After a five-month search, Anna Maria has found a new building official — and he’s well-known to city officials.
The new official was the temp building official.
At a meeting Dec. 13, Anna Maria commissioners voted 4-0 to hire Luke Curtis as full-time building official on Mayor Dan Murphy’s recommendation. Commissioner Dale Woodland was absent with excuse.
“I feel good,” Curtis, who has served as acting building official for five months, said in an interview Dec. 14. “I think it is going to be a great opportunity for me and the city.”
Curtis is familiar with the role. When David M. Greenbaum resigned the position July 13 to pursue other interests, Murphy contracted Curtis from Joe Payne Inc., a Tampa-based contractor, to serve as acting building official.
“It’s an arrangement that I feel very comfortable with,” the mayor told commissioners Dec. 13. “I have a great deal of confidence in Luke. He’s done a great job over the last several months serving as our building official.”
Commissioner Doug Copeland agreed with Murphy’s assessment. “I just know that recently I had an issue, and I went to Luke and he resolved it very satisfactorily,” he said.
Curtis, who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, is a certified floodplain manager and building official. Before becoming acting building official for Anna Maria, he was a building contractor for Payne and, simultaneously, worked as plans examiner for the city of Largo.
“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Curtis said, “and I think this will be a good output for utilizing my experience.”
Curtis said his time as acting building official prepared him for the position.
“If nothing else, it’s gotten me acclimated with where things are, what needs to be done, and to get familiarized with some of the contractors that do work regularly in the city,” Curtis said.
Curtis previously was paid $65.44 hourly for most work and $175 per hour for work requiring additional building official credentials. He will earn $7,500 a month plus benefits as full-time building official. Greenbaum was paid $7,291.66 per month.
While Greenbaum worked as building official for only seven months before leaving, Curtis said he plans to remain in Anna Maria.
“I’ve already been here five months, even though I wasn’t an employee, so I’ve almost exceeded that threshold the last building official set,” Curtis said.
“My intention is to be here for a long time.”
