Bierwiler’s Suspension Extended at Second Special Master Hearing

On the morning of March 13, citizens met at the Hernando County Courthouse for the second hearing regarding Frank Bierwiler of West Hernando Pools. A similar hearing was held 30 days ago that paused his ability to pull permits from the county until he had dealt with some of the dozens of outstanding licenses on file. After the contractor revealed he had only closed out a scant number of permits despite the deadline, Kenneth Warnstadt, Special Master for Hernando County, ruled that the hold on Bierwiler would be extended for another 60 days. The situation would then be reevaluated yet again during a meeting on May 15.

Disgruntled homeowner Karen Rushlow noted that she “was and was not” happy with the outcome of Wednesday’s special meeting. It was revealed that Bierwiler had not closed as many permits as the court had hoped, having only finished 12 of them. Though there was no specific number mentioned at the previous hearing, the defense appeared to be under the impression that the threshold was ten closed permits.

The sentiment from Warnstadt was that the pool contractor would have had to have completed far more than a dozen to make the court more likely to reinstate Bierwiler’s permit-pulling privileges. “At this stage of the game, I do not think that that is significant progress. I am looking to get under 10 [permits remaining] would be significant progress,” said Warnstadt.

Rushlow was pleased with the fact that Bierwiler was essentially told to focus less on the “low-hanging fruit,” as Warnstadt called it, and more on pressing fixtures that need serious progress to be made. She is hoping that the 60-day extension of the contractor’s suspension will help to expedite the process, “but I do not see it,” said Rushlow.

It was also brought to the court’s attention that some homeowners are paying for materials and services twice over. As the Sun wrote in a previous issue, customers like Rushlow are paying $8,000 extra to have their pools finished in a timelier manner. “People should not have to pay for their stuff twice,” Warnstadt said.

Most of the 12 pool permits that were closed were merely the ones that were older, had minor alarm issues, or just needed final inspections. There have been 25 other permits reactivated, with a total of 100 permits currently in one stage or another of being processed. “When [Bierwiler] reactivates them, that brings the permit back into compliance, but does not necessarily mean the work is done,” noted Thomas Peters, Building Investigator for Hernando County’s Building Department.

While the pool contractor has called in six inspections since Feb. 14, that is only a drop in the bucket, considering there are 100 pools requiring seven checkups apiece. Some inspections had already been completed before this process began, but hundreds still need to be carried out across all of these pools. Compound that with the fact that a minimum of five pools are still without framing and/or concrete, and it is clear to see that an immense amount of work still needs to be done. Beyond this, the building investigator noted that at least one subcontractor has not received payment. If that is the case, then that would be considered malfeasance in contract on the part of Bierwiler.

“I want to stress to the court that Mr. Bierwiler has made efforts to reactivate permits and he has finaled some of the older ones. My issue lies with only six inspections are called in for all the homeowners here that have pools that are still in progress in some cases […] I personally do not feel it is sufficient enough to warrant his permit pulling privileges returned,” Peters stated.

All parties involved should be looking for the pool contractor to make massive strides in the permitting process over the next two months. Otherwise, that could mean that the homeowners are no closer to having their pools finished and that Bierwiler is still in hot water.