What Did Frankie & Jeff Do…If Anything?

That’s what Town Manager Will McKannay is digging into and a 3rd party independent firm has now been hired by the town to help McKannay with the investigation. Once that investigation is complete, taxpayers will know if anything went afoul with their money. Here’s what we know…

The investigation that landed Community Development Director Frankie Kropacek and Community Services Director Jeff Hauge on Paid Administrative Leave has to do with “certain grant and contracting practices,” according to the Town Manager. 

The town has not released any specific details on which grants, contracts awarded, or projects that launched the investigation. We’re told everything the two employees had their hands on is being looked at.

The town is currently going through its 2027 budget process and that appears to be what triggered the red flags. The town has also not said how long the investigation is expected to take. The town is holding 2 budget workshops on September 9th and September 23rd and it’s likely they would want this all cleaned up before the next fiscal budget year begins on October 1st. The Town Council has started the budget process at a not-to-exceed millage rate that calls for a 30% tax increase.

McKannay has only been with the town for one year so this is the first complete budget process he’s been a part of. The town’s finance department has not been exactly stable over the last few years. Former Finance Director Joe Onzick took another job shortly before McKannay took the job, then he came back to the beach several months later. Onzick retired earlier this year. When Roger Hernstadt was the Town Manager Fort Myers Beach didn’t even employ a Finance Director. Everything went through his hands. Recently hired Assistant Finance Director Jeffrey Newman was put on the hot seat during the first budget discussion last month and had trouble even answering how much money was left in the state bridge loan the town has been drawing from.  

Local municipalities are constantly applying for state and federal grant money to help fund projects and ease the burden on their local taxpayers. Some of those grants require a municipality to put up a dollar-for-dollar match. Grants also come with stringent guidelines, specific rules, and solid deadlines that must be followed. For example the town receives grant money from the Lee County Tourist Development Council every year. The TDC has very specific guidelines the town must follow to apply for the grant and how the money must be spent. The TDC grant is reimbursement based and used for personnel, supplies and equipment expenses specified in the application. We do not yet know if the TDC grant is one that’s under the investigative microscope.

Back in late 2021 Fort Myers Beach was awarded a $1 Million grant to redevelop Bay Oaks. Hurricane Ian came through and upset that apple cart. The redevelopment plans had to be changed and an extension to use the grant requested. All of that was approved. In order for the grant money to be awarded the Town of Fort Myers Beach had to match the $1 Million and follow the guidelines set for by the National Park Service – Land and Water Conservation Fund, the organization that awarded the grant.

Over the last year, 4 new pickleball courts were constructed, a ¼ miles walking path around the field was added, new palm trees were planted, among other upgrades. To date, we are told, not a single penny of that $1 Million has been reimbursed to the town. We’ve also been told this is one of the issues McKannay is trying to sort through. 

Despite Florida’s broad public records law, the town has not yet shared the name of the company hired to assist in the investigation. The investigation started with the town’s finance team and auditing firm then was elevated to the 3rd party outside independent firm. Of course, everything being looked into involves taxpayer’s money. 

Over the last few days we’ve submitted public document requests for all the projects Kropacek and Hauge were part of, all communication (e-mail and letters) between the two employees and the Town Manager, and a copy of the 3rd party contract the town has hired to help with the investigation. We have not received any of those documents as of this morning. 

Shortly after we broke the news Tuesday night, Town Manager Will McKannay sent Beach Talk Radio the following statement: “We don’t discuss individual personnel. Two employees are on paid administrative leave while the Town conducts an independent review of certain grant and contracting practices. This is precautionary, not disciplinary, and we’ll provide updates as appropriate.”

Although it does not involve any grant money another project that seems to be dead in the water is the old Town Hall property. Back in March, the Town Council approved $138,000 to convert the unused lot into an 80-spot paid parking lot which included a $65,000 retaining wall. Hague is the town staff member spearheading that project. He stepped up to the town hall mic months ago and detailed the plan but couldn’t quite explain how cars wouldn’t drive over the edge of the elevated lot and crash their vehicles. 

Mayor Dan Allers was not happy at the time: “How are we going to prevent people from driving over the wall or people from walking on it and falling off? It just seems to me that we rushed this. There hasn’t been a lot of thought put into this and I would have liked to see this going through the M&P process. My biggest concern is the liability.” 

That project hasn’t moved an inch since that meeting and this week town staff told the LPA the project would not be before them in September. That, despite the Mayor saying almost weekly on his Sunday show that it was coming through the process soon. In fact, as of today, there’s not even a zoning application in the town’s portal for the project. It eventually came out that the was not following its own rules before moving forward with the parking lot. 

There have also been allegations that Hague used a taxpayer-funded company vehicle to drive back to his home state of Minnesota. 

McKannay is expected to host a town hall meeting to announce the findings when they’re complete. No time frame was announced to get the investigation done other than as soon as possible. 

Hague has been with Fort Myers Beach since 2022 and Kropacek since 2024. 

Administrative leave is a temporary employment status where an employee is relieved of their normal job duties while maintaining their employment status. It is most commonly a paid suspension where the employee continues to receive their full salary and benefits, but they are instructed to stay away from the workplace.

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