Tallahassee, FL – The State of Florida Commission on Ethics’ press release on the closed hearings was short and sweet for former Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland, who has for more than a year been the subject of allegations of wrongdoing by political opponents and former employees of the City of Palm Coast.
Issuing a press release on the July 23rd hearing in Tallahassee, Florida on Wednesday morning that included the highly anticipated findings regarding the city’s former mayor, it is what many residents hope will be the closure of a tumultuous chapter in Palm Coast’s brief history.
“The Commission held a probable cause hearing on multiple allegations regarding
former City of Palm Coast Mayor MILISSA HOLLAND. Probable cause was found to
believe Ms. Holland misused her public position and/or public resources to send emails
promoting her private employer from her City account to the City of Orlando. However,
the Commission found no probable cause on five additional allegations: doing business
with her agency concerning a contract from her employer; misusing her position and/or
public resources to benefit herself and/or her employer regarding emails sent to the City
of Palm Coast Council Members; misusing her position to influence the City of Palm
Coast actions regarding a technology study; doing business with her agency regarding
an event she sponsored; and misusing her public position to write recommendation
letters for her employer’s daughter. Further, the Commission rejected the recommendation of its Advocate and found no probable cause to believe that Ms. Holland had a conflicting employment or contractual relationship that created a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between her private interests and the performance of her public duties, or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of her public duties.” – Florida Commission on Ethics
The seven complaints, filed against Holland and the resulting fallout that divided the community into two camps over the allegations, highlighted the fine line elected officials must walk between actual ethics violations and perceived ethics violations. While six of the seven complaints were rejected, probable cause was found on one count, to which Holland responded with the following:
“Upon leaving the Ethics commission meeting I was extremely grateful of the outcome. Other than what I have already acknowledged and addressed to the public, the media and the Commission several months ago in regards to the 2 emails sent, I am thankful that the Commission unanimously saw through and confirmed what I have stated from the very beginning that the allegations in the complaint were shown to have no merit,” she said, further addressing the impact the allegations had on not just her personally and professionally, but on the community, as a whole.
“This was nothing more than a political stunt brought on by a few desperate people that attempted to use an entity to advance their personal interests. I am relieved that this has been exposed as nothing more than that and I look forward to resolving the one outstanding issue with the Commission. The damage however has been done and we as a community should never tolerate these baseless and malicious attacks moving forward. We must move past this as a community. We must rise above this as our future is reliant on this. It has been my distinct honor to have served this community for several years and will continue to advocate for the best of Palm Coast moving forward.”
