By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
Updating a Developing Story:
More details are known about Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson's sudden termination of former city adminiatrator Jacob Smith.
On Tuesday, March 18th at 6:34 pm, Apopka City Administrator Jacob Smith received an email from the "EOG DOGE Team":
Subject: EOG DOGE Efforts & Inquiry Regarding Financial Condition Under Section 218.503, Florida Statutes
Dear Local Official,
Pursuant to Executive Order 25-44, the Executive Office of the Governor has established an EOG DOGE Team which will use advanced technology to identify, review, and report on unnecessary spending within county and municipal governments and recommend legislative reforms to promote efficiency, maximize productivity, and eliminate waste in state and local government. These efforts are focused on ensuring fiscal responsibility throughout Florida.
In addition to assessing your municipality’s publicly available information over the coming weeks and months, the EOG DOGE Team is also assessing compliance with the financial management requirements set forth in section 218.503, Florida Statutes. This provision outlines the circumstances under which a local governmental entity is deemed to be in financial emergency or distress, triggering necessary corrective actions.
To fulfill our oversight role, and in accordance with article IV, section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, we respectfully request confirmation as to whether your municipality has encountered any instances of financial emergency or distress, including those listed in section 218.503(1), Florida Statutes, such as:
- Failure to pay short-term loans or obligations when due as a result of lack of funds.
- Failure to make debt service payments on bonds, loans, or other debt instruments when due.
- Failure to timely pay uncontested claims from creditors for more than 90 days due to lack of funds.
- Failure to transfer taxes, social security contributions, or retirement plan contributions as required by law.
- An unreserved or total fund balance deficit in the general fund or any major operating fund that persists for two consecutive years.
If your municipality has encountered any of these conditions since State Fiscal Year 2018-19, or anticipates potential financial distress in the next six months, please provide a written response in keeping with your obligations under section 218.503(2)- (3), Florida Statutes, detailing the specific circumstances, any corrective actions taken, a point of contact, and any additional information relevant to compliance with statutory financial obligations.
Please submit your response to eogdoge@laspbs.state.fl.us no later than April 8, 2025 to ensure timely review and, if necessary, assistance from state authorities. If we do not receive a response from you within 45 days, it will be presumed that your municipality is in possible statutory violation and in need of assistance. If you have any questions or require further clarification, please contact eogdoge@laspbs.state.fl.us.
We appreciate your cooperation in maintaining the fiscal integrity of local governmental operations.
Sincerely,
EOG DOGE Team
It was an unusual, and first-time transmission from the EOG DOGE team. One day later, at 11:35 am, Smith received another email from the Florida League of Cities with guidance on how to respond to the EOG DOGE team.
Two days later, on Friday afternoon, Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson terminated Smith, in part, because he did not inform Nelson about those emails.
“He got two emails, one from the governor’s office and one from the League of Cities about this DOGE requirement, that was it. I was done,” Nelson said.
He also said Smith did not communicate with him in comparison to other department heads.
“I’ve had numerous conversations with every department head other than him,” Nelson said. “Every couple days, I’m having conversations with department heads. So why is he different?”
According to the Apopka City Charter, a mayor can terminate a city administrator without notice, but is that the best way to run an administration? Nelson held his reasons for three days until he disclosed to The Apopka Chief that he fired Smith for a lack of communication and not alerting him to the DOGE letter, but wouldn't a warning or reprimand be a more appropriate action?
Smith, in an OP/ED, would have also expected communication from Nelson on the two issues.
As for the “DOGE” letter/email, I’m not sure what that refers to," Smith said in his OP/ED. "I receive over 100 emails daily, and if it was a letter, I never received it. If it was an email, it may have been blocked by our spam filters. If I somehow missed it, the mayor receives the same correspondence from the state or the League of Cities that I do. Usually, I get a follow-up email for any urgent matters with deadlines, but I never received anything of that sort. If this "DOGE" email is legitimate, and the mayor was aware of it, why didn’t he simply ask me about it? I would have responded with “What DOGE letter?” and we could have figured it out—just like I’ve handled everything else.
Nelson didn't respond to a text message from The Apopka Voice asking about warnings or reprimands he may have given to Smith before terminating him.
Before Nelson's explanation on Monday, Commissioners Nadia Anderson and Alexander Smith said they didn't have enough information to comment on Smith's firing.
"No, because I don't have any details," Smith said on Saturday.
"I don't have any details regarding Jacob Smith, so I'm unable to provide any insight," Anderson said. "You may want to check with the department responsible for that decision for more information. I'll share any updates if I receive more details."
On Tuesday, The Apopka Voice asked all four commissioners and Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore to comment on Nelson's reasons for firing Smith.
Moore declined to comment, although she sympathized with Smith.
"I'm just grieved for Jacob moving here from Utah and being treated so poorly," she said. "No comment necessary."
Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez was already frustrated with Nelson before Smith's termination.
"In the email I wrote to CAO Jacob Smith before he was terminated, I made reference to the Mayor’s actions as being unprofessional and disrespectful," she said. "Terminating the CAO without consulting the City Attorney or the very least giving the CAO the courtesy of telling him why he was being terminated... dismissing him with no respect to the CAO position was disgraceful. It showed poor judgement. The City Charter says the Mayor can terminate without cause; as an Elected Official in a Strong Mayor Role, he should hold himself to a higher standard and represent the office of the Mayor with dignity and conduct himself in a professional manner. As an elected official, we all should hold our office in a high standard of professionalism. No excuses."
Commissioner Nick Nesta raised the possibility of a lawsuit against the City due to Nelson's actions.
"After a review of the comments made by current Mayor of Apopka, Bryan Nelson, to the Apopka Chief newspaper on 3/24/2025, I am now concerned that this administration has, once again, opened the City of Apopka up to potential litigation due to Labor Relations/Employment Law issues," he said. Where is the City Attorney Clifford Shephard to curtail these latest potentially unlawful and litigious actions/comments by the current Mayor of Apopka, Bryan Nelson? Where is Human Resources Director Dr. Joseph Patton?
Certain comments cannot be made by former employers to anyone specific to former employees in the manner Mayor Bryan Nelson has done here with the Apopka Chief newspaper.
There are Rules, Guidelines, Policies, Procedures, Laws, etc., but of course the current Mayor Bryan Nelson could care less about things like that.
The actions from this administration specifically Mayor Bryan Nelson, continue to destroy the City of Apopka and financially hurt the residents and only serve to the benefit of the petty agenda of the Mayor with no regard for anyone or anything else.
We see a consistent pattern here by way of the treatment hurled upon City employees or Apopka residents by this administration and in some instances Elected Officials.
If they do not do whatever they are told, the bad, the ugly and good they will not have the comfort of job retention protection and if an employee asks any questions about the bad/ugly they will not retain employment with the City of Apopka.
Change is on the horizon!"
This developing may be updated in future editions of The Apopka Voice if more details are known.
Editor's Note: The Apopka Voice texted Commissioners Nadia Anderson and Alexander Smith on Tuesday for their thoughts about Nelson's reasons for terminating Smith, but did not receive a response from either of them by the time of publication.
