Under the direction of new director Glenn Wardell, the department will continue work with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s Consumer Protection Department to fight unlicensed contracting. The department will operate at 12600 Belcher Road, Suite 102, Largo until later this month, when it will move to county-owned office space at the Young-Rainey Science, Technology and Research (STAR) Center on Bryan Dairy Road in Largo.

The Contractor Licensing Department assumes the operations function of the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board (PCCLB), a formerly independent body that was created by special act of the Florida Legislature in 1973. The PCCLB regulates the county’s construction and home improvement industry through uniform contractors licensing, code adoption and code interpretation.

In 2018, the Legislature amended a state law to revise the composition of the PCCLB and the terms of its board members. In addition, the PCCLB’s operations and staff became an operating department under the County Administrator. The Contractor Licensing Department is responsible for day-to-day administration, records maintenance and contractor license investigations in Pinellas County. It supports the PCCLB, a dependent agency to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) that will continue to be funded through licensing fees, fines and citations and does not rely on property taxes.

On June 19, the BCC appointed 11 members to the PCCLB, which has been reduced in size from 21 members to 15. An application process to fill the remaining positions will be held in the near future.