EDC Drops Brevard County's Group Health Insurance
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| Scott Ellis Lynda Weatherman |
"...the mere fact that the EDC's participates in the Health Plan does not makes the EDC subject to Chapter 119 [Florida Public Records Law]," EDC attorney, Kimberly Rezanka, countered in her closing arguments.
Although the County didn't pay for the EDC's premiums, the EDC participated in the plan because it is less expensive than purchasing health insurance in the private market, according to trial testimony.
Also last week, the Brevard County Commission voted 4-1 to substantially modify the existing service contract between the County and the Economic Development Commission of Florida Space Coast (EDC) in an attempt to evade the responsibilities of the new requirements of Florida's Sunshine Law.
BACKGROUND:
Former
Brevard
County Clerk of Court Mitch Needelman entered into a $6.1
million loan with Hewlett Packard after losing the primary election to
Ellis in 2012. Needelman then used the loan proceeds as an upfront
payment to BlueWare before the company ever fulfilled its scanning
contract with the Clerk's office.
BlueWare is the company caught up in a public corruption criminal case brought by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney Phil Archer against former Clerk of Court, Mitch Needelman, his former business partner Matt Dupree, and BlueWare CEO Rose Harr.
Ellis
continues to assert that the loan done by Needelman, BlueGEM, Harr, and
Hewlett-Packard was illegal and unconstitutional in repeated legal
actions brought by HP against the Clerk's Office for repayment of the
loan.
The EDC helped BlueWare
and some of its affiliated companies to
qualify for various government programs and other "workforce incentives"
that could
have totaled nearly $2 million in taxpayer money. In 2013, Ellis
repeatedly requested that the EDC turn over its BlueWare documents so
that he could defend the lawsuits brought by HP. However, the EDC
refused to hand over all of its BlueWare documents to Ellis.
After the Clerk's office learned from a Brevard Times investigative article
published on August 26, 2013 that State of Florida Department of
Economic Opportunity officials said that BlueWare's confidentiality had
lapsed and Governor Rick Scott's Office stated to Brevard Times that the BlueWare incentive
contract was canceled on April 5, 2013, the Clerk sent his auditors to
the EDC in Rockledge the next day to request a copy of the EDC file on
BlueWare. When the EDC refused to
comply with that last public records request, Ellis then filed the lawsuit which is now on appeal.
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