As Okaloosa County commissioners begin trying to recoup many of Mark Bellinger’s questionable purchases, they have not ruled out legal action against Lewis Communications and The Zimmerman Agency.

“We’re going to do everything we can to recover what money we can,” Commission Chairman Don Amunds said Thursday.

The board recently authorized Tallahassee attorney Greg Stewart to sue either of the advertising firms if necessary.

The Zimmerman Agency of Tallahassee and Mobile, Ala.,-based Lewis Communications are advertising firms that held lucrative contracts with the Tourist Development Council. Zimmerman held its contract for about 20 years while Lewis Communications was brought onboard in the spring of 2011 by Bellinger, the former director of the TDC.

Almost 11 months after Bellinger’s fraud scheme was discovered, county officials continue to scrutinize the transactions the two firms made under their respective contracts.

Stewart said the county has notified Lewis that it will seek damages for the four-bedroom house in Destin that Bellinger purchased illegally with $747,000 in BP grant money. Bellinger bought the house using an invoice filed through Lewis Communications.

“Lewis wire transferred the money that was supposed to be used for marketing services,” Commissioner Dave Parisot said. “They didn’t do the marketing. They bought a house.”

The federal government seized the house in Kelly Plantation last August. It is scheduled to be sold this month for about $620,000.

“We are hopeful that the house will be sold and that it will be sold for the highest amount available and the county will be reimbursed for those funds,” Stewart said. “However, if there’s a shortfall between what was paid for the house and what we return on the house … we would look to Lewis for any shortfall.”

Parisot agreed. He noted that the county “ain’t going to get it from Bellinger” and that Lewis Communications bears “primary responsibility.”

Lewis Communications’ attorney, Gus Fontenot of Mobile, could not be reached for comment.

County commissioners also have withheld two payments due Zimmerman — one for $54,000 in July 2012 and the other for $65,000 in September 2012 — until the county completes a final review of invoices.

The county wants to examine allegations made by the state auditor general that Zimmerman billed separately for certain expenses that should have been included in its monthly retainer fee, Stewart said.

“We wanted to review that and see whether an offset was due,” he added.

Zimmerman is opposed to the county withholding the payments and has formally notified Stewart of its intent to sue.

“To my knowledge, that has not been filed yet,” Stewart said.

Company President Curtis Zimmerman could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Commissioners said they also are reviewing Bellinger’s illegal purchase of a 2008 Porsche Cayman for $48,000 — a transaction made through Zimmerman.

“What we are looking at in terms of the Porsche is whether there is any responsibility on Zimmerman’s part because of the Porsche,” Stewart said.

The Porsche was Bellinger’s first theft. He bought it in August 2010, about three months after he was hired. He eventually traded the sports car for a 2011 Subaru Legacy sedan and pocketed about $6,000 from the trade-in.

The Subaru has been returned to the county, which plans sell it at auction.

“Once we know what we’re able to get from the sale of the Subaru, then we’ll know the difference between what we paid for the Porsche and what we ended up getting out of the Subaru,” Stewart said. “That’s just an additional item we’re looking at.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa could sue advertising firms over Bellinger’s thefts

CRESTVIEW — The City Council plans to recognize former Mayor George Whitehurst — whom it recently selected as the Mae R. Coleman Citizen of the Year Award recipient— with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

City leaders will let a committee tasked with selecting Citizen of the Year nominees do its job, following concerns that their vote for Whitehurst overstepped authority.

Council President Ben Iannucci III, noting the Citizen of the Year award should reflect immediate contributions to Crestview, proposed a Lifetime Achievement Award for Whitehurst.

"The council has the discretion to offer this award," Iannucci said Monday. "It would be more suitable to what he has accomplished."

 Mayor David Cadle, who had originally suggested honoring Whitehurst, agreed.

"I support that idea," Cadle said. "I think that would be a much better way to go …. I met with Mayor Whitehurst and he was very pleased (with Citizen of the Year), but he'll be more pleased with this."

Councilman Charles Baugh Jr. asked if the city has criteria for nominating someone for a city lifetime achievement award. He cited several prominent residents, including late business leader Foy Shaw and former Mayor Ted Mathis, as  potential nominees.

Councilmembers Tom Gordon and Robyn Helt agreed that criteria should be established.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former mayor may receive lifetime achievement recognition

CRESTVIEW — Triangle Park, situated at the south end of Main Street where it meets State Road 85, will be renamed for the local garden club that voluntarily assumed responsibility for beautifying the public park.

Speaking before the Crestview City Council at its Monday evening meeting, Thea Duhaime of the Dogwood Garden Club invited council members and the public to the formal dedication of newly named Dogwood Park on April 25.

