Nature Girl

Oh man... What a tangled web we weave.

On Friday, I wrote about Commissioner Holly Davis' trip to Denver to speak at Rally 2026... a land conservation conference.

This was mentioned by her at the August 26th BOCC meeting during the Pulte application. Here is the quote.

“I have heard multiple people make fun of me for calling myself “Nature Girl”. I have the creds to prove it. In 3.5 weeks I am actually a speaker at a national conference on land conservation, profiling the efforts in Citrus County for the greenprint. The Tamposi Family, which your father is going to kill me for outing him in public, wrote a large check for that.”

She went on to mention that the conference was in Denver. I was questioning if this was a personal project that she was paying for on her own or if she was representing the county, which could allow her to use her travel funds (subject to board approval).

Well on Friday, someone commented on the page that I should have called Davis to ask her about it and this person said that Davis was paying for the trip out of her own pocket to go learn more about land conservation so she can bring stuff back to the county.

Ok... sounds like it is a personal trip. All good..

Except on minor detail. The co-presenters for the presentation are people from the North Florida Land Trust and Trust for Public Lands. Both companies have contracts with the county for green-printing and some market research for the sales tax discussion.

We have a county commissioner going on a personal trip with representatives from two entities that have contracts with the county (that she approved) to do a presentation... umm.. seems weird and not sure of the ethics around all of that.

At the meeting, she goes on to admit that she has been using staff to help her piece together the presentation. Now, not only is it a personal trip, according to the person in the comments, but she is using staff to help prepare the presentation?

Yup... something wrong with that.

I go to the meeting yesterday to ask the questions and tell commissioners that we need to revisit the administrative regulations and ordinances that they do not go directly to staff... much less for personal projects, as this appears to be just that.

Well Davis had to chime in after I spoke... I presume to try to clear her name and explain thingd (plus to take a jab at me)... and she opened Pandora's box.

Not only did she say that "WE" were invited to participate, but also that she is going on behalf of the county to help make the county look good (I am paraphrasing) on the national stage. That this is a huge opportunity for the county... and yeah... she's paying for it herself.

So... Where was this invitation? Who sent it? When did we get it? Why was it never talked about?

That is the problem... No one knew anything about it. Now we have a commissioner doing her own thing and representing the county while doing it and none of the other commissioners know anything about it. No bueno.

I get they have pet projects. Kinnard had Pirate's Cove. Finegan had the sports complex. Barek had a park she wanted to get. All of them have come to the board and told the board what they were doing. Every single one.

Davis has not done that. She stated that she mentioned it a couple of times in past meetings, but no one knew that it was an official county thing. It was always presented as "I am doing this"... not... "I am doing this on behalf of the county". Huge difference.

Read the quote that was made at the meeting for a development project. No where does she say "WE". It was pitched as something she was doing on her own.

But she got caught using county staff and to cover for that, she claims it is now a thing she is doing for the county... which means it is ok to use staff.

Again... no one knew anything about it. If she is doing a presentation for the county at a national conference, you would think the other members on the board would want to hear what she plans on saying... you know... for the county. Right?

Now... Pandora's box.

She has publicly claimed that this is something for the county. That means it is done in her official capacity as county commissioner (the title on the speaker profile says "County Commissioner"). That then subjects everything to public records disclosure.

That invitation to speak is now a public record. The communications between herself and North Florida Land Trust is now a public record. As contractors for the county, they are subject to records disclosure for their work with the county... That means it can be argued that their internal communications for this are now public record because they are there WITH the county doing an "OFFICIAL" presentation. Any expenses paid for this in regards to Davis (if any)... public record.

I am not sure what she was thinking when she tried to explain it all away... but all she did is dig that hole much much deeper and opens the door for scrutiny beyond what was there already... all that because she wanted to explain why she used county staff?

Now, we need to look at the process in which commissioners are allowed to represent the county at functions like this. Can any of them decide on their own to just go to a conference and represent the county without the other commissioners knowing anything about it?

What if it is something the other four are against? Do they not have a say? Seems like a horrible idea and opens the door to all kinds of issues. But here we are.

So expect to see a slew of public records requests coming and as soon as I get the information, you all will be the first to know!

Have a great Wednesday!