Normally, when Miami Beach voters head to the polls, they elect politicians to fix their problems.

Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin thinks disenfranchised condo residents should go a different route and elect not a person but a new public position.

Libbin is in the fledgling stages of a petition drive that if successful would force a vote on whether to create a high-ranking “condominium ombudsman” to deal with the frustrations and complaints of condo residents and associations.

According to the job description explained in the petition language, the ombudsman would work specifically with issues regarding condominiums and the city’s code compliance, building and fire departments, and would answer only to the city manager.

“You have a person on staff that all they do is deal with condominium issues,” Libbin said Wednesday during a meeting of the Miami Beach Taxpayers Association. “They’re there for an owner of a condominium, there for an association, and they’re there to answer questions and help guide you.”

Libbin said the ombudsman would essentially be an advocate for associations and unit owners who run into roadblocks on issues ranging from kitchen renovation permits to code citations and fire inspector mandates. He also said residents who don’t live in condos would likewise benefit because the ombudsman would allow the city’s departments to operate more efficiently, which would mean more responsive government for everyone.

Some in the audience were enthusiastic, while a few, like Ronald Gould, were skeptical.

“That person will in six months come back to the city and say ‘I need help, I’m swamped’ ” Gould told Libbin. “Now you have a new department and hundreds of thousands in new expenditures.”

Libbin replied: “If you have that many people who are coming, then it’s probably a need we should be looking at.”

Libbin said he began drafting the petition language about two months ago, and began discussing the proposal with condominium associations and even The Continental Group, a large management company, about a month ago.

He said he plans to raise money through a political action committee, but needs assistance from condo owners and associations in order to be successful.

“I need your help,” he told the audience at The Shelborne South Beach hotel.

In some ways, the petition effort, which needs signatures from 10 percent of Miami Beach’s roughly 43,000 voters in order to force a vote, is peculiar.

Positions are frequently cut and created at Miami Beach City Hall, but that is almost always done through the process of crafting a budget.

Libbin said he will take the normal route and pitch a condo ombudsman to commissioners if he can’t find support for the petition, but said he worries that other elected officials might quash the idea or weigh it down with financial studies and months of committee discussions. He also said requiring the position by law would protect the ombudsman from budget cuts in the future.

There could be another motive: Libbin is considering a run for mayor in 2013, and fighting on behalf of the city’s approximately 40,000 condo residents and meeting with associations isn’t a bad strategy to gain votes.

Libbin’s already has some support.

For instance, Libbin said the president of Tower 41’s condo association offered to call every voter in the building drum up support for the condo advocate proposal if he came to the lobby with a list of voter names.

Libbin, however, said his long history of advocating for condo owner rights is the impetus for his petition drive, not his mulling of a run for mayor.

He said he has “very few” signatures so far. But he has some support from key figures.

Fire Chief Eric Yuhr, while cautioning that an ombudsman can’t change building or fire codes, said he supports any increase in communication.

And City Manager Jorge Gonzalez, who said wading through condo regulations “is a morass in some regards,” is supportive as well.

“To have someone who can be a resource, that’s a good idea,” Gonzalez said. “But do we fund it?”