BY CHELYEN DAVIS
RICHMOND
--A state regulatory board has suspended the engineering license of Culpeper's former town planning director for mixing his public position with design work he did on the side.Charles "Chuck" Stephenson, who resigned in March from his job as director of Planning and Community Development and as town engineer, will pay fines of $5,500, and his engineer's license is suspended for six months. He must also take an ethics training course.
The Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects found that Stephenson practiced architecture without a license, and that he was guilty of a conflict of interests. He operated a private design firm while he was town engineer and, in some cases, worked on projects for clients that had to be approved by town employees who were overseen by Stephenson.
The board also sanctioned Stephenson for failing to properly seal and sign some engineering plans.
Stephenson was at Tuesday's hearing but declined comment.
His suspension could impact several proposed buildings in Culpeper.
County Administrator Frank Bossio said the county has several building plans with Stephenson's stamp on them, awaiting approval.
"If, in fact, his license is suspended, any of those plans requiring changes from the date of suspension will need to obtain the stamp of another engineer or architect," Bossio said. "This means that that engineer or architect will have to review the entire set of plans and take responsibility for its contents according to state code. We will do everything we can to ease the burden on permit holders who are obviously caught in the middle."
The state board began investigating Stephenson about a year ago, after area architect Michael Lysczek filed a written complaint.
Lysczek, a member of the Culpeper Architectural Review Board, wrote that he had referred his own clients to the town zoning office for advice, and Stephenson had marketed his private design services to them, taking business from Lysczek. He said town officials were "unreceptive" when he complained.
Additionally, Lysczek wrote that there were times when the Architectural Review Board received applications for building work, and the plans submitted had no information on who drew them. He said he felt Stephenson was concealing his dual roles by not signing design plans.
According to Lysczek, he told the board's planner that a name was required, and the planner said it was "an awkward request since drawings were prepared by his supervisor, Mr. Stephenson."
Lysczek wrote that plans written by Stephenson were given a "less stringent level of scrutiny" than projects from other architects.
"Members of Culpeper's building and development community have said among themselves that the easiest way to get project approval in Culpeper is to use the design services of Mr. Stephenson," Lysczek wrote.
In transcripts of testimony to the state board's informal fact-finding group, Stephenson said his interpretation of the rules governing what work an engineer can do versus what work an architect can do led him to believe he was not violating any laws in his private design work.
The board disagreed, finding that Stephenson had gone beyond the limits of engineering work into architectural work.
Stephenson also testified that he had informed the town manager, his boss, of his private work, and the town manager approved it. He also said he felt private clients knew of his town job because it is a small town. He said he files annual statement of economic interest reports.
The state board said written notice to each client is required, and that just telling clients he also worked for the town wasn't enough.
The state board also had concerns about Stephenson meeting with private clients in his town office. Stephenson said those meetings occurred outside office hours.
He testified that he felt his private design work was not in conflict with his town job, because the work he did fell under the county's purview, not the town's. He said the town does not handle building issues, and that his town job was oversight of zoning ordinances, subdivision plans and other such ordinances.
The state board disagreed. In a summary report, they wrote that, "The evidence suggests Stephenson's public employment and his private business were substantially intertwined."
The board's report noted that four of the five building projects cited in the case were located in the town of Culpeper and would therefore have required zoning approval. Stephenson oversaw the zoning administrator and town planner, who reviewed site plans and made comments.
Stephenson said he did not review comments on his own projects, nor did he have final approval of zoning applications.
The state board wrote, however, that Stephenson "was in a position to influence the approval process for these projects.
"Under the structure of the town office, those staff members who were required to sign off on the projects directly reported to Stephenson," the report said. "It seems implausible that his supervisory role did not have a serious potential to influence their review."
Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com