Century Discusses Audit Problems As Due To Coding, Communications
January 10, 2018
The Century Town Council held a special workshop meeting Tuesday evening to discuss findings of a recent audit and work not yet done to complete an audit coming due soon to the state.
The audit uncovered numerous financial problems in Century during the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016. Those findings included deteriorating financial conditions that could result in a future “financial emergency”, $3.83 million in transferred special revenue funds that must be repaid to another fund, over $1.4 million in expenditures in violation of state statutes, over $5,000 in a bank account that did not appear on the books and other deficiencies.
The council discussed that many of the findings were simply due to transactions that were simply mis-coded, essentially placed in the wrong category when entered into financial software. There are no allegations of wrongdoing or missing funds.
Town Clerk Leslie Howington said it had been common practice to “borrow” funds from one account, such as the general fund, to another fund, such as the gas fund, in order to pay bills by their due date. The funds would then be recorded as due to the general fund and due from the gas fund. Instead, she said, the funds should have been coded as operational transfers.
The town is currently working with town attorney Matt Dannheiser to re-code fiscal year 2015-2016 transactions to correct audit findings.
Auditing firm Warren Averett has warned town officials that information needed for their current audit was due December 31 but was not received. Now, the the auditors have pushed their schedule for fieldwork from this month to May, giving the town a deadline of April 15 to provide information and files. The council, in turn , is requiring that their CPA, Robert Hudson, provide completed reports to the council by April 1.
“Communication, communication,” Council member Ben Boutwell said. “So many of these problems have been caused by the lack of communication. You need to provide people with a (deadline) to provide you information and keep a paper trail of that.”
The town council is also now requiring Hudson to communicate current financial information to them during the second council meeting of each month.
Pictured: The Century Town Council discusses audit findings Tuesday evening. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
FDLE Arrests Santa Rosa Detention Deputy
January 10, 2018
Tuesday, agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Russel Edmund Scott, 49, for theft of intellectual property. Scott was a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office detention deputy.
The Sheriff’s Office requested that FDLE investigate Scott for unauthorized possession of SMARTCOP proprietary files on his personal share drive located on the SRCSO computer network system.
SMARTCOP provides system development, implementation and support services for public safety products including computer-aided dispatch, records management, mobile computer with field based reported and jail management systems.
During the investigation, FDLE agents discovered Scott, a former SMARTCOP employee, was in possession of numerous files that he was not authorized to have.
Scott was booked into the Okaloosa County Jail after his arrest.
Alabama Man Claims Nearly $200K For Davisville Winning Fantasy 5 Ticket
January 10, 2018
An Alabama man has claimed his prize for a winning lottery ticket sold last week at a local store.
The Florida Lottery says the January 4 Fantasy 5 ticket worth $198,985.90 was sold to William C. Julian of Gallion, AL. He purchased the ticket at the Korner Kwik Stop at 10481 Highway 97 in Davisville. It was the only winning ticket sold for last Thursday night’s drawing.
The 292 tickets matching four numbers won $109.50 each. Another 9,401 tickets matching three numbers are worth $9.50 each, and 90,332 ticket holders won a Quick Pick ticket for picking two numbers.
The January 4 Fantasy 5 winning numbers were 2-7-8-22-31.
Feds Drop Possible Drilling Off Florida Coast
January 10, 2018
Florida waters were removed Tuesday from White House plans to open previously protected parts of the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and gas drilling.
The move was hailed by Gov. Rick Scott, while drawing questions about whether the quick decision and manner of announcement by the Trump administration were done to further Scott’s political career.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, making a brief appearance Tuesday night at Tallahassee International Airport, credited Gov. Rick Scott, who was by his side, for the decision to remove Florida from the drilling proposal announced Thursday.
“The great state of Florida has expressed and the governor has expressed his desire not to drill and not to have production platforms off the coast,” Zinke said when asked why Florida waters were removed from the pending review while waters off neighboring states remain eligible. “We think we have the assets in this country onshore and offshore and the rest of the Gulf to meet the president’s desire for energy dominance.”
Zinke who flew into Tallahassee to talk with Scott, addressed the media for about seven minutes and then departed. The meeting was added late Tuesday to Scott’s schedule.
Scott last week issued a statement that opposed opening Florida waters beyond the nation’s outer continental shelf — a jurisdictional term describing submerged lands 10.36 statutory miles off Florida’s west coast and 3 nautical miles off the east coast — prior to the White House policy being released.
