Fred Hawkins: Taxpayer Funds: $10K for the Boy Scouts Party?

 

From the Osceola.org website:

"Community Betterment Grants allow local groups to seek funds from Osceola County Commissioners for a variety of programs or events. Administered to all five County Commissioners, the funding is distributed through the Osceola County Human Services Department. $50,000 is set aside annually in each commission district and if the funds are not fully expanded, the funds carry over."

It's time to take the blinders off people.  When I hear about all the good that Fred Hawkins did during his 11.5 years as Osceola Commissioner for District 5, I wonder if those espousing his altruism understand that Fred isn't using his own money....it's OURS...you know, the taxpayers.

  

Every district except for District 5 enjoys a book bag and school supply giveaway. While I agree with Fred Hawkins that taxpayer dollars should not be spent on these types of giveaway, as he specifically stated via Facebook (shown above), I have taken a closer look at what these grants are supporting to find out exactly what Fred thinks ARE good taxpayer community expenditures.

In 2019 Fred okayed $10,000 requested by the Boy Scouts for an annual dinner when he was the Dinner CHAIRMAN.

  

I don't have anything against supporting the scouts per se, but I would think that there are non-profit organizations that the money would go further toward the end goal of meeting Osceola County needs. After all, according to their submission, only 34% of the funds actually go to recipients, 53% goes towards salaries and benefits and yes, I am aware that the "overhead myth" is not a strong argument to rule out any particular organization...you need to delve deeper. Yet, I am highly suspicious of any non-profit where the recipients receive less than 65% of the donations and tend to only give to places where 95% or better goes toward the end goals. 

 

Interestingly enough, Fred was the honoree a few years ago at this very dinner. It rather makes me question whether when it comes to Fred's choice of "betterment" it isn't really about community improvement...just Fred's personal betterment crusade, you know, photo ops, name exposure, looking like he is altruistic and such.  Rather a "one hand washes the other" scenario.  Other past honorees have included Dr. Debra Pace (2020), Ricky Booth (2018), Mary Jane Arrington (2015). Is it just me or is there a closed circle in Osceola of the same people over and over and over.

To me Fred is the classic snake oil salesman.  Big smile with an answer for everything...albeit sometimes little white lies get stuck in the mix as he justifies his illegal behavior. 

 

When Fred hosted the Boy Scouts' Golden Eagle Award Dinner, Junior Davis was the honoree. You know, the guy who's construction company consistently receives contracts from the County.  That's an eyebrow raiser all on its own.  

 

Fred sits on the board of directors for Boy Scouts of America Central Florida Council and as I said before, was the Dinner Chairman  for the event he earmarked $10,000 of the $13,000 taxpayer funds that Osceola County donated (Viviana Janer, Cheryl Grieb and Peggy Choudhry gave $1K each from their grant allotment).  Yet on their application(1) the scouts checked "no" for the "are their any related parties" question.  While I don't think there was a deliberate, nefarious omission, it does concern me that our taxpayer funds are going directly to an organization where our commissioner had a vote in the recipient organizations' decisions and more so since he was throwing the party. 

 

While many organizations who apply for Betterment Grants are very worthy, I'm also finding that many of Fred's betterment grants support dinners...NOT for the needy as one might expect, but dinners and cocktail parties that he gets to eat and schmooze at, and not even at businesses located in District 5.  

That Fred, he is slick....it almost seems like he is using our taxpayer betterment grants to fuel his campaign tour.  

Another reason I say #HellNoHawkins2020

I plan to ask our next commissioner to call for a revamping of the Community Betterment Grants Program in Osceola County.  Currently it wreaks of political self-promotion rather than to provide needed help to the community as it should be set up to do.  I'd even acquiesce to see taxpayer funds supporting school supplies for our children over feeding Fred Hawkins, and his inner circle, rubber chicken dinners several times a year.

Select resource:

(1) Central Florida Council, Boy Scouts of America, Community Betterment Grant Application 2018-2019,  Osceola County, Florida

Note:  Documents are available via a public records request to Osceola County Public Information Office.

