Hi Everybody, Florida State law requires "Government in the Sunshine" Looks like it has been retreating into the shadows?
This is from an email newsletter: [Government] IT Scandal Grips City Hall Jacob Ogles, [email protected] Sarasota city commissioners today may authorize law enforcement to investigate if crimes were committed by city employees handling of sensitive information and public records. The Sylint Group, a firm hired to conduct a forensic examination of city administration laptops, met privately with commissioners Thursday to discuss potential violations of state statutes. A commission meeting will be held today to determine how to handle a scandal now dominating City Hall, particularly the Information Technologies department. The data analysis was prompted by allegations from former state Sen. Bob Johnson that City Manager Robert Bartolotta and Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown had files "scrubbed" from hard drives, but in the past couple months, the scope of analysis has clearly expanded. A letter from Sylint suggests further investigation is warranted because of potential violations of whistle-blower protections, accessing of personal health information and instances of computer fraud. Officials who have been briefed of the Sylint findings say the investigation could involve more than 11,000 emails which have been scrubbed, but that the bulk of emails have been recovered by analysts with the company, though none of that information has been announced publicly. Bartolotta expressed frustration no specifics have been publicly outlined. He maintained his and Brown's innocence. "I'm not concerned about any wrongdoing on the part of this office," he said. Some commissioners, though, said information presented by Sylint should be turned over to law enforcement. "I'm pretty concerned about the day-to-day operations of the IT department," said Commissioner Paul Caragiulo. Chance Craig, IT director, said day-to-day operations of late have been entirely focused on the investigation. He said Sylint officials spent a couple hours over different days examining the physical servers at City Hall. Growing accusations have pushed some on his staff to leave or ponder quitting. "It is impacting us," he said. The investigation, Craig said, has reached inappropriately beyond the initial accusations, something he said was not because of Sylint but thanks to broad wording in advertisements published by the City Auditor and Clerk's Office when seeking out consultants to do the forensic examination. The IT department was recently moved from the auspices of the City Manager to those of City Auditor and Clerk Pamela Nadalini, a controversial move at the time. "It has not improved the organization," Craig said. But some Commissioners said Nadalini has handled the IT department and recent revelations well. "I'm pleased with what the clerk has done so far," said Commissioner Shannon Snyder. Snyder said he felt the work done by Sylint was professional, and said the explanations he received Thursday were clear. Commissioners would not disclose details, but expect information to be made public today. Caragiulo said Craig was never been mentioned specifically in his briefing. Speculation continues about whether today’s meeting will lead to administration changes at City Hall, but Commissioners refused to offer any hints what would ocur. Mayor Suzanne Atwell, who expressed early this week she felt it inappropriate to hold a special meeting, said it remains important commissioners not rush into decisions. "We are on an information and fact-finding journey," she said. "What we need to do is give direction, and that is what is going to happen." -- Regards, Pete http://pete-theisen.com/ http://elect-pete-theisen.com/ _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
