A federal grand jury in Tallahassee will meet on Sept. 3 to review documents related to contracts between the City of Pensacola and Jerry Pate Design, as well as documents related to travel expenses for Mayor Ashton Hayward and his then chief of staff, John Asmar.

Some city employees individually have received subpoenas, but city officials did not provide a list of who was contacted.

Based upon a subpoena issued to the City of Pensacola (as the custodian of the public records), Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Eggers of the Northern District of Florida is reviewing:

-- The Main Street Rehabilitation Project bid in November 2011. Requested are bid sheets, committee memorandums, City Council reports, city engineering reports, change orders, payment requests and all e-mails concerning the project.

-- Copies of requests for investment bids from Jan. 1, 2010 to Jan. 1, 2013, including but not limited to RFI requests disseminated on or about Nov. 1, 2011 and Feb. 7, 2012, by Pam Childers, (now Escambia Clerk of Court, who at that time worked in the city finance department).

-- Copies of all records pertaining to agreements between the City and Jerry Pate Design dated for  “Main Street Improvements Projects from Baylen to Clubbs” between the city and the firm; one dated March 20, 2012, for “Bayfront Parkway landscape improvements”; a “Landscape Architecture Agreement for Main Street (from Spring to Reus) dated April 4, 2012; a landscape architecture agreement for Main Street from Baylen to Spring, also dated April 4. The subpoena asks for requests for bids, bid sheets, selection of contractor documents, e-mails pertaining to the bids and contractor selection, internal memos about those projects and copies of payments.

-- Copies of all records related o a request for qualifications property insurance issued on or about Feb. 9, 2012.

-- Copies of records of expenses incurred by Hayward or then Chief of Staff John Asmar related to travel expenses and requests for reimbursement.

State Attorney’s inquiry

Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said near the end of 2012 or in early 2013, his office received complaints from former Pensacola City Councilwoman Maren DeWeese primarily about accusations of impropriety against Hayward. Those allegations involved contracts that friends and supporters of Hayward’s received.

Marcille has not spoken to the U.S. Attorney’s office, so he does not know how much, if any, overlap there is between what his office investigated and what the U.S. Attorney is inquiring about.

“There were numerous things (DeWeese) complained about, and a large number of issues she was raising,” Marcille said. “We looked at those. We met with the city and they provided us a considerable amount of information about various things.”

Marcille said that among the things his office looked into included a trip Hayward had taken that Jerry Pate Co., paid for (which Marcille says Hayward reimbursed the company for); some allegations about contracting with the Pate company, specifically one instance in which Pate was the middle bidder for a project, not the low bidder, and they were awarded the contract; allegations about mileage and other things.

Also among the things the State Attorney’s Office investigated were allegations about the City of Pensacola moving their accounts to Servis First Bank, with the inference that Hayward received some kind of benefit from that, Marcille said.

“Based on our review, we did not find sufficient facts for criminal charges,” Marcille said. “I don’t know exactly what the federal government is looking at.”

Marcille said one of the things “of most concern to us was the banking situation,” Deweese raised.

Marcille said City Finance Director Dick Barker said he made the decision to move the city’s accounts to Servis First based on a number of things and he had not been contacted by the mayor in suggesting the accounts be moved.

Feds occasionally do follow up state investigations

Marcille said that over the last 10 years, federal prosecutors have gone back over about three cases that he knows of that the state attorney’s office has investigated and found no criminal wrongdoing.

“And they didn’t do anything in the long run,” he said.

Some federal statutes differ from state statutes in terms of the burden of proof.

One such instance is something called fair services.

As Marcille described it, under Florida law you have to show an individual received some sort of benefit and that in return for that specific benefit, they committed an act that is illegal.

“That’s harder to prove in state statute than under the federal law,” he said.

On Wednesday evening, Hayward issued the following statement through city communications administrator Tamara Fountain:

“As Mayor, I have worked to promote a culture of openness and transparency at City Hall. I am aware of the subpoenas which have been issued this week to several City employees, and I have instructed staff to immediately make available to the City Council and public any and all documents which we can legally release. Furthermore, I have asked employees to fully comply with this process as it moves forward, and my administration will make any new information available to the public as quickly as possible. Everything we do on behalf of citizens is rightfully open to review and scrutiny, and I look forward to a swift and satisfactory resolution to this inquiry.”

Hayward’s re-election campaign as of Aug. 28 had raised $135,701 in contributions. Pate is among Hayward’s contributors. Pate gave $1,000 on Dec. 30, 2013.

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