Gillum’s comments were brief. He offered “a heartfelt thank you.”

Gil Ziffer drew laughs when he thanked Barack Obama for helping him get on the Tallahassee city commission. He became city commissioner because of the resignation of former commissioner Alan Katz, who was appointed the US Ambassador of Portugal by Obama.

In August of 2009, Ziffer gave a speech as a new member of the city commission. He ended that speech with, “it’s not about managing it’s about leading,” and said he hopes he’s been able to do just that over the past nine years.

He added, “we’re doing everything right” and we can’t let people tear down the government. He was “deeply bothered by people whose singular purpose is to tear government down,” and says we can see it with elections right now and that we are depriving our mayor from receiving the votes he is due.

Ziffer praised Wayne Tedder for his commitment in pushing Independence Landing, a community built for adults with a range of developmental disabilities.

Ziffer thanked his colleagues, stating they don’t always agree but that they “can still break bread together.” He also thanked the staff of the city, his wife, and his aide Cathy.

Commissioner Nancy Miller, who was elected in 2010, said she has loved this city over the last 25 years and that we’ve created a beautiful town.

She echoed Ziffer’s comments when she said people here love the community, but some “just want to tear government down.” Miller emphasizes that those people are the minority and that most are supportive.

She said she is “immensely proud of this government,” and that the All-American City designation “fits perfectly.” Miller added that we have “one of the best governments in the country.” Our new commission and new appointed officials have a lot of great stuff to work with.

Miller expressed her gratitude in working with everyone on the commission through good times and disagreements. Miller said disagreement is good: “you want people that have different backgrounds, different daily lives, they come together and can make a comprehensively thought out position.” She also thanked her aide and her supporters.

She proposed a two year contract for Mr. Goad who was appointed interim city manager after former City Manager Rick Fernandez resigned during an ethics investigation.

Previously, the city commission had voted to conduct a national search and wait until after the upcoming elections to make a decision about the city manager process.

The upcoming elections will result in two new city commissioners and a new mayor.

Miller’s motion caught city commissioners by surprise.

Miller said that she changed her position on the process because she felt the city was in a static position and was unable to advance under the current situation.

Both Mayor Gillum and Commissioner Richardson disagreed with Miller’s assessment.

Gillum said he was uncomfortable with “short circuiting” the process.

Ultimately, Commissioner Ziffer made a motion to expedite the search process and reconsider the decision in October.

However, Miller said she was not interested in supporting Ziffer’s compromise motion.

Ziffer’s motion passed 3-2 with City Commissioners Scott Maddox and Nancy Miller voting no.

Now, four months later, city staff is recommending that the city commission award the $1.1 million contract to DPB & Associates

The project was originally advertised and the bid process determined that Genesis, a local consulting firm, was deemed the top ranked firm.

After the bid ranking, a protest was submitted by DPB & Associates and the protest was reviewed and denied by the City Attorney.

At that point, city staff asked the city commission to approve the award to Genesis.

At the meeting to approve the Genesis award, City Commissioner Nancy Miller announced she would recuse herself based on the fact that “the appearance of a conflict is there because I have a relative that is affected….”

However, despite pleas from Mayor Gillum not to make any comments about the issue after announcing her recusal, Miller made a parting comment. Referring to a city staffer, Miller told City Commissioners, “He needs to tell you who he works for because the criteria did not work.”

After Miller left the meeting, a brief discussion ensued and City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, citing concerns about the bid process, made a motion to re-bid the contract. The motion passed 4-0.

And now the new bid process has resulted in a new top ranked firm – DPB & Associates

This new recommendation comes after the a November, 2017 City of Tallahassee Auditor’s investigation into contracts awarded to family members of City Commissioner Nancy Miller found the approval of those awards to DPB &Associates represented the appearance of a conflict of interest.

In addition, the audit found one of the 12 employees interviewed indicated the relationship between Buss and DPB & Associates did impact his thoughts when evaluating proposals from DPB & Associates. The audit stated that this finding “is demonstrative that the relationship can result in an unintentional bias in the selection process.”

The audit stated that “when these matters were brought to their attention, City management responded by immediately revising the City’s Purchasing Procedures to preclude any City employee from developing, recommending, or approving a procurement requisition, contract, purchase order, or pay request for any good or service from a business entity for which the employee may have a conflict of interest.”

Tallahassee Reports first broke the story about the contracts and possible conflicts in July, 2017.

