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DAVID KARPMayor Pam Iorio vows to investigate city contracts with the company once known as Ryan Construction.
TAMPA - On the day the indictments came out, Mayor Pam Iorio was clear: The city would not give business to Ryan Construction any more.
Ryan Construction was the company that built a luxury house for former city housing chief Steve LaBrake. It was the company whose founder, Dean Ryan, faced charges of getting city contracts by bribing city officials.
"This administration sets high ethics standards," Iorio said.
But even after Iorio uttered those words, the city has awarded thousands of dollars in contracts to what is essentially the same company as Ryan Construction. The business just changed its name and president. Ryan's grandson replaced Ryan as the top executive.
Since then, the city has awarded the company at least $87,000 in contracts. A city housing official did this without the mayor's knowing or any top manager's agreeing to it.
In three cases, the new company - now called CTB Home Builders - did not even submit new bids for city work. Someone took agreements that Ryan Construction signed, scratched out Ryan's name, then wrote in his grandson's name, a new date and company name.
Nothing else on the contract changed: Not the company address, the specifications, or the prices.
Kim Norquist, the city official who approved the contract, sees no problem with the arrangement, he said Thursday. Norquist said he felt sorry for Ryan, 65, a longtime city contractor whom Norquist has described as a "friend" of the city.
"I am a compassionate person," Norquist said. His "compassion" may have gotten the better of him, he said.
Ryan has not been convicted of any crimes, Norquist said. Ryan's grandson, who was one of two officers of Ryan Construction, was not charged with any crime. "Do I have a choice?" Norquist said. "I don't think I have a choice."
Norquist awarded the contracts without notifying the senior manager in his department, the city attorney or the mayor.
Norquist told his immediate supervisor, David Snyder, about the decision. Snyder said Thursday he had followed proper policies.
Iorio learned about the contracts Thursday when a reporter showed her copies.
"I find it hard to believe that any city employee does not understand that it's a new day - that we have high ethical standards," Iorio said.
City officials should have briefed her on the decision, she said.
"It seems as if a city employee would go out of his way not to do business with this company," Iorio said. "Not go out of his way to do business with the company.
"I will investigate," she said.
Ryan, his grandson and the company attorney could not be reached for comment.
Norquist and Ryan go back years. In 1991, when Norquist was a city official awarding construction contracts, he hired Ryan to help build an addition to his Davis Islands house. On a day's notice, Ryan sent over a crew of four or five laborers to work overtime for two days. Norquist said he paid $500.
Norquist also oversaw Ryan's work on a house at 215 Marham Ave., which is at the center of the federal indictment against Ryan and LaBrake. FBI agents have interviewed Norquist, and he could be a witness at the trial.
In June, a few months after Iorio took office, she suspended Ryan Construction from doing business with the city. She blamed the company for building a city house on the wrong lot. The company denied responsibility.
But the suspension did not stop Ryan's grandson from seeking city contracts. The grandson, Chris Schnitzler, used his contractor's license to enable another company, Macale Builders Inc., to seek city work.
After the St. Petersburg Times reported the arrangement, city officials ended it.
Last summer, the company challenged its suspension. They had not been charged with a crime yet, the company's lawyer said. They were reinstated to do city business.
Then on Nov. 11, the indictments became public. Federal prosecutors charged that Ryan had paid bribes to city officials, prosecutors said.
Finally, Iorio believed she had the grounds she needed to ban Ryan Construction. She thought her orders had been followed, she said.
Actually, the city attorney's office had not formally followed up on her edict. After all, Ryan Construction was not seeking more work. CTB Home Builders was.
Records show that Ryan's lawyer sent the city attorney's office copies of the company name change. He also sent records that showed that Dean Ryan had stepped down as a company director.
Ryan's grandson, one of two company directors of Ryan Construction, was now the sole director of the company under its new name. The company address remained the same.
Assistant City Attorney Rolando Santiago said he got the papers, but didn't think much of them. He didn't okay anything. And as a junior assistant city attorney, Santiago would not have had the authority to approve the arrangement anyway.
On Jan. 7, nearly two months after the indictment, Norquist sent Santiago an e-mail asking about the new company's status.
The issue came up at a legal staff meeting, Santiago wrote in the e-mail. "No news to report at this time," he wrote.
On Jan. 23, Norquist sent Santiago another e-mail.
"We have people that need heat and other assistance waiting in the pipe," Norquist wrote at 9:38 a.m.
A few hours later at 11:52, Norquist's immediate supervisor, David Snyder, e-mailed Santiago again. The department would award contracts to Ryan's grandson "unless we hear otherwise," Snyder wrote.
Santiago didn't reply. He said Thursday that he glanced at the e-mail, but didn't think he was being asked to approve the arrangement.
Norquist acknowledged in an interview Thursday that city lawyers had not given him "a definitive answer." But he felt it was okay. He had "concurrence," he said. They had not said no.
He compared it to a teenager who asks his parents if he can go out. The parent might not say yes, but they don't say no either.
"I have not had a directive otherwise," he said.
- David Karp can be reached at 813 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com