested for bribery in September 2006 and is serving a 366-day sentence in state prison, admitted that Michael Stern was bribing city employees. Stern then cooperated with investigators in exchange for immunity.

Despite rumors of conflicts of interest involving Velazquez and some major Miami Beach construction projects, no smoking gun of evidence has been presented publicly. No one disputes that Velazquez was associated with E & F Contractors before being hired by the city of Miami Beach in March 2006. What is debatable is when he severed the relationship with E & F.

“During his recruitment process, which included a detailed background check, Mr. Velazquez disclosed to the city that he had served as a qualifier for E & F Contractors, Inc.,” Assistant City Manager Tim Hemstreet, who is Velazquez’s supervisor, wrote in an e-mail. “This information also turned up in an approved ‘outside employment form’ filed with Broward County [where Velazquez worked before Miami Beach]. Mr. Velazquez advised us that he ended his working relationship with E & F Contractors, Inc. towards the end of 2004.”

Hemstreet said such relationships are common, and he didn’t have any evidence of a conflict of interest with Velazquez’s official duties.

“My understanding is that the company did work on the [Continuum I] as a sub-contractor, but it does not appear that E & F actually pulled any permits or called for inspections on the project, as this was done by the contractor who was the permit holder,” Hemstreet wrote. “Additionally, my understanding is that the work that was performed by E & F Contractors was completed and inspected prior to Mr. Velazquez’s employment with the city of Miami Beach.”

But records with the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation contradict Velazquez’s claim that he severed his relationship with E & F in 2004. Until recently, the regulatory body listed his contractor’s license as registered to E & F’s street address.

The SunPost made a public records request with the city of Miami Beach on April 11 to view files related to the Continuum Tower II and the Fontainebleau renovation to investigate claims that E & F had worked on those projects after Velazquez became the building department director.

A subsequent review of most of the files, as well as a call directly to E & F, revealed no evidence that E & F had anything to do with the Continuum II or Fontainebleau.

“E & F didn’t do any work on the Continuum II or Fontainebleau,” said Alex Fonseca, son of E & F’s founder, Efrain Fonseca.

The SunPost added files related to the Continuum Tower I to its public records request on April 15.

Two days later, at 2:52 p.m. April 17, the address of Velazquez’s contractor license was changed with the state from E & F’s to Velazquez’s home address in Hollywood.

When confronted with this change, Hemstreet admitted to having checked the state Web site after the change had already been made. He told the SunPost he’d look into the change.

“Tom indicated that quite some time ago, he processed ‘change of address’ forms with the state for his various licenses,” Hemstreet wrote the next day. “A couple of months ago, Mr. Velazquez once again requested an address change for all of his licenses (to the Hollywood address) after he visited the Web site to check on the status of a renewal for his general contractor license (due to expire in August) and found that the addresses remained incorrect. At this time, all of his licenses have the same, correct address.”

Hemstreet’s explanation was contradicted by Alexis Antonacci, press secretary for the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. She said that someone with Velazquez’s pass code either called or went through the Internet the day the address was changed, not days or months earlier.

“It might take a few minutes for the system to pick up the change, but it would register fairly immediately,” Antonacci said.

In any case, it is true that the license had been inactive since July 2005, meaning that Velazquez could not have pulled any permits for E & F afterwards. And Fonseca said that E & F’s relationship with Velazquez ended sometime in 2002, two years earlier than Velazquez claimed.

“The Continuum was probably the last job that he qualified us on,” Fonseca said.

After qualifying one of the subcontractors, Velazquez went on to actually issue final certificates of occupancy for the hallways, elevators, building safety systems and common areas of the Continuum I in July 2007. He issued final COs for individual units in the building between April and June 2007.

In searching for permits pulled by E & F in Miami Beach since Velazquez’s March 2006 hire date, the only instance Hemstreet discovered of E & F having direct communication with the building department under Velazquez is on a current $53,000 job the company is doing at the Waverly Condominium, 1330 West Ave., Miami Beach.

“In this situation, there does not appear to be any conflict of interest since Mr. Velazquez does not work for E & F,” Hemstreet wrote.

Whether or not Velazquez has a current relationship with E & F remains unclear in light of the April 17 address change filed with the state. What is clear is that the recent retirement of Richard McConachie, assistant building director of operations, leaves a void in the number of licensed employees heading the building department. Hemstreet said the city is actively working to replace McConachie.

The building department is organized into two divisions, administration and operations. An assistant director is in charge of each and reports directly to Velazquez.

Graciela Escalante is in charge of the administration division, but doesn’t have a provisional building code administrator license, a building code administrator license, a limited inspector license or a limited plans examiner license. Applications for all are in progress. She does hold an architect’s license.

Escalante’s start date with the city was Aug. 29, 2005, about seven months before Velazquez. She was hired as a senior capital projects coordinator and was promoted to assistant building director on March 13, 2007 by Velazquez.

Even though Escalante is in charge of the department’s administrative division, Hemstreet said it isn’t a big deal that she doesn’t have an administrative license because the city only requires that one of the two assistants have a license, and McConachie did.

“When [Velazquez] is out, the building code allows him to delegate certain limited and specific authority to another certified building code administrator to sign [certificates of occupancy or certificates of completion] and similar documents provided all approvals have been obtained by the relevant disciplines,” Hemstreet wrote in the e-mail. Until a replacement for McConachie is hired, Velazquez can delegate the work to “Chief Building Inspector Leonel Medrano, who holds a building code administrator license.”

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com