Chapter 19

Very little attention was paid to this important change in the operation of the Pensacola Buildiing Inspection Department as Mr. Bowden, of the Pesacola News Journal, started a compaign to change the confederate flag in the Fiesta of Five Flags’ display as he said that the current one (the “Stars and Bars”) was not historically correct. 

Many disagreed with his statements and produced old letters and documents to support their side.

The controversy about the flags (or as Mr. Bowden named it, “the flag flap”) continued and spread to Escambia County regarding their Five Flags’ display.  The County Commission and the City Council voted on which flag they wanted with the County staying with the “Stars and Bars” and the City going to a different Confederate Flag. 

Unfortunately, every Pensacola Police Officer uniform patch and every marked Pensacola Government vehicle had the “Five Flags” on it so they all had to be changed. 

Meanwhile, during this contrived controversy or distraction, no one paid any attention to the rampant corruption in Pensacola.  The Pensacola News Journal had consistently refused to publish letters to the editor I had submitted regarding corruption in Pensacola and had consistently refused my requests for them to do an investigative report on corruption in Pensacola where public officials were breaking the law and harming law-abiding citizens.

There were many speakers at the Pensacola City Council Meeting of February 10, 2000, to discuss the pros and cons of changing the flag. The minutes of this meeting can be located at www.ci.pensacola.fl under council minutes for February 10, 2000.  I attended this meeting and spoke during Open Forum about the continuing corruption in Pensacola especially as it pertains to the Pensacola Building Inspection Department.  

I stated, “Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Bowden decided to spend valuable time and City money researching the Confederate Flag in the City of Five Flags’ display.”  I discussed how this discussion on the flag issue had been a hot topic while corruption in the City was not being corrected by the City Manager, Mr. Bonfield, the County Sheriff, Mr. McNesby or Florida State agencies, to include Governor Jeb Bush, who were tasked with this function.

I also attended and spoke at the next Pensacola City Council Meeting on February 24, 2000.  The minutes of this meeting can be located at www.ci.pensacola.fl under council minutes for February 24, 2000.

After I spoke about the problems with the Pensacola Building Inspection Department, especially concerning the illegal actions of contractors, including grand theft, only two members of the Pensacola City Council asked me questions:

         “COUNCIL MEMBER THOMPSON:  Yes.  Are these contractors you’re talking about, are these contractors you hired or are these contractors that the City has sent out to do work for you?  I’m not sure I understand.

           MS. MEAD:  They’re certified by the City.  The building official for the City has a responsibility to monitor contractors and to have hearings on problems with contractors.  Yes, they must be regulated by the City.

           MAYOR FOGG:  I think the Manager would like to address that, Ms. Thompson.

           CITY MANAGER BONFIELD:  Ms. Thompson, I believe the contractors are licensed by the State of Florida.  They may be registered with the City, but that’s simply a matter of conferring that they have a state license.  Mr. Wilkinson is in the back; he may be able to address that.

           I don’t know that the council really wants to get into all those issues tonight, but I don’t think the response that Ms. Mead gave you, that we’re conferring any kind of licensing on them or certification on them, is accurate.

           COUNCIL MEMBER THOMPSON:  But I guess my question still is, are you hiring them yourself, are you paying them?  The City is not sending you contractors.

            MS. MEAD:  Yes, right.

            COUNCIL MEMBER THOMPSON:  So you’re hiring these people youself.

            MS. MEAD:  Right.  The profession is regulated by the Professional Board of Regulators, but the City building official is responsible to monitor contractors who work within the city.

           MAYOR FOGG:  Anything else, Ms. Thompson?

          COUNCIL MEMBER THOMPSON:  Thank you.

          MAYOR FOGG:  Okay.  Thank you.  Ms. Jones. 

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Yes.  Ms. Mead, I have a question.  You mentioned something about a felonious situation.  Have you met with Mr. Bonfield lately?

