We asked one of our college interns/free lancers to attend the Monday meeting on consolidation to offer up what she saw and heard. Some of this didn’t make the PNJ report: About…
Category: Escambia County
More troubles for GOP house speakers
The St. Pete Times is reporting the 2014 Florida House speaker designate, Chris Dorworth of Lake Mary, has severe financial troubles. His house is in foreclosure. He is struggling to pay a…
PNJ continues to push for vote
It’s now a front page issue for the daily newspaper. They want the legislative delegation to reconvene and vote for the Consolidation plan. They offer no analysis of the plan or its…
Video to rally support for plan
There is a video on YouTube asking voters to pressure the local state legislators to place the Consolidation Plan on the ballot next fall. It’s mantra – “Tell your lawmakers you want…
What should be mayor’s salary?
The Pensacola City Council will vote on Thursday to set the mayor’s salary at $100,000. What do the county constitutional officers make? Clerk of Courts, $130,828 Property Appraiser, $130,828 Tax Collector, $130,828…
ECSO retiree charged with larceny
by Sean Boone A 32-year veteran of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has been accused of stealing more than $100,000 in department funds. Catherine Lister, who retired on Jan. 29 from the…
Evers shares wisdom. No really, that’s what it says
Press Release by Natalie Custodio: Tallahassee- Representative Greg Evers took a breather this morning from committee meetings to offer his own experience and wisdom to Florida’s next generation of civic-minded individuals. Representative…
School has other buyers for Brownsville
From the PNJ article on the canceled sale of Brownsville Middle School: “Norm Ross, deputy superintendent, said the School District has received some other inquiries from potential buyers.” Really? The community needs…
Brownsville Middle School deal is off
Friendship Missionary Baptist Church has withdrawn its offer for Brownsville Middle School after Superintendent of Schools Malcolm Thomas refused to extend the due diligence period beyond 30 days or to consider a…
Consolidation fails to get council approval
The Pensacola City Council vote, 5-4, against telling the state legislative delegation that they support placing the proposed consolidation plan on the ballot next November. Mike Wiggins, John Jerralds, Jewel Canada-Wynn and…
Page has phone records
Jamie Page has a solid investigative piece in Sunday’s daily paper. Through public records requests, Page got the cell phone records and message logs from the Escambia Commissioners. There are four troubling…
County Purchasing Procedures
Test To be sure that I was being fair to Comm. Valentino, I spent time yesterday with Escambia County Purchasing Chief Claudia Simmons to understand the competitive sealed bid process. Comm. Valentino…
UWF will have its offer before CMPA
The University of West Florida offer appears to be very similar to one being discussed by the master developer and university during the holidays. The master developer had already offered to reduce…
Videos on Maplewood bid
Here are the comments from the different commissioners on the motion to reverse the re-bid of the Maplewood drainage project: KEVIN WHITE: GROVER ROBINSON: GENE VALENTINO: WILSON ROBERTSON: DISCUSSION ON THE SEALED…
There was no error by Roads
Through a public records request, I have the bids made by Gulf Equipment and Roads Inc on the Maplewood drainage project. As you would expect, the two companies have differences on several…
County Purchasing Rules are clear
Escambia County has a set of general terms and conditions for all its sealed bids (Read). The Maplewood drainage project request for bids clearly states on page 14 that these terms and…
Roads Inc awarded $1.94 million last half ’09
Roads, Inc has done very well with Escambia County since June 2009 7/23 Awarded Molino Road Resurfacing $858,713.50 and Saufley Field Road Resurfacing $433,836 8/15 Innerarity Point MSBU $342,430.45 10/1 Santa Monica…
Valentino backtracks…too little, too late?
Escambia Commissioner Gene Valentino has a problem. He can’t get his stories straight, according to the PNJ. We know that he met with Cody Rawson of Roads, Inc in November 2009 in…
Roads wanted to protest its own bid, no really
Here is the video of Russell Weaver of Roads Inc. The heart of his argument is that Roads Inc’s protest of its own bid “broke new ground.” …”I don’t know how to…
Did Valentino solicit campaign contributions from his office?
The Florida Statutes state it is illegal for an elected official to solicit campaign contributions from his government office. PNJ reporter Jamie Page reports on his blog that Comm. Gene Valentino told…
