# City of Venice fires building director



## mark handler (Nov 13, 2014)

City of Venice fires building director

By Christi Womack

Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at 3:30 p.m.

CITY OF VENICE / WEBSITE

Vincent N. LaPorta

City Building Director Vincent N. LaPorta has been fired by City Manager Ed Lavallee for asking for leniency for an unlicensed contractor.

The firing offense was that LaPorta wrote to the State Attorney's Office on city letterhead on behalf of a man jailed after being caught working without a plumbing permit or worker's compensation insurance, but documents show LaPorta's job performance was being scrutinized for several other reasons.

LaPorta has hired an attorney, which is threatening legal action against the city for illegal termination, saying that LaPorta was target of official retaliation.

The action comes at a time when the department routinely is criticized in public meetings by City Council members as being inefficient, difficult to do business with and needing a change in culture.

Punctuating LaPorta's dismissal is that his decisions rankled some high-profile residents, including Beechwood Builders, owned by Jeff Gates, husband of City Councilwoman Jeanette Gates, and the Boone Law Firm, a decades-old business representing most of the local developers.

City officials also blamed him for a delay in getting the former Circus Arena and adjacent octagon building structures demolished.

LaPorta is being represented by Yvette Everhart, Cynthia Sass and Janet Wise, labor and employment law attorneys with the Law Offices of Cynthia N. Sass, P.A. of Tampa.

“Apparently, some of the individuals associated with the City have a problem with Mr. LaPorta's straightforward and honest approach to his work,” his attorneys wrote in a letter to City Attorney David Persson.

The attorneys in a Oct. 31 notification to the city said they believe the city retaliated against LaPorta under Florida's Public Whistleblower Act and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in addition to violating his rights under the Building Code Enforcement Officials' Bill of Rights.

LaPorta had been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 23 and received a disciplinary letter Oct. 27 from Lavallee and Director of Administrative Services Alan Bullock.

The reason cited for the firing was LaPorta's letter to Kennedy Legler at the State Attorney's Office asking the state to downgrade charges against Jeffrey G. Caridi, 50, of Sarasota, who was one of 16 people arrested in June during a undercover sting of unlicensed contractors. Caridi also was charged with workers compensation fraud.

Because Caridi was on probation for a prior felony sexual assault conviction, the arrest was a violation of his probation. He was jailed.

LaPorta's letter, in part, asked Legler to consider that Caridi was a first-time offender in a civil matter and that municipalities preferred to collect a $1,500 fine and require attendance at a two-hour continuing education class on contracting law.

“The bottom line is this, if he had not been arrested he would not have violated his probation of a couple years ago with a new crime and would not be in jail,” LaPorta wrote.

Lavallee said LaPorta's letter seeking clemency for Caridi in effect sought to “pass judgment on a criminal matter outside of your jurisdiction and running contrary to the sting operation's mission and therefore the city's own best interests.”

Other offenses by LaPorta, the disciplinary action letter cited, also included: unauthorized absence from work, conflict of interest, inefficiency, violation of city policies, activity detrimental to the city, conduct unbecoming of a city employee, insubordination and improper use of position.

A previous memo written Oct. 16 by Lavallee noted that “I am giving you notice that I am not satisfied with your leadership and management of the Building Department, and in particular, with your judgment in these two cases.”

The two issues, Lavallee said, were LaPorta's direction to cite Beechwood Builders for starting a project and not posting a building permit and not following city code to oversee the timely demolition after declaring former circus buildings unsafe.

Lavallee said LaPorta's office should have known that the permit had been paid for, but not picked up, when a Code Enforcement officer issued a citation at a job site.

“The prosecution of that technical violation, under the circumstances we discussed several times, contradicted the philosophy of being business friendly,” Lavallee wrote.

LaPorta's actions caused members of the Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals “to express concern over what was patently obvious — prosecution of a minor technical violation for a local builder with a spotless record doing business in Venice for 25 years,” Lavallee wrote. “In the end, the Board dismissed the case.”

For the circus property, Lavallee said LaPorta did not bring the case before the Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals after declaring the buildings unsafe. Council members asked the city manager to research code requirements after LaPorta appeared before them in late September to talk about the properties and granting an extension of time to demolish the buildings.

LaPorta's lawyers said one of the reasons his work was scrutinized was because in mid-August he refused to accept a settlement agreement for plumbing work at the Boone Law Firm building because it did not meet Florida Plumbing Code standards.

LaPorta, 55, has several professional certifications, including Florida licenses as a building officer, inspector and examiner. He also does home inspections through LaPorta Inspection Services, but through an agreement with the city, he did not work in city limits.

He was hired by the City of Venice in February 2011 at a salary of $85,000 and was making $90,588 when he was fired.

His most recent evaluation, for the period from October 2012 to September 2013, rated him above satisfactory or satisfactory in all categories, noting that he was diligent in efforts to enforce appropriate code standards, though he could improve in aggressiveness in expediting resolutions on some issues. The document also noted that LaPorta gave an honest effort to meet customer needs.

LaPorta previously worked in Charlotte County from 1985 to 2010, when his position as deputy building officer was eliminated. According to reference checks by Venice officials, Charlotte Chief Building Official Jim Evetts rated LaPorta's performance as “Excellent!”

LaPorta is the father of Matt LaPorta, a former local and University of Florida baseball star who went on to play several seasons in the Major Leagues.

Randy Fowler, who formerly worked for the City of Longboat Key, is interim building director as Lavallee searches for a replacement. Greg Schneider, the deputy building official, also will assume additional duties, city spokeswoman Pam Johnson said.

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