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Politics

Mayor is accused of lying about his role in company

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published February 21, 2007

Mayor Michael Yakes, who is running for re-election after serving 15 years, has been cited in a state ethics complaint that alleges he lied about his involvement in a company that was awarded business contracts with the city.

Yakes, who is vice president of Florida Educational Youth Training Corp., denied any charges of impropriety and described the allegations as part of a last-minute smear campaign before the March election.

"This is definitely an under-the-table political move," he said. "I absolutely had nothing to hide and I still don't."

The complaint alleges Yakes violated the City Charter, which states city officials should not have personal interests in city contracts. The state Commission on Ethics will determine whether the charges are valid and could fine Yakes for violating the State's Code of Ethics.

In 2005, the City Council, including Yakes, voted unanimously to award Florida Educational a $55,000 brick restoration contract and a $300,000 three-year lawn maintenance contract.

Yakes did not disclose his involvement with the company when the city approved the brick restoration contract.

Later, when the lawn maintenance contract came up in May 2005, Yakes said he served on the company's board of directors as a volunteer and asked City Attorney Tim Driscoll whether he should vote on the contract.

Driscoll told him that there was no conflict of interest since Yakes was not a paid employee.

Yakes said he was being modest when he said he was a volunteer.

"Whether I was the president or the vice president of (Florida Educational), it was a nonpaid endeavor and I made it clear that I was a part of it," he said.

Yakes was required to vote on the contract because Driscoll told him there was no conflict of interest, City Manager Tom Brobeil said.

But Rick Gilbert, who filed the complaint with the state earlier this month, said the contract funnels money into an organization managed by Yakes.

"He lied to the city attorney," said Gilbert, who owns Gulfport Florist and is a supporter of mayoral candidate Clark Scherer. "And getting paid does not mean he gets a paycheck. Getting paid also means going on a [business] trip."

Gilbert denied that he had filed the complaints as an election stunt.

"It wouldn't have mattered if it were an election year or not. All this would have come out," he said.

Florida Educational Youth Training was founded by Yakes and Robert Grimsley, of Zephyrhills, in 2001 as a way to help youth between the ages of 18 to 25 obtain work.

Both men had worked together in the Department of Transportation.

Grimsley, president of Florida Educational, said none of the officers of the company are paid. He declined to immediately provide copies of Florida Educational's tax returns, which are public records.

Gulfport awarded Florida Educational a contract to mow its public grassy areas, even though it was not the lowest bidder, as a social benefit to local youth, Brobeil said.

The mowing contract was terminated in October 2006 as part of the city's massive budget cuts after the millage rate was lowered by 10 percent.

Questions also arose over whether Florida Educational employees were stealing city property.

The city now cuts its own grass.

[Last modified February 20, 2007, 21:04:52]