This project includes improvements associated with both the Market Square Pond Improvements project and the Maclay Commerce Dr./Maclay Blvd. roadway enhancements project.

The 4-0 vote – Miller abstained – came after a prolonged bid protest process that was denied at each turn until presented to the City Commission.

The bid protest argued that  reporting by Tallahassee Reports about potential conflicts of interest related to DPB & Associates had biased decisions made by city staff.

The city commission vote went against findings by the city attorney’s office and required staff to re-bid the contract.

However, the top ranked firm, Genesis, has subsequently sent a letter to the Mayor and City Commissioners seeking a reconsideration of the decision.

The letter, in part, states:

“The apparent conflict or appearance of conflict generated by a familial relationship between a department director and a firm who was reasonably expected to participate in the process, DPB & Associates, LLC (“DPB”) warranted the slight deviation from the procurement manual. The slight deviation included a substitution for the department director and his direct reports from the RFP evaluation committee.”

Following the letter, on March 13, City Commissioner Gill Ziffer sent a letter to Acting City Manager Reese Goad requesting the vote to be reconsidered.

Ziffer wrote, “As part of the being on the majority side I’m requesting this item be brought back for discussion on 3/21/18. Please advise if this is possible.”

The agenda for the March 21st, 2018 city commission meeting includes the issue.

This latest turn of events continues a controversy that was first reported by Tallahassee Reports in June 2017.

Also, a recent audit by the City of Tallahassee found an appearance of conflict related to DPB & Associates’ business relationship with the City of Tallahassee.

The contract award was for the design of the Market District Multi-Purpose Stormwater Project.

When questioned about the bid process, current City Attorney Cassandra Jackson, who presided over the city commission meeting, told elected officials that changes to the bid process were made in an attempt to ensure we would “have no appearance of impropriety” since there were family connections involved.

Before the vote was taken, City Commissioner Nancy Miller announced she would recuse herself based on the fact that “the appearance of a conflict is there because I have a relative that is affected….”

Despite pleas from Mayor Gillum not to make any comments about the issue after announcing her recusal, Miller made a parting comment. Referring to a city staffer, Miller told City Commissioners, “He needs to tell you who he works for because the criteria did not work.”

After Miller left the meeting, a brief discussion ensued and City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, citing concerns about the bid process, made a motion to re-bid the contract. The motion passed 4-0.

Staff did inform city commissioners that a re-bid could possibly result in additional bid protests which could potentially delay the project.

The Bid Protest

City Attorney Shelley’s response to DPB’s assertion that they were discouraged by city staff to participate in the bid.

“Although the representatives of DPB clearly believed they were being discouraged from pursuing Phase III of this project as a primary contractor, there is no evidence that the City affirmatively prevented DPB from doing so. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, there is no evidence that DPB had any concerns about pursing this project as a sub-contractor until after the results were determined. Surely DPB could have noted somewhere, in some fashion, that it intended to be a primary contractor “but for” the suggestions by the City. By raising its concerns for the first time now, it reeks of “Monday Morning Quarterbacking”. On balance, it is equally likely, as Genesis pointed out at the hearing, that DPB made a business decision that it now regrets. This is not grounds to overturn an award recommendation.”

City Attorney Shelley’s response to DPB’s assertion that Reese Goad’s decision to change selection committee were biased.

When the totality of the circumstances surrounding this particular RFP are evaluated on the whole, I find Mr. Goad’s actions were perfectly reasonable. I also fail to see how changing committee members created prejudice against any vendor (or potential vendor).

City Attorney Shelley’s response to DPB’s assertion that a selection committee member was biased.

I have not been presented with any evidence to suggest the foundation of such a bias, and there is simply nothing other than speculation as to what the “original” committee members may have scored the various vendors. In fact, the notion that the scores for DPB would have been higher if employees of Mr. Buss were on the
committee is the exact appearance of bias City Management was trying to avoid.

Previously,  Ziffer told a group of citizens that “We have become way too dysfunctional and if any of you have been to or watched our commission meetings, you can tell we’re not getting along real well right now.”

Ziffer attributed the dysfunction to an ongoing FBI investigation, a mayor who’s running for governor and attacks on local autonomy by the state legislature.

Ziffer did point out that the city’s front-line employees are doing a good job delivering day-to-day services.

When pressed at the Village Square meeting to elaborate on his dysfunctional assessment, Ziffer did not back down. Ziffer pointed to the recent debate over the commission’s 3-2 decision to continue the search process for a new city attorney rather than appoint the current assistant city attorney to the position.

