The county decides not to do business with TVSS Manufacturing Inc. because of its leader's criminal history.
By WILL VAN SANT
Published May 21, 2004
BROOKSVILLE - After an inquiry prompted by reports in the Times, county economic development officials have decided against doing business with TVSS Manufacturing Inc.
Before the criminal history of company head Travis Lee Sanders was revealed, county officials had hoped TVSS would locate to an industrial park at State Road 50 and I-75, thus fulfilling the terms of a federal grant Hernando was awarded in 2000.
But Sanders' background, which includes a 1989 arrest for sexual battery on a minor and possession of child pornography, as well as his relationship with Brooksville lawyer Tom Hogan Jr., who serves as his attorney and is part-owner of the industrial park, sank that plan.
"I think there is the potential for long-term impacts if there are perception issues," said the county's Office of Business Development director Mike McHugh, who is charged with finding a company to make good on the grant. "I don't want there to be a stigma."
The industrial park where TVSS hoped to locate is owned by developer Gary Schraut, Clifford Manuel, president of Brooksville-based Coastal Engineering Associates Inc., and Hogan, who is a friend and business partner of Sanders'.
In 2000, the county was awarded a $750,000 federal grant that failed to create jobs for low-income residents as intended. But thanks to the taxpayer-funded road and utility improvements the grant paid for, Schraut, Manuel and Hogan were left with valuable land to market.
They were asking $3.65-million for their upgraded parcels, 14 times their original investment.
The grant partner - a pool products company that was to locate on 3 acres at the park and create jobs - never arrived. That put the county under pressure to find a replacement capable of meeting the terms of the grant.
After Hogan helped Sanders form TVSS in January - the attorney serves as registered agent for the company - it appeared the county had what it needed.
Under the TVSS proposal, Hogan and his partners would have donated 3 of their 40 acres at the industrial park to the company. TVSS, which was to manufacture surge suppressors, would have created 22 jobs. The proposal called for the company to invest $1-million in the project.
The bulk of that money was to come from a loan to TVSS from Cortez Community Bank. Hogan is a Cortez Community Bank board member. And he and Sanders have been past partners in a surge suppressor exporting business.
The project was derailed in March after the Times reported that Sanders has an arrest record that stretches across Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida and dates back to the 1970s. He has been arrested for writing bad checks, visiting a prostitute and assault.
Records show that in 1986 Sanders served three months of a one-year sentence in Tennessee for trafficking in stolen goods, followed by two years' probation.
In 1989, Sanders was arrested for sexual battery on a minor and possession of child pornography. According to news reports, the arrest came after Okaloosa County authorities found that Sanders had videotaped several of his sexual encounters, including one with a 14-year-old girl.
He pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to six months in jail, two years of community control - a form of house arrest - and eight years' probation, according to reports.
The County Commission ordered McHugh to do his own background check on Sanders and to decide whether to bring the TVSS agreement back to the board for consideration.
Thursday, McHugh said the background check had been completed and that it confirmed what the Times had reported. He will not be bringing the TVSS agreement before the County Commission.
"I just don't think it's the right opportunity at this time, given the concerns," McHugh said.
When told of McHugh's decision, Hogan said he would have to speak with Sanders and his partners in the industrial park before taking any substantive action.
Hogan said he had no plans at this time to mount a legal challenge to the county's refusal to hear the TVSS agreement, although he saw a theoretical basis for such a challenge.
While Sanders may have a criminal record, Hogan said, his company does not, and it is the company that seeks to work with the county. Moreover, Hogan said, any stigma that may be associated with Sanders or TVSS in the minds of some is not a valid legal reason to reject the company.
"My personal opinion is that it is a viable company," Hogan said. "It is a proper grant applicant . . . and it has to be considered."
According to McHugh and county Social Services director Jean Rags, Hernando's grant coordinator, a handful of other companies have expressed an interest in coming to the industrial park as grant participants. Talks are said to be ongoing.
"We have always wanted to get something in there that would have strong, positive outcomes," Rags said. "We want to do what is in the best interest of the county."
