A reader recently e-mailed the Sun with a question about a possible conflict of interest involving County Commissioner Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson.
The issue was addressed during the commission’s April 9 meeting before a vote on the Wagmore Foundation’s offer of a $15,000 grant for Alachua County Animal Services employees to attend two conferences this year.
Hutchinson disclosed that he is on the Board of Directors for the Wagmore Foundation and said he had asked County Attorney Dave Wagner for an opinion on whether he had a voting conflict. He said he is an unpaid, volunteer board member.
Wagner, Hutchinson said, told him he didn’t have one. The commission then unanimously voted to accept the grant.
While the county attorney said Hutchinson didn’t have a problem in this instance, Commissioner Mike Byerly refrained from voting on an Alachua County Forever (ACF) project at the board’s March 26 meeting because of a voting conflict.
The commission was deciding whether to approve a federal notice of grant requirements for a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) Grant involving the ACF’s River Styx project. The Conservation Trust for Florida, a nonprofit land trust, had been awarded a related $550,000 NAWCA grant, according to the meeting agenda.
Byerly said he wouldn’t vote because his wife works for the Conservation Trust for Florida. He withdrew his vote because, in Wagner’s opinion, he had a voting conflict.
– Morgan Watkins