The initial proposal was widely condemned by Florida politicians from both parties. On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson — a Democrat expected to be challenged for his seat later this year by Scott — was quick to call Zinke’s action a “political stunt.”
“I have spent my entire life fighting to keep oil rigs away from our coasts,” Nelson said in a statement. “But now, suddenly, Secretary Zinke announces plans to drill off Florida’s coast and four days later agrees to ‘take Florida off the table?’ I don’t believe it. This is a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration to help Rick Scott, who has wanted to drill off Florida’s coast his entire career. We shouldn’t be playing politics with the future of Florida.”
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein made a similar comment, noting that Scott in 2010 had disagreed with then-President Barack Obama’s decision not to pursue eastern Gulf drilling. Bergstein alleged Scott and President Donald Trump, a political ally, manufactured “a crisis to try and help his (Scott’s) political ambitions.”
Zinke said the administration strategy was to open everything, then meet with local stakeholders and governors, and to balance those views against plans for energy independence.
“We are on a course to be the largest oil and gas producer in the world,” Zinke said. “We are going to be a net liquid natural-gas producer. And I can tell you from a former (Navy) Seal, I don’t want your kids ever to fight on foreign shores for a resource that we have here. But there are places where resources are sensitive, and there are places where we are not going to go forward with resources. One of them is off the coast of Florida.”
In 2017, Trump signed an executive order asking Zinke to consider opening the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic to drilling.
Scott issued a statement Tuesday night thanking Zinke for coming to Tallahassee to hear his concerns about drilling.
“By removing Florida from consideration, we can now focus on how we can further protect our environment, including our proposal for record funding for the Everglades, our springs, our beaches and our state parks,” Scott said. “I will never stop fighting for Florida’s environment and our pristine coastline.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Negron Targets Sexual Harassment As Session Opens
January 10, 2018
Senate President Joe Negron reiterated his chamber will have “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment or misconduct against employees and visitors, as he gave an opening address Tuesday for the 2018 legislative session.
Negron also talked of the need to address impacts from Hurricane Irma and to further build up the state university system.
And Negron said the Senate will work with Gov. Rick Scott on his request for additional pay raises for law-enforcement officers and with House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, on expanding school choice.
“One thing I know is, it doesn’t matter at all to the Floridians we represent where these ideas originate,” Negron said. “They’re worried about taking care of their families. Taking their students to ballet practice, to Little League practice. … Families are busy trying to survive and prosper and they don’t care about this home-and-away football game mentality that some people have. I am happy to do school choice. I am happy to help our medical profession. I’m happy to protect consumers, patients, to improve our colleges. Improve our K-12 system.”
Negron’s opened his address by acknowledging the national topic of sexual harassment, which has hit home in the Senate.
Clearwater Republican Jack Latvala resigned following the release last month of a report by Special Master Ronald Swanson, a former judge. Swanson was hired after a Senate staff member alleged sexual harassment by Latvala. The report concluded that Latvala broke rules about sexual harassment, and it recommended a criminal probe into other allegations that the longtime lawmaker had promised legislative favors for sex.
“State government should lead by example in instituting policies that ensures employees feel safe when they come to work and comfortable to confidentially report inappropriate behavior by any person,” Negron said.
Negron did not address a disclosure — just moments before the session began — of an affair between Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, and Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami.
“We have sought the forgiveness of our families, and also seek the forgiveness of our constituents and God,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “We ask everyone else to respect and provide our families the privacy that they deserve as we move past this to focus on the important work ahead.”
The joint statement was issued after an anonymous website alleged the affair.
Negron, in his comments, said Senate Rules Chairwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, is leading the Senate’s effort “to update its administrative policy on sexual and workplace harassment.”
Negron added that the Senate continues to address the impacts of Hurricane Irma, looking at issues such as fuel supplies, abandoned vessels, bulking up the electric grid, assisting the agricultural industry and making nursing-home reforms.
Residents of a Broward County nursing home died after Irma knocked out the facility’s air-conditioning system. Negron said he wanted to ensure the safety of Florida’s seniors who reside in nursing facilities. He said it is critical that seniors are “cared for with the highest level of safety and dignity. And that will be one of our priorities this session”
He also said the Senate would work with Scott on “policy and budget” to welcome displaced Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria.
