ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A former commissioner of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District, Martha Gleason, has ended her term as a board member nearly two years early.
Gleason sent a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson on March 11th laying out concerns she had about the district. Gleason cited what she called “financial and operational mismanagement” and a “culture of intimidation” within.
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One big concern Gleason mentioned in the letter was the building of the all-new mosquito museum, also known as the “Disease Vector Education Center.” Gleason told Action News Jax was built with taxpayer dollars, without taxpayer say.
“By the time I got all the records, all the information in front of me, we were in excess of $4 million already spent with no board. Absolutely no board oversight,” Gleason alleged. “Nobody asking for ‘Where are we with the spend? Where are we with this project?’”
Action News Jax also reported earlier this year when Gleason’s fellow board members approved Christmas bonuses for themselves, which were deemed illegal by the district attorney.
“I was going to resign in January after the debacle in November and December over the illegal bonuses,” Gleason explained.
Those bonuses were later canceled, although Gleason said that was just one example of what she calls a lack of transparency.
“We had board meetings that were being recorded, [that] were not being shown on the website,” Gleason told Action News Jax. “Then I find out this year that we have a lot of complaints, HR complaints that have not been dealt with.”
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The district held its first board meeting since Gleason’s resignation Thursday night. The chairperson read a statement about Gleason’s departure, but didn’t address any of her allegations specifically.
“The board is fully committed to earning the trust and pride of our citizens in all our endeavors,” Board Chair Trish Becker reassured during the meeting.
Action News Jax reached out through email to all of the board members Friday morning asking for an interview to hear more from them, but we’ve yet to get a response.
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