State Representative DeeDee Ritchie, studied the regulations and sent the following findings to those involved. All of the recipients, including Governor Bush, DBPR, Florida State Attorney golden, continued to illegally require us to undergo the illegal Pensacola policy apparently designed to swindle Pensacola property owners out of their assets.
I received a letter, dated August 3, 1999, Subject: Delmus Nathan Wilkinson, from Ms. Kathy McNeill, Senior Consumer Complaint Analysis at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, regarding my complaint against Mr. Wilkinson, Director of the Building Inspections Department.
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Ms. McNeill stated, “this matter does not show possible violation of the statutes or rules which govern the professional involved in your complaint.” I had sent Ms. McNeill the pertinent part of the Standard Building Code, the construction rule in effect here, where it states that a Certificate of Occupancy is not appropriate on change of tenant, and also sent her numerous letters and emails from Mr. Wilkinson where he demanded a new Certificate of Occupancy and claimed that it was required on change of tenant – which was false. He misrepresented this construction rule to my husband, me and at least 333 others and forced all of us to comply with his illegal requirement by threats and extortion (refusing to allow the legal use of property until compliance with the illegal requirement).
I had also sent documentation to Ms. McNeill which showed that I had supplied a copy of the Declarative Statement from the Florida Building Commission which stated that I was right, that a new Certificate of Occupancy was not appropriate in our circumstance, but Mr. Wilkinson refused to stop his illegal actions and forced us to comply with his illegal requirement in spite of Florida Building Commission’s decision.
Documentation from the City Attorney, Mr. Caton showed that Mr. Wilkinson had illegally required 205 new CO’s for Oct 1997-Sep 1998 and 280 new CO’s from Oct 1998-Sep 1999, or approximately 331 new CO’s after he knew, by Declarative Statement, that this policy was illegal. It appeared that City Officials, with Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Wilkinson as the driving forces, were defrauding the 50,000 citizens of Pensacola with illegal demands which violated the construction regulations.
I had reported to her that it appeared to me that Mr. Bonfield, Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Caton used this illegal requirement to swindle the people of Pensacola out of their money, building materials, and, if available, irreplaceable, valuable historic artifacts.
It appeared that Ms. Kathy McNeill refused to acknowledge the facts we presented to her but, instead, made false statements in her letter and, representing the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), refused to stop these illegal activities on the part of Mr. Bonfield, Mr. Caton, and Mr. Wilkinson which were harming many citizens in Pensacola, including us.
When I called DBPR to find out why they had made this decision, I was told that everything about it was confidential. I stated that I was the person who made the complaint and, as such, was entitled to know what facts were presented and who, if anyone, appeared as a witness. I was not notified to attend so that I could testify and present evidence. All individuals I spoke with at DBPR refused to answer any of my questions as they stated that it was a secret and that the decision was final. They refused to divulge what logic or reasons they used to make their decision even though there appeared to be overwhelming evidence of wrong doing.
These actions appeared to be out of the sunshine which Florida public officials were supposed to obey.
The result of the ruling by DBPR was that Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Wilkinson continued to demand compliance with an illegal requirement even though it was the City Manager’s job is to see “that the ordinances of the city and laws of the state are enforced.”
Mr. Bonfield continued to refuse to do his job of stopping illegal harmful demands against me and repeatedly told me that I had to appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals to get the City to obey the law regarding CO’s, the sole intent appeared to be to strip us, older law-abiding people, of as many of our assets, earned by decades of hard work, as they could get away with. Again, the City Manager, Mr. Bonfield, should have done his job and stopped the illegal actions.
Mr. Bonfield apparently told Governor Jeb Bush that I had to appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals to get the City to obey the law. Even though I had repeatedly requested that Governor Bush and Mr. Bonfield send me a copy of correspondence between them, both refused. Governor Bush ignored my request and City Officials said there was no correspondence with Governor Bush.
Governor Jeb Bush had written me, on June 17, 1999, that I should appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals that he, Jeb Bush could do nothing even though Governor Bush consistently referred to himself as Florida’s chief law enforcement official. I was born in the US, obeyed the law, am a veteran as I served my country (my husband is also a veteran), and am a citizen of Florida and no one in Florida, even Governor Bush, can stop the crimes against us?
Mr. Bonfield continued to refuse to do his job of stopping illegal harmful demands against me and repeatedly told me that I had to appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals to get the City to obey the law regarding CO’s, the sole intent appeared to be to strip us, older law-abiding people, of as many of our assets, earned by decades of hard work, as they could get away with. Again, the City Manager, Mr. Bonfield, should have done his job and stopped the illegal actions.
Mr. Bonfield apparently told Governor Jeb Bush that I had to appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals to get the City to obey the law. Even though I had repeatedly requested that Governor Bush and Mr. Bonfield send me a copy of correspondence between them, both refused. Governor Bush ignored my request and City Officials said there was no correspondence with Governor Bush.
Governor Jeb Bush had written me, on June 17, 1999, that I should appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals that he, Jeb Bush could do nothing even though Governor Bush consistently referred to himself as Florida’s chief law enforcement official. I was born in the US, obeyed the law, am a veteran as I served my country (my husband is also a veteran), and am a citizen of Florida and no one in Florida, even Governor Bush, can stop the crimes against us?
Governor Bush and Mr. Bonfield told our State Representative, DeeDee Ritchie, that I should appear before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals to get the City to obey the law. Ms. Ritchie had been unable to get City Officials to obey the law despite her efforts – which were considerable. I have always appreciated Ms. Ritchie’s assistance.
I was forced to go before the Pensacola Construction Board of Appeals. I paid the fee to appear before the Board, made the 11 copies of all pertinent official materials, as required, and appeared before the Board. August 4, 1999
