News from the Citizen and Free Press February 29, 2024: Building Official Gerald L. Leggett resigned last week. The city has lured former longtime KCB building official Ed Borysiewicz out of retirement to lead both the code and building departments. Borysiewicz has agreed to remain in that capacity as long as is necessary. "Bringing him in is as easy as giving him a set of keys. It could've been painful, but the city is rallying around us, the atmosphere has changed dramatically, and we couldn't be happier," Vice Mayor Foster told the Citizen.
John DeNeale sent the following email to only a small group of KCBers but it is getting wide enough forwarding to require some explanation.
Mr. DeNeale's actions as commissioner and mayor are well documented. He introduced both Chris Moonis and Dave Turner as KCB's (later disgraced) city administrators. He oversaw hiring K2M Design, IBTS, Peters Engineers, Norry Lynch, LIVS Associates, and others to condemn city hall so they could move forward with the grand complex. He reported that K2M and FEMA never found enough damage to warrant "demolish and replace" city hall.
And yet, here we are.
From: JOHN DE NEALE <jsfish@comcast.net>
Date: February 27, 2024 at 8:53:32 AM EST
Subject: IMPORTANT KCB ISSUES
I have personally told the Mayor, now that FEMA is finally out of the picture, his efforts to bring the city hall project to conclusion are welcomed. I provided him with my original 2018 idea of a split building, keeping marble hall and the post office as a community center and building an elevated office section. This, however, must be done legally and properly. Recent events have compelled me to speak up to you to help save KCB any further embarrassment.
There are three issues that require immediate attention by the Commission.
People Are Asking why didn't he send this note to the commission?
First is what I believe to be the illegal firing of our Building Official. Lenny sent an email to Mayor Raspe on Thursday February 22, 2024, resigning on March 1, 2024.
Wait. What? Mr. DeNeale wrote, "Lenny sent an email to Mayor Raspe on Thursday February 22, 2024, resigning..." That sounds suspiciously as if Mr. Leggett, well, quit.
[Lenny] was very upset about the illegal work being done in the old city hall building.
Wait. What? That would be work ordered by the acting city administrator and performed by KCB employees and KCB volunteers.
However, he was locked out of his office and signed papers stating that he was terminated on the 24th. I have a copy of the resignation email and Lenny told me about the firing. He is very embarrassed and upset. Per our code, only the Commission can hire and fire the Building Official. It further states that the Building Official can hire a building inspector that has to be approved by the Commission.
Wait. What code is he reading? The code does allow the Commission to hire the Building Official. The code says nothing about firing the Building Official.
It is my opinion that we do not have a building department until the Commission hires a new building official. They can hire a building inspector that can obtain a temporary appointment through DBPR as a building official, (as we did with Gerard and Lenny) but only the Commission can do this. I believe Lenny has legal recourse against KCB.
Uh huh. Almost everyone has legal recourse against KCB including all the property owners harmed by Mr. Leggett, by former city administrator Dave Turner and former code officer Barry Goldman, and perhaps by former commissioners including Mr. DeNeale.
The second issue is hiring a new Building Official. The Commission must be very careful to hire an excellent official. Lenny was a great Building Official, correcting things not done properly in the past. This did not make him popular, but he protected our city and our citizens. Gerard started the effort and Lenny continued it.
Wait. What? Mr. Leggett's time in the position was marked by contractor and resident complaints about the roadblocks to city hall and other local projects, significant office inefficiency, major permitting delays, missing inspection slips on multiple projects, and more. He started at least two of his side hustles (Florida Coastal Construction Inspection Services LLC, Island Bubba LLC, and Foreshore Home Inspections LLC) from his home on Summerland Key, after KCB got him his credentials.
During my time on the Commission starting in 2010, we were constantly fighting Building Department mistakes and poor guidance. Mr. Borysiewicz is not the man for the job today. I would be happy to share these issues with you in private.
Wait. What? Maybe Mr. DeNeale was constantly fighting the building department because they told him most of the **** Mr. DeNeale wanted them to do was illegal?
This leads to the third issue. The Commission approved the City Administrator to hire contractors to repair marble hall and post office sections so that the city could obtain a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for the condemned building. Lenny correctly told the Commission that he needed engineered plans before issuing a permit for a CO.
Wait. What? That begs the obvious issue that the KCB Building Official never revoked the Certificate of Occupancy. Mr. Leggett simply stated in a meeting that it was gone. City officials and former city officials have made many claims that simply weren't true. Engineers and experienced contractors have examined the building and declared it safe for use.
This is what he did for any large residential projects and it is the correct way to handle our city hall. Here is why. We will not know a good cost estimate and full scope of the project until plans are obtained and put out to bid. This protects the city from much liability and biding (sic) laws.
Over the years serving the city I have learned that plans and bids are extremely important. First, the last thing DEO approved was plans for a new City Hall building. We now need to send them plans for this new effort. They can shut down any project not approved and stop us from issuing any building permits. Ask Marathon; they went afoul with DEO over ROGO and were shut down.
Next, this is a highly controversial issue for our citizens. Doing it right is important. A contractor friend/neighbor asked me what illegal work was being done on our condemned building?? It is illegal to hide important or big projects with public safety concerns behind many subcontractor repairs. One permit from a general contractor for obtaining a CO is the correct way. Several administrators in the past have tried dividing up large projects and our Commission stopped them. Also, my Florida League of Cities training has taught me that the city should not do owner builder permits for city projects. Once again, a huge liability issue.
Want it bad, get it bad is where we are headed. We do not have a valid building permit to work on city hall until a new building official is hired by the Commission. Lenny did not permit the work currently being done before he was fired.
I have emailed this to two commissioners separately to avoid any Sunshine Law conflicts.
Interesting spin. People Are Asking why he didn't think this was important enough to send to all four commissioners?
Read Mr. DeNeale's other letters and history here.
