PENSACOLA, Fla. — Florida’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has the City of Pensacola in its crosshairs once again.
The previous findings of the department’s two-day audit on the city were released in January, as DOGE flagged the city for $1.4 million in “questionable contracts.”
A recent letter from the DOGE office to the city outlines nine areas that DOGE wants more information about.
Postmarked June 16, the letter requests specific information from the past year.
Pensacola city councilwoman Allison Patton is no stranger to a legal request. She joined the council as a retired corporate attorney.
“In my experience as a litigator, this is a typical process for any kind of regulatory request,” she said. “They do an initial request, they may do a second request and we will see what the conclusions are at the end of it.”
A few requests include:
a transaction log for all purchases made by employees with city credit cards — or “P” cardsinformation on all emergency purchases and procurement awardsa current snapshot of personnel data for each filled or vacant position
Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier says this kind of scrutiny should be welcomed.
“It seems fairly pinpointed to some specific issues that may not have been addressed before, so my hope is that it’s just looking for some clarity to answer some questions,” she said.
The city acknowledged the letter the day after it was sent.
City administrator David Stafford says, “The city is dedicated to ensuring taxpayers’ money is used responsibly, ethically and efficiently to the ultimate benefit of citizens.” He adds that the city is happy to share the information requested.
“From a city council standpoint, we appropriate,” Brahier said. “And if it’s been spent how we appropriated, then we should have literally no concerns.”
Florida DOGE told the City of Pensacola it wants the information by this Friday.