Negron also said he wanted to take a multidisciplinary approach to helping solve Florida’s opioid crisis. Drug-related deaths in Florida jumped by 35 percent in 2016, but experts say the situation is even more dire than the statistic demonstrates.
Negron said the multidisciplinary approach should include medication-assisted treatment and increased criminal penalties for selling and trafficking drugs.
The Senate will hold its first full floor session Thursday and is expected to take up a Negron priority (SB 4) that would make permanent an expansion in Bright Futures scholarships. It also includes other higher-education proposals, such as holding universities to a four-year graduation standard in performance funding.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida. News Service staff writer Christine Sexton contributed to this report.
HS Basketball: Northview Tops Jay, Tate Beats Niceville
January 10, 2018
Tuesday high school basketball results:
BOYS
Northview 41, Jay 38
Northview 26, Jay 24 (JV)
Tate 67, Niceville 58
Tate 54, Niceville 41 (JV)
GIRLS
Pine Forest 37, Tate 20
Pictured: Northview at Jay. Photos by Ellen Helton for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Ernest Ward Middle School Announces Science Fair Winners
January 10, 2018
About 100 students took part in the recent Ernest Ward Middle School Science Fair. Winners were:
6th GRADE
1st Place — “Got Gas” Emilie Funck
2nd Place — Got Water Maggie Godwin
3rd Place — “Water Type and Plant Growth ” Meredith Johnston
7th GRADE
1st Place — “Shout It Out” Luke Bridges
2nd Place — “How Color Affects Photosynthesis” Madison Rowinsky
3rd Place (tied)
“Effect of Different Liquids on a Plant’s Health” Blake Yoder
“No Small Cakes Here ” Emma Gilmore
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
UWF’s Shinnick Named National Coach Of The Year
January 10, 2018
UWF head football coach Pete Shinnick was named the Division II National Coach of the Year, as announced by the American Football Coaches Association during the live broadcast of the American Football Coaches Awards®, presented by Amway, at the Charlotte Convention Center Tuesday.
Shinnick led the Argonauts to an 11-4 record and advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championship Game in their second season of competition. UWF went 5-3 in the ultra-competitive Gulf South Conference to finish tied for second. The Argonauts won a school record six-consecutive games which included five against nationally ranked teams en route to the title game appearance.
UWF was ranked second in the final AFCA Top 25, marking its first-ever ranking after receiving votes twice during the 2017 season.
The Argos had the nation’s 20th-ranked defense and were among the top 20 in sacks, turnovers gained, interceptions, fumbles recovered, fourth down defense and defensive touchdowns.
UWF had a number of exciting events transpire in 2017. Among the highlights in the regular-season were: A goal line turnover in the final seconds to secure a win at Missouri S&T in the season opener; The team tied a school-record with 51 points in a win over Chowan; Austin Williams kicked a field goal as time expired in a wild road win over Florida Tech to claim the Coastal Classic for the second-consecutive year, Marvin Conley had a 98-yard pick-6 in the last minute to preserve a 28-14 win over Mississippi College; the Argos defeated North Alabama 30-7 on Senior Day; UWF erased a 16-0 deficit to defeat WestGeorgia 34-29 and earn a berth into the postseason, becoming the fastest startup to reach the playoffs in Division II.
The postseason run proved to be just as exciting, captivating the nation as the team knocked off one top-25 opponent after another, beginning with a dominating 31-0 win at No. 16 Wingate. A 17-14 win at No. 25 West Georgia followed before winning the Super Regional 2 championship at No. 17 West Alabama. The national semifinals saw another dominating defensive performance as the Argonauts outlasted top-ranked and undefeated Indiana (Pa.), 27-17 to advance to the title game.
The award is the first for Shinnick, who is 16-10 in two years at UWF and 129-56 in 16 seasons as a head coach.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
State of The State: Scott Pitches Proposal To Prevent Tax Hikes
January 9, 2018
In his last State of the State speech, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday asked lawmakers to make it harder to pass future tax increases by requiring a “supermajority” vote by the Legislature.
“This is my last session to cut taxes,” Scott told House and Senate members on the opening day of the 2018 legislative session. “And we must acknowledge that, unfortunately, at some point, there will be politicians sitting in this chamber who are not as fiscally responsible as we are today.”
Scott wants lawmakers to back a constitutional amendment, which if approved by voters in the fall, would require two-thirds votes by the Legislature to pass tax increases. The Republican-led Legislature can now pass a tax increase by a majority vote, with the last increase being a $1 hike in 2009 on the tax on packs of cigarettes.