Councilman Tim Grandberry suggested because the park is situated in a prime location to serve as an entrance to Crestview's historic heart like the Niceville intersection of S.R. 85 and State Road 20, landscaping could help define the area.

"Make it more colorful," Grandberry encouraged. "Let them know where you're at."

Councilwoman Robyn Helt praised the club's work and suggested the Community Redevelopment Agency could help fund more improvements to the park, which is frequently used by workers in the area for eating their lunch and customers waiting to have their vehicles repaired at nearby garages.

"I appreciate the club's efforts to keep it beautified," Helt said. "The city could do a little more to help you, to bolster the partnership with the club."

"Anything else we can do, we're open to suggestions or requests," Duhaime said.

In other matters, the council:

•Received a request from City Clerk Betsy Roy to start considering budget planning for 2013-14. She suggested using nights when the council isn't meeting for planning sessions. Council President Ben Iannucci III asked the council to be "open to weekend planning sessions" as well.

•Received a report from Mayor David Cadle concerning a visit from a resident suggesting the city council pass a resolution to the Florida Department of Health to allow for a trauma center to be designated in Okaloosa County.

"As you know, the closest trauma centers are in Pensacola and Panama City," Cadle said. "We need a trauma center in Okaloosa County."

•Received a report from Public Works Director Wayne Steele stating he and Community Police officer Sam Kimmons continue to work on plans for a skate park in Twin Hills Park. They are meeting with Crestview High School students to obtain input from potential skate park users so they can finalize a report for the CRA meeting planned for March 25.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Triangle Park to be renamed for Dogwood Garden Club

The Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department plans to spend $2.2 million on marketing local beaches between March and September.

Okaloosa County commissioners approved the marketing strategy last week.

“This is a framework with which we wish to move forward and deploy funds,” Dan O’Byrne, director of the tourist development department, told the board. “I say it is a framework because every one of the individual action items will have to … percolate up through the county’s procurement procedures.”

Read the marketing plan.

The annual marketing strategy is one of the new requirements imposed by commissioners after discovering former tourism head Mark Bellinger’s fraud scheme last May.

The 2013 plan was drafted in the past 60 days by the county’s new advertising agency, Peter Mayer Advertising.

“The objectives for this year … are to get (Okaloosa County) back in the market,” said Ellen Kempner, vice president of Peter Mayer. “You’ve been out of the market from a competitive communications standpoint for 10 months.”

County officials halted most tourism promotions and marketing initiatives after Bellinger’s thefts were uncovered.

Kempner said the top priority is to market Okaloosa Island and Destin as top destinations during the peak and shoulder seasons.

During the peak summer season, Peter Mayer Advertising will target adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who have annual incomes of $55,000 and up and an interest in traveling, fishing, shopping, beaches and restaurants.

The agency plans to market the area across the Southeast, as far west as Texas and as far north as Ohio.

During the area’s four shoulder seasons — January to February, April to May, September to October and November to December — the agency will target senior citizens and adults between the ages of 25 and 54 who don’t have children.

The plan also calls for using $500,000 to market Okaloosa Island and Destin as a top leisure travel destination; $250,000 to sell the area to the group and meetings industry; $350,000 to revamp the county’s tourism websites; $80,000 on consumer research and $375,000 to promote the area as a Christmas destination.

Commissioner Nathan Boyles said he was pleased with new marketing strategy.

“I saw a surprising amount of cohesion in the plan that’s coming together. … And that’s something that’s been lacking in our entire approach to marketing,” he said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa to launch new tourism marketing plan (DOCUMENT)

Editor's Note: Voters of municipal elections on March 12 will decide several positions in Crestview and Laurel Hill governments.

To help readers make informed decisions at the polls, the News Bulletin will publish profiles of each candidate running for these offices through March 2.

Each candidate was asked to answer the same questions and received the same amount of space to respond. Candidates appear alphabetically.

BILL COX

Personal:Married to Debbie; four adult children. Member of the Audubon Society, Choctawhatchee Audubon and National Wildlife Federation. District sales manager, Dietz Supply Company.

Relevant experience:

I have 12 years' supervisory and managerial experience at General Motors Corporation and Navistar International, followed by 20 years outside industrial sales.

I served three years on Columbia-Tusculum Community Council in a Cincinnati, Ohio community. I am familiar with Robert's Rules of Order. I currently serve on the city of Crestview Board of Adjustment.

Other education/experience: I am a graduate of Anderson High School, Cincinnati, Ohio. I attended University of Cincinnati Evening College, Industrial Management. I served in the Marine Reserves. I have held a private pilot single engine land certificate since 1990.

