In Monroe County, the hits keep coming.
The board of county commissioners — still contending with the alleged cover-up of a drug scandal and resulting criminal indictments of three former employees — now faces a whistleblower lawsuit from its former tourism director.
Stacey Mitchell was fired in March, four months after the county clerk’s office released a critical audit of the Tourist Development Council, where Mitchell had been marketing director since 2017. The audit revealed “repeated noncompliance with Monroe County’s purchasing policy,” and “a lack of controls and management oversight,” among other findings.
Mitchell initially was suspended with pay in the fall of 2023, then terminated in March.
County officials have pointed to the audit as the basis for her termination, although at a November 2023 meeting of the TDC board, then-Key West Mayor Teri Johnston, who sat on the TDC board, said, “Let’s remember, this entire board was in place when all of this was allegedly occurring. Fingers are pointing to Stacey (Mitchell), but what about everyone else, since at least 2008 — people in the clerk’s office approving payments, the TDC’s own board treasurer reviewing financial statements. There was more than one hand in this. … Maybe the clerk’s office needs to be addressed. Maybe the county needs to be audited as well. There was apparently a lack of oversight long before Stacey Mitchell was appointed TDC director in 2017.”
The vote to fire Mitchell occurred in March 2024 following an independent review of the TDC’s financial operations, although no charges were filed against her.
In the lawsuit filed on Sept. 3, Mitchell’s attorney Zachary Zermay claims her firing, and the TDC audit that prompted it — the agency’s first in 20 years — were retaliation for Mitchell’s refusal to approve $150,000 of tourism funding for a county bicentennial event that had missed the application deadline for such funds.
The lawsuit details an informal meeting in early May 2022, when Mitchell and the TDC’s PR agent, Andy Newman, met with county commissioner Michelle Lincoln, then-County Administrator Roman Gastesi and county spokeswoman Kristen Livengoood.
At the meeting, the suit states, Mitchell emphasized the process to apply for event funding and the strict application deadline of early June.
“Despite (Mitchell) providing all necessary TDC administrative contact information to assist Ms. Livengood, the applications were not submitted in time. As a result, the (county’s bicentennial) events … were excluded from grant consideration. … (Mitchell) returned from a business trip on June 13, 2022, and was informed by the office manager that Ms. Livengood had sought last-minute assistance on the application process, but failed to meet the deadline,” the lawsuit states.
The 12-page legal complaint then describes a July 2022 county budget meeting, where commissioner Craig Cates reportedly told Mitchell a drone show and concert would take place for the county’s bicentennial, and asked her for TDC funding for the event.
“(Mitchell) reminded Commissioner Cates that the deadline to apply for funding was missed by Ms. Livengood, yet Commissioner Cates insisted on finding a way to support the event,” the lawsuit states. “Consequently, and despite previous directives to avoid funding high-season weekend events, the TDC hastily organized a ‘second round of event funding’ to accommodate the request because of backroom dealings, meetings, and other informal communications hidden from the public.”
In the second round, the Key West District Advisory Committee members, who evaluate event funding applications and make recommendations for amounts “were perplexed by this sudden shift in directives,” and denied the $150,000 funding request,” the lawsuit states.
County organizers of the bicentennial event then appealed the DAC’s denial to the full TDC board, which debated the issue, but tabled the matter indefinitely.
“The issue was highly publicized, leading to community uproar, particularly among local nonprofits and event planners who adhered to the original application deadlines. Subsequently, following backroom dealings, meetings and other informal communications hidden from the public, the Board of County Commissioners redirected $150,000 from DAC resources to fund the concert, circumventing the standard approval processes. In violation of Defendants’ own guidelines, rules, and regulations, over $150,000 was withdrawn from the TDC’s budget by way of an internal budget transfer … without the correct transparency processes and public meetings.”
“Defendants willfully ignored (Mitchell’s) concerns and misused public funds to finance a $150,000 concert and drone show, in the middle of high season in Key West, after blowing mandatory deadlines. After the disclosures were made, the drone show occurred, and the checks had been cashed, a campaign of retaliation began against (Mitchell) in the form of audits to serve as a pretextual reason to terminate (her),” the lawsuit alleges
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial, financial compensation for lost pay, compensatory damages, reinstatement to her prior position, or commensurate pay as well as attorney’s fees.
Cates told the Keys Weekly that the lawsuit was not unexpected, but he declined to comment on the pending litigation until he had spoken with the county attorney.
