West Miami-Dade condo owners allege irregularities in roof proposal process

The Beach Club contractor subject of previous Call Christina investigation

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The Call Christina team recently received a complaint about a roofing contractor who was the subject of a previous Call Christina segment.

This time, the call came in from The Beach Club at Fontainebleau Park, a 712-unit condo complex in West Miami-Dade.

ROOFING PROPOSAL CONCERNS:

Condo owner Katherine Castro expressed concerns about what she called possible bid "rigging" related to a more than $5 million job.

David B. Taylor of D&T General Contracting secured the winning bid to repair roofs at The Beach Club.

"The two other companies that he competed with are companies that some way, somehow trace back to him (Taylor)," Castro said.

Records obtained by the Call Christina team in connection with the two other companies that submitted proposals document associations to Taylor.

Over the phone, Taylor referred the Call Christina team to his attorney Michael Reppas.

In a written statement Reppas stated, "It is the obligation of the Board of The Beach Club to control and conduct its own bidding process, whether through the board's attorney or through board members – not that of a vendor. It is the board's sole obligation and responsibility to conduct and perform its own bidding process. The implication that David Taylor or D&T General Contracting, Inc., somehow controlled the decision of the board and/or their attorney is completely false and unfounded."

Meanwhile, the attorney who was retained by the board members who were in place at the time of the proposal process, says he was not asked to review, nor did he review, the validity of any of the companies.

"At a duly noticed board meeting, the board of directors selected one of the companies based on price. The board of directors requested that I review the terms of the contract to make sure that it complied with the scope of work required for the 40-year recertification," Hector Martinez said. "I did not make any recommendations to the board of directors as to which companies to choose. My involvement was solely reviewing the terms of the contract to ensure compliance with county requirements."

VOTER FRAUD ALLEGATIONS:

Some condo owners have also expressed concern about the way the three board members who approved the roofing bid secured their positions in the first place. 

They allege voter fraud. 

Those claims are now the subject of an on-going Miami-Dade police forgery investigation. 

A SUDDEN CHANGE:

At the time of the roofing proposal review process, Sunshine Management Services was the management company for The Beach Club.

On Thursday, the Call Christina team was on property to ask questions regarding the expressed concerns by condo owners to the winning bidder's on-site project manager and the man identified as the on-site property manager.

When the Call Christina team returned on Friday, there were notices posted around the complex indicating that the property management company had canceled its contract and the three board members who selected the roofing bid had resigned.

When Local 10 News knocked on the door of all three board members nobody answered.

Condo owners spent Easter weekend unsure of what happens next. 

On Monday, no one at Sunshine Management Services could explain over the phone why they chose to cancel the contract, only reiterating that they were no longer the management company for The Beach Club.

The board members' resignation letter named three replacements to include Castro.

Castro tells Call Christina that they are now working to hire a new attorney and new management company.

She also wants roofing work already underway to stop and for state regulators to step-in and investigate.

"So that's what we want," Castro said. "We want an injunction until a right bidding process is done."

"Under Florida Statute Section 455.225(10), the department cannot confirm or deny the existence of any complaints or investigations against licensed professionals until 10 days after probable cause has been found," Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation press secretary Travis Keels said.

THE WINNING BID: D&T General Contracting  

It was a more than $5 million roofing job and it was awarded to D&T General Contracting, which state records show is run by Taylor. 

Taylor has also worked under the business name Taylor Contracting and Roofing. 

In records obtained by the Call Christina team from the Florida Department of Financial Services, Taylor Contracting and Roofing has been on the hook for a penalty worth more than a quarter of a million dollars related to a worker's comp case. 

The department issued a final order, saying that until the $279,538.66 penalty was paid in full and proof of compliance was provided, "Emloyer shall immediately cease all business operations in the state of Florida."

A referral was made to the Division of Insurance Fraud as a result of the Division of Workers' Compensation investigation of the employer for violating section 440, F.S.

A copy of the Final Order was sent to Taylor Contracting and Roofing Inc., which was filed March, 25, 2015.  

Less than two months later, on May 15, 2015, Taylor submitted a bid to The Beach Club under the company name D&T General Contracting, Inc. 

According the Department of Financial Services, the final order filed in March applies narrowly to the employer, Taylor Contracting & Roofing Inc. to cease business operations. It doesn't, they say, prevent the employees of the company from working or forming its own company.

In June of 2015, the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers' Compensation Bureau of Compliance sent Taylor Contracting and Roofing a notice of lien since the $279,000 penalty had yet to be paid. 

