After my Wednesday interview with David Bear about how County Clerk Pam Childers had put the popular Foo Foo Festival in jeopardy by refusing to issue checks for the event, the clerk’s office notified the county budget office that she would cut a check for them – not the entire budget allocation but a partial payment.
Bear texted me late yesterday afternoon: “ACE got their money today and put it in the bank. Now they can pay the grant recipients some money to confirm their programs.”
What did David say in the interview?
Tourist Development Council chair David Bear shared that Pam Childers had delayed funding the grants approved by the Foo Foo Fest board in May.
- “We can’t let the Clerk of the Court destroy it because of some grudge that she has against me or the TDC and ACE (Arts, Culture & Entertainment).”
Bear cofounded the November festival to support and celebrate Pensacola’s unique arts and culture. Childers had no issues writing the checks from 2013 to 2023.
“Foo Fest is celebrating its 11th year of success in diversifying our tourism base in tourists, cultural tourists who spend a lot of money and stay a long time when they come to visit this community for, as everybody knows, some of the well-established events that have been going on, like the Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival and the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show, and lots of new events,” Bear said.
The Childers Roadblock
However, many of the Foo Foo grant recipients have cash flow issues as they prepare for the 2024 Foo Foo Fest, which starts on Oct. 31.
“It’s funded through tourist development tax, and the TDC and the county have allocated the money through an appropriation agreement,” Bear said. “So far (Foo Foo Board) has made the commitments through the grant application and granting process with contracts with each one of those grant recipients. They’ve got an advertising agency doing the creative and placement of the advertising, and they can’t get the money from the county to pay those bills, to get the grant recipients the funds they need to secure their programs.
- He continued, “And many of them are starting to get worried that they may not get it in time to secure what they committed and may have to cancel their performances, their programs. And so, it’s a real challenge that’s going on right now.”
Bear has discussed the issue with the county’s budget director, Stephan Hall. “They are trying to get us the funds. They’re working with the clerk’s office, but there seems to just be a roadblock.”
Childers’ Vengeance
The TDC chair believes Childers is punishing Foo Foo and local cultural organizations because of her animosity for him. He cited two lingering battles with the County Clerk.
Sworn Affidavits
“Several years ago, she tried to get the TDC chairman and the vice chairman to sign a sworn affidavit attached to visit Pensacola’s appropriation agreement saying that the TDC has reviewed all expenditures of tourist development tax and that they’re all authorized under the statute.
“While that is our role is to review all the expenditures and report those to the county and the Department of Revenue, any expenses that we believe are unauthorized under the statute, there’s nothing that obligates us to sign a sworn affidavit of a third party’s appropriation agreement.
“And in fact, the clerk retains a portion of the tax, supposedly or statutorily not to exceed 3%, even though there were several years they retained more than 3% to administer the program. The clerk’s office must review those expenditures and, under another separate statute, ensure that none of those were unauthorized under the statute.”
Audit
“After that happened, the TDC said, ‘Well, let’s make sure we know what all’s going on.’ So we asked her to do an audit. She refused to do it herself and said that the county already audits the tourist development tax when they do the full audit of the county.
We went to the legislature and asked them to get the Florida Auditor General to do the audit. And so, they did. We also notified the County Commission and the Department of Revenue of a list of expenditures we believed were unauthorized.
“(Former county administrator) Janice Gilly had started using tourist development tax to sort of move it from the general revenue budget to the TDT. It was the marine resources. And they were buying trucks and ATVs that the Attorney General of Florida had already said, were not authorized expenditures for monitoring turtle nests and other activities like that.
“The Auditor General confirmed what the TDC found in our letter to the County Commission and the Department of Revenue: that the county had appropriated those funds. However, the clerk’s office was writing the checks. She cleared those unauthorized expenditures; she held the checkbook and wrote those checks.”
A Grudge is Born
“And ever since then, there has been nothing but pushback, obviously against the county in every single way by holding back payments until they can make sure that every i is dotted and t is crossed, which is the obligation of the government to do. But it’s just like triple-check, quadruple-check.
