NorthEscambia.com this morning revealed the identities of the people for whom Century Mayor Henry Hawkins paid to travel from the West Coast to his community.
In violation of public records law, the Town of Century had refused to provide unredacted documents showing the names of the travelers. The town council had reimbursed Hawkins for $1,751.70 for the October trips. Earlier this week, he tried to get out of the problem by reimbursing the town.
However, the documents are still public records, and Mayor Hawkins had no legal basis for redacting the beneficiaries of the trips.
The mayor had said the trips were for economic development. However, the Expedia itineraries uncovered by NorthEscambia.com show the travelers work for a potential vendors that wanted to sell Century $200,000 worth of energy saving upgrades at three town properties.
The travelers were Tyson Diaz-Lapham, marketing executive with ADC Energy, and Mark Endo of Emesgy Consulting, according to NorthEscambia.com.
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Note: Shouldn’t a vendor pay for his own travel?