Santa Rosa commissioners table discussion over Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful audit

An audit of the organization Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful made its way to the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners Monday for discussion, but was tabled for a future meeting after the KSRB board was not made aware the item would be appearing.

About 30 members of the public turned out for the meeting to speak on the subject and many voiced their frustration at the commission’s delay.

“Let me begin by saying that several times I've defended staff up here, and I'm disappointed in staff this morning,” Milton resident Jerry Couey said to the board. “KSRB has had every opportunity to respond to this.”

Samuel Scallan, director of internal audit for the Santa Rosa County Clerk of Circuit Court, previously told the News Journal concerns over KSRB’s financial situation made their way to the BOCC last year, which prompted an audit of the organization’s use of county-issued funds.

In the audit, which finished late last year, Scallan found that Santa Rosa County has given KSRB over $967,000 since 2003. For fiscal year 2020-2021, Santa Rosa County contributed $3,000 on Aug. 24, 2021.

New plans for a butterfly house: After fallout with Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful, butterfly group plans to open new location in April

The two groups separate: Panhandle Butterfly House director, entire board ousted by Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful board

“Within KSRB there are virtually no internal controls over the financial operations of the association,” the audit reads. “There are no polices or procedures. There are no dual controls over cash.”

County Administrator DeVann Cook wrote a recommendation to the board to withhold funding KSRB until certain measures are taken by the organization. The proposed measures include developing internal controls for financial operations, documenting revenues and expenditures, providing the county with plans for scheduled events and projects and providing the county with how funds will be used.

Both Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful and Panhandle Butterfly House uninvited from Festival of Flowers

In July 2021, Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful ended its relationship the board of the Panhandle Butterfly House, drawing into question the future of the butterfly house. KSRB was the nonprofit under which the Panhandle Butterfly House operated.

Jenny Weber, head of the Panhandle Butterfly House and Nature Center Inc., was in attendance Monday and voiced her disapproval of the commission’s potential continued support of KSRB.

“We're not going to give our time, and our money, and our resources to those people because look what they do with the money,” Weber said at the Monday meeting. “They have got a million dollars worth of our taxpayer money and what do we have for it?”

Weber claims she and her organizers own the Panhandle Butterfly House likeness, saying they filed for 501(c)(3) status in April 2021 after they asked to separate from KSRB. According to an IRS determination letter, the Panhandle Butterfly House and Nature Center did receive its own exemption status April 5. But on the Panhandle Butterfly House and Nature Center website, it claims it is a joint program with KSRB.

Both the Panhandle Butterfly House and Nature Center, and KSRB were recently denied registration as vendors at the Spring Festival of Flowers hosted by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and Pensacola State College in Milton in April.

The Panhandle Butterfly House left its previous location at the foot of the Navarre Beach Bridge in 2018, when the county announced it was planning a renovation of the park. The Panhandle Butterfly House team was planning to announce a new location at the April festival.

Robin Vickers, the events administrative support assistant with the University of Florida’s West Florida Research and Education Center, said this decision will stand until the issues between the organizations are resolved.

“The only comment that I can make is that the University of Florida IFAS will remain neutral in their dispute,” Vickers told the News Journal.

Weber said she understood the decision from UF IFAS but was disappointed at first.

“We all totally understood and don't want to bring any negativity. The Festival of Flowers is not the place. It's not the place to have any of those arguments about who owns what. So, we said that's fine,” Weber told the News Journal. “We'll just wait around and see what happens next year. The Festival of Flowers, it’s been something that we've been participating in for years. And so, we want to be able to come back when this all settles out.”

The News Journal reached out to KSRB’s lawyer for comment but did not receive a response.

Weber said the group will now most likely announce its new location before the original April 1 plan.

“It's getting people excited about it and curious,” Weber told the News Journal. “So, we get them excited and get them curious and let them know how it's going.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful audit discussion delayed by commissioners