“Now there’s this whole conversation about making Pensacola Sports, ACE (Arts, Culture & Entertainment), Visit Pensacola, and destination marketing organizations, and she’s demanding that the county get an Attorney General opinion that you can have multiple visitor bureaus within the county, which, because she says it doesn’t exist, even though it does. Bay County has one in Panama City and another in Panama City Beach.
“ACE, Pensacola Sports, and Visit Pensacola have different categories, so it’s roadblock after roadblock. She’s trying to stop just anything related to tourism because we asked for an audit. The audit came back and showed that she was making these expenditures. We questioned her 3% administrative fee for a cost analysis to show exactly what she’s using it for. She still won’t give that to us.
Dig Deeper: David Bear continues to try to get Pam Childers to be more transparent on the administrative fees that she deducts from the bed tax collections.
May 17, 2024
On May 17, 2024, at 11:13?AM, Pam Childers (COC) <PCHILDERS@escambiaclerk.com> wrote:
Danielle –
Please print out the attachment and my email message for distribution at the next TDC meeting. I have blind copied all board members including the county attorney and OMB.
TDC Board –
On several occasions the TDC Chairman has made public statements at TDC meetings, and in writing when requesting an operational audit, that the Clerk has received administration cost greater than the 3% allowed by law. Attached is a simple spreadsheet that breaks down exactly what is reported in the financial records of Escambia County. Please note that at no time did the administration cost allocated to the Clerk exceed the 3% allowed by Florida Statutes. I was very aware of the incorrect language in the County Ordinance and years ago brought suggested changes to the attention of the County. Yet, there was no movement to amend or to further discuss.
Further, most of what was documented in the Auditor General’s audit findings were already brought to the County’s attention. This Clerk’s office follows the Florida Statutes and not a local ordinance when in conflict. I do not know where you get your information regarding the Clerk’s fees but you need to regroup and ask for clarification or additional details that will help you understand the financial flow of the County expenditures and the budget process. The public statements at the TDC meetings are alarming because what has been said is inaccurate.
I suggest that you have a meeting with Stephan Hall, County OMB and try to understand the details of County expenditures.
-PAM CHILDERS
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller
First Judicial Circuit, Escambia County
Attached: F-108 Cost Allocation trend 5.16.2024
On May 17, 2024, at 1:58?PM, David Bear <dbear-TDC@myescambia.com> wrote:
Thank you for your email. Please note, I only use my county issued email address for all matters related to the TDC. Please remove my personal email address from any further TDC related matters.
I will review the information you have provided in your email and compare it against the information provided by the county OMB each year. In response to your concerns of comments being made at TDC meetings, I will remind you of your absolute refusal to provide all information requested by the TDC. When asked to perform an audit of the program, you refused to do it and claimed to have done something called a “desk audit.” When sent a letter from the TDC about the amount of unauthorized expenditures identified by the FL Auditor General and the amount of administrative fees retained, you refused to provide the information. At first, you ignored the request but then you came to our public meeting and adamantly refused to provide us the requested information. As you reflect on your obstinacy, realize any possibility of confusion and misinformation has been caused by your actions – or rather, inactions.
The TDC has an upcoming budget workshop next Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at 3:00 PM. We welcome you to attend our meeting and discuss the administrative fee with the members of TDC.
Thank you again for providing the information. I will review it.
David M. Bear
On July 17
From: David Bear <dbear-TDC@myescambia.com>
Date: July 11, 2024 at 6:42:01?AM CDT
To: “Pam Childers (COC)” <PCHILDERS@escambiaclerk.com> Cc: “Alison A. Rogers” <aarogers@myescambia.com>, “Stephan D. Hall” <sdhall@myescambia.com>, Rick Figlio <RFiglio@ausley.com>
Subject: Re: History of Clerk 3%
Ms. Clerk:
Good morning. Please provide the detailed information regarding the indirect cost using the TDT for the years 2013 through 2017 that you show on your spreadsheet sent in the email below and attached here. How was the TDT spent on indirect cost? The part of the statute that’s noted on the spreadsheet to support the use of TDT for indirect cost, Florida Statute 125.0104(5)(a)4, states:
“To fund convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations in the county, which may include any indirect administrative costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the promotion agency;”
This language is specifically addressing the funding of tourism bureaus/promotional agencies and the indirect costs are for services performed by the county on behalf of the promotion agency. What services did the county provide for Visit Pensacola from 2013 through 2017 to support the use of the TDT for indirect costs? Were these dollars used by the county or the clerk’s office? We have no more detailed information than you put in this spreadsheet and therefore, there is no assurance these were statutorily authorized uses. Please provide all supporting documentation the Clerk’s office used to authorize the expenditure of these TDT dollars for what you have characterized as indirect costs on your spreadsheet.
