Putnam County Sued

Putnam County’s former building official is suing the county, claiming in legal documents he was the subject of “disparate treatment and retaliation” from at least six county leaders after he reported “unlawful employment activities.”

John Cioffi filed the charges following his Feb. 17 termination and is seeking $50,000 in compensation from the county, as well as payment of  his legal fees, documents show. The lawsuit claims wrongful termination under the Florida Whistleblower Act.

The lawsuit names County Administrator Terry Suggs, Deputy County Administrator and General Services Director Julianne Young, Deputy County Administrator Keith “J.R.” Grimes Jr. – who is listed on the county’s website as the deputy county operations administrator – Board of County Commissioners Chairman Terry Turner, County Commissioner Bill Pickens and County Commissioner Larry Harvey as playing a role in the “disparate treatment” of Cioffi.

The lawsuit claims county officials pushed for Cioffi to issue building permits without first conducting the necessary inspections. Cioffi’s suit also alleges some officials wanted him and to otherwise expedite the permitting process.

“He tried to do the right thing and was punished for it,” Cioffi’s lawyer, Marie Mattox, said Tuesday.

When asked for comment, Turner said Tuesday he did not feel it appropriate to comment on an active lawsuit. Pickens, too, said Monday he had no comment. On Monday, Suggs said he could not comment on active litigation, and Young and Grimes echoed his sentiments Tuesday at a Board of County Commissioners meeting.

“We intend to defend ourselves vigorously,” Harvey said Monday.

The allegations

Cioffi worked for Putnam County as the chief building official from July 2018 to Feb. 17, 2023, the lawsuit states, and had never been reprimanded for misconduct during that time. Putnam officials promoted Cioffi to executive director of the Planning and Development Services Department in late 2021 but Suggs demoted him back to building official following a disagreement in September 2022, according to the lawsuit.

Around Sept. 20, 2022, the lawsuit alleges, Cioffi learned about a county ice cream shop that had completed repairs or renovations without a permit. Grimes, who was the public safety director at the time and was not a deputy county administrator, reportedly told Cioffi that because the ice cream shop did not follow protocol, it was the county’s fault.

Cioffi allegedly asked how it could be the county’s fault if his department didn’t know about the renovations. Cioffi also told Young who responded, “Well, the county does not do the correct thing a lot,” the lawsuit states.

Suggs reportedly sent Grimes to the ice cream shop to determine what permits the ice cream shop needed, the lawsuit claims, despite Grimes not being a certified building inspector.

The county administrator then requested from Cioffi information about the ice cream shop’s permits, the suit claims. After Cioffi gave him the images from the Putnam County Property Appraiser’s Office website to show the construction was done without a permit, the lawsuit states, Suggs “hurled” the images back at Cioffi while yelling and saying he could not see the building’s modifications.

“This was inaccurate because Suggs could clearly see what the building looked like before the renovations were done and then afterwards,” the lawsuit reads.

The next day, documents state, Cioffi visited the ice cream shop to advise the owners how to comply with laws and how to retroactively get into compliance with the Florida Building Code, the statewide permitting and building guidelines.

The lawsuit claims Suggs called Cioffi into his office later that same day and demoted Cioffi from executive director back to building official.

Hindering progress?

“During the course of (Cioffi’s) employment, he was constantly asked to break protocol by administrators and commissioners,” the lawsuit alleges. “(Cioffi) was asked to violate Florida law including the Florida Building Code.”

The documents state Cioffi was told numerous times throughout his time at the county “that he hindered progress and gave people a hard time.”

Turner, who also works as a building contractor, used his authority as a commissioner to advance his own projects without completing the necessary paperwork to be in line with state laws, the lawsuit says.

The suit claims Harvey told Cioffi how to conduct building inspections, encouraged him to ignore what could have been code violations on Harvey’s friends’ businesses and requested Cioffi overlook Building Code requirements for a property owner whose husband died.

