By Terry Witt -Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Commission Chairman John Meeks continues to make far more money selling hardware to the county commission than any other hardware store owner in Levy County, county records show.
Meeks owns Bronson Ace Hardware.
In the period from August 2020 through January 2021, Meeks sold $18,560.48 of hardware supplies to the county commission compared to $19,995 for all nine of his competitors combined. This includes two Gainesville stores. (See charts at bottom of article)
The Levy County Commission hardware purchase accounts were examined by Spotlight. Information was provided by county staff.
Meeks was ordered by the Florida Commission on Ethics in late July last year to begin rotating the county’s purchase of hardware supplies fairly and equally among all the qualified hardware stores in the county.
Rotating Hardware Purchases
The Ethics Commission said Meeks had a conflict of interest selling hardware to the board he represents unless the hardware sales were rotated in an equitable way to all vendors in the county.
Meeks requested the ethics opinion soon after purchasing Bronson Ace Hardware in January of 2020. He had been manager of the store for nearly two decades before the purchase.
When he became the store owner, he was no longer a salaried employee of Wendell Stainsby, the previous owner. The change in roles from employee to owner made Meeks subject to Ethics Commission rules.
County records show Bronson Ace Hardware’s average yearly sales to the county commission was $36,648 for the 20 years before Meeks bought the store. He is on pace to match that number if sales to the county commission continue at the current rate for a full 12 months.
Gauging Compliance
Spotlight waited six months to assess whether Meeks was in compliance with the state ethics directive. The six months provided enough time to gauge how much hardware the county was purchasing and at which stores. Public records were requested for county hardware purchase records from Aug. 1, 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021. Records produced by county officials revealed Meeks appears to be making as much money now as he was before the ethics commission released its opinion.
The Ethics Commission opinion was clear that Meeks had only one way to avoid a conflict of interest as the owner of a hardware store doing business with the public board he serves on as an elected official. He had to make sure his competitors in the county were making the same amount of money as him by selling hardware to the county.
Florida Law
“Florida Statutes would prohibit you from doing business with the County while you serve as a member of the County Commission,” the July 24 opinion said. The opinion added that he would be exempt if the county’s hardware purchases “are rotated among all qualified suppliers of the goods or services within the city or county.”
The Ethics Commission clarified what it meant by rotating among all qualified hardware suppliers in the county.
“We caution that the rotation system implemented must constitute a good faith and fair methodology, reasonably administered, allowing for the equitable rotation of both business frequency and purchase amounts among all qualified suppliers of goods and services within the county,” the opinion said.
Meeks told Spotlight the reason his hardware sales numbers to the county are good is because Bronson Ace Hardware is situated in the heart of county government within close proximity to nearly all the county facilities. He said it’s easy and convenient for county staff to drop by on their way to a worksite and purchase hardware supplies.
Adopting Rotation Policy
After the Ethics Opinion was issued, county staff wrote and adopted a policy to rotate hardware purchases to stores around the county. Meeks and County Coordinator Wilbur Dean said the policy has been followed, but Meeks never presented the policy to the county commission for discussion or approval. Everything was handled by county administrative staff in Dean’s office.
While Meeks continued to prosper from sales of hardware to the county commission, two full-service Williston hardware stores received little of the county’s business in the six months after the Ethics Commission opinion ordered Meeks to rotate hardware sales across the county.
Williston Gets Little Business
Records show Sparr Building and Farm Supply sold $30.98 of hardware supplies to the county and Williston Ace Hardware sold $2.98 of hardware supplies during the six-month time frame. The two stores didn’t fare any better over the previous 20 years. Sparr sold $28.72 of hardware to the county commission and Williston Ace Hardware sold nothing to the board between the years 2000 to 2020. (See charts)
Williston Ace Hardware Store Manager Ryan Woods said the county should spread its hardware purchases among stores countywide.
“It should be spread out between everybody in the county,” Woods said.
Other hardware stores in the county also didn’t get much county hardware business between August 2020 and January 2021.
Big John’s Supply in Chiefland sold $32.03 hardware to the county during that period, Marina Hardware in Cedar Key $17.97, and Buddy and Fred’s Hardware in Inglis sold $141.93.
Two Levy County hardware stores (other than Bronson Ace Hardware) sold a bit more hardware to the county commission during the same six-month time frame. Gulf West Supply DBA Chiefland Farm Supply (Ace Hardware) sold $3,869.18 in hardware to the county and Lanes Yardware in Williston had $2,435.51 in sales.
Angry Commissioner
Two Alachua County’s stores fared well selling hardware to the county commission in that time frame. Lowe’s sold $9,754.84 of hardware to the county commission and Home Depot sold $3,710 to the commission during the same six months.
The county’s new hardware rotation policy allows employees to shop for hardware outside the county if it is to the county’s advantage.
Meeks was angry when Spotlight called last week and asked for comment on whether he felt he was in compliance with the Ethics Commission order to rotate hardware sales. He said he has in no way misused his position as a member of the county commission to influence staff to purchase hardware at his store.
“Just write whatever you want to write, it’s bullshit and you know it is. You’re going after me. You’re just doggin’ me for no reason. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not in any way using my influence to make the county spend money here,” Meeks said. “They (county employees) come here because it’s convenient. I’m right there in town where 90 percent of our holdings are. It doesn’t make sense to drive to other places; so do you want me to quit?”
Dean Supports Meeks
Dean said he doesn’t believe Meeks has violated the Ethics Commission directive to spread out hardware purchases around the county.
“Unless you have something specific where they have violated something or we have violated something, I don’t know what to say about it,” Dean said.
