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After a whirlwind courtship, Village Manager Peter
Lombardi hired a veteran in the South Florida municipal zoning field
to replace Allyn Berg, who unexpectedly resigned earlier this month as
Pinecrest's Planning Director.
John Little
Lombardi tapped 54-year-old John Little to head up the
town's code enforcement office, a job well suited to Little's
expertise since he has held similar positions in Coral Gables and Key
Biscayne.
"I really am excited about coming to Pinecrest," Little
said. "I think I'll fit in well here and hopefully I can do a
good job. There's a lot things to do here, there's a number of tasks
that need to be completed."
Little said he first learned that the Pinecrest
planning department position was available just before the end of the
year, barely two weeks ago, and he immediately submitted his
application.
"Mr. Lombardi called me, told me I had the job,
asked me to show up at the Council meeting that night and to come to
work the next day," Little said. "So, here I am."
Little and his wife, Paula, have resided in West Miami
for 20 years. They have five children ranging in age from 33 to six
years old.
Little says he grew up in Miami at various stages of
his life, moving frequently because his father was a career military
man.
"I kind of grew up all over the world," he
said, "but I finished high school at Miami's Southwest High in
1964."
He later attended Miami-Dade Community college and the
University of Miami, then graduated Barry University in 1984. He
worked for the City of Coral Gables on two occasions for a total of 18
years, serving as Assistant Building and Zoning Director and then
director of the department. He then worked for the Village of Key
Biscayne for five years.
"I left the city of Coral Gables in 1980 and went
with an architectural firm for about eight years," Little said.
"The went back a second time."
Little points to Key Biscayne and the development of
the community's building and zoning department after incorporation as
the high point of his career.
"It was a new community and while I
was the second director there -- the first director was there for less than
a year -- I went in and did a number of things," he said. "As a
matter of fact, I worked there with a number of the employees that are here
(in Pinecrest) now."
Asked if he would continue the hard-nosed code-enforcement practices of his
predecessor, Little said he expected Village citizens to be in compliance
with the municipal code, but added that different people have different
methods.
"I don't know how my predecessor dealt with code enforcement,"
Little said, "but there are nice ways to talk to people and that's the
way I've always done it."
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