TR published a story about that process and how Commissioner Miller accused Commissioner Richardson and Mayor Gillum of committing too early to the in-house candidate.

However, at the Village Square meeting both Miller and Richardson disagreed with Ziffer’s assessment.

Commissioner Miller said, “I do not believe the Commission is dysfunctional in any way.” Commissioner Richardson said that “there is no dysfunction that I have observed” and added “we have done an excellent job of providing leadership for this city under the circumstances.”

Commissioners Miller and Richardson also disagreed with Commissioner Ziffer’s assessment that the federal investigation of city hall “hangs over every thing we do.”

Commissioner Miller stated that the FBI does not hang over her and Commissioner Richardson stated that the “FBI investigation does not weigh on me at all.”

Both City Commissioner Miller and Ziffer have opted not to run for re-election. City Commissioner Curtis Richardson’s seat is not up for election, however it has been reported he is considering a run for mayor.

City Commissioner Scott Maddox and Mayor Andrew Gillum did not attend the Village Square Town Hall.

Carter-Smith was named in a probable cause affidavit search warrant which was recently issued in the corruption investigation into city hall activities. The probable cause affidavit alleged City Commissioner Scott Maddox was accepting bribes via Carter-Smith’s consulting company, Governance Inc.

During the public speaking section of the meeting, Dr. Erwin Jackson, Barney Bishop, and David Ericks addressed the board.

The speakers noted the difficulties the Board was facing with the corruption investigation and the absences of some members.

Leon County Commissioner John Dailey, and DIA members Chris Dudley and Cynthia Tunnicliff voted against the motion to delay action.

Dailey argued that there needed to be some kind of separation between Carter-Smith and the DIA.

Among those voting to keep Carter-Smith was City Commissioner Nancy Miller. This vote comes days after Miller told local media that the allegations laid out in an FBI search warrant was “not good for Scott. It’s not good for Paige and it’s certainly not good for the city as a whole.”

Also, TR has recently written about Miller’s connections with Governance and Carter-Smith.

Others voting to keep Carter-Smith on the DIA included Claudia Davant, Bill Moor and Scott Dick.

Check back for updates.

Greg Marr Jr. of Freedom 93.3 contributed to this report.

The solicitation email was sent from Miller’s official City of Tallahassee email.

Records show that Carter-Smith was not registered as a lobbyist during 2014. However, it appears City Commissioner Miller was aware of the business relationship between Waste Pro, Paige Carter-Smith and Governance.

The email – shown at the end of this report- was sent from Miller to Carter-Smith’s Governance email on March 31, 2014. Miller writes:

I believe this is a worthy sponsorship for Waste Pro to consider, because this organization is made up of elected officials from all over the panhandle. Can you assist with acquiring a sponsorship? Let me know what I can do to help.

Miller’s email was in response to a request from a Northwest Florida League of Cities official seeking $1,000 donations for the organization.

Records show that in 2012 the City Commission and Commissioner Miller voted to approve a five-year contract extension for Waste Pro of Florida, Inc. for solid waste collection services through September 30, 2018. The contract was estimated to be worth at least $20,000,000.

Also, weeks before Miller solicited the donation from Waste Pro, the recently released affidavit in support of a search warrant by federal officials shows that Miller’s fellow commissioner, Scott Maddox and Carter-Smith were discussing Waste Pro (COMPANY THREE) business.

From the affidavit:

On March 7, 2014, CARTER-SMITH forwarded an email using email account paigecartersmith@gmail.com to scott@scottmaddox.com. The forwarded email was an exchange with a marketing executive at COMPANY THREE, a waste services provider that has paid GOVERNANCE over $170,000 since 2013.

Florida state statutes regulate the solicitation of gifts by public officials. One of the regulating statutes states:

A reporting individual or procurement employee is prohibited from soliciting any gift from a vendor doing business with the reporting individual’s or procurement employee’s agency, a political committee as defined in s. 106.011, or a lobbyist who lobbies the reporting individual’s or procurement employee’s agency, or the partner, firm, employer, or principal of such lobbyist, where such gift is for the personal benefit of the reporting individual or procurement employee…

The key term in the above statute is “personal benefit.” Did seeking a donation on behalf of another organization benefit City Commissioner Miller in any way?

In June 2013, Governance and The Big Production – a company with the same address as Governance, Inc – gave Miller two $500 campaign contributions.

