- November 17, 2024
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County Commissioner Barbara Revels has been fined a total of $2,500 for two ethics violations concerning her vote with the commission to buy the old Memorial Hospital for use as a Sheriff’s Office operations center.
The Florida Commission on Ethics voted unanimously at a meeting Friday, Jan. 23 to accept a stipulation agreement with Revels that requires her to pay two $1,250 fines, each for a separate instance in which she voted on the purchase without revealing a potential conflict of interest: that she was a business associate of hospital property owners Bruce Page, Michael Chiumento and James Newslow through her shares in Intracoastal Bank.
The commission’s advocate had not found cause for a third charge: that Revels had accepted something of value meant to influence her vote by accepting an increase in her line of credit at the bank, from $100,000 to $300,000, in late May of 2014.
“There is insufficient evidence to show that the line of credit was increased to influence respondent’s actions,” Commission Advocate Melody Hadley said in a statement to the commission at the Jan. 23 meeting. “Prior to the vote, respondent already had an established loan with Intracoastal, and the appraisal value of respondent’s property appears to sufficiently cover the increased line of credit.”
The Ethics Commission hearing on the case lasted less than four minutes.
Audio of the hearing is available here.
A public statement Revels made about the case on Jan. 12 can be viewed here.
