A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Today, the picture drops. What picture you ask? One that I was sent almost a year ago. You may remember me teasing something that was sent to me, but I said I was not going to release it.

I did not plan to release this picture. Why? Because the hearing was already over and I felt that releasing it was just to create drama. Nothing could be done about it at that point.

So what changed? Well, this BOCC has done some stupid stuff recently and it is time that I start (continue) to expose it and show how truly irresponsible they are. Developers are the common denominator here. I have never seen a group of people more enamored by developers (one in particular) before than this group. They do not even hide it anymore.

So time to expose it.

Here is the picture. I added the names and arrows to it.

This was sent to me anonymously almost a year ago.

As you see, the return address is the courthouse and the last name is Smith. I am not a rocket scientist, but I assume it was not sent by someone named Smith who works at the courthouse.

This is then Commissioner Ruthie Schlabach with current commissioners Rebecca Bays and Holly Davis at dinner. They are joined by Justin O'Brien (Metro Development - Tuscany Ranch) and Laura Boehmer (Southern Group partner).

Now, before you say "Well I cannot tell who those people are"... I have independently confirmed that this dinner took place and that the people pictured are in fact those that I mentioned above. Davis and Bays both confirmed to me in conversations that this was them at this dinner. If they choose to deny it now that the picture is out, they can sue me for defamation. I'll let you know how that goes.

The dinner was during F.A.C. (Florida Association of Counties) in Orlando during the June 25-28 2024 meeting at Signia Hilton Bonnet Creek. The dinner was at the Bull and the Bear restaurant, which is on site with the hotel.

A little behind the scenes. I used Google Image Search to find the restaurant. I found the windows in another picture online and then pieced it together from there before making the calls to Davis and Bays.

That image is from the restaurant website. Notice the chairs and the windows match the picture I was sent.

Once the restaurant was confirmed, I then used Google maps to find the location. I noticed the Hilton and then asked why commissioners would be together in Orlando for a dinner... which brought me to FAC and this flyer I found online.

Then used that information to approach Davis and Bays for confirmation. No one has seen this picture until now. I did not even show them the picture. I just described the picture in detail and placed them in the restaurant with the others.

Initially, there was some denial that they were there, but as I explained the scene, the location, the time frame, etc... they knew that I knew something so they then confirmed their attendance.

To note... both of them told me that they did not talk about county politics, projects, etc. They made it clear they did not violate sunshine laws and simply went out to dinner with them. Bays told me she was surprised to see Davis and Schlabach at the same dinner and made it a point to tell me that she hurried out of there as fast as possible and paid for her own meal.

One thing to note. Schlabach now works for Southern Group, along with Boehmer. Remember, both were involved with Bays with the 491 issue where Bays went behind the scenes to try to get funding for 491 expansion. They were working with Southern Group and Metro to go do the senator from Tampa and not our own, then senator Blaise Ingoglia. This dinner also connects Bays to these individuals involved in that.

Interesting.

In any case, this article is not suggesting they broke the law. They can meet with developers/lobbyist all they want. They can even go out to dinner with other commissioners. For all I know, they talked about their love for horses, trees, or anything else not related to Citrus County or matters that would come before the BOCC.

However, it is clearly bad for optics. Not only are they sharing a table with other county commissioners, they are sharing it with a developer and their lobbyist.

This dinner took place in 2024. Metro Development had their application for Tuscany Ranch submitted to the county in 2023. In March of 2024, they pulled the project from the PDC and placed it on hold. This dinner was in June. The development agreement was filed in August 2024 and then Metro went through the PDC/BOCC process, ending with approval in July 2025.

While technically the application was NOT pending at the time of this dinner, everyone knew that the project was coming due to the application being filed in 2023. It was not a secret at that point and county staff was working with Metro on the agreement/project and all of that.

Why are 3 county commissioners agreeing to go to dinner with a developer and their lobbyist in the first place? Even if they did not know the other commissioners would be there, they are still agreeing to have dinner with the developer of a project that would likely be coming to Citrus. Again, not illegal by any means... even if they talked about the project (separately of course). At worst, it would be a violation of the Quasi Judicial rules if they had conversations they did not disclose... but they are allowed to talk to developers about their projects... even those that are pending.

Even then, during the Tuscany hearing, Davis admitted to making site visits to Metro's other projects "because Metro has not developed here before and I wanted to see what kind of developments they do."

She did say that these site visits were made long before any application was pending and that she wanted to do them because she heard through the grapevine that they were planning on doing a project.

