BRADENTON – Between December 2021 and Spring 2022, the administrative wing of Manatee County Government's downtown administration building underwent a significant renovation. Public records show that the project's total costs exceeded $179,000 and that it was undertaken without proper permitting.
The county's administration building, or the Manatee County Administration Complex, is located at 1112 Manatee Avenue West in downtown Bradenton. Although the building is owned by the county government, its jurisdiction is within the City of Bradenton. When the county needs (or wants) to perform construction or renovation on it, and that work requires a building permit under Florida law, the county must submit a building permit application and construction plan to the city.
The ninth floor of the county's administration building is where the commissioners' offices are located, along with the commissioner assistants' reception area, the offices of the county attorney, financial management, county administrator, and the administrator's assistant. The renovation project, which ran from December 2021 through Spring 2022, provided significant upgrades to the county administrator's office and that of his assistant. It also impacted the main entrance to the ninth floor, including the construction of a new waiting area and the installation of a secretary's station complete with bulletproof glass, a teller's speaker, and a panic button.
An invoice issued to the county by architectural firm Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors showed the county hired the firm to provide building and design plans for the ninth-floor renovation. To complete its work, Sweet Sparkman subcontracted the services of a civil engineer who provided architectural and mechanical construction documents for the construction plans. The oldest dated invoice issued for the services provided by Sweet Sparkman is dated January 2021. The final invoice, dated March 2022, shows the total cost billed to the county for both the services of Sweet Sparkman and the engineer's design work came to $17,277.
During various BOCC meetings throughout 2022, references were made to the remodeling of the ninth floor—and even to the bulletproof glass. In July, TBT submitted a public record request to the clerk's office for all paid invoices related to the ninth-floor renovation.
In total, TBT received more than 200 pages of paid invoice copies including those for the design plan, numerous material purchases, subcontracted labor, and receipts from Lowe's, Amazon, Office Max, a furniture supplier, Waste Pro, a Sarasota-based moving and storage company, and various other suppliers and services related to the renovation. Invoices filed with the clerk's office totaled just over $179,000, not counting "in-house" labor expenses.
What was not included in the paid invoices was a receipt from the City of Bradenton for permit fees paid by the county.
Much of the maintenance for the county's administration building can be completed "in-house" by the Department of Property Management. In instances where maintenance or renovations require licensed expertise, such as mechanical, electrical, and A/C work or repair, property management will subcontract the labor to a licensed contractor.
Permitting records show that, in the past, the county hired an outside general contractor for some of the larger renovation projects. Any subcontractors who perform work in keeping with the scope reviewed and approved in a permit do so under the lead contractor and the building permit which was issued to them. A subcontractor is not required to apply for a permit of its own when its services are contracted for a construction project for which construction plans and a building permit have already been approved and issued.
Based on signatures on invoices for the renovation of the ninth-floor administrative wing, it appears as though the Department of Property Management oversaw the work and hiring of subcontractors and material purchases for the project's completion. Because much of the labor associated with the renovation project was "in-house," there are no invoices among the 200+ pages obtained by TBT for the bulk of the man-hours and labor expense incurred by the county to complete the roughly four-month-long renovation.
TBT submitted a public record request to the county on Thursday, seeking production of records kept by property management which provide the number of manhours and cost of direct labor to complete the ninth-floor renovation. We had not received the requested information by the publication deadline for this story.
In TBT’s review of invoices for material purchases and subcontractor labor, clues emerged as to the scope of the work that was done. Waste Pro receipts show that the county received its first bill from the waste removal company on December 13, 2021, and its last bill on February 21, 2022. Waste Pro "rolled off" at least six fills of a 20-yard dumpster and billed the county more than $2,000 for the dumpster and its disposals. An invoice issued by a moving and storage company showed that the county was billed more than $5,500 for the removal and storage of furniture and office items while the renovation was underway—and then the return of the stored items upon its completion.
