post announcing the decision on Facebook<\/a>, the town wrote, “Additional information will be provided as it becomes available and appropriate for release. The Town remains committed to accountability and maintaining the public\u2019s trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The town has not publicly released any findings of the investigation and says the decision to terminate the two employees was based on various factors.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers told WINK, \u201cI have been made aware of the situation, but at this time, I have not received the specific details or findings of the investigation. Until I have had an opportunity to review that information, I don\u2019t believe it would be appropriate for me to comment further.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
WINK also reached out to all other town council members by email for comment but has not received any responses.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
WINK Investigates previously reported that the town hired CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, an accounting and consulting firm, to conduct a forensic investigation into the administration of four grants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kropacek and Hauge were placed on paid administrative leave in August while the review was underway. The town initially described the leave as a precautionary measure intended to protect the integrity of the independent review.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the firm\u2019s contract, town management identified concerns while completing an internal audit involving the administration of certain grants and contracts.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The contract calls for forensic accounting and investigative services to determine the underlying causes of those concerns. Town Manager Will McKannay previously identified issues involving missed reporting and timeliness requirements, as well as concerns about procurement and contracting practices tied to grant administration.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The four grants named in the contract are:<\/p>\n
Bay Oaks Campus Redevelopment Grant<\/p>\n
Florida Department of Environmental Protection Grant<\/p>\n
Florida Division of Emergency Management Grant<\/p>\n
Federal Emergency Management Administration Reimbursement Grant<\/p>\n
The contract outlined several areas investigators were tasked with examining, including whether the concerns involved intentional acts, misrepresentation, concealment of information, misuse of grant funds, negligence or misappropriation of assets.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Town officials previously said a public town hall would be held after the review was complete so residents could hear the findings and ask questions. A date has not been announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 The independent investigation into the Town of Fort Myers Beach\u2019s handling of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[168150,209,211,210,168147,168153,168148,168151,28,168146,897,1695,168149,168152,48310,85733],"class_list":["post-428159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-bay-oaks-campus-redevelopment-grant-florida-department-of-environmental-protection-grant","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cliftonlarsonallen-llp","tag-community-development-director","tag-community-services-director","tag-environmental-protection-grant-florida","tag-florida","tag-forensic-accounting","tag-fort-myers","tag-fort-myers-beach","tag-investigative-services","tag-jeff-hauge","tag-town-manager","tag-will-mckannay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}