Allegations raise questions about St. Johns River Water Management District decisions
Earlier this month, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported allegations that John Miklos, the longest-serving chairman in the history of the St. Johns River Water Management District, was “greased off” by developers seeking permits or approvals from the district.
The allegations were made, under oath, by former Seminole County Tax Collector and convicted felon Joel Greenberg, as part of an investigation into election fraud. Greenberg testified that when a development project “is not approved to be built because there are environmental issues. Miklos would get greased off or something, and they would all magically be approved.”
He went on to say that Miklos would then “write checks” to certain people in return and described the process as “rinse and repeat.”
Miklos held a seat on the district governing board from 2010 to 2019, including more than five years as chairman. He is also the president of Bio-Tech Consulting, which provides consulting services to developers seeking water management district permits.
Conflict of interest concerns became front-page news in 2016, when Bio-Tech was hired by the city of Debary to get approval for developing 102 acres of district-owned conservation lands near Gemini Springs. The same year, Debary City Hall would be raided by state law enforcement investigating Sunshine Law violations related to the land deal.
Under intense public and legal scrutiny, the city abandoned its development plan and the land remained in conservation. However, that was only one of the more than 100 times that Miklos-represented clients seeking permits from the district he oversaw.
Following the debacle, a Florida Commission of Ethics investigator found probable cause that Miklos had violated state ethics laws. Yet the ethics commission board voted not to pursue the investigation. For its part, the water management district board circled the wagons and doubled down, re-electing Miklos as chairman, not once, not twice, but three more times.
Miklos was finally pressured off the district board in 2019. But the impact of his actions on Florida’s environment and the credibility of the water management district live on.
Just this summer, the district was caught trying to put 18,000 acres of conservation lands, including parts of Paynes Prairie and Hal Scott Preserve, up for sale. The item was buried on the district’s consent agenda, a portion of the agenda used to move non-controversial items that do not need to be voted on individually. The plan might have worked, had it not been uncovered by the incredible diligence of Chris Farrell of Audubon Florida.
The district claims it was an honest mistake. And maybe it was. But it doesn’t look good.
At least five times between December 2016 and October 2018, the district used the consent agenda to approve the release of conservation easements to Bio-Tech clients. In each case, Miklos failed to disclose a conflict of interest.
Four of the nine current St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board members were comfortable enough with Miklos’ actions that they voted to re-elect him as chairman after the Debary scandal came to light.
And Miklos was in attendance and spoke at an unrecorded district workshop in March where surplus lands and conservation easements were agenda topics.
I’m reminded of a similar scandal in another one of my passions, professional basketball.
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In 2007, the FBI discovered that a National Basketball Association referee was being paid by a gambling syndicate based on the outcome of the games he was officiating. Reportedly, the ref and the bookie never discussed whether the games were being fixed. “There was no need to,” the bookie said. “He had the f---ing whistle.”
I haven’t watched basketball the same since. Every time there’s a string of questionable calls I start to wonder if the game is fixed. Fortunately, the outcome of a basketball game doesn’t really matter.
The same can’t be said about the outcome of environmental permitting decisions.
We may never know how or to what extent Miklos used his position as chairman to influence district decisions, but to paraphrase the bookie, he had the gavel.
Environmental politics is often portrayed as “tree-hugging liberals” versus “pave-it-all conservatives.” But that’s not really the case. Everyone needs homes, roads and shopping centers, and everyone needs clean water, clean air and green spaces. Where we sometimes differ is on the right mix of development and conservation.
Wherever you stand on this question, hopefully we can agree that everyone should play by the rules, no one should be “greased off” to rig the system and we all deserve answers to what really happened at the district.
Ryan Smart is executive director of the Florida Springs Council.
This column is part of The Sun's Messages from the Springs Heartland series. More pieces from the series can be found at bit.ly/springsheartland.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Ryan Smart: Questions about John Miklos, St. Johns River district
