By DOTTY NIST
A former county employee who was fired in July 2015 has sued Walton County, alleging that his termination, together with “adverse treatment” were the result of his whistleblowing activity. This was in connection with his discovery of a memo describing a shortfall of over $600,000 in collection of required fees from a developer.
Harry A. (Hal) Laird IV, a county employee for approximately 10 years, filed the complaint on Sept. 4 in the U.S District Court in Pensacola. Along with the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC), the complaint names Cindy Meadows and Larry Jones individually.
Meadows is District 5 commissioner and Jones is Walton County administrator.
The $600,000+ shortfall in fee collection was among the matters taken up by a Walton County Grand Jury that concluded its proceedings in early September.
According to Laird’s complaint, in January 2015, while reviewing the project file for the Lakeside at Blue Mountain Beach subdivision, he came across the memo, signed by Melissa Ward when employed as a county planner. The review was part of Laird’s duties as floodplain manager for Walton County Planning and Development Services. The complaint notes that the memo was dated 2008 and addressed to Pat Blackshear, who was planning director at that time.
The complaint also notes that the developer of the parcel, “by the name of McCormick,” had opted, rather than dedicating 5 percent of the parcel to public use, to pay a “recreational fee” of 5 percent of the subdivision value, bringing the required fee for the property valued at just under $13 million to approximately $614,500.
“However, based on what the author of the Memo described as ‘a decimal point error’—which explanation was never believed by Plaintiff–rather than being invoiced and paying a fee of approximately $614,500, the developer had been invoiced and paid a fee of approximately $614.50,” according to the complaint.
Laird states that from viewing the memo he “inferred” the possibility that a superior of Ward’s may have benefitted from the under-invoicing and may have instructed her to take no action other than writing the memo.
According to the narrative contained in the complaint: the memo quickly came to the attention of Laird’s supervisor, Walton County Planning and Development Services Director Wayne Dyess, after Laird showed it to fellow employees working near his work table; Dyess contacted Walton County Attorney Mark Davis on the matter; Dyess questioned Laird further on where the memo was found; Davis contacted the state attorney’s office, resulting in an investigation being initiated by the state attorney; Laird appeared before State Attorney Greg Anchors and an investigator for the state attorney’s office as requested several months later and was questioned for approximately 45 minutes regarding his discovery of the memo.
Laird alleges, citing a number of examples, that, following the discovery of the memo and his participation in the state attorney’s investigation, he was subjected to a hostile work environment, with Meadows, Jones and others openly questioning his professional judgment. He also characterizes his July 2015 termination as being for a “pretextual reason” involving his recommendation for the reduction of a road setback in the Sugarwood Subdivision based on “proper hardship relief.”
The complaint alleges violation of Laird’s civil rights of freedom of speech and expression under the First Amendment and maintains that the defendants’ actions caused him emotional pain and suffering and other intangible damages, along with lost wages and benefits. Relief from the court is requested, including damages and reimbursement of Laird’s costs and attorney’s fees.
There has been no responsive filing by the county, and no court date has been set at this time.
Walton County has taken no action at this time to recover the “missing” recreational plat fee funds. In a discussion on the matter initiated by Miramar Beach resident Don Riley at the June 23, 2015, BCC regular meeting, Chairman Bill Imfeld commented that pending the resolution of the state attorney’s investigation, it was his understanding that the county was “hamstrung” with regard to steps that could be taken to recoup those funds.
Also at that meeting, Riley presented a copy of a June 13, 2015 communication from Blackshear to attorney Davis in which Blackshear stated that she had never seen the memo in which Ward took responsibility for the $600,000+ error, “until just now.” Blackshear later addressed the BCC to confirm this, casting suspicion on the authenticity of the memo. She also agreed with previous comments at the meeting calling for the investigation to be elevated to a higher level.
On Sept. 4, the grand jury returned an indictment charging Blackshear with two counts of perjury in connection with the matter of the memo and recreational plat fee shortfall. The grand jury’s report resulting from the investigation was ordered sealed on Sept. 5 and has not been made public at this time.
