ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Following days of back-and-forth communications between the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office and other county leaders, Glen Gilzean filed a lawsuit against the county for its vote to withhold funding from his office.
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The vote, which took place Tuesday night, was predicated on the belief Gilzean was refusing to hand over bank statements proving how much money his office had, and how much of the $9.6 million it had received since October had already been spent.
Unbeknownst to county commissioners, Gilzean’s office sent the statements the day before the vote, but the email bounced from a staff member’s inbox.
County leaders’ concerns over Gilzean’s spending began last month, when WFTV revealed the supervisor spent $2.1 million on scholarships for Jones and Evans High School students instead of on election-related items without seeking the county’s permission.
Read: ‘Significant peril:’ Elections supervisor warns of cash crunch despite millions in bank
A subsequent investigation found Gilzean spent $1.9 million on job training grants to CareerSource and $1.1 million out of the current fiscal year budget on grants to different nonprofits for voter outreach.
Since the beginning of the controversy, Gilzean and his staff have maintained that he was legally in the clear. His lawsuit reflected that belief as it called on the county to resume payments he said it was legally obligated to send his way.
“Orange County and the Comptroller do not have discretion to decide whether appropriated funds are timely disbursed to the Supervisor in accordance with the approved budget for the fiscal year,” Gilzean’s attorneys wrote.
Read: Elections office greets auditors with ‘day-old’ doughnuts and lawsuit threats
Gilzean asked a judge to order the county to release his office’s December disbursement, approximately $950,000.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after memos between Gilzean and Comptroller Phil Diamond flew back-and-forth. Diamond said Gilzean had more than $4 million in his office’s bank account as of the end of November and a payroll of $250,000 per period, meaning he was not facing a cash crunch by the withholding of the money.
Gilzean, in his response, said his office is paying invoices from the November election and warned of “significant peril” without the additional money.
Read: Elections staff terminated in wake of spending scandal
Orange County believes it was legally appropriate to withhold the funds. While state law mandates monthly payments to the elections office, Diamond said Gilzean had been paid 19% more than state law required since October 1.
With the December payment equating to less than 7% of Gilzean’s budget, attorneys believe the county could afford to skip a payment if needed and wait until Diamond’s staff finished auditing Gilzean’s bank statements or when Karen Castor Dentel takes over the office in January.
Thursday evening, county staff confirmed they had no plans to change course until Diamond reports back to the commission later in December.
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