Board Meeting

August 5, 2004

Thomas Bachtold
Case No. 2003-080571

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation imposing a reprimand and a $1,000.00 fine and costs of $312.00 against Thomas Bachtold's license to practice architecture. The Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners brought a disciplinary action against Mr. Bachtold's license for failing to exercise proper responsible supervisory control, signing plans not competent to perform, and aiding unlicensed activity. The license was voluntarily relinquished based on a consent agreement to avoid further administrative action. Mr. Bachtold appeared at the Probable Cause Panel meeting in Florida and explained that he was the prototype architect for Country Heart Inn. He designed and supervised all drawings for the project at issue and had engineers in house working on the drawings. Mr. Bachtold admitted that he should not have signed and sealed the engineering drawings. The reason he voluntarily relinquished his Tennessee license was based on personal issues he was going through at the time.

Losville Belvett
Case No. 2003-050618

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order imposing a $10,000.00 fine and costs of $216.00 against Losville Belvett of Miami Beach, Florida. Mr. Belvett contracted to perform architectural services for a residence for $2,000.00 and never provided the plans. The contract specifically provides for architectural services and the invoices provided by the Respondent indicated architectural services as well. Mr. Belvett is not licensed to practice architecture in the State of Florida.

Vincent Biscombe
Case No. 2003-085864

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order imposing a $10,000.00 fine and costs of $399.00 against Vincent Biscombe of Miami, Florida. Mr. Biscombe signed a contract to provide a complete set of architectural drawings in accordance with the South Florida Building Code for a residence. The agreement is titled "Contract for Architectural Plans" and provides a list of architectural sheets that will be provided. Mr. Biscombe signed the contract using the title "Architect". Mr. Biscombe is not licensed to practice architecture in the State of Florida.

Michael Bissell
Case No. 2003-045810

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation placing Michael Bissell, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, license to practice architecture on probation for a period of one year and imposing a $1,000 fine and costs of $564.00. Mr. Bissell operates a private inspection service as a consultant for the City of Jacksonville. One of Mr. Bissell's employees performed structural inspections who was not licensed to perform such inspections. Once Mr. Bissell was notified from the building department that this individual was not licensed, she was fired and remedial steps were taken to re-inspect the projects she worked on.

Richard Cortes
Case No. 2003-077312

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation suspending Richard Cortes, Miami, Florida, license to practice architecture for six months followed by four years of probation and imposing a $3,000.00 fine and costs of $192.00. Mr. Cortes is a licensed architect who contracted with a client as a Contractor. Mr. Cortes is not licensed to engage in the practice of contracting. On the project, while he was acting as a contractor, Mr. Cortes signed and sealed as a Florida licensed architect, the log of approved inspections to comply with SFBC 307.2.

Lawrence Dixon and Dixon Design Associates, Inc.
Case Nos. 2002-007454 & 2003-087092

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation placing a reprimand on Lawrence Dixon, Palm Bay, Florida license to practice architecture and imposing a $7,000.00 fine and costs of $642.00. Mr. Dixon signed and sealed a commercial project without meeting with the client. The contract for the architectural services on the commercial project was entered into by an unlicensed draftsman. Further, Mr. Dixon offered architectural services through a business entity that does not have a certificate of authorization.

Howard S. Ellman and Dynamic Designs, Inc.
Case No. 2003-007486

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation imposing a $5,000.00 fine and costs of $306.00 against Howard Ellman, Birmingham, MI. Mr. Ellman is licensed to practice architecture in Michigan but not in Florida. Mr. Ellman sent a client a letter and an email with an attached proposal for "architectural drawings" for a family fun center in St. Lucie, Florida which included a bowling alley. The proposal described the services as architectural. Mr. Ellman also provided a contract which offered to provide design services for the project. He also prepared drawings for the project that contained only his title block.

John W. Kemper, Jr.
Case No. 2003-043189

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation in which John Kemper, Naples, Florida, license to practice architecture will be voluntarily relquished. Mr. Kemper was previously suspended for two years for failing to exercise proper responsible supervisory control. Prior to being suspended, Mr. Kemper signed and sealed a set of commercial drawings, which based on the review of the Board's expert, lacked clarity and were below the standard of common architectural practice.

Stephen Lloyd
Case No. 2003-070663

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation placing a reprimand on Stephen Lloyd, West Palm Beach, Florida license to practice interior design and imposing a $1,000.00 fine and costs of $624.00. Mr. Lloyd was used to run money through his interior design firm's account based on a fraudulent invoice in order for a non-profit organization to purchase a Corvette for the out going president of Florida Atlantic University. Mr. Lloyd entered into an agreement for deferred prosecution with the State Attorney's Office which was offered to Mr. Lloyd based on his cooperation with the State's investigation. Mr. Lloyd appeared before the Probable Cause Panel and testified that his involvement was minimal at the time and that he did not know he was doing anything wrong. It appears as though the Director of Florida Atlantic University was the principal party at fault.