Reason you seek this position: I have a desire to serve to help improve the quality of life experience here in Crestview for all citizens.

Biggest issue this position faces and how you plan to address it: I will encourage greater citizen turnout at council meetings, including newer arrivals to Crestview who are concentrated in Precinct 2.

Working together, we can make Crestview the city we are all proud to call home. 

SHANNON HAYES

Personal: Crestview native; graduate of Carver-Hill High School. Married to Ann Hayes of East Palatka and the father of three children, Marcellus Hayes (Saint Petersburg), Darian Hayes (Bremerton, Wash.) and Shamira Hayes (Crestview). The son of S.F.C. Samuel "Sam" and Sarah Hayes. Currently president of Crestview Board of Adjustment and Carver-Hill Historical and Memorial Society, Precinct 12 polling clerk, church pianist, men's Sunday school teacher, member of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, substitute teacher for Okaloosa County School District, member of Friendly Thriftiettes Charity Club, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. and Army and Air Force Exchange System, or AAFES, retirees association.

Relevant experience:Thirty-two years' service as AAFES retail manager with extensive training and experience in customer service, financial, business and personnel management.

Previously OSHA certified and former AAFES EEO investigator for Southeast Region and Europe.

Recipient of the Highest Award for Achievement from Dale Carnegie Training Course, Army's Commander Award for Public Service, Army's Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service and AAFES service awards for services rendered in Haiti, Homestead AFB (following Hurricane Andrew) and Iraq, supporting the American military.

Other education/experience:Studies at St. John River Jr. College, University of Heidelburg and University of Maryland Overseas Division, Heidelburg, Germany. BA degree (Music) from Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach. Graduate of AAFES's Retail Management School, Dallas.

Reason you seek this position:  My platform is to serve all people in my hometown to the best of my ability without favoritism.

I am a listener, and a doer, always there to listen and then respond in the citizens' best interest. I believe we need to continue to increase the quality of life for all our citizens, not forgetting our youth generation. We must establish additional resources for them, such as a city swimming pool and additional recreational improvements.

I believe business growth is great for our citizens, but it must be managed as it is developing. I will be a voice to address these and other issues in a fair and impartial manner, always remembering the will of the people is my duty.

Biggest issue this position faces and how you plan to address it: I don't see any large issues at the time that the council cannot adequately address.

We all know the traffic conditions are a major problem for our city, but since they are state highways, we have no control over this issue. But we must continue to address our state legislators on our concerns of current and future traffic conditions.

One challenge will be to make sure our citizens make their concerns known to their elected officials. I will be one who will have an open line of communication with our entire community.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Meet the candidates: Crestview City Council, Precinct 2

CRESTVIEW — To a standing ovation from a crowded city council chamber, two city firefighters received the Life Saving Medal Monday evening from Mayor David Cadle and Fire Chief Joe Traylor for saving the life of a senior citizen at a Crestview nursing facility.

Firefighters Paul Lewis and Paul Wojtowicz responded Feb. 4 to a cardiac arrest call at Silvercrest Manor on Brookmeade Drive near Public Safety Station 3. The patient was not breathing and had no pulse, according to the certificate of commendation accompanying the firefighters’ award.

The responders "assumed patient care from staff members," the certificate stated, and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, until an automatic external defibrillator that had been attached to the patient advised them to administer a shock to the woman. After two shocks and another round of CPR, the patient began to breathe and had a pulse.

The firemen worked with an Okaloosa County EMS crew to keep the patient alive until the EMTs transported her to North Okaloosa Medical Center.

"The quick actions and efforts" of the firemen "directly affected the outcome of this rescue operation," the certificate stated.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview firemen awarded Life Saving Medals for saving patient

CRESTVIEW — A "safety-improvement project" for P.J. Adams Parkway will begin to address the road's notorious congestion sooner than expected, Okaloosa County Public Works officials have announced.

However, it is not the road's anticipated four-laning project that may not even be funded until 2030, Public Works Director John Hofstad said.

"The state has a safety-improvement project on their docket now. They'll do some shoulder work, some striping work, some widening in some sections to include a left-turn lane. It only runs from where we completed the four-laning at (State Road) 85 and terminates at Ashley (Drive)," he said.

The project should begin in 2015, Hofstad said.

Re-striping of P.J. Adams will continue to Antioch Road and on to U.S. Highway 90, but adding turn lanes or widening the stretch of road is not included in the project at this time, Hofstad said.

The growth of neighborhood communities off the P.J. Adams-Antioch Road corridor has led to increased traffic during morning and evening rush hours. Countryview Estates residents have complained that relentless flow of evening rush-hour traffic west on P.J. Adams makes them virtual prisoners of their own neighborhood.

