Tolbert To Retire As Building Chief

Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - Grant Tolbert admits he has faced some rough patches during his 18 years as Hernando County's building director.

He was often in the forefront of the news as he watched single-family home permits plummet ever lower in the past two years.

But starting Sept. 12, he won't have to worry about it anymore. That will be his last day on the job.

Tolbert is retiring.

"For the first time, I will have time to do what Grant wants to do instead of working all the time," he says. "I'm looking forward to it."

Tolbert said he will have put in his 30 years in the Florida retirement system and is opting not to take advantage of the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), which would have allowed him to stay on for up to five years and accumulate benefits.

He's been with Hernando County since 1990.

"I've enjoyed working with the county," Tolbert said. "It's gone by much quicker than one would think. There have been positives and negatives, but I think any career is like that."

Tolbert said he will use several of his vacation and sick days this month before he leaves office for good.

Beth Howley, the county's employment coordinator, said Tolbert will get 100 percent of his accrued vacation and paid time-off pay and 25 percent of existing sick leave when he leaves. She is still computing that figure.

Deputy County Administrator Larry Jennings said he will now ask county commissioners to amend the contract with Tampa-based Quorum Services, requesting that private firm to provide a building official to serve after Tolbert leaves.

"It's an interim arrangement to get us through until we take a look at how best to make the whole department work," Jennings said.

Quorum has already been assisting the building department with commercial plans reviews and residential inspections and paid on an as-needed basis.

With the construction industry slowdown, Tolbert has been forced to cut back on staff.

There are currently 47 paid full-time employees in all departments in his operation, which includes building, zoning, contractor licensing, landscaping and commercial development.

This time last year, Tolbert said he had 68 full-time employees.

That's a far cry from the 90 employees he had during the peak of the county's construction boom in 2005.

Tolbert has been criticized by builders for making the permit procedure ponderous. He agrees with their assessment.

"The truth of the matter is that 98 percent of that is a result of past construction practices that have caused the laws to be written that we have now," he said.

The building department, he said, has no choice but to comply with the law.

"Every time the state or county commission passes a new law, that makes getting a building permit that much more difficult," Tolbert said.

He is leaving at a time when single-family permits have plummeted and show no signs of recovering soon.

During the 2005 housing boom, there were 4,260 homes built in Hernando County. In 2006, there were 2,801.

Last year, there were 771 homes built.

From January 2008 through July 2008, that number stands at 222. There were only about 30 permits issued in July.

Still, Tolbert said all is not doom and gloom. Tolbert said critics are too quick to say Hernando County's building industry is tanking. In fact, the commercial and industrial end of it is thriving, he said.

"They need to open their eyes and drive around the county," he said. "The construction industry isn't dead in Hernando County. The construction industry is doing well, with the exception of single-family homes."

Prior to coming to Hernando County, Tolbert had various jobs for Hillsborough County, including zoning administrator and building director.

Tolbert is the fourth department head to exit in the past four months. Barbara Dupre was forced to resign in April after a county audit and outside law firm lambasted her professionalism and job skills. She got a severance package worth $24,900. Add in accrued sick leave, vacation leave and paid time off (PTO) days, and Dupre left the county with another $15,971 for a grand total of $40,871.

Dupre's departure was followed a few weeks later by the firing of Emergency Management Director Tom Leto, who received a cash-out from the county totaling $9,858 for accrued sick, vacation and PTO time.

Former Code Enforcement Director Frank McDowell retired from the county in May and received a cash-out of $8,188.32 in accrued leave.