Legal documents alleged Harvey also asked Cioffi to meet with a contractor, saying local contractors should get preferential treatment. However, the person was not a licensed contractor, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims the man used another person’s license to build homes and that he sold equipment to the county and “was friendly with the commissioners.”

Improper permitting allegations

Around Dec. 29, 2022, Young called Cioffi to tell him the owner of a local car dealership had problems with his building and wanted to know if Cioffi would get in the way of the owner repairing the building, according to the lawsuit.

“Young advised that (the owner) was her friend and she did not want (Cioffi) to give him a hard time by requiring the building to be evaluated by an engineer,” the lawsuit states.

Cioffi allegedly responded, saying that performing his duties did not mean he was giving the owner a hard time.

In early January, documents state, Young requested Cioffi issue more over-the-counter permits and use contractor affidavits because that is what Turner wanted. Doing so would have meant inspections would not have been conducted, the lawsuit states, so Cioffi told Young he could not allow that.

Suggs and Young also asked Cioffi to sign off on a waiver of the test for general contractors as a favor to a friend but Cioffi said he could not legally do that, the lawsuit alleges. Had Cioffi signed the waiver, the suit said, that person would not have had to take the required state test, which Cioffi found uncomfortable to do and believed to be illegal.

Young also asked Cioffi in January to give a restaurant owner preferential treatment after the owner complained they were being held up in renovating his building, legal documents state. Her request sought to have Cioffi not to require the restaurant to have a building permit, the lawsuit states, but Cioffi said he could not do that.

That same month, Young asked Cioffi about another permit because Pickens had complained about the delay in issuing a permit for someone, the suit claims. Cioffi claims he had spoken to Pickens the day before and Pickens wanted Cioffi to pull the permit application ahead of other permits. Cioffi again said he could not do that, according to the documents.

On Jan. 30, Young again asked Cioffi to issue more over-the-counter permits, documents state, but Cioffi said he already issued all the permits he was allowed to issue. The lawsuit states Young said she had researched the issue and other counties issue more over-the-counter permits than Putnam County.

Cioffi met with building departments in St. Johns and Clay counties, the lawsuit states. Officials from both counties indicated Cioffi was in compliance with state law and that their counties used a process similar to Putnam County’s process, documents show.

Cioffi’s termination

Following his meeting with Clay and St. Johns officials, Cioffi on Feb. 7 reportedly wrote Young an email titled “Building Department Concerns,” where he detailed the law and his responsibilities as the county’s chief building official, documents show. He allegedly received no response.

Ten days later, Turner greeted county staff, except for Cioffi, the lawsuit states, and other county staff members told Cioffi Turner stated to them, “John and I are on the outs.”

Cioffi emailed Young that day to question Turner’s statement. Shortly after, on the same day, Turner and Young met with Cioffi in his office to discuss a permit matter and stated the way Cioffi and his staff handled a certain permit was “incorrect,” documents claim.

During the meeting, the lawsuit states, Cioffi asked Young if she read his email and “she said that they could discuss that the following week.” She told Cioffi again to issue over-the-counter permits, and Cioffi again objected, the lawsuit alleges.

After Turner left the meeting with Cioffi, county staff told Cioffi that Turner had remarked, “John is an a**hole who needs to go,” legal documents state. When Cioffi sent Young an email about that comment, Young told Cioffi she did not think Turner was out of line, according to the lawsuit.

Later that day, county Human Resources Department Director Sara Caron told Cioffi to visit her office that afternoon, the suit alleges. Cioffi noted, according to the lawsuit, that Suggs and Young were already in Caron's office when he arrived and Cioffi was fired upon arrival.

“(Cioffi’s) demotion and terminations were causally related to his reporting and objections to violation of rules, regulations or laws, and/or reporting malfeasance, misfeasance or gross misconduct, and/or participating in investigations, hearings or other inquiries, specified in parts above,” the lawsuit alleges.