The state's allocation of funds for the safety improvements came as a surprise when county engineer Jason Autrey learned about it last week, Hofstad said.

"If the state's going to manage local projects, you'd think they'd let us know about it, but we're not going to turn our backs on it," Hofstad said.

A study on widening the P.J. Adams-Antioch Road corridor to four lanes and making it an anticipated bypass around Crestview's southwest quarter concluded last summer, but funding for that project is not expected until 2030 at the earliest, state officials have said.

Hofstad said his department hopes to accomplish some of the bypass project components in intervals as financing becomes available.

The recently announced safety improvement project is a first step.

"There are some dollars available," he said. "It's not going to be four-laning and it's not for a couple years — but at least it's something."

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: State surprises county with PJ Adams Parkway improvements

The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee has issued subpoenas for two Okaloosa County commissioners and the president of The Zimmerman Agency to appear at its March 4 meeting in Tallahassee.

Read the subpoenas.

The subpoenas for Commission Chairman Don Amunds, Commissioner Wayne Harris and Curtis Zimmerman were issued Wednesday. It was not clear Thursday whether they had been served.

The Auditing Committee plans to question Amunds, Harris and Zimmerman, or another representative of his company, about findings in the auditor general’s recent audit of the County Commission and the Tourist Development Council. They also are expected to answer questions about former TDC head Mark Bellinger’s illegal and unauthorized expenditures from 2010 to 2012.

“I plan to honor the subpoena,” said Harris, who is being represented by Tallahassee lawyer Ronald Meyer.

Amunds and Zimmerman could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Zimmerman Agency of Tallahassee is a marketing and advertising firm that held a lucrative contract with the TDC for about 20 years.

The state’s Auditing Committee, made up of six state representatives and five state senators, oversees the Auditor General’s Office.

In addition to the three subpoenas, the committee has sent letters to 10 people requesting they voluntarily appear before the committee March 4. Those people include County Administrator Jim Curry, County Attorney John Dowd, County Clerk of Court Don Howard, former TDC attorney Steve Hall and Lewis Communications Vice President Ellen Wingard.

Read some of the letters.

Lewis Communications, based in Mobile, Ala., is the advertising firm that issued the check Bellinger used to buy his $747,000 home in Destin. The four-bedroom home was paid for with money from a BP oil spill grant.

The Auditing Committee had planned to subpoena Lewis Communications, but changed that plan because it would have taken too long to file the subpoena through the Alabama court system, said George Levesque, general counsel for the Florida Senate.

Attorney Gus Fontenot of Mobile, who represents Lewis Communications, said Thursday he is not sure if Wingard or another company representative will attend the committee meeting.

Also included on the committee’s list are Warren Gourley, chairman of the TDC; Bobby Nabors, a Fort Walton Beach City Councilman and TDC member; and former TDC members Kathy Houchins, Patricia Hardiman and Nick Nicholson.

Gourley, Nicholson and Houchins said they are willing to appear.

“I responded that I’ll absolutely be there,” Houchins said. “I will welcome the opportunity to answer their questions and lend them my opinion if they ask for it, and maybe even if they don’t ask for it.”

Houchins is one of four TDC members who were asked to resign Feb. 5 by county commissioners. She opposed stepping down but complied because she said she wants the county to move past the controversy.

Gourley has refused to resign. He said he welcomes the chance to talk with the Auditing Committee.

“I don’t believe they understand how (the TDC) was structured,” he said. “We were volunteers. We did not sign checks. We did not see invoices.”

Nabors said he is “still working out the details” of whether he will attend the March 4 meeting.

“What I want to avoid is going over there and sitting all day for nothing,” he said. “If they legitimately want to have a conversation with us, then I’m agreeable to that. … There’s no reason for us to go over there and get politically demonized.”

State Rep. Matt Gaetz does not sit on the Auditing Committee but participated in its Feb. 11 hearing on the TDC scandal. He said he is not sure if he will attend the next meeting.

Gaetz said he doesn’t believe the Auditing Committee will be pleased to hear that Okaloosa County commissioners on Tuesday declined to fire Dowd.

“That would have been an obvious step toward healing and moving forward,” he said.

Gaetz has pushed for Dowd’s removal at previous meetings.

“Every day that John Dowd continues to be employed by the county is a day that taxpayers have to be concerned,” he said.

Gaetz said Dowd provided legal opinions and helped draft contracts with Zimmerman and Lewis that “subjected taxpayers to untold liability.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: State subpoenas Harris, Amunds and Zimmerman about TDC funds