Pursuant to the requirements of Article IV, Section 4.02 of the City Charter, it is recommended that the Mayor and the City Commission adopt the attached resolution consenting and confirming Ana Salgueiro as the Director of the Building Department for the City of Miami Beach.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Ana Salgueiro as Miami Beach Building Department Director. Ana has been successfully leading and managing the Building Department for the last nine months as interim director and building official. During this time, she has brought stability and a renewed sense of integrity to the department.

Ana has more than 30 years of experience in public and private sector engineering and construction experience; and she has been a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Florida for more than 27 years, as detailed in her extensive and impressive resume. She has a strong balance of both technical administrative experience and practical field expertise as a certified building official, building plans examiner and building inspector.

Ms. Salgueiro began her career in engineering in 1984 as a Project Manager responsible for management of Geotechnical and Structural Testing. From 1986 -1990 Ms. Salgueiro worked as a Senior Design Engineer for Gang Nail Systems and co-authored an in-house ANSI wind design manual. Ms. Salgueiro then worked freelance for a few years designing and inspecting structural components; eventually establishing her own company and working on commercial and residential design projects throughout Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

In 2006, Ana brought her private sector skills and experiences to Miami-Dade County and most recently worked at one of the county’s leading economic engines, the Miami International Airport performing structural plan review and structural/building inspections at this very active and busy international airport. In April 2017, Ms. Salgueiro joined our team as Deputy Director. She was recruited as part of our succession planning given the difficulty in finding qualified and certified professionals to serve as municipal building officials in Florida. She immediately began working towards streamlining the permitting process and ensuring safer and healthier construction sites in light of the Zika situation. She instituted a new method of walk-through plans ticketing, cutting service wait times by more than 75% and the residential counter was opened to a full day of service to improve the customer experience.

On August 28th, 2017 I asked Ana to assume the responsibility of interim director and building official a bit sooner than had been presumed during her recruitment and hiring process. Ana immediately agreed and stepped up to the plate and has proven to be a passionate, dedicated and knowledgeable director. In her short tenure, Ms. Salgueiro has continued the work of streamlining the process towards a more user-friendly department with equal access to all residents. She and her staff also performed successfully in the post-Irma efforts coordinating inspections of private and public buildings.

I want to highlight just a few immediate priority items Ana is addressing in addition to managing the day to day:

• Organizational Review – Ana is conducting a top to bottom review of the organizational structure of the department and the quality and caliber of staff performance.

• Internal Spot Audit - Over the last few months I tasked our internal auditor to conduct a selected building permits review and documentation analysis. Ana is currently digging deeper into the data and as needed is institutionalizing stronger documentation protocols and practices; as well as physical re-inspections of sites to ensure the integrity of the process and safety of the built environment.

• ISO 9001Quality Management System (QMS) - This prestigious recognition is a testament to quality controls set in place and the hard work of dedicated staff to reach this achievement. As the QMS is operationalized in real time day-to-day there is constant opportunity for improvement.

Interdepartmental coordination and communication is important to me and I urge all directors to collaborate and play in each other’s sandbox to promote a culture of teamwork and interdisciplinary problem solving. I know Ana shares this philosophy. Equally important, if not more so, is holding staff accountable to the highest standards of ethics and public trust. Again, I know Ana shares these beliefs as well, and will embody that as she leads the department.

There are some that have suggested we should do broad searches before filling a position. While I have utilized those in some cases in the past (and am doing so now for the Emergency Management Director position), the position of Building Official presents different circumstances. A candidate must be a certified building official under Florida law and have practiced as a licensed architect, engineer or general contractor in Florida for a period of five years. A candidate must also be certified by the Miami-Dade County Board of Rules and Appeals (“BORA”). I also find value in a candidate that is familiar with the Miami-Dade County building and development community and the local rules and practices of BORA. Ms. Salgueiro certainly meets all of these requirements. Furthermore, of the 35 certified building officials in Miami-Dade County, Ms. Salgueiro is one of only 9 who are registered professional engineers.

Nevertheless, I asked my HR director to pull the resumes of the Building officials in Miami-Dade cities with populations of 50,000 or more. I have attached their resumes [1]. Several of the cities out-source the function to a private firm, not something I would recommend. When you compare Ms. Salgueiro’s background with her peers, her academic credentials and professional experience is on par, if not superior, to those resumes. And, unlike her peers, she has now successfully navigated arguably the busiest permitting environment in South Florida with success. Changing leadership at this point makes no sense. Finally, if a commitment to diversity means anything, Ms. Salgueiro would be only one of three women serving as a building official in Miami-Dade County.

Over the last nine months Ana has proven that she can lead the department with integrity and with a focus on quality customer service. I ask that you concur with this appointment and join me in congratulating the City’s first woman building official.

Thank you for your support.

[1] I was not able to get a copy of the resume of the Building official of Coral Gables. He actually serves as the Assistant City Manager.