Also, in her first election in 2010, Miller’s campaign paid The Zachary Group $40,000 in campaign fees. The Zachary listed the same business address as Governance, Inc.

ORIGINAL EMAIL

However, the local media decided not to report on any of these actions.

Writing about public speakers addressing the controversial vacant city attorney position, Jeff Schweers of the Tallahassee Democrat used words like “eloquent” and “passionate”.

Schweers failed to note the critical comments by Lee Johnson, a local church official, who told the commissioners in his 3-minute speech that “it stinks up at that dais. There are some of you who are leaving, thank god you are.”

Johnson continued by insinuating there would be consequences if the commissioners did not “get it together.”

Commissioner Gill Ziffer responded to the comments during his turn to speak on the issue by saying, “I don’t take kindly to threats.”

See the video below:

The elected officials were also on edge over this issue.

When Commissioner Nancy Miller asked Mayor Andrew Gillum to wait until Commissioner Scott Maddox returned to the dais to vote on the city attorney issue, Gillum appeared to ignore her request.

Miller responded by saying, “would you like to see me leave, also…”

See the video below:

Also, not included in any local reporting was a controversial neighborhood issue over the expansion of an electric substation in a northeast neighborhood.

During the city commission discussion on the issue there were interruptions from the audience which resulted in Mayor Gillum asking for decorum.

On the neighborhood issue, resident and former reporter Lucy Morgan said to the city commission, ” I expected better of you all….we really thought that you were better neighbors..”

In addition, Peter Butzin, of Common Cause, criticized the city commission – specifically Commissioners Ziffer and Maddox – for the lack of teeth in an adopted ethics ordinance.

Seldom is there so much controversy and interaction between citizens and commissioners at a public meeting over so many different issues.

Most citizens in Tallahassee will never know it happened.

Addressing the limited number of qualified applicants, Commissioner Miller said that if potential applicants understand that an internal candidate is favored, many people will not waste their time applying.

Then, looking at City Commissioner Curtis Richardson and Mayor Andrew Gillum, Commissioner Miller said, “It is disturbing to me that two you have already indicated to the public that you have made up you minds.”

The comment was in reference to the public support offered by Richardson and Gillum for current Deputy City Attorney Cassandra Jackson.

In addition, outgoing City Attorney Lew Shelley has publicly offered his support for Ms. Jackson.

“I do not believe the commission can find a more qualified candidate,” Shelley said in October.

Jackson has been Tallahassee’s deputy city attorney for years under Shelley.

City Commissioner Richardson remarked that institutional knowledge was as important characteristic trait for the city attorney position.

Commissioner Miller, continuing her criticism, provided an example of how a qualified individual was not allowed to apply for the position due to a problem with the online application process.

City staff was directed to gather more information about the incident.

The special meeting of the Commission, which was held on Wednesday January 3rd, was scheduled to discuss the next steps for appointing a city auditor and city attorney.

In addition to Jackson, the other applicants for city attorney include Steve Durden, who has over two decades of experience working for the city of Jacksonville General Counsel, and John Anastasio, who is a private attorney in Stuart who contracts as the attorney for smaller cities.

Interviews of the three city attorney candidates are scheduled to take place on January 17th, 2017.

Documents recovered by Tallahassee Reports show that City Commissioner Nancy Miller announced she would not seek re-election to the city commission during a controversial city bid protest initiated by DPB & Associates – a city vendor which is owned by Rich Buss, a member of Miller’s family.

Mr. Rich Buss is a principal in DPB and Mr. John Buss is Director of Stormwater Management for the City. John and Rich are brothers, and John is married to City Commissioner Nancy Miller.

The bid protest, filed on October 23, 2017, alleged city staff discriminated against DPB and Associates because of a series of investigative stories published by Tallahassee Reports.

DPB alleges the discrimination resulted in the loss of the Market District project which DPB stated had an estimated construction cost of $16 million with design consulting fees in excess of $1.6 million.

Over the last six months, Tallahassee Reports wrote several articles investigating the relationship between Miller, her husband John Buss, and DPB and Associates.

After the articles, the City Auditor Bert Fletcher, who is retiring at the end of this year, initiated an audit of DPB contracts and found no legal wrong doing but did note an appearance of a conflict.

Listed below are the details of the bid protest and the final decision rendered by City Attorney Lew Shelley.

The Bid Protest

DPB’s protest made several allegations about the impact of TR’s investigation on the bid process.

