Resident demands TEAM accountability

Resident demands TEAM accountability

By Deborah Nelson
May 29, 2008

Santa Rosa Commissioners found themselves dodging questions about TEAM Santa Rosa accountability and transparency standards at last week’s county commission meeting.

Although no official agreement, ordinance or contract exists between the agency and Santa Rosa County government, officials often describe TEAM as the county’s ‘economic development’ arm. TEAM is tasked with attracting industry and jobs to the area.

As such, the agency’s recommendations back some major public policy and spending – including land buying, taxpayer subsidies to private companies, infrastructure planning and the spending of millions in state and federal grant dollars.

Area resident Alan Isaacson asked the Commission to improve transparency and oversight of TEAM’s historically murky operations.

He also inquired about a $3,458 overdraft on a County employee flexible spending account TEAM is authorized to participate in. The account allows employees to contribute tax-deferred dollars for uses like medical care. Officials were notified of the debt in February 2007, according to County email records provided by Isaacson.

At Thursday’s meeting, Commissioner Don Salter told Isaacson the funds would be returned.

In a May 20 letter, Isaacson suggested commissioners create a citizens’ panel that would oversee TEAM spending, tax subsidy awards, productivity, compliance with public records law and conflicts of interest.

Thursday, he asked the Board to place more public representation on TEAM’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

Santa Rosa taxpayers gave TEAM over half a million dollars this year, plus employee benefits. In recent years, the agency has also received state, federal and private grant dollars.

Past perks have included insurance, car allowances, cell phones and travel abroad. In prior years, agency personnel have traveled to Washington DC and Latin America on ‘trade missions.’ No accounting of how many jobs those trips have generated locally exists to the Santa Rosa Chronicle’s knowledge.

TEAM officials have said they’re simply here to ‘recommend’ ways to spend money, with commissioners giving final approval.

But those recommendations are formed behind closed doors – the public has been barred from TEAM Executive Committee meetings and Board meetings are not advertised.

Area resident and longtime TEAM critic Jerry Couey recently asked to see some of TEAM’s public records. In an email provided by Couey, TEAM Director Cindy Anderson told him he must pay $50 per hour, for a total of $150, to look at the requested files.

“Hope this works for you,” reads Anderson’s email response.

A later email reduced the cost to $100.

Couey says he’s also requested and been unable to get minutes from recent agency meetings, including Board meetings.

Even though the public has been effectively barred from monitoring TEAM’s activities, powerful local business officials and other special interests have been positioned on the agency’s decisionmaking Executive Committee. TEAM’s Board of Director appointees include developer Dick Baker and banker Ed Gray. Executive Committee meetings are closed to the public.

But perhaps the most critical issue revolving around the agency is its murky status with county government.

Despite the power TEAM wields, and the relative secrecy of its operations, no official legal or contractual relationship between Santa Rosa County and the agency exists anywhere on record.

Isaacson asked commissioners to change that, but received no definite response.

After numerous public records requests, which TEAM has repeatedly ignored or denied, the agency has completed one audit, to date, of their finances. Officials, at last week’s commission meeting, said they’ll complete a second audit at the end of this fiscal year.

Historically, the agency has provided little productivity accounting to taxpayers through job-creation reporting.

Santa Rosa Chronicle is aware of only one year where TEAM published detailed job creation results.

That was 2004, when the agency claimed they’d created some 350 jobs. But follow up phone calls to the listed companies by Couey revealed that about a third of those jobs were, in fact, nonexistent.

Upon being publicly challenged, TEAM Director Cindy Anderson said the missing jobs were ‘ramp up’ positions, slated to materialize sometime in the future. No subsequent jobs report is posted on the agency’s website.

In effect, said Isaacson, Santa Rosa taxpayers continue to funnel millions to the agency without getting any concrete report on their investment, in return.

On top of that, taxpayers are barred from TEAM spending or decisionmaking processes and records. According to past emails between County Attorney Tom Dannheisser and Anderson, the agency falls under Florida’s Public Records law.

It remains to be seen whether officials will respond to Isaacson’s request for agency accountability and transparency. The Board, Thursday, said they’d look into the matter.

Emails obtained and provided by Isaacson through a public records request suggest the county plans to funnel $150,000 from electric franchise fee money to TEAM’s budget this year.

That would allow the Board to announce a corresponding TEAM ‘budget cut’ of General Fund dollars.