Issues Repeated at Contractor Roundtable

Daniel Smith, Director of Community Affairs, welcomed attendees to the third Contractor Roundtable, organized to help create a more user-friendly permitting and inspection process. The permitting and inspection process came to a head in November 2023 when the first roundtable was held. 

Many of the same criticisms that were brought up during that 2023 meeting were echoed by some in attendance, leaving one contractor to question whether he was seeing a rerun of the movie Groundhog Day. 

Raul Perez, the City’s Chief Building Official, spoke about some of the delays while highlighting the progress made since 2023. A consulting firm out of Chicago, Plante Moran, had been contracted in 2024, and the city continues to work with them as they move forward with implementing some of their recommendations. 

Perez detailed some of the issues the city has encountered since2023, including the retention of employees lost to other agencies. “Collier County, City of Naples, Lee County and private enterprise are always on the lookout for talented professionals,” said Perez after the meeting. 

Perez also pointed out that the city Flood Plain Coordinator recently left, and when filled, that position would report to the Building Department. 

Brandon Tierney, owner of Siteline Construction Group, urged Perez to add a point person to deal with issues that come up during the course of normal operations, which isn’t meant to eliminate Perez’s responsibility but to deal with issues when Perez is not available due to his scheduling.  

Fire/Rescue Chief Chris Byrne introduced the City’s Fire Marshall, Daniel Zunzunegui, who joined the department last year and has been focused on rebuilding the City’s Fire Inspection and Plans Review responsibilities and would update those in attendance regarding that progress. 

A future meeting will be held as more improvements are made.