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Grand Jury To Review Century Town Operations; Council Members Charged With Sunshine Law Violations
January 4, 2019
A grand jury will investigate operations of the Town of Century, and three council members have been charged with violating the Sunshine Law.
“A number of issues have been brought to the attention of the State Attorney’s Office regarding the manner in which the town has operated, and these are the issues that may brought before the grand jury,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said Thursday afternoon. The issues, he said, span a period of several months.
He said a grand jury is always in place in Escambia County, and a new grand jury is convened twice per year. The Century issues will be presented to a new grand jury that will begin their term before the end of January.
“Under Florida law, not only can they (the grand jury) charge a crime, they can investigate how a city or county is being operated and make a report to the general public of their findings that will be educational to the general public and hopefully helpful to the city of Century,” State Attorney Bill Eddins said.
Town council President Ann Cofield Brooks and council members Sandra McMurray Jackson and Luis Gomez, Jr. were charged Thursday with noncriminal violations of the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors allege the three council members “did unlawfully engage in a discussion or exchange of information with other members of the Century Town Council regarding a matter which foreseeably could come before said board or commission for action, outside of a public meeting, in violation of … Florida statues,” according to the charging documents.
Last summer, three council members allegedly attended at least some portion of a closed-door meeting with CPA Robert Hudson, Town Clerk Kim Godwin and the town’s auditors. The meeting was not advertised as a public meeting, which would forbid more than one council member from taking part under Florida’s Sunshine Laws.
They are due at an arraignment hearing on January 24 at 8:30 a.m. “They will enter a plea before a judge,” Marcille said, “then set for trial unless their plea is not guilty.” Each faces a maximum fine of $500.
Noncriminal Sunshine Law charges were filed against four individuals accused of violating Florida’s Sunshine Law in 2016. The former members of a Citizens Advisory Task Force were charged with having a public meeting that was not properly advertised. A July 26, 2016, meeting was advertised in a legal notice to begin at 4 p.m. The meeting was actually held at 2:00 p.m., preventing the public from attending. Each defendant signed a deferred prosecution agreement and charges were dropped.
The State Attorney’s Office put the town on notice in 2016 that future Sunshine Law violations would be taken seriously.
Marcille said Thursday prosecutors will not be looking for tenancy against the town council members charged with violating the Sunshine Law, but would instead hold them accountable as elected officials.
“That case was different in that it was a citizens’ board, not elected officials. In this case, we would ask for the maximum fine,” he said.
Pictured top: Century Council members (L-R) Luis Gomez, Jr., Ann Cofield Brooks and Sandra McMurray Jackson at the council’s most recent meeting on December 17, 2018. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
17 Responses to “Grand Jury To Review Century Town Operations; Council Members Charged With Sunshine Law Violations”
Century. LoL.
Just shut it down.
@JustSaying; How is this whole mess not the business of everybody in the extreme North Escambia County? This embarrassment named Century Government is the voice for business development in the north end. What substantial employer with half a brain would consider locating here with all the shenanigans that this Town Council pulls? You don’t go a week without seeing some questionable deal pulled by the Mayor and Council. Case in point; the developer of the apt. complex (probably the largest development of any kind in the last 25 years) went to the Mayor of Century and got figures for the hook up of water and sewer. When he got ready to make the hook ups, the price under a new mayor had more than doubled. Century gave it’s word, not one mayor or the other, and they should stick with it. I hope the Grand Jury does it’s job and exposes any and all irregularities with this town, and the Legislature will follow up by revoking the Town Charter.
To everyone that has an opinion on here, as the saying goes: if you don’t have a horse in this race…., or ain’t my monkey…, or how about mind your own business if you don’t live in the city limits! Everyone wants to see who sounds the most educated, when nobody really cares about your opinion, it’s in the hands of the real professionals now!
If grand jurors are just people randomly selected by drivers license, They may not know enough about local government to actually discern what the real problems are. They are complex and I don’t think many actually have an understanding of municipal finances and operations. Perhaps the goal should be to go to the audits, in which it is clearly stated that Century was headed for financial failure and that it is inevitable it can not continue to operate. The blame game is most likely counter productive and a plan for transfer to D5 and a waterboard like Cottage Hill water works could expand. ECUA could take over the sewer and the county would take care of roads and bridges and an mstu for the streetlights. As a citizen and home owner my property tax will decrease and competent people are at the helm under the county. Would the citizens vote to do this if it were explained to them? Maybe not. And that’s a problem. Just sunshine charges and bad feeling do no good. The people and place will still be here just a layer of government that has reached its end could be removed. I don’t think a grand jury can be that detailed. Ask delegates in the FL legislature for assistance.
