Published: October 17, 2024
Bartow, Fla. (October 17, 2024) – County Manager Bill Beasley announced the appointment of Ryan Wiggins Sr. as Director of Polk County’s Building Division. Wiggins was confirmed by the Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 15 and is currently in the role.
As Building Director, Wiggins oversees a budget of approximately $14 million, 78 employees and the Building Division’s daily operations. He had been working as Polk County’s Building Official since February 2022. Wiggins succeeds Benjamin Dunn, who was recently promoted to Director of Polk County’s Office of Planning and Development.
Wiggins joined Polk County as a building inspector in 2017, bringing with him more than 25 years of experience building and supervising the construction of custom homes. He also previously worked as a building inspector for the City of Winter Haven. Between 2017 and 2021, Wiggins worked his way up from Polk County Building Inspector I to Building Inspector IV to Interim Building Official and, finally, to Building Official.
Wiggins has helped advance the Building Division’s technology efforts, including auto assignment of building inspections and the customer inspection tracker tool software application.
A State of Florida Certified Building Official, Wiggins is also a Residential Inspector, a Building Inspector, an Electrical Inspector, a Plumbing Inspector, a Mechanical Inspector, a Building Plans Examiner, a Residential Plans Examiner, a Plumbing Plans Examiner and a Mechanical Plans Examiner. He also is one exam away from becoming a Master Code Professional.
Wiggins earned a bachelor’s degree from Polk State College in Public Administration He is a graduate of the County’s Emerging Leaders Program and the County’s Succession Management Program, and he will graduate from Leadership Bartow in May 2025. He is currently enrolled in the Certified Public Manager program. Wiggins will earn $140,719 annually.