by Historic City News

June 19, 2017

Tuesday will not be a good day for St Johns County Sheriff David B Shoar when he is scheduled to appear before the Board of County Commissioners to justify spending more than $5 million next year over the $67.18 million he spent last year — the records of which are not available for inspection.

The Florida Constitution and state statutes make financial records of public funds open to inspection and copying by members of the public. You do not need to identify yourself or even have a reason for the inspection. Unless your request requires photocopies or extensive labor and information technology due to the large volume of the request, there is no special service charge for access to that information.

That is, of course, unless you are David Shoar; who may send a surrogate on his behalf to present the $72.22 million spending request if he detects that the county commission meeting will force him to engage a hostile crowd.

On May 24, 2017 Historic City News requested a list of the Sheriff’s Office checks and deposits during the past 90-days. Nearly a month later, after notification to the sheriff, the president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation (an attorney) and the Special Counsel for Open Government in the Office of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sheriff Shoar has not released the information.

Why? [READ MORE]