Receipts for materials related to the construction of walls included the county’s purchase of at least 300 feet of stud track, 320 square feet of ultralight drywall, 2,690 square feet of fire-rated drywall, and 2,630 linear feet of metal wall studs (50 12-foot metal studs, 140 10-foot metal studs, and 70 9-foot metal studs).
Materials also purchased for the renovation project included $741.00 worth of A/C-related parts—including at least 175 feet of new flexible duct. However, TBT was unable to locate among the copies of invoices we obtained any invoices from a licensed mechanical contractor.
The county also purchased at least one "45-minute" fire-rated door for $925.00.
TBT’s review of paid invoices also found tens of thousands of dollars in material purchases relating to the purchases of furniture or materials for the construction of furniture and cabinetry—including nearly $500.00 spent on roughly 80 feet of exotic hardwood, sealing epoxy, and wood adhesive that was most likely used in the construction of a special-order conference table.
There were also numerous invoices by an electrical contractor hired by the county. The subcontractor created detailed notes which provide perspective on the nature of the electrical work performed, and various "extra" requests or changes to work already completed by the electrician. Some of the invoice notes from between the dates of December 9, 2021, and April 22, 2022, included the following:
2/19/22: Charged overtime hours. Demolition of an existing wall, receptacles, lighting, and ceiling fans
2/21/22: Continue demo of the wall and rough in for the new built-in cabinets for the TV and desk. New locations for the switches and receptacles.
2/22/22: Received additional changes for the layout of the administrator's secretary's office. Anticipate Dr. Hopes' furniture layout any day.
3/2/22: Started the installation of the LED recess lighting fixture and rough-in with supports for ceiling fans. Manatee County indicated additional changes to work already performed… Dr. Hopes is requesting additional receptacles above the doors for clocks.
3/4/22: Finished the above ceiling rough-in for the LED recess light fixtures and installed ceiling fans. Rough-in for pendant light fixtures in the secretary's and Dr. Hopes' offices.
3/10/22: … Manatee County is requesting that the light fixtures now be changed to 2x2 LED flat panels. Also, additional rework was requested for receptacles, TV and data drops in the hallway. Install the clocks, pendant light fixtures and tape lighting in Dr. Hopes' office.
3/19/22: Finished trimming out Dr. Hopes' office but still waiting on the secretary's office furniture. Finished the upper tape lights on the TV cabinet. Took down pendant light to try rewiring the lights to operate on 1 remote control and rehung lights. Changed out hallway fixtures to 2x2 panels….
3/22/22: Took down both pendant light fixtures at the request of Dr. Hopes; (Note: Did not wish the pendants to be controlled by 1 remote)…
3/24/22: Been informed that the location for the secretary's desk has changed, requiring demolition. Furnish and install another receptacle above the ceiling for a clock.
Between December 2021 and April 2022, the electrical contractor billed the county more than $38,000 for work it performed during the administrative wing renovation.
Receipts from Amazon showed the four
AcuRite oversized LED clocks with temperature and date displays referenced in the electrician’s notes were purchased by the county for $81.58 each—a total cost of $326.32. Another of the purchases made through Amazon for office renovations included six
Valcom "sound masking" speakers. Per the description on Amazon, these devices can "reduce the intelligibility of oral conversations" and help to reduce the possibility of conversations being overheard in hallways and private offices. The total spent by the county on "sound masking" speakers was $879.00.
The county was also billed more than $2,000 dollars for solar screen electric roll-up blinds, a remote control, and a resize and reinstallation of those blinds.
Florida's Building Code requires a permit for most construction and renovations of commercial or residential buildings. Building Code, Section 105.1 states, "Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any impact‐resistant coverings, electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by this code, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit."
The City of Bradenton's building and construction permitting webpage provides access to an online searchable portal to view permits applied for and issued. Users can search by address or parcel ID and review a history of permits, applications, inspections, and permit issuance and close-out dates.