Spotlight responded that the numbers indicate there has been no reduction in county commission hardware purchases at Bronson Ace Hardware since the Ethics Commission opinion was issued.
“Do you want someone to pick up and drive all the way to Chiefland for a $20 item?” Dean said.
Quarterly Rotation Emails
“What if” Suggestion
Procurement Coordinator Alicia Tretheway uses quarterly email reminders to advise county staff that they must spread out their purchases among all qualified hardware buyers. Like Dean, she believes county staff is following the Ethics Commission directives and the county rotation policy.
Spotlight tossed out a “what if” suggestion to find out if there might be a more equitable way to rotate county hardware purchases among all the hardware stores in the county. It was a hypothetical proposal. The county maintenance and construction manager would determine how much the county spent annually on hardware over the previous five years and pre-buy a year of hardware and lumber at the start of the new budget year, dividing the purchases equally among all hardware stores in the county. Dean was asked if that could possibly work.
Dean said it wouldn’t work.
“I don’t see how that would possibly work. We would almost have to pre-purchase and determine our building needs and every leak you’re going to have ahead of time to do that,” Dean said.
“We don’t pre-buy products,” added Tretheway. “None of our departments pre-buy products.”
Dean said the county is shopping in all the county hardware stores and he believes Meeks is complying with the Ethics Commission opinion.
“I think we have met the intent of it,” he said.
Not Rotated Far
Clerk of Court and County Comptroller Danny Shipp said enforcement of the Ethics Commission opinion isn’t among his job duties. As the comptroller, he ensures all county purchases meet the requirements of state law.
“We have a process on how we pay bills and how we decide if the right person signed the bill and if it serves a public purpose,” Shipp said. “As I told you before, I don’t want to get into the rotation. That’s not my job. I don’t want to be sitting here trying to rotate what the county spends because you have EMTs, you got maintenance, you got each department that might go around and buy something, so I don’t want to get into a rotation.”
When Spotlight interviewed Shipp for the first story dealing with Meeks’ appearance before the Ethics Commission, his main concern was whether purchases at Bronson Hardware increased above what it normally sells in hardware to county. He said there doesn’t appear to have been a spike in sales. The rotation is a different subject.
“Does it look like a rotation equally? With the paper we’re looking at, it don’t look like it’s been rotated very far,” he said.
Shipp was looking at a chart supplied by Spotlight listing hardware sales to the county commission by Bronson Ace Hardware and other hardware stores inside and outside the county from Aug. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021.
Tax Dollars Flowing
Not Using Influence
Meeks, in a separate interview, was reminded by Spotlight that thousands of public tax dollars are being spent by the county commission at his hardware store and that’s why he was the subject of another story about the Ethics Commission.
Meeks said he isn’t using his influence as a county commissioner to encourage county employees to shop for hardware at his store.
“If I was using my influence and I was saying, hey man, we got a big project coming up, be sure to come and buy your stuff from me or I was sitting at the dais saying, it should take 15 minutes for people to come pick up materials for a job, you guys would have a bone to pick with me,” Meeks said. “But because I purchased a business with a long-established record of doing business with the county, I think if you look at the numbers you will see the number has declined over the years. Since the time I’ve been a commissioner, we’re doing less business than we were before. I want you to tell all the facts. I don’t want you painting a picture the way you want it. I’m sorry if I sound upset and angry, but I am mad about the time that you all have taken with the employees chasing this story.”
Speaking to Ethics Attorney
Meeks added:
“I spoke to Ms. Carolyn (Carolyn Klancke, Ethics Commission attorney) and told her you are trying to put together a story and she said ‘John as long as you’re following directions and you all have a policy in place and you’re trying your best to adhere to it, I can’t ask for anything else’,” Meeks said.
He said the majority of what is purchased at his store by county staff is for maintenance.
“It’s when something tears up. They’re not coming and buying stuff, you know, like we need 700 rolls of toilet paper a year or whatever. They purchase stuff as needed whenever there’s a problem.”
No Bids, No Quotes
Meeks said he has declined to bid on large county government projects like the new pole barns at the extension office.
“I am trying to do the right thing when it comes to something like that. I don’t bid on bids. I don’t give quotes. I don’t do anything like that. They built two pole barns down to the extension office. I refused to give them a price. I don’t want to sell it to you even if I have the lowest price. I don’t want that perception that I have an inside track on something like that because they were going to have to get quotes and they were going to have to get approval. I said I’m out,” Meeks added. “If you really want to write something objective, I’m just here. I’m not doing anything to influence anybody. If anything, I’m trying to dissuade business whenever it comes to anything that’s a large purchase or anything that’s a pre-planned purchase. But I can’t in good faith say, if you need to buy a rake, buy a sink faucet that’s less than 20 bucks you should drive halfway across the county to purchase that. I’m not going to say that’s good policy. That’s not good for the taxpayer, that’s not good for the employee productivity; it’s not good for me. But the end game isn’t I want all the business. The end game is I have a good location.”
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The County’s New Hardware Purchase Rotation Policy States:
“For certain goods or services, the Procurement Coordinator will maintain lists of all qualified suppliers of those goods or services within the County and will provide those lists to the departments that purchase those goods and services. Purchases of goods or services from any such list will be rotated among the qualified suppliers: hardware goods. The Procurement Coordinator may add and maintain lists of additional goods or services when it becomes advantageous to the County to do so without the necessity of amending this manual. Nothing contained herein prohibits a purchase of goods or services for which a qualified supplier list is maintained from an out-of-county supplier if the purchase from such out-of-county supplier is advantageous to the county.”
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt March 31, 2021; Posted March 31, 2021
