CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Commission and Tourist Development Council have been asked to appear before the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee next Monday in Tallahassee to answer questions about the TDC scandal.
County Administrator Jim Curry, Commissioner Nathan Boyles, Clerk of Court Don Howard and county Finance Director Gary Stanford appeared before the committee Monday for a presentation by the auditor general on his audit of the county and the TDC.
Read the final audit report.>>
After Curry and Boyles said the full commission hadn’t had a chance to discuss the final audit report, the Auditing Committee requested that commissioners and TDC members attend its next meeting.
Curry said the Auditing Committee sent a clear message that its invitation should not be ignored.
“They left no doubt that they will assert their subpoena authority,” Curry said.
Boyles agreed, noting that the tone of the committee was “somber and serious.”
“They want a full explanation of what went wrong in Okaloosa County,” he said.
Boyles said the Auditing Committee also requested a representative of The Zimmerman Agency, the county’s former advertising and marketing firm, to attend. Agency owner Curtis Zimmerman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, which is comprised of six House members and five Senate members, has direct oversight of the Auditor General’s Office.
At Tuesday’s County Commission meeting in Crestview, the board discussed the Auditing Committee’s summons as well as state lawmakers’ recent calls for accountability within county government.
In what appeared to be a direct attempt to satisfy those critics, commissioners voted unanimously to request the resignations of four of the six county-appointed TDC members and the TDC’s attorney.
The board has given the TDC members a week to resign or be removed from their seats.
Those resignations are part of a seven-point plan approved by the board Tuesday to show the public how it intends to move forward.
The TDC, a nine-member volunteer panel, is made up of two city-appointed seats from Destin and Fort Walton Beach; six county-appointed seats, two of which are vacant; and one commissioner liaison position held by Commissioner Kelly Windes.
Boyles said the TDC volunteers were “misled and lied to” by former TDC head Mark Bellinger and thanked them for their service. But he maintained that their resignations are necessary because the “citizens of Okaloosa County want to see a commitment to a fresh start”
He said he would like to see those TDC members apply to serve again in the future.
Commissioner Dave Parisot, who previously sat on the TDC, vigorously defended its members.
“The TDC was not aware nor did they vote to allow Mr. Bellinger to buy a Porsche or a Subaru or a boat or any of these things,” Parisot said. “He kept the Tourist Development Council … as much in the dark as he did anyone else. That’s what embezzlers do. They don't operate in the open.”
Windes offered a more reserved defense of the TDC. He said they were “to some extent the victim of circumstances” and their resignations are needed “to turn the page on the TDC.”
TDC members who were asked to resign are Kathy Houchins of ResortQuest, Patricia Hardiman of Southern Resorts, Warren Gourley of Venus and Sea Crest Condominiums, and Nick Nicholson, a resident of Fort Walton Beach and former county commissioner. TDC Member Lino Maldonado of WyndhamWorldwide, resigned Friday for other reasons.
TDC attorney Steve Hall resigned during Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“I have enjoyed and treasured the opportunity to be of service to the county,” Hall told the board. “I can stand here today and tell you I want to make it easy.”
He told the board he understood why they asked him to resign and offered commissioners one last opinion on the TDC.
“I can tell you in my investigation, in my work with this Tourist Development Council and staff, I find no corruption,” Hall said. “I find no complicity.”
Houchins, who did not attend the board meeting, said the call for TDC members to resign is unfair.
“This council is made up of citizen volunteers who have no authority,” she said. “Yet we’re held accountable for the county’s purse strings.”
Houchins said she and many others have devoted long hours of personal time to serve on the TDC.
“To be treated like this is unforgivable,” she added.
Houchins said she will resign because she wants to help the county “move on.”
Fort Walton Beach City Councilman Bobby Nabors, who has served on the TDC as a municipal appointee for almost four years, blasted the commission.
“They are taking the blame and putting it on a group of volunteers who had no oversight authority, no check writing authority and no budgetary authority,” he said. “What about the Clerk of Court’s office? What about the county administrator, who has authority over all county employees?”
Nabors rejected the idea that the resignations pave the way for a fresh start.
“Who’s still managing the checkbook? All the same people are still in charge,” he added. “They're just blaming the janitor for not having enough people in the restaurant. … This is a cop-out.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.