Hillsborough County commissioners discovered Wednesday that solely the governor can take away one in all their 4 appointees to the Tampa Sports Authority. They additionally discovered the company, which manages Raymond James Stadium, has no authority to police itself.
Left with out recourse and anxious in regards to the authority’s lack of ability to implement its personal code of ethics, the fee then took a step that might get Gov. Ron DeSantis concerned.
Commissioners unanimously handed a movement requesting the county legal professional collect for review the sports activities authority’s assembly minutes, monetary disclosures, and members’ property and monetary information.
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“We have a fiduciary responsibility to our taxpayers as a funding entity of the Tampa Sports Authority, before we send them another dollar, that they are acting in accordance with proper ethical standards and within the bounds of the law,” Commissioner Christine Miller mentioned.
The movement by Miller additionally calls for workers to draft letters expressing the county’s considerations to DeSantis, the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office and sports activities authority itself.
The movement comes within the wake of Miller’s June 3 request that the county legal professional rule on how Hillsborough’s TSA appointees might be eliminated midterm. On Wednesday, Miller instructed she “opened Pandora’s box” that introduced up “serious ethical issues.”
A number of days after Miller’s request, a neighborhood legal professional and state-registered lobbyist despatched a letter to the sports activities authority alleging that 4 board members owned property that created a battle of curiosity tied to a proposal to construct a Tampa Bay Rays stadium.
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“The only way that this can even be reviewed is a letter by a body or concerned citizen directly to the governor,” mentioned Miller, who was appointed to the fee by DeSantis in 2024.
No commissioner has accused a TSA board member of wrongdoing, however Miller mentioned she was astounded to be taught the company can’t present its personal oversight.
“By their attorney’s own admission, there has been no mechanism to enforce ethics, ethical rules or to punish members who may violate them,” Miller mentioned of a June 14 letter from the TSA’s basic counsel.
At the minimal, the county review might stress the sports activities authority to enhance its insurance policies and processes, mentioned Ken Hagan, the commissioner chair and an ex-officio member of the sports activities authority board.
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However, he didn’t think about it essential to ship a letter to DeSantis, who has publicly supported the Rays’ stadium plan.
“I don’t think anything will come of it, particularly when you understand the underlying issues — which is the Rays’ ballpark — which with the governor’s endorsement … I’m quite sure the TSA is already on his radar,” Hagan mentioned. “And knowing (DeSantis’) willingness to remove folks from office, he really doesn’t need a letter from us to bring this to his attention.”
Hagan’s higher concern was the Legislature getting concerned if the TSA did not “tighten up some of their rules and policies” and the difficulty was ignored on the native stage.
“If we do nothing, we’re likely not going to like the alternative,” he mentioned.
That might embody lawmakers amending the TSA construction to provide the governor management over a lot of the appointees, and “the county and city are left paying the bills without adequate representation,” Hagan mentioned.
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The 11-member TSA board has 4 appointees from county, 4 from the town of Tampa, one from the governor and two ex-officio members. Its function is solely to handle services.
However, the “chaos” — as Miller referred to as it — adopted the TSA board’s June 2 choice to step outdoors that function.
That’s when the authority’s board voted to ship a letter to native elected officers that said its precedence for the usage of public {dollars} was proposed renovations to Raymond James Stadium, not the Rays’ undertaking. The 4 accused members voted in favor of the movement. So did Hagan.
“What’s lost in a lot of this,” Hagan mentioned, “the reality is the TSA has no say or vote on the Rays’ financial framework or definitive documents. The only bodies that will determine whether a financial agreement is approved (are) this board, the city council, and the city council sitting as the (Community Redevelopment Agency) board.”