Former building official admits he broke law

In a taped interview, Alfred Hogrefe admitted that he sent inspectors for four years to jobs that they were not qualified to respond to, and he said that former Building Official William Overstreet did not know about it.

Hogrefe's statements are included among a series of more than 20 audiotapes of interviews with city employees that the city is using to build its case against Hogrefe and Overstreet. The two men are scheduled to face City Manager Bob Lee in separate name-clearing hearings starting today.

Hogrefe and Overstreet, who resigned shortly after they were suspended with pay last month, are expected to refute several allegations, including that they are at the center of a scandal in the city's building department.

Overstreet's hearing, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 4 p.m. today on the second floor of City Hall. Hogrefe's hearing, which will be behind closed doors, is at 4 p.m. Thursday at the same location.

Both Overstreet and Hogrefe face accusations that include accepting fishing trips offered by Boran Craig Barber Engel Construction Co. Inc. during company time, giving themselves up to $1,000 discounts for permits when working on their homes, which are both in the city, and allowing inspectors to review work that they are not licensed to inspect.

Overstreet faces accusations that include ignoring Federal Emergency Management Agency flood rules and telling employees to remove several holds on permits that did not have final inspection clearance for Charlie Abbott, owner of Abbott Construction, investigator with Collier Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock's office and husband of Collier County School Board Chairwoman Linda Abbott.

Overstreet, 64, served as building official since 1994 and collected $80,000 a year. Hogrefe, 64, had an annual salary of $56,000 and served as deputy building official since 1995.

Overstreet and Hogrefe have refused to comment on the allegations.

In his taped interview, Hogrefe told Naples police Capt. Victor Morales, who is an assistant to the city manager, why he allowed inspectors to review jobs they were not qualified to inspect.

Morales: "You have in the past assigned these inspectors to conduct inspections outside their licensing? Is that true?"

Hogrefe: "That is correct."

Morales: "Why?"

Hogrefe: "Because the types of inspections that they were, I felt, were minor inspections or less critical inspections I should say. I've been assigning them to other persons so that we can get the inspections completed."

Hogrefe did not give examples of the inspections in his interview.

Hogrefe also told Morales the city did not have the proper licensed staff to conduct all inspections. Although the city inspectors were licensed in certain areas, Hogrefe said, they were sometimes sent to jobs that that they did not have a license to inspect.

Morales asked Hogrefe if Overstreet was aware that he was assigning jobs to inspectors that did not have the proper license.

Hogrefe responded, "I don't believe he was."

In a taped interview conducted the same day, Overstreet told Morales at the beginning of the interview that he was not aware of what Hogrefe was doing.

He later told Morales in the taped interview, "We have always emphasized that no one should make any inspections they're not qualified to do. I know that in the past they have tried to cover for each other in times, but it's been very, very minor."

It is against state law for Florida inspectors to review jobs they are not licensed to inspect, and it is also part of the city's Building and Zoning Policies and Procedures.

Overstreet told Morales that he did recall one former building department employee who was not playing by the rules.

"Bill Taylor, acting deputy building official, did make inspections that were not in accordance with his license," Overstreet said in the taped interview. "I worked that out with the Department of Professional Regulations ... (and the department) basically told me that if Taylor was out of the department that it would all be forgotten and there would be no action taken."

Overstreet did not say what those inspections were.

On Sept. 16, Morales conducted a taped interview with Taylor, who is now a city fire inspector, but served as a plans examiner, which is different from an inspector, with the building department from the mid-1990s until at least 2001.

Taylor talked to Morales in the interview about the fishing trips offered to Overstreet and him by Boran Craig Barber Engel Construction Co. Inc., which is based in Collier County. In the taped interview, he said the two went on three fishing trips the past three or four years. Two were on company time and one was not, Taylor said. He added that he was friends with some of the BCBEC officials, who are connected with some high-rise buildings on Gulf Shore Boulevard.

Taylor told Morales that he signed Overstreet's name and approved plans and certificates of occupancy when Overstreet was out of the office, which he said was often because Overstreet was busy serving as city architect and designing city buildings. Taylor admitted on the tape to not being licensed to certify plans or certificates of occupancies.

When Morales asked Taylor how many plans he signed Overstreet's name to, Taylor chuckled and said, "thousands."

Taylor said he eventually left the building department because he wasn't comfortable with what he was doing.

"I wanted to be taken off review," Taylor said in the taped interview. "I approached (Overstreet) at least once a month for six months. It came to the point where I had decided that enough was enough. I wasn't comfortable with the whole thing any longer. I was getting tired."

Taylor was one of seven city employees who submitted sworn statements to investigators regarding Overstreet and Hogrefe. Some of the employees admitted to wrongdoing, such as Taylor.

"We're all guilty of something," Taylor said during his taped interview.