The letter dated June 22, 2015 added, "failure to satisfy the lien may impact contractor licensure."

The unpaid assessed penalty has been forwarded to a collection agency.

According to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's (DBPR) website, both of Taylor's state-issued and regulated licenses are listed as current and active until August 31. 

When the Call Christina team was on site last week, workers were wearing shirts with the word "Icon."

Taylor is now working under the name Icon Contracting Services as a qualifier, a move his attorney said state regulators approved.

"He is the qualifier of Icon Contracting Services, but not the owner of said business," Reppas said. "Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation fully approved Mr. Taylor's involvement and relationship with Icon Contracting Services."

NORTHEAST CONTRACTING CORPORATION: 

The other bid submitted to The Beach Club in May of 2015 was from a company called Northeast Contracting Corporation. 

According to the about page on the company's website, "NECC is a family owned-business. Brothers Eion and Sean Kelley are especially involved in the daily operations of the business, ensuring we can stand firmly behind our products and services."

The Florida Department of State Division of Corporations has a business listing filed under the company name Northeast Roofing Corp. that shows Eion Kelley as the president. 

It includes the address 85 Fiesta Way, Fort Lauderdale. That is the same address listed for Taylor on DBPR's website. 

In a 2015 annual report filed in January of 2015, the company's vice president is listed as Patricia A. Tepper. 

In state records obtained by the Call Christina team, Tepper is listed as an employee of Taylor. 

In Taylor Contracting and Roofing Inc's worker's compensation case with the Florida Department of Financial Services, an investigator notes in 2014 that the company roster included the name Patricia A. Tepper. 

"I called the office for the employer and spoke with Patricia Tepper, who confirmed that the workers at site were their employees," the investigator's note states. "She stated that Erica Taylor was out of the state but that she would have her husband David Taylor, who ran the company, call me."

Also in the 2015 annual report for Northeast Roofing Corp. filed with the Division of Corporations, the address 2616 Griffin Road, Fort Lauderdale, is listed under both Tepper and Kelley's names. 

The address is also the listed business address for Taylor's Taylor Contracting and Roofing. 

Eion Kelley has a certified roofing license in Florida. DBPR's website shows it is current and active until August 31.

Requests for a comment sent to Patricia Tepper's cell phone, Facebook account and email went unreturned. 

In an email, Kelley tells the Call Christina team, "Northeast Roofing Corp remains committed to its bid, which was made in good faith. To the degree it was awarded the bid, Northeast would have completed the project pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth by the association."

TRI-COUNTY INC.:

If this company really wanted to win a $5.5 million roofing job, the proposal from a company called "Tri-County Inc." was surprisingly short on details. 

It is just a few bullet points on a single page. 

The Weston address on the proposal is a home that Broward County Property Records show used to be owned by Patricia Tepper's parents, Gary and Anne Tepper. 

The last time the Teppers' lived at that Weston address was in 2011. 

State records show Gary and Anne Tepper were once listed as directors of a company called TCI-Consolidated-Tri County Incorporated but that company dissolved in 2009. 

If Tepper was bidding on this job, he didn't have a roofing license to perform the work. 

On DBPR's website, he has a certified underground utility and excavation contractor's license. 

The main address posted on DBPR's website for that license is 461 SW 54th Avenue, Plantation. 

That is the same address on the letterhead of Northeast Contracting Corp's Beach Club proposal for the job.

Requests for a comment sent to the Teppers via phone, Facebook message and email went unreturned.

DAVID B. TAYLOR: SUBJECT OF PREVIOUS CALL CHRISTINA STORY

You may recall last fall, Eagle's Nest homeowners in Coral Springs reached out to Call Christina to say roofs replaced after Hurricane Wilma were already falling apart. 

"Any kind of wind we have, there's just thousands of projectiles scattered across the neighborhood," Dennis Chavis, of the Eagles Nest Townhomes, said.

Chavis took Local 10 News on a tour of blue tarps that protect the roofs in his Coral Springs neighborhood. 

"They are supposed to last for twenty years," he said. "They basically lasted for four."

A roofing consultant hired by Eagles Nest found that more than 25 percent of the roofs are damaged beyond repair and that some materials didn't meet Florida building code.

Taylor was one of the named defendants in a suit filed by the Eagle’s Nest Townhomes Condominium Association. 

Since that time, the association has retained new counsel. The office of Bradford Beilly tells Local 10 News the case is pending.

Related Link: Coral Springs townhome residents question city inspection due to damaged roofs

Over the phone, Taylor blamed roof failures on Chinese nails.