BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
LAKE BUTLER—During the commission member’s comments portion of the Jan. 16 meeting of the Union County Commission, one board member disclosed to his colleagues that he had been notified that he was under investigation by the Florida Ethics Commission for possible violations.
Union County Commissioner Mac Johns told the board that the ethics panel had notified him that he was being investigated about two separate complaints to see if he violated the ethical standards required for elected officials. He added that he was provided with a copy of the complaints and that the complaints had been submitted by County Coordinator Jimmy Williams “on behalf of the Board of Commissioners.”
“I took this job mainly because of recreation, but from day one, I saw problems with Jimmy Williams, then saw the infighting between departments,” Johns said.
Except for the December meeting, Johns has consistently moved for the dismissal of the county coordinator. However, each time he made a motion for Williams’s termination, his motion died for lack of a second.
In a conversation last week, the Times discovered that the complaints result from numerous phone calls complaining about Johns and two packets of information turned in at the commission office by two individuals (names kept confidential). When looking at the records kept in the office on the activities of the recreation board, it was noted that no meeting minutes had been turned in to the office since 2019 and that no financial reports had been submitted for the same period.
The Union County Recreation Board oversees the operation of the county’s recreation department. It is required by law to submit meeting minutes and financial reports outlining funds spent (from grants, donations, and the county) and money taken in from concession stand sales and other special event fees.
When Williams was asked about turning the matter over to the Ethics Commission for investigation, he said that he had made the complaints as a private citizen, following a motion made by Commissioner Jimmy Tallman at the Sept. 25, 2023, regular commission meeting that any problems in the county that were in any way questionable be investigated, with the motion passing unanimously. He said he included notes from the many phone calls received at the board office and the packets of information dropped off there. He stated that his motives were not personal but that he had felt it necessary to turn the information over to the commission in light of Tallman’s motion and the board’s approval of it. He said his decision was influenced by the volume of calls and materials from citizens concerned about the issue.
Information concerning the materials turned over to the commission is sparse, which will neither confirm nor deny that an investigation is underway. In a phone interview with an ethics commission representative, the Times was told that if such an investigation were underway, there would be no release of information until the matter was resolved. It was mentioned, however, that Johns could choose to make the complaints public record if he wished.
One of the complaints seems to concern John’s involvement with the recreation board, most notably after being elected a county commissioner and the lack of outside oversight concerning financial matters.
The other complaint centers around Johns doing business with a governmental board to which he has been designated the county board’s representative. Johns owns and operates an automotive repair shop, which, before his election to the county commission, did repair work on vehicles used by the Transportation Disadvantaged Board. When Johns was elected and volunteered to serve on this board, he was told that he would no longer be able to provide paid services to them, as it would be considered a conflict of interest/ethics violation. He continued to work on the vehicles and is apparently still doing so.
It could be several months before the Ethics Commission concludes its review and investigation of the matter and the results are made public.