Fred Hawkins: Superman? or Con Man?

When Fred Hawkins defended his $40,000 salary increase by stating at a recent Osceola County School Board Meeting that he left his private sector job to devote full time to the Education Foundation of Osceola County (the "Foundation"), that raised a couple of red flags for me. 

As a resident of Osceola County District 5 that Fred represented prior to his recent suspension by the Governor, I follow what goes on, relative to his position as my representative.  I was pretty sure that Fred left his job with Waste Corporation of America (WCA) in 2018 shortly after the Florida Ethics Commission found there would be a conflict of interest if a commissioner stayed with a subsidiary of a corporation but "…if the commissioner terminates his duties for the subsidiary, there would be no conflict." [video link].(1)

Needless to say I was surprised by this epiphany that he was attempting to sell to the School Board.  Maybe I'm just naturally skeptical but it sounded like a load of bunk. As an aside, he is endorsing one School Board member as his replacement for County Commissioner given that Fred has chosen to move on to seek loftier goals at the state level.  When he was endorsing this same candidate for School Board a few years back, Fred's speech sounded almost as if he had handpicked him for the position.(2)

Back to Fred’s work hour numbers.  There is the Form 990 filed by the Foundation for 2017 which indicates that Fred Hawkins worked an average of 40.00 a week.  Perhaps that is something that needs to be looked into since Fred obviously wasn't performing as stated given his statement to the School Board.

That led me to go back and look at Fred's various Form6 filings over the past few years. 

While he claims to have left his private sector job to work full time at the Education Foundation, when his waste industry job at WCA went away in 2018, another waste industry-related job at a company called Brightmark magically appeared for 2019's Form6 submission.  So, it appears he didn't really "end that job", he merely traded it in for one that would arouse less curiosity from the Florida Commission on Ethics.

What may be more interesting is that his LinkedIn resume shows that he has worked at Brightmark since February 2015. Yet, there is no mention of it on any of his official Form6 filings prior to 2019. 

All right, we all fudge our resumes here and there and maybe he is a terrible consultant and just didn't make any money during 2015-18, but when you are running for public office, I believe transparency is paramount. What you put out there for public view shouldn't leave people questioning the integrity of your Form6 filings.

Adding up the Numbers

 So, using 2013 as an example, he listed employment income from Progressive Waste Solutions ($68,500); Osceola County BOCC ($74,000); Great St. Cloud Chamber ($50,000).

source:  census.gov

According to the Census, the median household income for Osceola County is $50,063.  So I will assume all three jobs are full time.  That's 120 hours based on a 40 hour work week….and I sure hope he was working at least 40 hours as my commissioner, given the pay grade.  That leaves less than 7 hours a day for sleep, eating, commuting, family time, personal hygiene, shopping, etc. 

For 2017 he listed employment income from WCA ($101,000); Osceola County BOCC ($78,000); Osceola Foundation for Education (no amount listed but their form 990s show 40 hours a week average); Preferred Government Trust (no amount listed).  I'll assume that at least three are full time...so, give or take 120 hours total...PLUS how ever many hours in that newly added part-time Insurance Job AND interest in a new business called H3Property Ventures which he apparently co-owns.  Again, less than 7 hours a day for all other activities INCLUDING the nightmare that is commuting in Osceola County traffic.

Form 6 for 2017

I know he frequently he has held positions on various Boards of Directors in seemingly unpaid capacities.  My question is, is he performing his altruism on the taxpayer's dime?  After all there are only 168 hours in a week.

Form6's for all other years have similar numbers of job and incomes listed. Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation of how he does it all.   To me the number of working hours simply don't add up.  Another reason I say #HellNoHawkins2020

You can search for any elected official's Form6 documents by their name.  Once you bring up their most recent submission page, click on "View Filing History" to see several years of documents available.  I highly recommend you vet the people you intend to vote for to get a clearer overall picture of their finances. 

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(1) Florida Commission on Ethics Meeting, July 27, 2018

(2) ”…We asked Ricky to go there and be a leader…” Fred Hawkins Jr. - Ricky Booth Testimonial, October 17, 2017