Leon County Commission Meeting Briefs: July 8, 2025

Below are the briefs from the Leon County Commission meeting held on July 8, 2025.

The Board approved consent Items 1-14,16-17. Item 15 was pulled by Commissioner O’Keefe for discussion.

Item 15: Fiscal Year 2023 – 2024 Annual Audit and Financial Statements. Commissioner O’Keefe noted an “unusual number of significant and immaterial major findings” and “five material weaknesses” in the audit, contrasting it with other counties that had no findings. He emphasized that while the final numbers are deemed correct, these issues were caught by the auditors, indicating a “higher than normal risk of assets being misappropriated or amounts being reported incorrectly”.

A motion was made to accept the report and ask staff to work with the Clerk’s office and the audit committee to bring back a corrective action plan. The motion specified that a status report on corrective actions would be provided, not necessarily as a separate agenda item unless warranted. This motion passed unanimously.

General Business

Item 18: Ratification of Actions Taken at the June 17, 2025 Budget Workshop. The Board voted to ratify actions addressed during the last budget workshop. The Board also voted 4-3 for a 5% across-the-board pay increase.

Item 19: Process to Establish the 2025 – 2026 Citizen Charter Review Committee. A motion was made and passed to establish the committee structure with an amendment to establish a 21-member CCRC (three appointed per commissioner). This motion passed unanimously.

The motion to not provide any specific direction to the CCRC (allowing it to be entirely citizen-led) failed 4 to 3. Subsequently, a new motion was made and seconded to move forward with Option five, including the list of six specific issues (those proposed by Commissioners Proctor and Caban, and the cleanup of outdated statutes) for staff analysis and CCRC consideration. This motion passed 4 to 3.

Item 20: 2025 Florida Legislative Session Final Report. The Board voted to accept the 2025 Legislative Session Report and then addressed the county’s lobbying contract.

Commissioner Caban proposed not renewing the contracts of the current lobbying firms. He moved to propose a four-year contract for $200,000 to consolidate federal and state lobbying contracts with The Southern Group. This would save $25,000 from the previous year’s combined spending .

Commissioner O’Keefe suggested a three-year contract with two optional one-year extensions to evaluate effectiveness. Commissioner Caban accepted this as a friendly amendment.

Commissioner Minor opposed waiving the competitive bid process, arguing the county should stick to its ITB/RFP process. The Board ultimately passed the motion (6-1), with Commissioner Minor in opposition.

Item 21: Community Human Services Partnership Fiscal Year 2026 Agency Funding. The Board considered 2026 CHSP grant recommendations in the amount of $1,324,500. This is the second year of the current two-year cycle. Commissioner Maddox recused himself as he is President and CEO of Family Promise of the Big Bend, which received CHSB funding. The motion was passed unanimously with Commissioner Maddox in recusal.

Item 22: Full Board Appointments to the Investment Oversight Committee and the Leon County Educational Facilities Authority. The Board voted unanimously to appoint George “Ben” Hensarling, to the Investment Oversight Committee for a three-year term ending July 31, 2028, and to reappoint Ramsay Sims and Richard Givens, to the Leon County Educational Facilities Authority for five-year terms ending July 31, 2030.