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Don’t worry about the BI failing the job

BillHartmann | Posted in Business on May 25, 2008 05:01am

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article508924.ece

“Fired Tampa building inspector must be reinstated

By Janet Zink, Times staff writer
In print: Friday, May 16, 2008

TAMPA — As the owner of a construction company, Troy Chavez was hired to renovate the mudroom of a South Tampa home.

Then, as a city building inspector, he signed off on his own work, saying it was up to code.

The city fired him for it.

Now it has to take him back.

Tampa’s Civil Service Board unanimously overturned his dismissal at a hearing last month.

“It was his first offense, and everybody spoke highly of him — co-workers and supervisors,” said Bob Birrenkott, a member of the Civil Service Board for more than 12 years.

The board ruled that firing Chavez was too severe, and instead issued a 10-day suspension.

Although they’re bound by the board’s ruling, city officials stand by their decision to fire Chavez.

“This is a very fundamental serious offense,” said John Barrios, manager of the city’s Construction Services Division. He said there are no laws that prohibit building inspectors from checking their own work, but it raises ethical questions.

“It’s common sense that you don’t do that,” Barrios said.

Donald Fuchs, executive director of the Building Officials Association of Florida, said an inspector should never inspect his own work.

“The point is to have a second set of eyes,” he said.

Barrios said Chavez would be reinstated to his old job, but bristled when it was suggested that Chavez was being “rehired.”

“In my mind, with hiring I have a choice,” he said.

Chavez, owner of Unique Craftsman Inc., since 1995, started work on the home of Terry and Cathy Sopher in 2005.

He continued working on the home after he accepted a job as a city inspector in July 2006.

Six months later, he was the inspector who conducted the final review of the project. It passed.

The Sophers alerted the city that Chavez had inspected his own work after they became embroiled in a lawsuit over payment for the project. Chavez says the Sophers still owe him money. The Sophers say he overcharged them. The case is ongoing.

After the city investigated the complaint, a predisciplinary hearing concluded Chavez violated city policy by doing work that conflicts with his duties as an employee.

He was fired in September.

“I was very comfortable with the decision we made,” said Human Resources director Kimberly Crum. She said Chavez circumvented procedures to inspect the South Tampa house because it had not been assigned to him.

Chavez referred questions to his attorney, Matthew Fenton, who denied that Chavez violated city protocol.

He said Chavez was unjustly fired. He was a new employee not wholly familiar with the city workings, Fenton said.

“It was unwise for him to do it, because it just creates a bad appearance and was a bone-headed thing to do,” Fenton said. “That was something he admitted to when it first became an issue.”

Fenton also noted that Chavez performed only the routine, final inspection, and not the more substantive earlier reviews.

“On a project like this, there was nothing much to inspect,” Fenton said. “It would have passed inspection no matter who went out there.”

The city has not reinspected the property.

Chavez will be back in his $45,000-a-year city job in June, and will receive back pay for the time he was unemployed.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Janet Zink can be reached at [email protected] or (813) 226-3401.”

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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
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Replies

  1. User avater
    Huck | May 25, 2008 11:19am | #1

    "Yup.  Looks good to me, where's the card to sign off?  Oh yeah, right where I left it!"

    Guy is definitely headed for a career in politics!

    View Image â€œGood work costs much more than poor imitation or factory product” – Charles Greene
    CaliforniaRemodelingContractor.com
  2. User avater
    Gunner | May 25, 2008 04:32pm | #2

         What kind of city would hire a BI that had his own construction company? Got what they deserved I guess.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

      Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, no time to talk. .

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3LM5_-i1Q&feature=related

    1. darrel | May 25, 2008 05:36pm | #3

      Well, having dealt with inspectors for my own project, I wonder how long some of them have been separated from the day-to-day world of construction.Seems the ones I've had to deal with were basing everything they looked at on codes written a decade ago. Didn't even appear that the office had a subscription to FHB ;o)In some ways, I'd say a working GC might make for a better inspector.Obviously, signing off on one's own work is dumb. ;0)

      1. User avater
        Gunner | May 25, 2008 06:37pm | #4

           Word.

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

          Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, no time to talk. .

         

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3LM5_-i1Q&feature=related

    2. mikeroop | May 26, 2008 03:21am | #7

      Upper Arlington in Columbus Oh!!! They get over whelmed and hire a local contractor to inspect his competions work on a reg basis. Just doesn't seem right does it?

      1. Piffin | May 26, 2008 03:34am | #9

        It doesn't seem like it, but master electricians here sign off on their own work. 

         

        Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

      2. User avater
        Gunner | May 26, 2008 06:28am | #11

            No it doesn't.

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

          Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, no time to talk. .

         

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3LM5_-i1Q&feature=related

    3. hasbeen | May 26, 2008 05:36am | #10

      It's common practice in rural areas. Who knows building better than a builder? But it's not common to inspect ones own work!

      "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."

      ~ Voltaire

  3. Sasquatch | May 26, 2008 12:36am | #5

    This is one of the few times I find myself on the side of a BI.

  4. florida | May 26, 2008 02:59am | #6

    Had an inspector show to do a final once. He walked in the door, looked around and walked out again. I followed him to his truck where he told me he had 31 finals to do that day. Around here that's pretty standard for a final.

    1. Piffin | May 26, 2008 03:33am | #8

      I had an inspector do a fairly halfway thorough inspection on the first job he inspected for me.The next time around, he just drove up and asked, "Where's the tag to sign"I asked him if he didn't want to look at my work first and he said, "I already know what kind of work you do"I suspect this inspector had the same level of trust for the contractor's work;) 

       

      Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

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