High Springs Finance Director raises concerns about questionable practices

Screenshot from video of January 25 High Springs City Commission meeting

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – In a December 5 memo to the High Springs Mayor and City Commissioners, High Springs Finance Director Diane Wilson brought up several concerns about events that took place during the 2023 Fiscal Year; the report has not been publicly discussed by the City Commission.

Wilson memo: Potential violations of City personnel

In the memo, Wilson writes that Fire Chief Bruce Gillingham worked for another employer while being paid to work for the City, misused his City vehicle to travel back and forth to Ocala to work at his second job, used City property and staff for a private fundraiser, and asked to use the City’s Tax Exemption Certificate and City credit card for personal use. Additionally, Wilson said that Chief Gillingham and Deputy Chief Andy Burkhalter did not properly mark their company vehicles as required by tax code, and because of that, their W-2s will need to be adjusted to show their personal vehicle allowances as additional taxable personal income.

Wilson also said the Florida Building Code was violated when the City Hall elevator was used nine different times during a period when it had not passed inspection.

In her memo, Wilson said she was addressing “concerns about potential ethics, city policy and state law violations.” She said all of the issues were reported to former City Manager Ashley Stathatos “over the past 18 months, with several being discussed on multiple occasions.” She noted that it is her fiduciary responsibility to report these concerns along with applicable documentation and that any additional actions will be at the City Commission’s discretion. 

Working for another employer while being paid by the City

Wilson said former Fire Chief Gillingham worked for the State of Florida Fire College over six separate weeks during Fiscal Year 2023 while employed by the City of High Springs. He was paid for this work by the State at 45 hours per week, Monday to Friday. Wilson noted, “During three of these six referenced weeks, Mr. Gillingham used… Paid Time Off, whereas the other three weeks, he did not. He was paid by both the City and the Fire College during these weeks.” She noted that because Gillingham did not use all of his available Paid Time Off hours while working elsewhere, the City had to compensate him for those unused hours when he resigned and received his final payout.

“Additionally,” Wilson wrote, “Mr. Gillingham drove a City vehicle from High Springs to Ocala to attend this second job during City work hours.” She noted that this is against the City’s Code of Ethics for employees, which prohibits non-business use of City property. She noted that Gillingham drove approximately 213 miles per week to attend his second job. 

Fundraising for private entity on City property, using City staff

Wilson wrote that a Pancake Breakfast fundraiser for the Heart of High Springs was held at the High Springs Fire Department on March 25, 2023. She said Gillingham confirmed that on-duty staff participated in the event and the Fire Department purchased supplies using City funds (Attachment 5 in the full document). Wilson said this is also a violation of the Code of Ethics, which forbids using City property, funds, or staff for non-City business.

Requesting to use the City’s Tax Exemption Certificate and credit card for personal use

Wilson wrote that on March 23, 2023, the City Commission approved the use of $2,500 from the promotional budget toward the High Springs Robotics Team’s trip to California and that Gillingham asked her on March 27 whether he could use the City’s Tax Exemption Certificate for the Robotics Team’s trip. She said she told him he couldn’t because the Robotics program is not part of the City. Wilson said Gillingham then asked her for permission to use the City’s credit card to book the hotel rooms in California, and she again told him he could not. After she had already given him her answers, she said Gillingham told her, “Think about it and let me know what you decide.” Wilson reported this conversation to the City Manager, but Stathatos thought no further action was necessary.

Tax form revisions required for improperly-marked City vehicles

Wilson wrote, “Per IRS Code Section 15b, unmarked vehicles shall be reported as a taxable fringe benefit. The only exception is for sworn officers… In October 2022 the City leased a 2022 Chevy Suburban, which became Mr. Gillingham’s take-home work vehicle, and in November 2022 leased a 2022 Chevy Tahoe, which became Deputy Chief Andy Burkhalter’s take-home vehicle. Despite at least monthly reminders to the City Manager and Mr. Gillingham that the vehicles must be marked with the City of High Springs logos or we would be required to withhold taxes on the benefit of those vehicles, the vehicles were never marked.” Wilson said Stathatos “told me she didn’t want to hear about it anymore.”

Wilson said she consulted with Marla Esty, a local tax professional, who confirmed that the vehicles must be marked in order to receive any tax benefit. Esty provided a written statement including references to IRS Code (Attachments 6, 7, and 8). Wilson wrote (in December) that the W-2s for Gillingham and Burkhalter would need to be adjusted to reflect this additional income.

Unauthorized elevator use

Wilson wrote that City Hall’s elevator was replaced and had to be inspected by the State before use was allowed under Florida Building Code. The elevator was inspected on Feb. 17, 2023, and failed the inspection (Attachment 9). The next inspection was passed on July 12, 2023 (Attachment 9). 

Wilson wrote, “During the time between inspections, the elevator was turned off and marked with an ‘Out of Order’ sign and was not used. However, during this period, 10 City Commission meetings were held. During all but one of these meetings, Mr. Gillingham turned on or directed staff to turn on the elevator for the hours of the commission meetings and then turned off the elevator and returned the ‘Out of Order’ sign after each meeting.” Wilson considered this a safety concern, in addition to not following State Building Code.

  • This is an excellent finance director. Seems like the two folks she talked to about these things no longer work for the city.

  • Sounds like Wilson is trying to make the city follow the rules. She’ll probably be fired for it.

  • Someone failed to inform Wilson that her job was to keep her mouth shut and let the good ol’boys do their good ol’boy things.

    No doubt the retaliation has already begun.

  • Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Gillingham resigned. It happens quite often with those who’ve been employed to serve in the best interests of the public.

  • There is a significant amount of additional information that should be explored in relation to this story. I am optimistic that the Alachua Chronicle will be able to provide a comprehensive follow-up on this situation. The current article merely scratches the surface of the matter at hand. There are numerous aspects that need to be further examined, which cannot adequately be addressed in a comment.

  • Is this the same Ms. Wilson that previously worked in finance for the City of Gainesville?

  • Ms. Wilson did a great job while employed by City of Gainesville, they ran her off due to it. High Springs has a high character employee as a result. Hope they don’t duplicate CoG’s error!

  • We in High Springs are grateful for Diane’s report. I do not know if she gave her report to Alachua Chronicle, but whoever is responsible is to be applauded. With the hiring of a new City Manager, we are finally moving in a positive direction.

  • Hmm. I went to the fireman breakfast, it was a fundraiser for the fireman. There were signs.

    It was a free breakfast. You could donate if you wanted to (I gladly did) one of the fireman said the money would help buy new fire suits.

    How did the finance director not understand this? What else does she have wrong here?

  • Sounds like the cluster that happened at Starke PD when Bradford S/O took over.
    What a frigging mess!

  • Why is this coming up now? She had a job to do but just let things slide. I think there are no clean hands in this for her as well. Someone needs to look into the Finance Directors dealings too.

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