Exactly two weeks ago, we reported that the Fort Myers Beach Town Council voted to spend $232,500 on a new irrigation system and sod on the big field at Bay Oaks. This coming Tuesday, Town Manager Will McKannay will recommend the Town Council nix that plan.
When the Council agreed to spend the money with their landscaping company Tidewater, now suspended (with pay) Community Services Director Jeff Hague, who was in charge of the project, told everyone the $232,500 would come from the town’s park impact fee budget. Impact fees are collected when a permit is issued for new development.
On Tuesday McKannay will recommend the Bay Oaks project not move forward until the funding can be found. What’s not entirely clear is why we’re here now. There does appear to be enough funding in the town’s park impact fee budget. Could it be that using impact fees for this type of project is prohibited by an ordinance or state law? Could it be that if the Bay Oaks grant has been lost (see below), the town now needs to use this impact fee budget (approximately $270,000) to cover what they’ve already expended so those funds then would not be available for this project?
Nobody at Town Hall knows the answer to those questions. What we do know is that this project is now part of McKannay’s investigation into everything Hague and Community Development Director Frankie Kropacek had their hands on. They were both put on paid administrative leave 10 days ago.
The town’s Public Information Officer Abigail Eberhart told us Thursday that the reason Tidewater will not be getting the contract is because the town doesn’t have the money to match. Until she said that, having to match this project was never mentioned. Hague didn’t say anything about the town needing to match the money when he spoke about the project earlier this month in front of Council.
We reached out to several council members to see if we could get any clarification but we were unable to get any more clarity.
There’s also now a question about the $1 million grant for Bay Oaks and whether the town will actually receive that grant after having already spent the money.
The $1 million grant was from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and used to purchase new palm trees, add 4 pickleball courts, fix drainage, and build a nearly quarter mile walking path around the outside of the field. When done correctly, a municipality receives word they are approved for a grant, the money then must be spent from the general fund, invoices are submitted based on deadlines, then the money is reimbursed. It appears those procedures were not followed and the town will not be receiving the reimbursement. Making municipalities spend the money out of their own budgets, then forcing them to follow rules to get reimburssed, is a backstop for the state and feds to make sure local governments are not mismanaging the taxpayers money.
While $1 million wasted may not be a lot to a bigger city, it’s a lot of money to Fort Myers Beach.
All of this is expected to come out and be discussed at the town’s next council meeting Monday morning at 9AM. And for the forseeable future, the big field at Bay Oaks will remain an ugly field of hard dirt and rocks and not the beuatiful field of green grass the council was hoping to host many community events on.
It seems to me that every council member should be aware of every action being acted upon. How can you be a member of the town council and not know everything that is going on. ??? Not one member should be able to say I don’t know anything about that…. What kind of council do we have???
An interesting question.
Was any wrongdoing here happening under the watch of the previous guy so many called the greatest manager in town history, Andy Hyatt, and somehow continued under the watch of the guy now called by so many the greatest manager in town history?
Could two Godlike managers have missed financial incompetence, or worse, corruption, under their watch?
Who caught it? Who didn’t?
Awaiting.
A forensic audit examination of the towns expenses has to be done. It will be a cost and money well spent. Who did what? Without an audit the town will (does) not have any credibility. This is a true test of the managers leadership.