          MS. MEAD:  No.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  I think it would be good for you to try to meet with him and go over some of these things, especially if you feel the City has any responsibility for any of these things.

          MS. MEAD:  Well, I do.

 

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Well, I would suggest – I can’t make you, but I think it would be nice if you would meet with Mr. Bonfield.  There’s one thing you said about things stolen by the subcontractors or the contractors?

           MS. MEAD:  Yes, ma’am.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Now, of course, I think Ms. Thompson’s already asked were they hired by you, but who is in the building with them when they’re working?  Do you just give them the key and let them go in?

 

          MS. MEAD:  It varies.  Sometimes I’m there, sometimes there’s another contractor there, sometimes they are in there by themselves.  No one lives in the building.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Okay, so, obviously, there must be some things in the house – it’s not a new construction, so there must be some things in the house that were there when they enter the house; is that right?

           MS. MEAD:  Attached to the house.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Oh, attached to the house?

           

          MS. MEAD:  The spindles, yes, ma’am.  Like, the first thing that was stolen was a hugh bell out front that must have weighed two hundred pounds.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  My goodness.  Do you have insurance?

          MS. MEAD:  That’s not really an insurable thing.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Okay.

 

          MS. MEAD:  The problem is, you report it to the police – the Police Department is very nice, but there is a line between civil and criminal.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  That’s true.  Did you report these things, on the contractors or subocontractors, to the licensing agent?.

 

          MS. MEAD:  Yes, ma’am, and they sent it back to Mr. Wilkinson.  That’s the authority.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  So, in other words – now, Mr. Bonfield just said that we just register them; we’re not responsible for their licenses.

 

          MS. MEAD:  I called the licensing board and they said they sent it to Mr. Wilkinson.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Well, why would they want to send it back here if they’re the ones responsible for issuing the license?

 

          MS. MEAD:  I can bring in their letter.  I don’t know.

          COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Because it seems to me, and I don’t know the law – maybe the attorney might help me with this – but if they’re licensed by the State, shouldn’t complaints be handled by the State.  Mr. Bonfield or Mr. Attorney or somebody? 

          CITY MANAGER BONFIELD:  Yes, and there is a local construction licensing board also that, I guess, is a division of DBPR, is that correct, Delmus, or DPR, that regulates contractors?

          MR. WILKINSON:  Ms. Jones, there’s two types of contractors; it’s a two-tiered system.  There’s Certified Contractors with the State, and then there’s Registered Contractors wih the State.  Those Registered Contractors are certified by the County, and the local Escambia County Contractors Competency Board regulates those contractors.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Could she make a complaint to them and they have to give up their license or something?

          MR. WILKINSON: When she filed the complaint with the State DBPR, Department of Business and Professional Regulation, because it is a locally licensed contractor, they did send the complaint back.  It was investigated.  There was no contracting laws that were determined to be violated.  It was a contractual dispute between the contractor and Ms. Mead.

 

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Well, let me ask you one other questions, though.  When they sent it back, whoever they send it back to, do they have a hearing and let her be present there?  Were you present?

          MS. MEAD:  No.

          MR. WILKINSON:  There was no evidence of wrongdoing to have a hearing on.  It was investigated, and with the investigator from the competency board, and nothing to file action on.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  So they don’t have meetings.

 

         MR. WILKINSON:  They do if there’s charges brought against a contractor, but not on an investigation where there’s no charges.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Well, she filed a charge, didn’t she?

 

         MR. WILKINSON: She filed a complaint.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Did you consider that a complaint or a charge?  I mean, I don’t know the difference between them.

 

         MS. MEAD:  I told them to take his license if he was going to cheat people.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Could she go back and file another complaint rather than a - I mean, a charge rather than a complaint?  Is it still possible for her to do that?