A search of the city's online permit search portal returned no results for the ninth-floor renovation project conducted between December 2021 and April 2022. While there was a ninth-floor renovation permit issued by the city for the renovation of the commissioner's reception area, that renovation passed its final inspection on July 26, 2021—approximately five months before demolition began on the ninth floor's administrative wing.
The city's permit search portal also showed that Manatee County had recently submitted two renovation permit applications. One permit application was submitted on June 6 for a renovation project of the commissioners' 1st-floor chambers for which the county estimated a total cost of $906,504. The plans submitted by the county for the chamber's renovation have passed plan reviews, but the county has not paid the permit fee for the issuance of the permit. The second building permit the county applied for was for a renovation to 2nd-floor offices with an estimated cost of $150,000. The fees assessed for this permit were paid by the county and the permit for the 2nd-floor renovation was issued by the city on August 24.
Unable to locate any record of a permit having been applied for by the county or issued from the city for the administrative wing renovation, TBT submitted a public record request to the county's division of record management. After some back and forth, the county responded to our request for a copy of the permit for the ninth-floor renovation on Thursday stating that the county had "no records responsive" to our request.
The county property appraiser's website also showed no record of any permitted work having been recorded as completed for the dates in question. A record request with the City of Bradenton for copies of all building permit applications with permit fees assessed greater than $1000.00 has not yet been fulfilled. TBT received an email from the city's record manager on Friday citing Record Law exemptions restricting the production of the requested records, but TBT clarified that if schematics and floor plans cannot be released, we would like copies of applications and permits issued, as well as inspections associated with those. TBT had not received a response to our clarified request as of the publication deadline for this reporting.
Based on all available public access to the record of permits issued by the city to the county for its administration complex, and the confirmation received from the county that it does not have a copy of a permit issued by the city for the renovation it can produce, it would appear the county failed to adhere to the requirements of Florida's Building Code in this instance—a building code its own building department is tasked with enforcing.
From Florida's Building Code, 5-113.1. - Penalties for violation of chapter. "Any person, firm, corporation or agent who shall violate a provision of this Code, or fail to comply therewith, or with any of the requirements thereof, or who shall erect, construct, alter, install, demolish or move any structure, electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, or has erected, constructed, altered, repaired, moved or demolished a building, structure, electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, in violation of a detailed statement or drawing submitted and permitted there under, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree. Each such person shall be considered guilty of a separate offense for each and every day or portion thereof during which any violation of any of the provisions of this code is committed or continued, and upon conviction of any such violation such person shall be punished within the limits and as provided by F.S. §§ 775.082 or 775.083."
In March of this year, when the county's inspector general released a report it completed following an investigation of Manatee County’s Code Enforcement Division, County Administrator Scott Hopes made several statements to the press about a "culture of corruption" he alleged was leftover from the previous administration. Hopes held a press conference about the IG report that
The Bradenton Herald shared a video of on March 23.
"What's most concerning to me is this behavior and this culture existed for a number of years," Hopes told
Your Observer on March 29. "Just the sheer longevity of it. The mere fact it was allowed to fester as long as it did, so that you actually developed a depth of culture where it mattered more who you knew, or who your friends were, or who your associates were, in order to have an easy time at getting permits with the county, or a very difficult time. That’s not right."
Commissioner Vanessa Baugh was also very public with her assessments of the "corruption" she blamed on a prior administration.
"Our administrator is putting things into place so we can stop a culture of corruption," Baugh told Your Observer.
However, it would appear that while Hopes and some commissioners were making critical statements about the county’s former administration, blaming it for a "culture of corruption" in code enforcement, the county administrator's wing was undergoing extensive and costly renovations without a building permit.
TBT left a message by phone for the City of Bradenton's Building Official on Friday, but we did not receive a return call prior to our publishing deadline. TBT will continue its investigation into this story and will follow up as more details become available.
Dawn Kitterman is a staff reporter for The Bradenton Times. She covers local government and entertainment news. She can be reached at dawn.kitterman@thebradentontimes.com.
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