North Escambia.com by William
March 5, 2019
Weeks after calling an Escambia County commissioner “a lie” over repayment for over $1,600 in airline travel, Century Mayor Henry Hawkins has yet to produce receipts for the tickets in response to requests from the town council president and NorthEscambia.com.
Hawkins told the town council in January that he spoke to Commissioner Steven Barry who promised reimbursement with county economic development funds. Barry denied the conversation ever took place with Hawkins or anyone else regarding airline tickets and reiterated that such an expenditure would require the approval of the entire county commission.
During a subsequent public meeting, Hawkins called Barry “a lie”. “Just like he called me a lie, I’ll call him a lie,” Hawkins said.
On January 8, NorthEscambia.com made a public records request for emails between the town and Barry related to travel or economic development funds, the airline invoices or receipts and reservation information. As of Monday, March 4, no response had been received.