Terry Lodge
White Heart Designs
Case No. 2003-083531

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design ruled to enter a final order imposing a $15,000.00 fine and costs of $342.00 against Terry Lodge, DeBarry, Florida. Mr. Lodge entered into an oral contract to provide architectural drawings for a commercial building known as Deland Suzuki. Although the plans were signed and sealed by a Professional Engineer, the architectural sheets were copyrighted by Mr. Lodge; and on the site and civil sheets, he is listed as the architect on the cover page. For the remainder of the drawings, Mr. Lodge is listed as the designer.

Charles McKirahan
Case No. 2003-054049

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation placing a reprimand on Charles McKirahan, Pompano Beach, Florida, license to practice architecture and imposing a $3,000.00 fine and costs of 384.00. Mr. McKirahan sealed a set of plans for the Bermuda Park Condominium. The plans were prepared by Phillip H. St. Louis who is a certified general contractor. Mr. St. Louis was also part owner of the project. Mr. McKirahan has a desk at Mr. St. Louis' office; however, he is not an employee of the company. Although Mr. McKirahan was involved with the preparation of the drawings, he did not exercise proper responsible supervisory control for plans prepared by someone outside of his office.

Andrew Narcus
Case No. 2003-054003

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation imposing a $5,000.00 fine and costs of $967.50 against Andrew Narcus, Loxahatchee, Florida. Mr. Narcus is a licensed professional engineer but not a licensed architect in Florida. He signed and sealed plans for a day care center without the involvement of an architect. The Board's expert reviewed the plans and found them to be deficient. Section 481.229(4), Florida Statutes, allows an engineer whose principal practice is civil or structural engineering, to perform architectural services which are purely incidental to the practice of engineering. Mr. Narcus sat for the mechanical exam to obtain his license and holds a Masters Degree in mechanical engineering; therefore, his principal practice is not civil or structural engineering. Further, the architectural work involved in this project was not purely incidental to Mr. Narcus' engineering services.

Omega Architectural Productions, Inc.
Case No. 2003-081720

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation revoking Omega Architectural Productions, Inc. of Ft. Pierce, Florida certificate of authorization to practice architecture. The firm has a certificate of authorization; however, the firm's qualifier is listed as licensed architect John Foster who no longer works there. The firm states that their new qualifier is Hugo Riebe but he says he doesn't work for them anymore and will make arrangements to officially end the association. Therefore, there is not a qualifier or an architect in responsible supervisory control and the firm is offering services under the name "Omega Architectural Productions". Further, if anyone does a search on the Internet the firm will be shown as a licensed architectural firm.

Keith Parker and K.P. INK, Inc.
Case No. 2003-057706

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation imposing a $5,000.00 fine and costs of $649.00 against Keith Parker. Mr. Parker is not a licensed architect in Florida and contracted to provide architectural services on a commercial project known as the Cypress Mall Project. The plans were sealed by a professional engineer; however, Mr. Parker is the party that entered into the contract which described his services as architectural.

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation imposing a $3,000.00 fine and costs of $366.00 against Laurence Rubel. Mr. Rubel is not a licensed architect in Florida and entered into a contract to provide "Architectural Services" on a residence and signed a letter as the "Project Architect".

Jerome Uhran
Case No. 2003-067655

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order approving a settlement stipulation placing Jerome Uhran, Orlando, Florida, license to practice architecture on probation for a period of two years and imposing a $5,000.00 fine and costs of $348.00. Mr. Uhran signed and sealed a set of residential plans that were prepared by an unlicensed draftsman without ever meeting with the clients. Mr. Uhran failed to exercise proper responsible supervisory control for plans prepared outside of his office. Mr. Uhran appeared before the Probable Cause Panel to explain his involvement with the project and although he was involved in a majority of the phases of the project, he was still in violation.

Ronald L. Uphoff
Case Nos. 2003-087552, 2003-081661 & 2004-002178

The Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design agreed to enter a final order revoking Ronald Uphoff, Okeechobee, Florida, license to practice architecture and imposing an additional $3,000.00 fine and costs of $588.00 to the outstanding fines and costs already owed. Mr. Uphoff failed to pay fines and costs in full which are due pursuant to a Final Order dated August 13, 2003. Also, Mr. Uphoff signed and sealed a letter on September 16, 2003 which is over a month after the same Final Order suspended his license. Mr. Uphoff was on probation pursuant to another Final Order entered in 1997. Frank Abbott reviewed plans submitted pursuant to probation and found the drawings were not prepared to a reasonable standard of practice.