The state’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee ordered yesterday a countywide audit of all Okaloosa County finances as well as an audit of the Clerk of Court’s Office.
The Auditing Committee, composed of six state representatives and five senators, has direct oversight of the Auditor General’s Office–which completed last month an audit of that county’s Tourist Development Council and its use of bed taxes and BP marketing dollars (Daily News).
That audit found several alleged misuses of those funds and cited the Zimmerman Agency specifically in the report.
Since February 2012, The Zimmerman Agency has been paid over $900,000 by Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward to market Pensacola. Last week, he released to daily newspaper a letter terminating the agency’s three-year contract, effective Feb. 28.
We’ve heard that Tamara Fountain, the mayor’s special consultant on media, has had at least one meeting with Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar regarding Zimmerman.