In his 35-minute speech to lawmakers, Scott discounted arguments that adopting a higher voting requirement on tax increases would hamper future state leaders in dealing with financial challenges.
“It is during times of economic downturn where this proposal is needed the most,” Scott said. “It will force leaders to contemplate living within their means rather than taking the easy way out and just sticking it to the public by raising taxes on families and job creators.”
The House is already advancing a constitutional amendment (HJR 7001) to require two-thirds votes before raising taxes or fees. The Florida Constitution Revision Commission, which has the power to place issues on the 2018 ballot, is also considering a similar measure (Proposal 72).
Facing term limits as he approaches eight years in office, Scott said more than $7 billion in cumulative tax cuts have occurred since he became governor in January 2011.
But in his final legislative agenda, Scott is backing a modest tax-cutting plan in addition to the constitutional proposal. Scott wants to expand sales-tax holidays for Floridians when they buy school and hurricane supplies, and he wants to cut some motor-vehicle fees, including reducing the renewal fee for drivers’ licenses from $48 to $20.
Coming to Tallahassee as a political novice and facing a state budget undermined by the recession, the former health-care executive called his two-term governorship his “most rewarding job.”
“There were the naysayers who told us there was no way that a businessman with no experience in politics or government could possibly be successful at helping turn Florida’s economy around,” Scott said. “Fortunately for all of us, the naysayers were wrong.”
In addition to the tax cuts, Scott used his final State of the State address to mark progress in recovering from the recession. That includes a state unemployment rate of 3.6 percent, which is below the national average.
“The results speak for themselves,” Scott said. “Working together, we’ve created an environment where our private sector has added nearly 1.5 million jobs.”
Scott acknowledged the challenge last year of Hurricane Irma, a “mammoth storm” that engulfed nearly the entire state.
“It was like a scene from a bad movie,” he said.
But Scott also said the “response and solidarity” of Floridians in dealing with the storm provided “one of the proudest moments I have had as governor.”
Scott also highlighted the state’s efforts to help residents who have fled Puerto Rico after it was hit by Hurricane Maria, saying he wanted Florida to be “the most welcoming place for people displaced by the storm.”
Lawmakers will have to deal with the financial impacts from both hurricanes as they shape the next state budget, taking into account emergency spending related to Irma and the influx of Puerto Ricans, including more than 11,000 students who have enrolled in Florida public schools.
Scott said little in his speech about his previously announced effort to increase public school funding by $200 per student in the new budget. The $770 million increase is funded largely by an increase in property tax values. But House leaders oppose such an idea, characterizing it as a tax increase.
On other high-profile issues, Scott pointed to his $53 million initiative to address the opioid crisis and his proposal to increase pay for state law enforcement officers by $30 million.
Also, with sexual harassment scandals rocking the nation and Tallahassee, including the resignation of prominent state Sen. Jack Latvala, Scott outlined steps his office has taken to help victims.
He called on lawmakers to pass legislation to protect state employees who may have witnessed harassment, encouraging them to participate in investigations.
“Things have got to change, and it starts right here in this building,” Scott said. “We all must join together and send a very strong message: Florida stands with victims.”
Scott also used his speech to provide some clues to his future, taking time to highlight Florida’s global role and to condemn the authoritarian regime of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.
“Make no mistake, Maduro and his gang of thugs pose a problem for the entire world, especially for us here in Florida,” Scott said.
Foreign affairs could play a role if Scott, a Republican, decides to challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida’s only statewide elected Democrat, later this year.
Local Woman Claims $2 Million Powerball Prize; Will Share With Office Pool
January 9, 2018
A local woman has claimed a $2 million prize Powerball prize.
The Florida Lottery said 30-year old Regina Spence claimed the prize from the January 3 Powerball drawing. The winning ticket matched all five of the white ball numbers, but did not match the Powerball. Spence is formerly from Walnut Hill and now resides in Pensacola.
Spence bought the ticket as part of an office pool with 33 of her coworkers at Navy Federal Credit Union
“We were shocked and thrilled to win this prize! I’m planning to use my portion to make some repairs to my home and buy my parents a new refrigerator,” she said.
Spence purchased the winning ticket from Circle K, located at 7950 Pensacola Boulevard. The store will receive a $5,000 bonus commission for selling the ticket.
Pictured: Regina Spence claimed a $2 million Powerball price. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.