Panama City is considering filing an ethics complaint against Mayor Michael Rohan
PANAMA CITY − For some local officials, it appears Mayor Michael Rohan tried to influence the city policy behind their backs.
Panama City commissioners on Tuesday directed City Attorney Nevin Zimmerman to seek outside legal counsel to determine whether a formal ethics complaint should be filed against Rohan.
According to information from the meeting, Rohan, without a consensus from the commission, discussed with state representatives earlier this month whether funds for the Beach Drive Multi-Use Sidewalk Project could be reappropriated to a different city project.
Rohan has publicly voiced his disapproval of the Beach Drive project during multiple meetings.
The Florida Legislature has appropriated about $8 million to help Panama City fund the Beach Drive project.
"The problem, it seems, is that (Rohan) went to Rep. Griffitts' office to file an act on behalf of the city without coming to the commission first," Commissioner Brian Grainger said. "It's not about Beach Drive at all. It's not about the MLK Rec Center. It's about the fact that I can work with anybody on this commission as long as they're willing to work with me.
"You willingly went to one of our state representatives acting in your official capacity as the mayor, and unilaterally decided what the commission wanted to do. ... I have a big problem with that."
On Nov. 13, Rohan traveled to state Rep. Griff Griffitts' office to meet two local residents. The residents attempted to submit an appropriations project request form to reappropriate state funds from the Beach Drive Multi-Use Sidewalk Project to a project rebuilding the Martin Luther King Jr. Rec Center. The form was ultimately not accepted.
Rohan told commissioners on Tuesday that he knew the form would be denied, but that he went with the residents to be a good representative for his constituents, as well as learn more about the reappropriation process.
"I knew going in out the door that this form was not good, that it was not even appropriate and that it was not going to go anywhere, but (as their representative) I went down there to see with them what needed to be done if that form could be fixed," Rohan said. "I didn't do a darn thing wrong. ... There's no wrong with meeting with a constituent and going to a secretary and asking them how to fill out a form."
According to Zimmerman, a secretary from Griffitts' office made "numerous markings" on the form and then "handed it back to" Rohan. After learning of his trip, commissioners asked Zimmerman whether there was a public record of the form that Rohan helped deliver to Griffitts' office.
Zimmerman said he met with Rohan last week and asked him to provide the form, and that Rohan told him "he would look for it." However, he had still not turned in the form as of Tuesday.
"In a search of computer records, the city did find (an email) that appears to have as an attachment the APR form," Zimmerman said.
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Commissioners are slated to review the suggestions of outside legal counsel at their next meeting.
"We all have to work up here together, and unfortunately we're not always going to agree," Commissioner Jenna Haligas said. "I don't agree with (Rohan) on probably everything, but I'm still not going to go and try to get something passed or relinquished just because I didn't get my way on it and the commission doesn't agree with me."
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City considers ethics complain against Mayor Michael Rohan
