Controversy continued to swirl around the Apopka City Council at its August 16th meeting, this time over multi-million dollar wire transfers to banks.
Commissioner Nick Nesta, who in several previous meetings called for a forensic audit of City financial documents, again made his plea after alleging he found "inaccuracies and inconsistencies" in documents provided to the Council by Finance Department Director Blanche Sherman.
Sherman led a presentation on the city’s transaction history at the meeting. She explained various money transfers, focusing on larger transfers between banks.
"The goal is to not concentrate all investments in one bank, she said. "Allowing for diversification and maximizing the city’s investment earnings."
There were three transfers she addressed: a $29 million wire from Synovus to One Florida Bank in June 2021, a $20 million wire from Synovus to Florida Prime last July, and a $31 million wire from One Florida Bank to Seacoast Bank in June.
Because of the concerns and comments made about the various transfers, Sherman said city attorney Cliff Shepard provided a legal opinion.
“Upon a detailed review of the policy, supporting documentation provided by staff, and additional information provided by staff, the wire transfer in question appears to comply with the City’s policy,” Shepard wrote in a summary memo regarding the $29 million wire transfer from Synovus to One Florida Bank in June 2021.
Nesta questioned Sherman and Shepard about the reasons for this presentation.
“Did you come up with this yourself, or who asked you to bring this to the council?” Nesta asked Sherman.
“The mayor," said Sherman, referring to Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson.
“Attorney Shepard, who requested your legal opinion on this?” Nesta asked.
“I don't know in which order but some combination of the mayor and Sherman," said Shepard.
“How much did it cost us to get this opinion?” Nesta asked.
“That I don't know," said Shepard. "I haven't gotten and run the bills yet. We’re not at that point in the month. I can get them for you. I can get them for you tomorrow.”
“That would be great to know for many reasons, but the biggest one is that you don't exclusively work for the mayor," said Nesta. "I would normally see something like this, and any of your opinions I would think would be under the attorney's report, especially if we had asked for it... but we didn't."
Nesta continued to press the idea that there were significant issues with some City financial documents.
"Additionally, the documents that were provided still show – and I'm not going to take a deep dive into this because I didn't specifically ask for this to be done – they still show inconsistencies," said Nesta. "Even the data that was provided still shows information that is inaccurate, and I think you two (Sherman and Shepard) are being used as pawns in a game that the mayor is trying to play."
Then Nesta turned his focus on Nelson.
"Mr. Mayor... and I'll just say this to put a finer point on the last meeting… you think we’re all trying to get ‘gotcha’ moments on you, and there'd be nothing to get if you wouldn't do sketchy things behind the scenes, so stop trying to hide things, stop trying to be above the residents and the rest of the council, and we wouldn’t have ‘gotcha’ moments. So, with that being said, I still think there needs to be a forensic audit.”
"This is the second instance where commissioners did not get the full opinion until well after the fact," Commissioner Kyle Becker said, referring to the mayor’s request earlier this month for a legal opinion and interpretation of the city’s charter into the city council’s authority over the city attorney.
“The council serves at the pleasure of the board, not the mayor singularly,” Becker reiterated. “We need to get this (memo) as soon as you get them so that we can have a better-prepared conversation up here.”
Commissioner Diane Velazquez echoed Becker’s comments.
“If an opinion is being solicited – which is the right of the chair to solicit an opinion – let the council know,” she said.
Commissioners also expressed concerns over the city’s investment policy being outdated.
“The city’s investment policy is dated 1995,” Becker said. “There is some inconsistency in its application.”
Becker addressed the council’s involvement in a $2 million transfer from Iberia Bank to One Florida Bank in May 2019.
“But then a much larger transaction of the $29 million happened without any sort of council scrutiny,” Becker said. “The real question: Why? Why did that happen?”
The three transactions comply with the procedures under the investment policy and do not require council authority despite the council overseeing some former transactions, Sherman said.
“If $2 million dollars is worthy of a council vote, then certainly $29 million is,” Becker said. "Having $29 million as a representation of our entire general fund expenditure is a considerable material amount, he added. There are a couple of different avenues by which you can move money, and having a unilateral method of doing it by an investment officer is a big point of contention," he said.
“Having one singular person within the city having that level of authority to make that sort of move, that’s where I disagree with the policy. That’s where I think we need to update the policy,” Becker said.
Sherman shared that an investment adviser is currently reviewing the city’s policy and will bring it to the council for input and potentially change procedures. Nelson said he has no issue with the council changing procedures.
