County Commissioner John Meeks has asked for an opinion from the Florida Commission on Ethics.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Levy County Commissioner John Meeks purchased Bronson Ace Hardware in early January and has asked the state for an opinion on whether his new position as the owner could be a potential ethical conflict when he sells hardware to the county commission.

            Meeks served as manager of Bronson Ace Hardware for the past 18 years and the question of ethics never surfaced during his days as an employee, but two county officials encouraged him to seek an advisory opinion from the Florida Commission on Ethics upon learning he was the new owner of the store.

            “My name is John Meeks. I am currently serving my second term as a Levy County Commissioner, District 1. I have some questions about the potential conflicts of interest that have recently come about,” he said in the first paragraph of a Feb. 24 letter to the ethics commission.

            Meeks declined to be interviewed by Spotlight.

            Asking for an ethics commission advisory opinion doesn’t mean Meeks is under investigation. He is not under investigation. The only way an investigation could occur is if someone filed a complaint against him using a form available on the ethics commission website.

            The advisory opinion will give Meeks a clearer sense of whether he has any issues with owning the store and selling hardware to the county commission. The advisory opinion will be based entirely on the letter he sent to the ethics commission.

            County Finance Director Jared Blanton said he first learned that the store had changed hands when he saw a new tax number for Bronson Ace Hardware pass through his computer records.  He met with Meeks to discuss his ownership of the store. All of the county’s expenditures pass through Blanton’s office.

            Blanton said he walked away from the conversation convinced that Meeks doesn’t have any ethical conflict of interest, but encouraged him to obtain an ethics commission opinion to make certain there weren’t any problems. He said County Attorney Anne Bast Brown suggested the same thing.

            Courthouse records show Bronson Ace Hardware sold $732,960 in hardware and lumber to the county since the year 2000, more than twice as much its nearest competitor, Gulf West doing business as Chiefland Farm Supply, which sold $312,005 to the county during roughly the same time frame (see attached chart). The chart shows different expenditures for Gulf West and Chiefland Farm Supply but those businesses are owned by the same company.

            In the past couple of months since Meeks acquired the store, Blanton said Bronson Ace Hardware has actually sold less hardware and lumber to the county commission than when he was the store manager, an indication that he isn’t trying to funnel more of the county’s business to himself as the new store owner.

            “I’m the one that brought up the question before you guys (Spotlight) ever said anything. That was 45 days ago. I said let’s see if there’s something there. There’s nothing there,” Blanton said.

            Blanton works for Clerk of Courts Danny Shipp. Blanton serves as the budget director for the clerk’s office and the board. Shipp said he doesn’t think Meeks has a problem with an ethical conflict. He said if Meeks were to sell a small barn to the county commission he should probably abstain from voting on the expenditure.

            Shipp and Blanton say they are waiting for the ethics commission to release a letter, an advisory opinion, indicating whether Meeks has a conflict or doesn’t. They said the letter will provide them with the information the clerk’s office needs to continue honoring county purchases at Bronson Ace Hardware.

            “If he’s got a conflict of interest we’re going to quit buying from there,” Shipp said. “Jared will get up and say there’s a conflict with Bronson Ace Hardware, we can’t pay no more bills there,” Shipp said.

            Blanton said Meeks met with an ethics commission attorney before anyone knew he had concerns about ethics. He said Meeks has been given assurances he’s not in any trouble.

            Blanton acknowledged an elected official could create a conflict by selling hardware to the board on which he serves, but he said there are exceptions that apply to Meeks.

            “That’s the general rule but there are exceptions to the general rule,” Blanton said

             One exception is that Bronson Ace Hardware has sold hardware to the county for 25 years, which would be a grandfather exception, and another is that 70 percent of the county’s facilities are in the Bronson area.

             The fact that most of the county facilities are in or near Bronson doesn’t mean the store is the sole source for hardware, but it could be viewed as an exception to the general rule, Blanton said.

            “The maintenance department and 70 percent of our square footage is in Bronson,” Blanton said. “That doesn’t make it sole source but it’s a geographical advantage. Mathematics shows there’s no there there. Mathematics matters.”

            Shipp said he agrees that Bronson Ace Hardware’s location in the county seat means the county would tend to buy more hardware there than in other towns because everyone works out of Bronson.

             “It’s easier to get it right there and go on about your work,” Shipp said. “But yet I do believe there are some situations he’s going to have to meet to stay above board and transparent. I’m just thinking that’s the way I feel about it.”

            Meeks acknowledged in his letter to the ethics commission that Bronson Ace Hardware isn’t the only store in the county selling hardware, although he said it is the most convenient.

            “It is 13 miles to Chiefland and 12 miles to Williston, both have hardware stores that do business with the county. The vast majority of our buildings and infrastructure are located in Bronson, the county seat. It would create a hardship for our employees to be forced to travel that far to pick up supplies. As far as the other stores, we do have a rotating purchase policy in place wherein employees make purchases at all three locations, and stores in Gainesville. Employees are encouraged to seek out the best price on supplies, no matter where the source,” Meeks said.

            Spotlight examined the county’s procurement (purchasing) policy and didn’t find the term “rotating purchase policy.” Procurement Coordinator Alicea Trethaway said the term “rotating purchase” isn’t in the procurement policy but she said employees are encouraged to find the best price regardless of the store when making small purchases. She said that’s probably what was meant by the term rotating purchases.

            Meeks went on to say in his letter to the ethics commission that he has been very active in working toward transparency in the county’s purchasing policies.

            “During my time as chairman of our board, I oversaw creation of a purchasing policy and creating of a purchasing agent position. This not only serves to keep us in line with the federal CFR200 requirements, it creates a system of checks and balances to guard against any improprieties in purchasing. Centralizing purchasing, a part of the purchasing agent’s responsibilities, has had a negative impact on the Hardware store’s business. On the other side of the coin, it has saved the taxpayers thousands of dollars, because the ability to buy in bulk and in advance is the most economical way to buy,” Meeks said. The purchasing agent he referred to is Trethaway.

            Trethaway said the county has purchasing accounts at all the stores the county does business with. She said when county employees purchase an item the county is billed through her office for the purchase.

            Shipp was asked how he felt about Meeks, as a county commissioner and store owner, selling merchandise to his board.

            “I’ve seen a lot of stuff going on like that. When (former county commissioner) Tony Parker was here, there was a number of things that he felt he had a conflict with and he wouldn’t vote, but he didn’t own the business the conflict was with,” Shipp said.

            Shipp said when he attends statewide clerk conferences he has heard “a lot of people talking about their board members getting into trouble for owning things and contracting with the county for different things, but I never heard about just a hardware store, but I ain’t saying there’s any difference.”

            Blanton said Meeks was first directed to go to the ethics commission for an advisory opinion by the county attorney.

            “That’s what he told me. I said have you talked to Anne (Brown) about it. I brought it up. He said, ‘Yeah, I talked to her and she said go talk to the ethics commission and that’s what I did,’” Blanton said quoting Meeks. “To me this is old news. I’ve looked into this. He’s getting an opinion from the ethics commission. He’s asked for one.”

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt March 12, 2020; Posted March 12, 2020