DPB wrote that “we were misled by the City when told that it would be “better for everyone” if DPB did not submit for the Market District RFP as a Prime Consultant (as we were intending to do at that time) because of Steve Stewart’s criticism and the “name recognition thing”, but were instead recommended to serve as a subcontractor to another consultant.”

Also, DPB alleged city staff “purposely misled” and conspired to discriminate against the firm.

DPB wrote “we contend that we were purposefully misled by City Management, through City Staff, to believe that if DPB did as recommended by the City, the discrimination against DPB, intended to address Steve Stewart and Tallahassee Report’s continued criticism of the City and City Commissioner Miller based upon her relationship to DPB through her brother-in-law Richard Buss would end…”

“However, at some time after Stewart’s articles began criticizing the City and Commissioner, the City implemented an effort to eliminate DPB from any further work with the City because the “City can’t take any more Steve Stewart criticism of the City and Commissioner Miller, based upon her relationship to DPB through her brother-in-law Richard Buss” (bold emphasis was in bid protest document).

The City Attorney’s Findings

City Attorney Shelley conducted a hearing and parties were allowed to present evidence. Also, Acting City Manager Reese Goad provided oral testimony at the hearing.

In the seven page discussion of Shelley’s final decision, he noted that DPB made three allegations. Listed below are the allegations and Shelley’s findings.

1) the City unfairly “urged” DPB to pursue the project as a sub-contractor, rather than as a prime;

Although the representatives of DPB clearly believed they were being discouraged from pursuing Phase III of this project as a primary contractor, there is no evidence that the City affirmatively prevented DPB from doing so. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, there is no evidence that DPB had any concerns about pursing this project as a sub-contractor until after the results were determined.

2) due to management pressure, the City failed to follow its normal Procurement Procedures when selecting members of the Evaluation Committee.

When the totality of the circumstances surrounding this particular RFP are evaluated on the whole, Shelley determined actions taken by the City were perfectly reasonable. Shelley failed to see how changing committee members created prejudice against any vendor (or potential vendor).

3) there were improprieties with the scoring of the proposals.

As to the perceived bias of Mr. Cowart, Shelley could find no evidence to suggest the foundation of such a bias, and there is simply nothing other than speculation as to what the “original” committee members may have scored the various vendors. In fact, the notion that the scores for DPB would have been higher if employees of Mr. Buss were on the committee is the exact appearance of bias City Management was trying to avoid.

Based upon the Shelley’s analysis, the protest of DPB & Associates was denied.

Miller, in an opinion piece published by the Tallahassee Democrat, wrote “given my husband’s health and other family considerations, I feel the time has come to enter a new stage of life.”

Miller also took a parting shot at what she called “a small group of embittered individuals.”

She wrote, “In recent months, the tone and tenor of public discourse, led by a small group of embittered individuals, has hit an all-time low. The name calling, the disrespect, the public antics, and the verbal assaults have made serving more difficult.”

There was no mention of the FBI investigation, the ethical cloud hanging over the city manager, or the crime problem that has plagued Leon County for the last four years.

Rather, Miller highlighted accomplishments during her tenure.

She wrote that “We’re a more walkable city, having added miles of sidewalks for safety and health. The airport has gained international status and is undergoing renovation. Our police force has grown by over 50 officers with a new focus on community engagement. Our energy source has expanded with a 60 MW solar farm. The list goes on.”

Ms. Miller was also an advocate for the public-private partnership that resulted in the The Edison Restaurant. The owner of the restaurant – Adam Corey- is a central figure in the ongoing federal investigation.

And while the FBI investigation has not mentioned Miller directly in the subpoenas served on city hall, a recent city audit was initiated after Tallahassee Reports confirmed that City Commissioner Nancy Miller’s husband, John Buss, approved approximately $420,402 in purchase orders for DPB & Associates, a company affiliated with his brother, Rich Buss.

Tallahassee Auditor Bert Fletcher found the appearance of a conflict of interest but no wrongdoing.

Also, Miller has been tied to the controversial process of awarding the city’s marketing contract for the TAPP program to campaign consultant and friend, Gary Yordon.

Other relevant actions by Miller included votes to support a property tax increase, an increase in the fire service fee, and a controversial move to hire Rick Fernandez as the city manager.

In the end, like other city elected officials during this time period, a complete evaluation of Miller’s tenure will have to wait until the federal investigation is completed.