Former Tallahassee City Manager Rick Fernandez was forced to resign in January, and the fallout from the ethics case against him is spreading.
Fernandez is accused of ethical violations involving the acceptance of free FSU football tickets and a big catering discount from the city-backed Edison restaurant.
Ethics investigators also heard from a local utility manager who suggested that rubbing elbows with lobbyists and clients was necessary because utilities operate more like a private business than a public enterprise.
Five months after his resignation, the Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Fernandez had likely committed 20 ethics violations.
Bill Hollimon, a patent attorney with Hollimon, P.A., is the newest member of Tallahassee’s Independent Ethics Board. “It became clear to me that there's a cultural issue and a cultural problem,” Hollimon says, “and it started with the city manager and went straight down.”
Hollimon sat down with WFSU’s Gina Jordan to discuss the Fernandez case and its far-reaching impact on city government.
