Lee out to alter builders board

Monday, March 8, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, a leader in the fight two years ago against shady companies that build swimming pools, now wants to shake up the state Contractors Board.

Hundreds of people, he says, feel the seven-member board which has six contractor members, protects the industry. "We need a consumer-friendly board," he says. He has introduced a bill to change the board's composition.

There are an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 complaints filed every year, with about 97 percent of them from homeowners who claim they have been shortchanged by a contractor. Most complaints are settled by the staff, and only about 100 reach the board.

Margi Grein, the board's executive director since last year, suggested Lee is out of touch with the board's recent record. From last July to January, 40 contractor licenses were revoked and fines up to $25,000 were assessed. In the first six months of 1998, only seven licenses were pulled.

"Mr. Lee has somewhat of a misunderstanding of what we've done, where we're going, and he needs to bring himself up to date with what is happening at the board and what is happening today," Grein said Friday.

Two years ago, the board was sharply criticized for failing to handle complaints from the public about faulty construction of swimming pools. But things have changed since Grein took over, she said. There is an increased investigative staff, complaints are handled faster and stricter discipline is being imposed.

Lee, himself a contractor, says the board did well in giving Grein the job.

But his Assembly Bill 259 would change the composition of the contractors-dominated board, which he says is too cozy with the industry. Instead of six contractors, Lee wants three. The three other spots would be filled by a certified public accountant, a local government building inspector and a professional engineer or architect. The single consumer representative would remain.

No contractor could be chairman, under Lee's bill, which has 31 co-sponsors. No member would be allowed to serve more than two four-year terms. At present, he said four of the seven members have served nine years or more.

"We need to have new people, fresh ideas as construction defect law starts coming towards the board," Lee said.

"We need to have a board to represent the general public. It's not just 'us protecting us.' That was the major thing I heard when people went in front of the contractors board. They felt it was contractors protecting contractors."

While the board may be doing more recently, it was nearly dormant in prior years, Lee said. "These are the same people who didn't do so much," he said.

Grein defended the makeup of the board, saying it has a wide variety of contractors. There are representatives of home builders, general contractors, structural steel, electricians, painting and mechanical. "We rely on their expertise," she said.

"To say we're cozy with the contractors is completely false," she said. There is only one home-building representative on the board, yet 97 percent of the complaints come from homeowners.

There's no pattern that the contractor is favored in cases before the board, she said.

The bill is before the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor, which has held one hearing. The committee is waiting for other bills on the contractors board to be introduced so the issue can be considered as a whole.

In the next few weeks, Grein said, bills will be introduced to increase the criminal penalties on errant contractors, raise consumer protection, allow the contractors board to get arrest records and to speed resolution on complaints. The bills would also allow disciplinary action against contractors who lost their licenses in another state.

But Lee also wants to shift the prosecution of criminal complaints against licensed and unlicensed contractors from the district attorneys to the state Attorney General. "The District Attorney's office (in Clark County) doesn't seem to have the manpower or the energy to go out and do a lot of legwork to prosecute these licensed and unlicensed contractors.

Not so, says Grein and board investigator George Lyford. The board receives good cooperation from district attorneys and there's no backlog.

Lyford said four cases were referred to the office of state Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa. One case is ready to go to trial next week. The other three, Lyford said have been in that office for more than six months.

Lyford said he sends 25 to 30 cases a month to the district attorneys of unlicensed contractors.

Last summer, Grein started a new procedure for handling complaints. After receiving one, an investigator goes to the site for an inspection and writes a report on what he believes should be corrected. A letter is sent to the contractor informing him of the defects.