 

          MR. WILKINSON: I’m not sure.  That would be through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation whether they would act on that or not.  I’m not sure.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  No, I mean the part that they sent back here.  Since they sent it back here, and you say somebody investigated it, but there was someone here that could have had a hearing and made some determination on the licenses – what can a citizen do when they have these kinds of problems?  I mean, if we don’t have a system, we need to get one that allows people to be able to -

         MR. WILKINSON:   It can be – she can contact the contractor’s competency board.  That would be the board that would be regulating that particular contractor.      

         CITY MANAGER BONFIELD:  And that’s not the City.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  That’s the County.

         MR. WILKINSON:  That’s the Escambia County Contractors Competency Board.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Okay.  So you can file a charge with the board, with your documentation, and then maybe they’ll have a hearing if it’s called a charge rather than a complaint, right?

         CITY MANAGER BONFIELD:  That’s up to them.

         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Yeah, I know, but I mean, since they didn’t call it a charge, and you say they only work on charges, then you need to call it a charge.  Maybe you’ll get some remedy for it.

         Yeah, you know, this sounds very serious, you know, and if contractors are doing this – and, now we can’t say they did; you allege that they’re doing it.

         MS. MEAD:  Oh, absolutely.

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Comments by Mary Mead

Mr. Wilkinson stated in his letter to me, dated October 6, 1999, that “The City of Pensacola Inspections Department is responsible for the investigation of complaints against contractors who are registered with the State of Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board and cerified through the local contractor competency board.”  Mr. Wilkinson indicated at the bottom of his letter that copies had been sent to Mr. Bonfield and Ms. Ustick, so both of them were aware of this investigation and it’s findings.

Yet, both City Manager Bonfield and Mr. Wilkinson denied this fact when I stated it at the Pensacola City Council Meeting. 

It appeared that both tried to distance themselves from the investigation, by Mr. Wilkinson, of misconduct by Mr. Miller yet both had stated to me that the City had this authority.

Mr. Wilkinson (who had refused permits to all contractors except Mr. Miller) informed me in his letter that he had met with Mr. Miller, the contractor, Mr. DeStefano of the Escambia Contractor’s Competency Board, and Mr. McFatter, who was Mr. Miller’s partner in hiding Mr. Miller’s income to defraud those who had judgments against him, “to determine if there have been any violations of the laws regulating contractors.” 

This meeting, investigation or hearing was held in secret without notifying me so that I could testify and present evidence of contractor misconduct on the part of Mr. Miller; evidence which I had already supplied to Mr. Wilkinson, in writing, in my letter of October 4, 1999, where I matched the Escambia County Ordinance disciplinary requirements with the specific actions Mr. Miller committed which violated the Statute and Ordinance (Florida Statute, Section 489, Contracting, as the basis for the Escambia County Ordinance, Section 18-36 Prohibitions, violations). 

Mr. Wilkinson ignored this evidence and reported to me and to the Escambia County Contractor Competency Board that there appeared to be no contractor code violations on the part of Mr. Miller. 

This hearing appeared to be a cover-up for Mr. Miller’s misconduct as Mr. Miller’s other actions, including writing a bad check for thousands of dollars, relating to contracting, violated the contractor’s code.  The evidence I supplied clearly showed that his misconduct appeared to be the actions of a career criminal using his contractor’s license to deceive and commit grand theft against clients.

Mr. Wilkinson did not include in his report that Mr. Miller had gleefully confessed to “holding” (stealing) vast amounts of building materials and historic artifacts belonging to us, which he never returned,  – but Mr. DeStefano did put this in his official report so that it was a matter of record.  Neither Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. DeStefano, Mr. Bonfield or Ms. Ustick, all government employees, reported this confession of grand theft to the proper authorities for prosecution as required under Florida State Law.

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         COUNCIL MEMBER JONES:  Yes, it’s an allegation.  So, if it’s an allegation, though, somebody needs to address it,  I think with her present or somewhere.  I mean, I think if you bring a charge against someone that you ought to be able to meet them somewhere to discuss it, whatever it is.  Anyway, thank you.