Yeah, not sure about that one after this dinner was confirmed to exist.

Bays admitted to ex-parte communication but did not detail what that was.

This is an optics issue for sure. Again, not illegal unless they talked county issues that would be before the board. I was told that did not happen.

So why am I bringing this up today, nearly a year after I received the picture?

Remember I said I would bring this back if they did something stupid. Well they did. We all know that they are close with a local developer (James Dicks), right. Well they took the pressure from them (Dicks and Batsel) and reversed a BOCC vote.

Remember two months ago, the BOCC cancelled the Betz Farm contract? Then a month later decided to re-instate it. I did a records request. I wanted to see if they were talking to James Dicks or to his attorney, Rob Batsel. So I asked for phone logs and texts on their personal devices from March 1st through May 14th to see if they existed.

I got those results late last week. Remember, these are their PERSONAL devices, NOT county devices. Keep in mind that since these are personal devices, each commissioner is responsible for submitting the call logs and whatnot for public records. There is no county controlled process for getting those call logs and no way to verify their accuracy. We simply trust that they are following the law and submitting everything requested.

I also question why taxpayers are paying for county devices when the commissioners use their personal devices all the time. But a topic for another day.

Davis had the following conversations:

James Dicks
April 6th @ 6:22pm - 18mins
April 13th @ 9:51am - 8 mins
April 13th @ 11:38am - 3 mins

Rob Batsel
April 13th @ 9:01am - 14 mins
April 15th @ 1:12pm- 5 mins

Kinnard had the following conversations:

James Dicks
March 11th @ 5:34pm - 11 min
March 30th @ 6:01pm - 21 min
April 14th @ 6:00pm - 1 min
April 14th @ 6:07pm - 9 min
April 17th @ 9:11am - 1 min
April 17th @ 9:12am - 7 min
April 17th @ 9:18am - 1 min
April 17th @ 9:19am - 3 min

Rob Batsel
April 13th @ 9:01am - 1 min

Bays had the following conversations:

James Dicks
March 12th @ 8:30am - unknown duration
Approximately March 12th @ 12:06pm - 21 mins
March 20th @ 2:34pm - 12 mins
April 2nd @ 1:02pm - 32 mins
April 8th @ 3:07pm - unknown duration
April 8th @ 3:15pm - unknown duration
April 10th @ 12:46pm - 4 mins

Rob Batsel
March 18th @ 5:43pm - 2 mins
March 27th @ 2:03pm - 23 mins
April 10th @ 12:28pm - 18 mins
April 15th @ 7:17am - 11 mins

A few things:

The BOCC voted April 14th to terminate the Betz Farm contract. The agenda item for this discussion came out April 7th. Any calls that took place AFTER April 7th presumably are about Betz Farm... certainly the calls with Batsel would be. I can only assume what the calls prior to April 7th are about, so I will not do that here.

I also wonder if there are other calls that exist that were not disclosed here. I am not sure why they would have conversations with Dicks leading up to the April BOCC meeting and then have no communication with him for an entire month after cancelling his contract... only to bring it back and re-instate it a month later?

I would think there would be further conversations, especially with as many as they had leading up to that April meeting... but no way to verify that since these are on personal devices and not county issued devices.

Also, why are Bays and Davis even talking to Batsel about this project? He was at the April BOCC meeting. He told them that he disagreed that they breached the contract despite the county attorney stating that they had. Why even entertain a conversation with the attorney for a major land project that is pending before the board? Again, optics issues.

Those calls, combined with the two Batsel letters are likely what caused Bays and Davis to change their mind about the termination of the contract and then vote to re-instate the contract at the May 12th meeting, citing legal exposure.

This plays into the narrative that to get support for projects, developers do a few things... donate to campaigns... get close with decision makers (commissioners)... take them out to dinners and whatnot... even if the commissioners pay their own tab.

Metro did it with Tuscany... James Dicks has done it with Betz and his other projects. I assume that if I really wanted to (and I will), I would find other calls, dinners, etc between commissioners and other developers in Citrus, particularly with this group of commissioners who rarely find a developer they do not like.

Maybe the bad optics will make them rethink these types of things in the future. That is the goal here. Show every one what is taking place that they do not see and maybe that will change how developers approach commissioners. Maybe that stops the flow of money to campaigns where it becomes an optics issue. Maybe that stops the dinners and other things like that. Get enough public pressure calling out the bad optics and commissioners begin to decline those things.

We can only hope.