Kemah City Council defends building inspector

KEMAH — Council members have defended the city’s building official who they say “fell on the sword” by taking responsibility for a history of lax record keeping on building inspections.

Kemah’s building inspector Jack Fryday is in the midst of ensuring business inspections are up to date after saying at a March council meeting that he had gotten behind filing paperwork.

Building staff members are reviewing all of Kemah’s 265 businesses for certificates of occupancy, fire inspections and registrations with the city and updating missing paperwork on each business.

The city council during an executive session Thursday discussed job performance concerns with the building department.

“It was very preliminary, and it was kind of an air-clearing discussion,” Councilman Wayne Rast said. “There are no imminent issues or actions that will be taken.”

Building staff members wanted an opportunity to speak with the council about their public perception, he said.

“The appearance is they’re a bunch of people who don’t do their jobs,” Rast said. “They wanted the opportunity to discuss this.”

Fryday has worked for the city on a part-time basis for about four years. Before hiring Fryday, the city relied on contractors to perform building inspections, which contributed to holes in paperwork on file at city hall, Rast said.

Accusations that some businesses had not received fire inspections prompted city council members to call for the paperwork overhaul.

Larry Suniga, the former fire marshal and fire chief of the Water Control and Improvement District 12, is suing the volunteer fire department for severance pay on breach of contract claims.

The lawsuit claims Mayor Matt Wiggins, who is a director on the district’s Emergency Services Board, voted to fire Suniga after Suniga refused to pass a failed fire code inspection of a bed-and-breakfast owned by Wiggins.

Wiggins has denied the claim.

The case is pending in Galveston County’s 10th Judicial District Court.

The city about six months ago bought a software database program that tracks inspection files for businesses and alerts the building department when inspections are due.

It will take up to six months to review and update paperwork for every business in town, Fryday said.

The council has addressed the issue, and building staff members are doing their jobs, Councilwoman Robin Collins said.

Paperwork wasn’t current, but business and fire inspections were being done, Fryday said.

Most of the building department’s efforts are focused on businesses in warehouses along Anders Lane. Most of the commercial spaces along that road are leased to individual tenants, who haven’t updated registrations with the city, Fryday said.

Paperwork for businesses on the boardwalk has been updated.

“We don’t think Jack’s lazy or hasn’t done a good job,” Rast said.

“When you have a small town with a staff of 40, you don’t have resources and time to be proactive in making sure there’s a perfect working order for files.

“That’s not an excuse for not having things right, but it’s realistic.”