It is not the jobs of the people who live in a town to go to the council meetings. Their job is to elect people who are capable of government.
It’s not a Community Meet and Greet.
There have been several people over the years who appeared knowledgeable step up to run but the electorate (that means voters–all 300 of them) chose otherwise in many cases. They was a financial person, another one in the constitutional party who had a knowledge of Escambia and State business, a successful businesswoman and others.
The meeting is for the town council to work on things they have been doing and for people to have brought concerns to them ahead of time and they act on them.
It is a position of public trust and awareness. The council is not guidance counselors or necessarily friends.
Century has governing document called a charter to work under, often times a mayor is a figure head but he has some power via this charter.
He doesn’t seem to realize his limitations in the scenario, that is evidenced by some of his public statement and especially by the video on the news.
People blaming Ms Brooks don’t seem to know it’s the clerk’s job, who is the highest paid person on the payroll, to advertise meetings.
If Eddins fails to do a complete job and recommend going higher up the state to dissolve the charter and find other ways to provide services and pass the buck He is also part of the problem.
I remember reading about Ann was telling Kim about papers was missing that someone could do jail time. Looks like Ann is quilty of stuff. Century needs to straighten up.
Why don’t all you smart people go to the meetings and help them run the town? There’s already more participating on here with negativity then there was floats for the Christmas parade. If you don’t care About century why are you worried about the sunshine law? Borrowed money? Let’s all wait on William to tell us what’s going on in our Community so we can set home and do nothing but B*%•#..
The direction that the Grand Jury goes has a lot to do with what direction the prosecutor points them in. If the prosecutor doesn’t want to be bothered with a “can of worms” being opened, he/she will avoid it at all costs. If you’re called to testify in a Grand Jury, the jurors have the right to ask any questions they want to of the witness and that’s where the prosecutor loses their grip. Even if they didn’t want to open that can up, there stands a chance of questions being answered that can’t go unnoticed. Just hope that because the State Attorneys Office knows the public has taken noticed to all the activity going on up there, they may want to address all the issues and not just one or two. Good job William on staying on top of the issues and I’m sure they’re a few up north that wished you would just shut up. Keep your head up.
They need to go back several years and find out why all the money was spent from special fund, why the gas dept is in the hole, why the infrastructure for sewer is failing, why the LDC a consultant took money to update was never completed, why loans are made to council members. They probably need to recommended to the state to revoke the charter and find another way to provide services. Not to seem mean but they don’t know what they are doing. The mayor thinks he does but he doesn’t. It is obvious the accountant was taking a paycheck and not keeping things straight. The council has been dysfunctional for years as well as the clerks. I hope the Grand Jury really does deep dive but quite frankly after watching Escambia county politics don’t have a lot of faith in even this investigation. But will hope for the best. Hope they do more than just publish a few months worth. Northescambia could provide many links. The audits are on file.
This may be a good thing and reveal the real reason why there are constant dust-ups on topics concerning the town’s finances. Everyone should know that the newer council members could not have been culprits or guilty of past actions involving back door deals and money movement. As much as we hate to say it, there has definitely been something going on and I hope they review the activities and transactions of those past years; which really would reflect the groundwork for the current faulty budget and issues.
The councilpersons who have been in place for years likely already know this and also know exactly where the smoking guns are. We the public will soon know as well, until then, everything else is speculation and finger pointing. I’ve always been told there are three fingers pointing back at you..
HOPEFULLY, this inquiry will answer the many questions and issues that seem to be constant with the board’s conduct.
Move forward and if there is something amiss then fix it.
Move forward and if things are as they should be operating then continue forward.
Time to end the dust up.
No need to drop the race card and why would they?
I do agree with tg in that Century needs to be dissolved. There’s drama every other day with that group.
and…….the race card drops in 3,2,1….
Council members are eligible for loans from the Town of Century, in order to pay their legal costs, correct?
Drain the swamp.
What value do the residents of Century get from having a mayor and city council? The town would be better off to un-incorporate. I just thank God I don’t live in that town.
This is never ending. Mr Eddins please dissolve Century.