Tampa Bay workforce agency chief resigns

Criticized for spending thousands in taxpayer money on lavish meals, Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance president Renee Gilmore has resigned.

Her resignation, effective on Sunday, was announced at the workforce board of directors meeting Monday night. Gilmore, who was paid about $170,000 a year, did not attend the meeting.

The board named James Blount, vice president for service support, to run the agency during the search for an interim president.

"Renee Gilmore submitted her resignation to me earlier this afternoon,'' board chairman Dale Schumacher announced as the meeting began. "I believe Renee did what she thought was in the best interest of the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance.''

The workforce agency came under criticism after a News Channel 8 investigation revealed that agency officials spent thousands on fancy meals, banquets and award ceremonies - money meant to help the unemployed find work.

The board of directors for Workforce Florida Inc., the agency that sets policy for the state's regional workforce boards, voted unanimously on Thursday to send a letter to the Tampa Bay workforce board, urging that Gilmore be placed on unpaid leave until an inspector general investigation of the agency's spending was complete.

A report by the inspector general for the state Agency for Workforce Innovation found that in a 13-month period, the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance spent more than $133,000 on food. Investigators determined $24,400 was disallowed and must be repaid immediately. Purchases totaling $81,000 are in question and also might have to be repaid.

Agency records show that Blount attended meetings where lunches and dinners were served.

"I did eat, sometimes I did not, sometimes I brought my own lunch," Blount said in an interview after the meeting.

The inspector general report noted what appeared to be a double standard at the agency: A $10-per-meal cap for staff was in place, but there was no limit for executives.

Investigators also questioned why agency executives couldn't go to the nearby food concession at the organization's Net Park Corporate location and buy their own meals like inspector general staff did when they were in town.

In its letter to the local agency, the Workforce Florida board noted that many of the expenditures cited in the inspector general report "directly benefitted individuals rather than program activities.''

The state Workforce Florida board decided last week to postpone recertifying the local workforce agency and urged workforce board members to act on its recommendation to place Gilmore on leave.

State Sens. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, and Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe had called for Gilmore to step down.

Schumacher said Gilmore called him on Sunday to notify him she was resigning. He received official written notice today.

Schumacher also said at the meeting that Senior Vice President Julie Sanon will be out on family medical leave.

The board will form a search committee within the next 10 days. Board members have until close of business Thursday to submit interim president nominees.

"I didn't expect it, but I'm not surprised. I think it was the right decision; she made the right decision," Sharpe said after the meeting.

The agency's finance committee chairman Ron Smith said: "As a finance committee, we were not seeing exceptional items that would raise red flags that would indicate that there was anything going on."

In November, Smith dismissed questions about the agency's food expenditures, calling it "nitpicking."

"Were there some bad judgments made, was there some excessive spending, yes, there was," Smith said at the meeting.