When we last sent you a request for information in our letter on May 11, 2023, you refused to provide the information, stating the County OMB had that information. For purposes of clarity, please consider this a FL Statute chapter 119 public records request to the Clerk’s Office for the detailed information and supporting documentation requested.
Thank you,
David M. Bear
July 22, 2024
On Jul 22, 2024, at 2:40 PM, Robert Smith (COC) <RSMITH@escambiaclerk.com> wrote:
David Bear,
In reply to your recent request # 133838 for: History of Clerk 3%, please refer to the attached documents.
Kind regards,
Attached: 7.22.24 Clerks response to PRR D Bear Indirect Costs
July 29, 2024
From: David Bear <dbear-tdc@myescambia.com>Subject: Re: Request ID :##RE-133838##] : History of Clerk 3%Date: July 24, 2024 at 2:38:58 PM CDTTo: “Robert Smith (COC)” <RSMITH@escambiaclerk.com>, “Pam Childers (COC)” <PCHILDERS@escambiaclerk.com>Cc: “Sharon Harrell (COC)” <SHARRELL@escambiaclerk.com>, “Stephan D. Hall” <sdhall@myescambia.com>, “Alison A. Rogers” <aarogers@myescambia.com>, Rick Figlio <rfiglio@ausley.com>Ms. Clerk:Good afternoon. Thank you for your email on Monday, but the document you provided does not fulfill my public records request. Your document, an Escambia County Office of Management and Budget schedule of indirect costs reflects a greater amount than 3% being retained with no supporting documentation to show how the tourist development tax was spent. That document doesn’t provide any of the documents I’ve requested. The information I requested was documentation supporting the use of the TDT for “Indirect Administrative Costs” you referenced in the file (prepared by Sharon Harrell) emailed on May 17, 2024. In Sharon’s file, you specifically reference FL Statute 125.0104(5)(a)4 to support the use of TDT for indirect costs. The portion of the statute to support the use of TDT for indirect costs states,“…which may include any indirect administrative costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the promotion agency.”
To help you more easily understand my requests, I have listed them individually as bulleted points.
- How was the TDT spent on indirect costs?
- What services did the county provide for the promotion agency from 2013 through 2017 to support the use of the TDT for indirect costs?
- Were these dollars used for costs by the county or the clerk’s office?
- Please provide all supporting documentation the Clerk’s office used to authorize the expenditure of these TDT dollars for what you have characterized as indirect costs on your spreadsheet.
- Please provide a copy of your notice or communication to the County regarding any of the items documented in the Florida Auditor General audit findings that you sent before the audit was performed.
- Please provide documentation of communications you had with the county regarding any local ordinance conflicting with state statutes referencing the use of the tourist development tax.
County Takeover Strategy
An additional note: Pam Childers is holding a campaign strategy session this Saturday on how to defeat District 5 County Commissioner Steven Barry. I hope to have the guest list by tomorrow morning.
We can expect a new series of “revelations” and articles in the Pensacola News Journal, similar to the hit pieces run against Commissioner Jeff Bergosh during the August primary.
- First PNJ article will be in early October as vote-by-mail ballots are received in District 5
- Second article will run between Oct. 14-Oct. 20 before Early Voting begins on Oct. 21.
- And at least one more, the day of the general election – Nov. 5.
Photo Licensed under the Unsplash+ License