Escambia County and Pam Childers are back in court over paramedic's DOH fine

Escambia County and Clerk of Court and Comptroller Pam Childers are heading back to court — this time over Childers' blocking a payment for a former EMS paramedic's fine with the Department of Health.

Escambia County filed suit this week asking a judge to order Childers to issue the payment to former EMS paramedic Matt Selover.

Childers told the County Commission in February that absent a court order, "my decision is not to pay."

The County Commission voted 3-1 to pay Selover's DOH fine after the county's former medical director Dr. Rayme Edler alleged Selover violated Florida law with patient care during five separate incidents from July 2018 to March 2019. Two of the incidents resulted in the patient dying, and Edler placed the culpability on Selover's actions.

The DOH investigation resulted in a settlement between DOH and Selover in which he agreed to pay the $6,960 fine while neither admitting nor denying allegations made against him. He was allowed to keep his paramedic's license.

Selover had previously sued the county in 2019, alleging he was the victim of harassment and retaliation by Edler. The case resulted in the county agreeing to a $200,000 settlement with Selover.

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In October, the County Commission voted 3-1 to pay Selover's $6,960 DOH fine at the request of Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who has long defended Selover and argued the county mishandled the whole situation.

However, Childers never issued the payment and confirmed in February that she would not, arguing it was akin to paying a private citizen's speeding ticket with taxpayer money.

The issue is the second legal battle over the Clerk's refusal to issue payments, as the two local government offices are embroiled in a legal battle over the county's optional local retirement plan for commissioners. In the plan, the county contributes the equivalent of 57% of a commissioner's salary to their retirement accounts, which Childers contends is so egregious it constitutes illegal pay for commissioners.

The county argues in its Tuesday filing that Childers has a ministerial duty to approve all legal payments, and the payments to Selover are legal.

"The County is not aware of any authority which prohibits the County from paying administrative fines and costs or which declares that such payment is illegal," Senior County Attorney William Nelson wrote in the complaint. "To the contrary, the Board has previously authorized payment of administrative fines assessed against the County, and the Clerk has issued payment to satisfy these fines."

Childers told the News Journal that she believes this case is nothing like when the county has paid administrative fines because the fines are assessed against Selover as a private citizen, and paying the fines serves no public purpose. Childers contends that DOH cannot issue fines, even in the case of a settlement, unless the law has been violated.

"This is being led by District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh," Childers said. "This is a clear abuse of discretion and 'discretionary dollars' are not his back-pocket money. He has no law behind him to make Selover whole. This is a private fine between DOH and Selover, and it is a penalty. Fines are issued for punishment."

Bergosh said Childers is wrong, and he believes Selover was wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted by DOH. He said the accusations against Selover were not substantiated.

"Any penalty assessed that goes along with those charges — that were untrue — would be appropriate for the county to pay to clear the man's name," Bergosh said. "That's why the board voted to do it."

As with the county's previous lawsuit, circuit court judges in Escambia County will not oversee the case. As of Thursday, the case had been assigned to Okaloosa County Circuit Court Judge John Brown.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County sues Clerk and Comptroller Pam Childers again