STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

DAVID DEWAYNE ALLGOOD, )

Individually, and d/b/a ) AMERICAN ENTERPRISE ELECTRIC, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 82-1164

)

DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL ) REGULATION, FLORIDA ELECTRICAL ) CONTRACTORS' LICENSING BOARD, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, K. N. Ayers, held a public hearing in the above- styled case on 28 July 1982 at Fort Myers, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Barry A. Blair, Esquire

Post Office Box 1467

Fort Myers, Florida 33902

For Respondent: Susan Tully, Esquire

Department of Professional Regulation

130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

By Amended Petition dated 22 April 1982, David Dewayne Allgood, Petitioner, by and through his attorney, requests an administrative hearing to contest the denial of Petitioner's application to sit for the state electrical contractors' licensing examination. By letter dated November 20, 1981, Respondent advised Petitioner his application had been denied because he had not submitted evidence of sufficient experience as required by Section 489.521, Florida Statutes, and Rule 21GG-5.03, Florida Administrative Code. Petitioner seeks certification as qualifying agent for his business.

At the hearing Petitioner called three witnesses, including himself; Respondent called one witness; and four exhibits were admitted into evidence. Proposed findings submitted by the parties and not included below were not supported by the evidence or were deemed immaterial to the results reached.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Petitioner was born on March 14, 1960. At the time of this hearing he was 22 years old.

2. Petitioner moved to Florida from Arkansas in March, 1981, and subsequently applied for and was issued a State certificate as a general contractor in February, 1982. While in Arkansas, Petitioner obtained a license as a master electrician (Exhibit 1) and his company, American Enterprise Electric, was licensed as an electrical contractor (Exhibit 2). The electrical contractors' license was obtained without examination, as Petitioner was doing electrical contracting when the Arkansas licensing law was passed in 1979.

   
   

3. Petitioner started working for his father, a general contractor in Arkansas, at an early age and was doing electrical work in his early teens. He took over the electrical end of his father's contracts, prepared bids, supervised, and did most of the electrical wiring on several apartment buildings, office buildings, and single family residences through his late teens.

   
   

4. In 1978 Petitioner started his own business as an electrical contractor in Arkansas. He subsequently added air conditioning and electronics work. Operating as Allgood Electric, Petitioner did the electrical work on residences, apartment buildings and office buildings in which others were the general contractor. In his application, Exhibit 4, Petitioner dates 3/30/78 as the start of his electrical contracting company. The last job reported on Exhibit 4 is dated 9/1/80, shortly before Petitioner moved to Florida. From 3/7/78 through 9/1/80 Petitioner lists on Exhibit 4 a total electrical contractor dollar value of $60,000 with two of these jobs accounting for $35,000.

   
   

5. Petitioner holds no local license as an electrician or electrical contractor. No evidence was presented of the electrical contracting done by his company in Florida, although he testified he has a qualifying agent to allow his company to do electrical contracting.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

6. The Division of Administrative Hearings his jurisdiction over the parties to, and the subject matter of, these proceedings.

   
   

7. Section 489.521, Florida Statutes, establishes the requirements for qualifying agent for business organizations and provides in pertinent part:

   
   

   The [qualifying agent] must possess the required skill, knowledge, and experience, as evidenced by 3 years' proven experience in the trade or education thereof. ...

   
   

8. Petitioner does not claim educational equivalent. He only claims that he has the requisite three years' proven experience. Rule 21GG-5.03 provides in pertinent part:

   
   

   1. All applicants must show that their proposed qualifying agent (in the case of a sole proprietorship the applicant himself) has three years: proven experience in the trade as an electrical contractor or in a responsible management position with an electrical contractor.

      
      

9. From the evidence submitted it is clear that Petitioner has not shown three years' experience as an electrical contractor. He presented evidence of

   more than three years experience doing electrical work for a general contractor, not for an electrical contractor or as an electrical contractor. Nor has Petitioner shown experience in a management position with an electrical contractor. While Petitioner was doing electrical work, this was not experience as an electrical contractor or in a management position with an electrical contractor.

   
   

10. As noted by the Board in A.P. Jerguson III v. Florida Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board, DOAH Case 76-1600, Final Order 25 March 1977:

    
    

    a new qualifying agent and

    business applicant cannot be certified as competent to operate unlimitedly and on a statewide basis until they have demonstrated sufficient experience and

    financial stability to so operate because the standard established by Part VII of Chapter 468, Florida Statutes, are not merely minimal standards that must be

    met in order to operate as an electrical contractor, but represents standards of a higher degree of experience, financial stability, competence, and excellence that must be met in order to preempt

    the regulation of electrical contractors by the local authorities throughout the state of Florida, regardless of the level of said local standards.

    
    

11. Jerguson was found to be not qualified although he was licensed in Florida as a master electrician, had been licensed as an electrical contractor in Dade County for four years, and had performed all types of electrical work on equipment installation to electrical wiring, and did approximately $66,000 in gross sales in 1975.

    
    

12. From the foregoing it is concluded that David Dewayne Allgood does not have three years' proven experience as an electrical contractor or in a management position with an electrical contractor as of the time of his application so as to qualify for statewide licensure as an electrical contractor. It is therefore

RECOMMENDED that the application of David Dewayne Allgood to sit for the statewide electrical contractors' examination be denied.

ENTERED this 2nd day of September, 1982, at Tallahassee, Florida.

K. N. AYERS Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32301 904/488-9675

FILED with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 2nd day of September, 1982.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Barry A. Blair, Esquire Post Office Box 1467

Fort Myers, Florida 33902

Susan Tully, Esquire Department of Professional

Regulation

130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Samuel R. Shorstein, Secretary Department of Professional

Regulation

130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Allen R. Smith, Jr., Executive Director Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board Department of Professional

Regulation

130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 82-001164

Orders for Case No: 82-001164