The building department in Surfside, Florida, was the target of mounting complaints by residents and contractors in late 2018 — so much so that the town manager at the time placed the office under administrative review, he said Thursday.
The office, which handles permitting and inspections for properties within the town, was led at the time by Ross Prieto, a longtime building official who is now on a leave of absence from a similar position in another south Florida city as his role in the inspections of the Champlain Towers South building has been scrutinized. Prieto has not responded to multiple attempts to reach him for comment. The review was formalized in a January 2019 memo, which was first reported Wednesday by the Miami Herald. CNN was given a copy of the memo by the town of Surfside. In an interview, Guillermo Olmedillo, who served as Surfside town manager through 2020, said that ahead of the review, his desk was filling up regularly with «complaints about plans taking too long and inspections taking too long.
