Workforce agency staff had meals delivered to homes for meetings

Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance officials hold a lot of meetings, and the agency's records show many include breakfast, lunch and desserts paid for by taxpayer dollars.

And some of those meals in the past 13 months have been delivered to business meetings held at their homes, a News Channel 8 investigation found.

The agency receives millions in federal dollars meant to help the unemployed find jobs, assist companies in training their employees to make those companies more competitive and provide better paying jobs to workers. The federal Office of Management and Budget says in its guidelines that local workforce boards should exercise prudence and good judgment in spending federal grant money.

Last month, News Channel 8 reported that the workforce alliance had spent $20,000 during a 13-month period for food.

Workforce alliance meetings frequently start before lunch or dinner hours and routinely food is purchased so the meeting can continue, records show.

The agency's president Renee Gilmore hosted strategic planning meetings at her Temple Terrace home on at least three occasions.

In March, Wright's Gourmet House delivered a breakfast tray, fruit platter, iced tea along with a meat and cheese tray to Gilmore's Argyle Place residence. It cost $136.40.

The bakery also billed the agency almost $50 for 12 cupcakes delivered to Gilmore's house ($30 for cupcakes plus a $19.95 delivery charge).

In August, the workforce alliance held a service redesign planning team meeting at Gilmore's home. Breakfast was served by Jason's Deli for Gilmore and workforce officials Julie Sanon, Tom Stewart, Jamie Melendez, James Blount and Carol Brinkley. It cost taxpayers $63.94.

A delivery service brought lunch from the Acropolis Bar and Grill. The menu included a chicken tenderloin platter, pork tenderloin skewer platter, filet of grouper, hummus, queso fresco labne and a dessert platter. It cost $215.

Ten days later, same team, same meeting at Gilmore's home with breakfast being served from Jason's Deli and lunch from the Acropolis.

Records show planning meetings were also held at the homes of senior vice president Sanon and director of communications Melendez. Food was delivered each time.

During a 13-month period, records show taxpayers paid to supply food for multiple meetings on multiple days. On seven separate dates during the fall of 2008, the workforce alliance spent money to supply food for at least three meetings a day.

In meetings held this year, the agency also spent:

• About $238 for six employees to hold a development meeting at the Cheesecake Factory in July. The requisition sheet states "celebration" as the reason for the meeting. They celebrated with appetizers, entrees, beverages and six slices of cheesecake.

• About $1,000 to hold a workshop at the Columbia Restaurant on Aug. 11. Breakfast and lunch were served. It also paid $200 for a conference room and another $150 for audio/visual equipment. Records show the agency has spent thousands of dollars renovating conference rooms at its Florida avenue location.

• About $283 for staff to hold a planning and development meeting Aug. 27 at the Stonewood Grill and Tavern. Records show the meeting would start before and continue through the dinner hour. "In order to continue discussion without a break, dinner will be provided,'' the requisition form stated. According to records, Sanon approved the dinner meeting a week before it occurred.

In October, two agency staffers held a planning meeting with contractors at the Outback Steakhouse. The requisition sheet stated, "in order to continue the discussion, dinner was provided to staff." One employee ordered a porterhouse steak for $24.95 and the other had a sirloin for $14.95. They also shared a "bloomin' onion" at taxpayer expense.

Following the News Channel 8 investigation last month, state Sens. Ronda Storms and Mike Fasano expressed anger and disappointment at the spending and contacted the Agency for Workforce Innovation, which oversees Florida's 24 regional workforce boards. The state agency launched an investigation into the local workforce alliance. Representatives of the state agency's Inspector General's Office were in Tampa this week investigating.

In an interview with News Channel 8, Gilmore refused to answer questions about the spending.

"The public trust is absolutely important to us," she said in a statement to News Channel 8. "And should there be any findings (by the state) that come up we'll address those, but we're confident that it's going to show that anything we do is within the scope of our authority."

Storms said if that's the case the rules need to be changed.

"That money is supposed to be going to pay to help people get jobs," Storms said. "This is not free money."