State Attorney’s Office Investigating

[steel1man]

Says the guy also posting under a pseudonym.

How do you sugar coat an elected officials husband pointing a gun at someone's face or threatening others with bodily harm?

How do you sugar coat an elected official trying to have a constituent brought up on charges of violating campaign sign regulations?

How do you sugar coat an elected official trying to have the taxpayers foot the bill for their personal attorney fees?

How do you sugar coat an elected official ordering staff to violate your First Amendment Rights?

How do you sugar coat an elected official(s) willingness to intentionally violate Sunshine laws repeatedly?

How do you sugar coat an elected official(s) micromanaging/interfering with the day to day operations of the City or County wearing their petty tyrant hat?

How do you sugar coat an elected official violating Separation of Church and State law?

How do you sugar coat an elected officials willingness to make someone who was not reelected to his City seat, the Director of Planning Dept., who worked in the Planning Department under Pat Blackshear who was responsible for almost a million dollars in missing fees?

How do you sugar coat an elected officials willingness to hire a Special Magistrate to hear issues on planning (in effect ignoring the LDC and Comp plans) and ramming it down the taxpayers throats when we PAY them to be OUR voice?

I could go on ALL day long but here's the bottom line...this isn't the land of milk and honey, it's not burger king where you can have it your way and everything isn't always finger lickin good. I ain't gonna sugar coat it! It is what it is.

Bet Walton County BCC looking over their shoulders.....

 

[Kaydence]

Bet Walton County BCC looking over their shoulders.....

They do what they do with impunity...they don't care how they waste taxpayer money.

 

[FactorFiction]

This post and link are appropriate to a large percent of SoWal Political Posts.

Just figured it was time...



One Tin Soldier.

That's impactful!

 

[Suzanne Harris]

That's impactful!

Perfect hope Mr and Mrs Jones listened to this.

 

[Kaydence]

Well, well, well...it seems there is another $400 thousand dollars unaccounted for involving Sara Bowers management style. The city received the money from BP Oil as a settlement agreement and the council instructed that the money be placed in a separate account for future use. That didn't happen, it was placed in the general fund and according to the audit from Saltmarsh the money was spent but no one seems to know how or why it was spent.

The absolute beauty of all this is, in Ms. Bowers separation agreement from the City not only did she receive a lucrative settlement agreement and the City continued to pay her for months after she was gone but the settlement agreement also provided that the City would NOT hold her accountable for ANY wrongdoing. The attorney for the City, Clayton Adkinson also provided her with a job in Freeport.

Just wow!

 

[Kaydence]

www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20171002/state-attorney-investigating-defuniak-springs-bp-money

“Concerns have been raised by some witnesses regarding whether the expenditure of BP funds received by the city can be traced. Because of these concerns we’re going to review these issues.”

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS — The State Attorney’s Office has expanded its investigation of DeFuniak Springs spending habits to include determining the whereabouts of $368,063 the city obtained through a 2014 legal settlement with British Petroleum.

“Concerns have been raised by some witnesses regarding whether the expenditure of BP funds received by the city can be traced,” said Bill Eddins, the state attorney for Florida’s First Judicial Circuit. “Because of these concerns we’re going to review these issues.”

Eddins’ office initiated an investigation in July into complaints of fiscal mismanagement within the city. Those complaints included questions about delays in filing the paperwork needed to receive sales tax money from the state.

City officials learned in June that it had lost almost $221,000 in sales tax revenues and municipal revenue sharing funds over a two-year period by failing to file state required audits and annual financial reports on time.

That investigation remains open, and when it is complete, Eddins said, his office will present its findings to a grand jury.

No determination has yet been made as to whether there are questions surrounding the expenditure of the BP money, but if it turns out that there are, Eddins said, the grand jury will look into that too.

“At this point no determination has been made (that) there is a discrepancy, there may be none,” he said. “We have not verified that at this point.”

Evidence DeFuniak Springs received $368,063 from BP from a legal settlement can be found in an audit report put together for the city by the accounting firm of Saltmarsh Cleaveland & Gunn.


The report, dated Sept. 30, 2015, shows that the city obtained “funds related to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill” during fiscal 2014-15 and spent it within that same year.

There is no indication within the report as to when or how the $368,063 was spent and city council member Kermit Wright said no one within city administration has offered a plausible explanation.

Wright said he’s not even aware of how the city got the money in the first place.

“I was being interviewed by the state attorney and he asked me about $400,000. I said, ‘News to me,’ ” Wright said.

Walton County received $3.35 million and the county’s Tourist Development Council received $4.28 million in March 2014 when BP settled lawsuits filed following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

DeFuniak Springs City Attorney Clayton Adkinson said the city settled its own lawsuit with BP at about the same time the county did.

“The money went into the city’s general fund, I assume,” Adkinson said. “That was the appropriate place for it to go. I would think it would be easily traceable.”

The audit report that denotes the receipt and expenditure of the $368,063 BP legal settlement points out several areas in which the city had not taken proper care of its money. It states the city failed to write off bad debts, recorded grant funds incorrectly and did not properly segregate the duties of city staff.

“Proper segregation of duties provides for a system of checks and balances such that the functions of one employee are subject to the review through the performance of the interrelated functions of another employee,” the report said. “Due to turnover in the position of finance director, the city manager performed some finance director duties during the year. These items, including the reconciliation of bank statements, were performed without adequate supervision and review.”

The auditors recommended “that the city review the internal control procedures to ensure checks and balances always exist to the greatest extent possible.”

 

[Kaydence]

Note page 82 & 87

 

[Bob Hudson]

You should pay particular close attention to the Management Letter listing the findings behind the numbers and the reportable conditions and the City’s response to those issues identified. Have they been addressed as promised ? Start on page 91.

 

[Kaydence]

You should pay particular close attention to the Management Letter listing the findings behind the numbers and the reportable conditions and the City’s response to those issues identified. Have they been addressed as promised ? Start on page 91.

Not to my knowledge.

 

[Bob Hudson]

Residents of DFS should make sure ALL of the deficiency’s noted are corrected. People should understand that a lack of internal controls can be disasterous to the financial well being of the City.

Councilmen have a responsibility to Adopt a budget and insure proper procedures are being followed after setting the appropriate internal controls policies.