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Okaloosa to end TDC contracts with Zimmerman, Lewis

KARI C. BARLOW / Daily News 2012-06-19 16:25:35

FORT WALTON BEACH The Okaloosa County Commission will terminate the Tourist Development Councils marketing contracts with the Zimmerman Agency and Lewis Communications on Sept. 30. County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to solicit proposals from a new pool of marketing firms and to approve new long-term contracts by Oct. 1. There is some advantage to saying, we need a clean slate, Greg Stewart, an attorney for the county, told the board. Start fresh with a new contract. It could be beneficial to the advertising agencies and would certainly be beneficial to the county. Read the internal review. Stewart attended Tuesdays County Commission meeting to present a final report of his internal review of the TDC and the tourism development department. One of his recommendations was to revamp the countys contracts with its long-term advertising firms. Commissioner Bill Roberts said it makes sense to start the process of securing a new contract in the next three months if the county already is planning major changes. We would have the time to restructure the contract and look at similar contracts throughout the state, Roberts said. Commissioners requested Stewarts internal review after Mark Bellinger, the former executive director of the tourism development department, died May 4 amid fraud allegations. Authorities have discovered that Bellinger used the two advertising contracts to make numerous questionable expenditures with bed tax money and BP oil spill funds. Those purchases included a $710,000 Marquis yacht, customized motorcycles, RV furniture and a building lease. The yacht was invoiced by the Tallahassee-based Zimmerman Agency, which has had a contract with the TDC since 1991. The FBI said Bellinger used Mobile, Ala.,-based Lewis Communications to invoice the purchase of his four-bedroom home in Destin. He is accused of committing wire fraud to purchase the $747,000 house with BP oil spill funds under the guise of a national advertising campaign. County commissioners have said advertising contracts must have better oversight in the future. Stewarts internal review also detailed how Bellinger was allowed to operate outside of standard county policies. It made several recommendations, including stricter standards for special event funding, a detailed annual marketing plan, improved documentation and accreditation. Commissioners likely will vote on those issues when they take up a revised version of the county ordinance that authorizes the TDC in the coming months.

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Stewart told the board he also found that employees in the tourism development department seemed to believe that they could operate under a different set of rules. There was this perception that somehow buying promotional advertising, buying media advertising is somehow different from building a road, he said. I do not believe that to be true, and I believe that is a fundamental problem. Stewart recommended that commissioners emphasize that the tourism development department present more detailed financial reports to the board. We believe that it is crucial, he said. It is absolutely necessary that you have routine and frequent reports back to (commissioners.) He also urged the board to adopt a code of ethics, as many other Florida counties have done in the wake of severe ethical problems. What everyone in this room knows is the credibility of Okaloosa County has been severely damaged, Stewart said. We had one employee who basically stole from the county, and whatever good faith and trust you have built over the years has been destroyed. Stewart said a code of ethics could help Okaloosa rebuild its credibility a day at a time.

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