Amid two ongoing ethics investigations into the activities of the city’s mayor and a commissioner — and with two new complaints filed recently — the Kissimmee City Commission decided this week to halt evaluating complaints until a new process can be adopted.
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On Tuesday evening in a 3-2 vote commissioners agreed to pause handling ethics complaints for a period of up to 6 months, until a new system can be devised.
Last month the commission sent the complaints against Mayor Jackie Espinosa and Commissioner Janette Martinez to a special prosecutor and an investigation that cost $475 per hour is now underway. The commission’s vote does not pause those active investigations.
Current city code authorizes each complaint to be sent to a special prosecutor to determine if probable cause of a violation exists. The problem, city officials say, is that it does not permit city staff to first review the complaint for accuracy or legal sufficiency, so Kissimmee can end up paying for an ethics investigation its staff believes has no merit.
City rules also don’t let the city consider whether the Florida Commission on Ethics is reviewing the same matter, so Kissimmee can end up duplicating the state’s efforts.
City staff wants Kissimmee to change the code to streamline how it handles complaints and avoid those problems.
“It’s not to quash or repress anybody’s point of view it’s just trying to figure out what is the best format for these complaints to be raised and addressed,” City Attorney Kalanit Oded said. “What we are working with right now … there are no guardrails. It is not due process.”
Oded said the city’s current process is expensive, and it’s in the public’s interest to be revised.
“Some of the complaints that have been brought forward, and that may come forward against anybody on the commission, are frankly complaints that could be brought before the commission on ethics,” Oded said. “It’s duplicative, but in addition there’s no process to evaluate whether there’s any merit to any of the complaints so we are simply on the hook. The taxpayers are on the hook.”
Espinosa, who is under investigation by a special prosecutor, has made similar arguments. Earlier this month Espinosa’s lawyer sought to block a special prosecutor’s probe initiated by the city, arguing the state has authority over such ethics complaints and not local officials.
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Espinosa is being investigated for a complaint that she benefitted from a public grant program she created. Her family businesses received $50,000 in grants from a city business initiative.
Martinez, who is under investigation for claims that she misused her position to help business associates and friends obtain city permits and grant funding, opposed the decision to pause the current process for six months, saying that was too long and made her “very uncomfortable.”
Martinez has denied any wrong doing and likened the complaint to “misinformation” and called it “politically motivated”.
“I wouldn’t have an issue with this part of the charter taking a pause … but I just don’t think it’s a good time right now to have this starting,” Martinez said. “We’re in the public’s eye.”
The city’s decision outraged some residents, who spoke against the change at Tuesday’s meeting.
“My question is simple. Why now?” said resident Lillian Evans, who on May 1 filed a new complaint against the mayor. “It looks like a pause button is being hit only after certain people become uncomfortable with this process.”
Evans’ complaint against Espinosa alleges the mayor has many different addresses in public records and questioned if she actually lived within the city, as code requires.
Espinosa declined to comment on the new complaint but has previously denied wrongdoing for the first complaint filed against her.
Later in the meeting, commissioners voted to pause Evans’ complaint against the Mayor and a new complaint filed against Martinez while the city updates its code. The new complaint alleges she has an undisclosed business relationship with a food truck company that received a special permit from the city, expanding on the complaint against her that is already under investigation.
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