Board and staff discuss limits on local enforcement and plan boilerplate motions

Members of the Charlotte County Construction Industry Licensing Board spent a substantial portion of the meeting discussing how recent state preemption narrows local enforcement tools and what the county can still do administratively.

Ben Bailey, community development director and acting building official, told the board that legislative changes have reduced the number of local license categories that ‘‘substantially match’’ state licenses, leaving the county with fewer locally controlled licensing tools. "We don't suspend licenses. Only the state can do that. We can deny permitting privileges in our county only," Bailey said.

Board members raised ways to increase the effectiveness of local actions: creating thorough local records to prompt state action, using targeted curtailing of permitting privileges to allow contractors to complete existing active permits, and developing boilerplate recommended motions for staff and the board to use. The county attorney and staff said they would draft memorandums and ready-made motion language so the board can choose appropriate penalties and avoid ad hoc wording at meetings.

The board discussed bonding and local fines. Staff noted a bill in the state legislature prevents local jurisdictions from adding additional licensing restrictions such as mandatory bonding or new local license categories; some local remedies (e.g., local fines) may still exist in limited circumstances but must be carefully tied to currently active county code provisions.

Staff and the county attorney will prepare a legal memo and a suite of draft motions for the board to review at a future meeting.