Riviera ‘building official’ unlicensed, charge says
Ladi A. Goldwire often identified herself with title, arrest notice says.
RIVIERA BEACH — The official hired to oversee construction projects in Riviera Beach, Ladi A. Goldwire, has been hit with a state charge of falsely holding herself out as a licensed building official.
According to an arrest notice released Wednesday by the State Attorney’s Office, Goldwire, 41, also known as Ladi March, repeatedly identified herself as the city’s chief building official even though she never earned a state license certifying she was qualified for the job, and at times without even being a provisional building official.
The charge is a first degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Goldwire could not be reached for comment. Her attorney, Malcolm Cunningham Jr., declined to comment Wednesday afternoon.
“Goldwire’s actions as a Building Official caused development companies to change schedules, incur losses and remit fees,” said detective Zac Aldridge of the Office of the State Attorney in the investigation report filed April 26.
The city hired an outside firm, CAP Government, to provide building department services, and Goldwire should have been working under its supervision but was not, the report said.
The arrest comes at a time of continuing turmoil in Riviera Beach. Many key city jobs have been unfilled for months. The city council fired City Manager Jonathan Evans last September with little explanation, after six months on the job. His job remains unfilled, except by an interim staffer, and Evans filed a complaint last month with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging his firing was retaliation for his initiating an investigation into alleged sexual harassment by city officials.
Articles in The Palm Beach Post in October documented excessive spending and travel by city council members. One, longtime incumbent Dawn Pardo, was voted out of office in March by an 80-20 margin, and two others, Lynne Hubbard and Terence Davis, face a recall petition by residents, an effort currently in court.
In November a company seeking city approval to build a cold storage facility near the Port of Palm Beach sued the city over frustrations with Goldwire and her department. Michael Drew, owner of Port of Palm Cold Storage, said the city’s administrative paralysis delayed the opening of its facility by 11 months and cost tens of thousands of dollars and counting, as prospective customers called for its services.
The suit alleged that although the previous building official approved the project’s construction, Goldwire “not only refuses to perform her statutory duties, she even refused to attend a meeting set up by the city attorney on Nov. 2, 2017, to resolve the issues ....” What’s more, she only received her provisional building code administrator license in May and had yet to receive her permanent license, said Charlie Bennardini, Drew’s attorney.
During the State Attorney’s Office investigation, “many” construction and development project teams and own- ers within the city complained about Goldwire’s abilities, the investigation report said.
Among the projects was the multimillion-dollar Amrit Health and Wellness Resort at 3100 N. Ocean Drive, on Singer Island. Development team members complained about “questionable practices” by Goldwire, while she held herself out in official correspondence as “Building Official,” the report said.
Goldwire, a contractor, was offered the Building Official post in December 2016 by then-interim City Manager Danny Jones. And according to “multiple reports,” her selection came under instructions from City Council Member Lynne Hubbard, the report said. Goldwire started Jan. 10, 2017. “Goldwire was not licensed as a Building Official in any capacity at this time, nor had she started the process prior to this date. The job offer letter actually outlines that the ‘acquisition of the Provisional Building Code Administrator status with the Florida Board of Professional Regulations is critical.’”
Soon after she took the job she applied to the state to be a provisional building official. But lawyers at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation objected to issuing the license, “due to open enforcement of her contractors license.”
After she and her lawyer, Cunningham, appeared at a Building Code Administration Board meeting in April 2017, the board agreed to issue the provisional license, effective May 8, 2017, the report said. However, documents and emails provided by the Amrit development team, as examples of her questionable practices, showed she had represented herself as Riviera Beach’s “Building Official” from the start of her time on the job, even before she had the provisional license. State records show her provisional license is set to expire Monday.
“Investigations into why a municipality would seek out and hire a subject such as Goldwire who does not meet the criteria for the hired position still remain mostly unanswered,” Aldridge’s report stated.