Local Government
Nonprofits Fire Back at Childers in Charity Funding Lawsuit
First Tee Gulf Coast and Warrington Emergency Aid Center say newly obtained emails prove the clerk never had a legal basis to block $7,000 in county-approved grants—and that she knew it.
Two Warrington-area nonprofits fighting to recover county grant money denied by Escambia Clerk of Courts Pam Childers have filed a detailed reply to her motion to dismiss, and the documents attached to it tell a damaging story in Childers’ own words.
- Background: Greater Pensacola Junior Golf Association (First Tee Gulf Coast) and Warrington Emergency Aid Center (WEAC) filed the reply June 3 in Escambia County Circuit Court, Case No. 2026 CA 000624. The Escambia County Commission had approved $4,500 for First Tee Gulf Coast and $2,500 for WEAC through its Community Support Funds program. Childers refused to issue the warrants.
What the Emails Reveal
After filing their original complaint, the nonprofits submitted public records requests to Childers’ office on April 14 and April 30. The documents produced allegedly undercut the clerk’s legal posture.
July 21, 2025: Childers emailed Commissioner Steve Stroberger after meeting with Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger about discretionary fund spending. She wrote that Hofberger “gets it” and “understands it.” Attached to the email was a meeting outline listing her reasons for starting to deny payments: “felt it was the right time to address,” “DOGE letters,” and “had convo with Chairman.”
January 23, 2026: Childers emailed Hofberger and Assistant County Attorney Kristin Hual, writing that the county’s existing policy “sort of sends the message that anything and everything is county public purpose, which in my opinion is not true.”
On April 2, 2026, Childers emailed Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia asking for help stopping the Commission’s discretionary spending program—while admitting in the same message that the payments might not be illegal.
She wrote that she didn’t “believe property tax dollars should be given in increments of $500–$1,500 to the Commissioner’s not-for-profit of choice just because it feels good.” She then asked: “And if it’s not illegal, but ‘wasteful,’ who is enforcing? The Comptroller? How? What statutes give that authority?”
The CFO’s office appears to have ignored the request.
April 14, 2026: Childers forwarded the same letter to the Florida Attorney General’s office, this time describing the county’s program as “illegal and wasteful spending of property tax revenues”—a harder characterization than she had used with the CFO twelve days earlier. She has never explained which label applies to the WEAC and First Tee grants specifically, nor cited the statutory authority allowing her to block spending she deems merely wasteful rather than unlawful.
April 21, 2026: Childers emailed the CFO, the AG’s office, and State Rep. Michelle Salzman with the subject line “Andrade Demand Payments to Charities or Else.” The email referenced a demand letter from the nonprofits’ attorney, Alex Andrade, warning that Childers could face personal liability for roughly $600,000 in prior charity payments if the grants were in fact illegal. Childers wrote that she hoped “to have a conversation with someone in Tallahassee regarding the use of the County’s property tax dollars to fund charities.” The reply brief notes that Tallahassee appears to have not responded.
The American Legion Contradiction
Perhaps the most pointed section of the reply involves a payment Childers did approve: a July 25, 2025 discretionary grant to American Legion Post 33 to send two children to Boys State in Tallahassee.
In her approval email, Childers laid out her reasoning: the BCC had identified a county public purpose (sending youth to learn about state government), the program was open to all kids, it was not direct school funding, the purpose was achieved through the individuals attending, and safeguards existed.
The nonprofits’ argument: Every factor Childers cited to justify the Post 33 payment applies equally to First Tee Gulf Coast—a youth enrichment program providing golf scholarships, nutrition education, and character development to at-need Escambia children—and to WEAC, which distributes food to Escambia residents in need. “There is no rational basis for Childers’s discriminatory decision to fund American Legion Post 33 and deny payments to Plaintiffs,” the reply states.
The Legal Argument: Clerk as Ministerial Officer, Not Veto Power
The nonprofits’ attorneys at Moore, Hill & Westmoreland lay out more than a century of Florida precedent establishing that a clerk’s pre-audit function is a legal check—not a political override of commission decisions.
- Ray v. Wilson (1892): Mandamus lies against a county treasurer to compel payment of a valid warrant when funds are available.
- Wiecking v. State (1913): The private party to whom a warrant is issued has the right to compel the county treasurer to pay it.
- State ex rel. Himes v. Culbreath (1937): The Florida Supreme Court issued a writ of mandamus compelling the Hillsborough clerk to pay a private attorney $1,000 approved by the commission.
- Askew v. Green, Simmons, Green and Hightower, P.A. (1977): The First DCA affirmed a mandamus compelling the Marion County Clerk to honor county warrants to private law firms.
The reply argues the core principle is clear: once a commission lawfully votes to appropriate funds, the clerk’s duty to issue the warrant is ministerial. The clerk may raise the question of legality; the clerk does not get to permanently answer it. That role belongs to the court.
- “A clerk’s objection to a payment does not constitute a final legal determination that an expenditure is unlawful; it creates a justiciable controversy that a court must resolve,” the filing states.
Were the Grants Lawful?
The reply methodically argues that both appropriations fall squarely within established county authority.
WEAC ($2,500): The Commission approved the grant on October 16, 2025, after WEAC submitted an application on October 9 describing use of the funds to stock its food pantry—canned goods, breakfast items, juice and the like—for monthly distribution. WEAC requires recipients to show a valid driver’s license to confirm Escambia County residency. Florida Statute § 125.01(1)(e) explicitly authorizes county commissions to provide health and welfare programs. The nonprofits also cite decades of case law from Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Louisiana and Nebraska establishing that feeding the poor is a quintessential public purpose. “The beneficiaries of these funds are the individuals and families who are destitute and receive WEAC’s emergency aid,” the reply states.
First Tee Gulf Coast ($4,500, across three Commission votes in early 2025): First Tee submitted its application September 29, 2025, describing scholarship funding for at-need youth to participate in programming covering nutrition, physical activity, self-esteem, resilience and character development. Florida Statute § 125.01(1)(f) explicitly authorizes county commissions to provide recreational areas and programs. Two Florida Attorney General opinions—one from 1983 on nonprofit football programs, one from 1986 on nonprofit senior citizen field trips—support the proposition that recreational and youth enrichment activities satisfy county public purpose requirements, provided the program is open to the public and proper safeguards are in place.
What Happens Next
Childers has argued in her motion to dismiss that the Escambia County Commission is an indispensable party to the declaratory judgment claims. The nonprofits’ reply says they are prepared to amend their complaint to add the Commission as a defendant if the court requires it—but note with some bewilderment that Childers herself, having admitted she is uncertain whether the grants are lawful, did not simply move to join the Commission and get the question resolved.
- “It is puzzling to Plaintiffs that her request of this court was not to resolve the question of legality by joining the County Commission into this suit herself, and instead requesting to live in admitted ignorance in perpetuity,” the filing states.
The nonprofits are asking the court to deny the motion to dismiss, issue an alternative writ requiring Childers to show cause why payment should not be made, and grant declaratory relief establishing the boundaries of her authority. Attorney Alex Andrade of Moore, Hill & Westmoreland represents the plaintiffs. Childers is represented by McDonald Fleming, LLP.
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