Landing atop the 2023 headlines were a pair of audits by the Monroe County Clerk’s Office which were critical of two governmental organizations. Meanwhile, county officials inked a deal for new Trauma Star choppers, and a court consolidation proposal brought strong opposition from many Keys residents.
Audit: Oversight failures enabled reported theft of narcotics on Trauma Star
On May 11, Keys Weekly broke the news of an audit by the Monroe County Clerk’s Office that revealed glaring breakdowns in Monroe County Fire Rescue’s Trauma Star life-flight service — enabling a chief flight nurse to reportedly steal more than 200 vials of fentanyl and other narcotics.
Lynda Rusinowski, 56, worked as chief flight nurse for Monroe County Fire Rescue (MCFR)
until she was sent to rehab by another MCFR employee. Eventually, she was suspended and arrested in September 2022. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office initially reported the arrest of Rusinowski, who per an anonymous July 2022 tip, allegedly altered controlled substance inventory logs in an effort to pilfer drugs. She was an employee of MCFR, not the sheriff’s office. She’s scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial conference before Judge James Morgan on Jan. 2, 2024 in Marathon.
The audit report noted no wrongdoing on the part of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, but it was highly critical of MCFR and senior county administration. The audit details a total of 623 vials of controlled substances missing from inventory logs during the audit period. The report describes “significant breach of controls,” as staff responsible for managing the narcotics inventory at the Trauma Star supply room were the same individuals managing inventory counts on each helicopter.
A critical TDC audit
Yet another audit by the clerk’s office made headlines, this time involving the Monroe County Tourist Development Council — the Florida Keys’ multimillion-dollar tourism marketing agency.
In November, the Keys Weekly’s Mandy Miles broke the news of the county clerk’s 32-page audit report of the TDC, which revealed significant issues over its financial oversight and operations. The report detailed misuse of the marketing director’s position to allow a local photographer to profit from the Florida Keys annual photo calendar. The audit also stated TDC annual financial reports presented to county commissioners misstated revenues and expenditures.
Another finding alleged the TDC’s contracted relations firm, NewmanPR, doubled-billed the county separately for services that were included in its agreement with the TDC. But County Attorney Bob Shillinger disagreed with the double-billing finding in reference to NewmanPR and its owner, Andy Newman. In a Nov. 7 memo, Shillinger said his office cleared NewmanPR of the double-billing allegation after researching the contract between the firm at the TDC.
On Nov. 16, the TDC board voted to suspend director Stacey Mitchell with pay pending the results of a followup forensic audit by an outside firm.
