Documents show Hogrefe is contradicting previous statements

Alfred Hogrefe now says he did not tell inspectors to take jobs they were not qualified to handle, according to documents prepared by his attorney, Eric Vasquez. The 13-page response to accusations made by City Manager Bob Lee was presented to Lee and Labor Attorney Jon Fishbane during Hogrefe's 75-minute name-clearing hearing on Thursday.

Hogrefe did not bring any witnesses to the hearing, which he chose to have closed to the public.

The 64-year-old, who served as deputy building official since 1995, resigned shortly after being suspended with pay last month. His suspension was the result of a performance audit of the building department, which led to accusations that include allowing inspectors to inspect jobs they were not qualified to review and receiving a financial benefit at taxpayers' expense by receiving a minimum fee for a building permit.

City officials are using a series of more than 20 audiotapes of interviews with city employees to build its case against Hogrefe and former Building Official William Overstreet, who also resigned last month after Lee suspended him with pay. Overstreet's name-clearing hearing, which he requested be open to the public, was held on Wednesday.

In a taped interview, Hogrefe told Naples police Capt. Victor Morales, who is an assistant to the city manager, that he allowed inspectors to review jobs they were not qualified to inspect because they were "less critical inspections."

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

Hogrefe: "That is correct."

But according to the documents submitted to city officials on Thursday, Hogrefe says that is not true.

In the documents, Hogrefe said that "the Florida Building Code and Naples City Ordinance only require licensed inspectors in certain circumstances."

Vasquez wrote, "Alfred Hogrefe did not send city inspectors on inspections that were outside their scope of certification."

He said the same practices are still being followed in the building department, even though Overstreet and Hogrefe are no longer there. He gave Lee copies of activity reports submitted by inspectors between Oct. 12 and Oct. 24.

"James Winfield, who is only certified in electrical, conducted 20 inspections that had nothing to do with electrical," was one example used by Vasquez. "The inspections being conducted by these inspectors are not required to be made by a certified inspector in any particular discipline. If they are qualified as an inspector, then the building official has the discretion to assign these inspections to these inspectors. This was the practice for four years."

Another contradiction between Hogrefe's taped interview and the documents submitted to the city is whether Overstreet knew about the inspectors' assignments.

Hogrefe told Morales in a taped interview that Overstreet was not aware that he was assigning jobs to inspectors that did not have the proper license, but the documents say otherwise.

"Mr. Overstreet was privy to the information and data on a day-to-day basis that these practices were occurring," Vasquez wrote.

"Mr. Overstreet knew of these practices and approved of these practices. He never initiated any change to these practices, which it is assumed he most likely would have if he believed them to be contrary to Florida law."