City Hires Unlicensed Contractor

Mesquite's courthouse.

I've been trying to avoid local politics here in the Workman Chronicles, instead redirecting the focus of this weekly humor column to broader, more national appeal.

But I just couldn't resist a little tweak of the nose to my hometown government.

As some of you know, local governments across the country are cracking down on unlicensed contractors.

Back during the building boom of 2005-2008, most municipalities looked the other way because they were simply too busy trying to remember exactly where the next high-rise or major mall was being built in their town, much less bothering to check I.D. cards on the guys swinging the hammers.

Now all those projects have evaporated, along with the billions of dollars in building permit fees, which means city building inspectors have a lot more time on their hands.  In fact, one rumor claims that the guys responsible for knowing how to build sturdy structures have become "Angry Birds" experts, proficient at knocking down video game buildings with feathered kamikaze chickens.
On the other side of the equation is the homeowner, who is trying desperately to keep Wells Fargo and Bank Of America at bay by squeezing pennies wherever possible.  One way is to hire unlicensed contractors at a fraction of the cost of licensed, insured hammer swingers to make sure their spit-and-tissue dwelling remains standing long enough for Wells and BOA to remember where they stashed the foreclosure papers.  (I find it a satisfying irony that the shorthand name for the second bank is the same as a certain kind of snake, namely a "constrictor" known for squeezing its victims to death).

So municipalities have picked up some spare change by dropping their own "hammer," specifically in the form of fines and punishment whenever they discover a contractor licensed to do framing (putting up walls) illegally doing drywall (putting up walls) without a drywall license.  State, county, and city governments are swooping down on unlicensed contractors and shaking their accusatory fingers at the homeowners trying to save a few bucks by hiring them.

At Tuesday's Mesquite City Council meeting, the council had to vote in favor of rescinding a previous bid they had approved on one of their own renovation projects.

The reason?

It turns out that the city had approved a contractor from two states away who did not have a Nevada license.

I want you to hear this again:

The city had hired an unlicensed contractor to work on a city-owned building.

Oh, and the reason?

The unlicensed contractor was cheaper.

To be fair, acting City Manager Kurt Sawyer claimed that the city thought the contractor had the proper licenses. 

You know, "the city," the people responsible for issuing and checking licenses.

What makes a funny faux pas even funnier: Sawyer's regular full time gig?  Head of the building inspector department.

The icing on the cake is the fact that the building being worked on by the unlicensed contractor is the same building where a third kind of hammer falls, namely the city's courthouse, where other unlicensed contractors are regularly ruled "guilty" by a judge's gavel.

Once more, with flair: the city hired an unlicensed contractor to work on the courthouse where other unlicensed contractors are adjudicated.

There's a sideshow that makes all of this even more comical.

The renovations included several different contractors doing painting, carpeting, counters, and other work, but the actual bid approved by the city council two weeks ago was listed on the agenda as being submitted by Santa Fe Ceramics, a licensed tile contractor. 

Who owns Santa Fe Ceramics?  Marco Ruelas, a former Mesquite City Councilman.

One more time: the Mesquite City Councilmen approved an unlicensed contractor on a bid allegedly submitted by a former Mesquite City Councilman.

In his defense, Ruelas pointed out that the city made the mistake.  He didn't submit the whole bid, only the bid for the carpet work, and that the unlicensed contractor wasn't Santa Fe's subcontractor.  After all, Ruelas explained, the contractor couldn't work under Santa Fe Ceramics because while the former city councilman's company is licensed to do tile work, it isn't licensed as a general contractor. 

In other words, the city would have been hiring an unlicensed general contractor to supervise an unlicensed subcontractor to renovate the courthouse where unlicensed contractors get their fingers slapped.

My advice to the city?

Next time you want to renovate a city-owned building, make it simple and cut out the middle man.  Just have the judge sentence the next batch of unlicensed contractors to "community service" at whatever building the city needs fixed up next. 

And if that building happens to be the city jail?  Well, that's just Mesquite irony, hard at work.