         MAYOR FOGG:  Thank you.  The next speaker, Mr. – or Ms. Thompson, you wish to speak?

         COUNCIL MEMBER THOMPSON:  Yes.  I just wanted to say that I agree with Ms. Jones, that I think Ms. Mead definitely needs to get with the City Manager and at least see what the City Manager can do before you go off and say that, you know, nothing has been done.  I think you do at least have to give him a fair opportunity to at least look at what you have and then say the parts that I think the City can do somethinig about, and those things that the City cannot do anything about, you know, then at least he can direct  you to the right places to make sure that you get those things taken care of.  So I certainly would recommend that you go and talk to the City Manager.  Thank you.”

While I had not met with Mr. Bonfield, I had repeatedly written him and Ms. Ustick and sent a copy of all correspondence to both of them and frequently  to the Pensacola City Council Members, as well. 

As I stated above, it appeared that Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Wilkinson desperately tried to cover-up the fact that Mr. Wilkinson had conducted a secret “official” hearing, on October 6, 1999, in Mr. Wilkinson’s office,  without notifying me so that I could be present. 

Even though I had sent documentation, including Mr. Wilkinson’s letter, to each Pensacola City Council Member, only Council Member Jones and Council Member Thompson addressed this important matter.

I was able to obtain a copy of Mr. DeStefano’s official report.  His report does not reflect an investigation of the documentation I had given him but, instead, talked about the secret hearing, held on October 6, 1999, at 2:30 p.m., by Mr. Wilkinson in his office.  At this hearing, Mr. Douglas E. Miller, the contractor, confessed to “holding” (stealing) our property (historic artifacts, building materials and money paid in advance for abandoned projects (defined by State Statutes as grand theft) as reported by Mr. DeStefano, the County Investigator for the Escambia County Contractor Competency Board and this fact was documented in his official investigation report which he turned in to his supervisor, Ms. Hardy, and to the Head of the Escambia County Building Inspection Department, Mr. Mayo.  Mr. Wilkinson made a full report to his superior, the City Manager, Mr. Bonfield.   All of the attendees and their supervisors violated Florida State Statute 455.227, Prosecution of criminal violations, which states “The department or the appropriate board shall report any criminal violation of any statute relating to the practice of a profession regulated by the department or appropriate board to the proper prosecuting authority for prompt prosecution.” 

Mr. Miller specifically discussed the property he had stolen from us.  I had proven that Mr. Douglas E. Miller had been paid in full (as annotated by Mr. Douglas E. Miller on his invoices) on all completed work and had requested and been paid in-advance on the projects he had abandoned.  Mr. Douglas E. Miller never contacted me about being owed money.  When Mr. Wilkinson answered my letter involving closing Mr. Miller’s permit, Mr. Wilkinson included a copy of the Florida Law regarding mechanic’s lien.  All parties at this hearing knew that, if Mr. Douglas E. Miller felt he was owed money, a mechanic’s lien was the appropriate step to take and not grand theft.  It appears that licensed contractors such as Mr. Douglas E. Miller have found that claiming they are owed money works as an excuse to steal valuable historic artifacts, building materials and money without being arrested. 

All of the attendees and their supervisors kept Mr. Miller’s grand theft confession from me, the victim.  I had to file repeated public information requests to obtain a copy of Mr. DeStefano’s official report, a public record.  Mr. Miller’s confession was important evidence to support the crimes I had repeatedly attempted to report to law enforcement agencies and contractor monitoring agencies – with no success.

Our professional Property Inspection Report stated that only minor repairs and improved maintenance were required for our building.  The building was being used when we bought it and should legally have been used immediately, planning these minor repairs as we went, but City Officials refused us an occupational license, would not let us open, and demanded that we hire Mr. Miller who I later found out was a career criminal who should not have been issued a contractor’s license in the first place as he had unpaid judgments related to construction, had been arrested for writing a bad check for thousand of dollars related to construction and had never completed a construction project in Pensacola or Escambia County.