ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Board member Dennis Clarke is calling for a special meeting of the St. Johns County Airport Authority board of directors after new allegations sent in a recent email from Matt Liotta, the husband of fellow board member Jennifer Liotta.
The email to Clarke claims the authority has violated Florida public meetings laws and even its policies, which require at least five days’ notice with relevant details before authority meetings. Liotta also mentioned other allegations of policy violations.
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“Somebody should have that set up on a tickler system and just get those notices out and you know, so I can’t disagree with that,” Clarke told Action News Jax on Tuesday. “But I don’t have any firsthand knowledge as to when it was actually, when the notices were actually published and versus when the meeting was held.”
Action News Jax was also the first to tell you about the allegations of Florida public record law violations by board chair Reba Ludlow and board member Len Tucker. Those claims were raised by the authority’s former legal team, which withdrew its representation of the authority after raising the ethical and legal concerns.
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Now, in light of those recent and new allegations, Clarke is calling for the board to have a third-party review of what he said have been long-outdated policies related to operational procedures and transparency.
“We have policies and procedures that are published on our website that are, by and large, still valid, but they’re dated from 1997,” Clarke said. “There have been many changes in everything since that time.”
Clarke is also calling for greater transparency after the allegations against his two fellow board members by the board’s former attorney Jeremiah Blocker.
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“I’ve saw Mr. Blocker’s letter … if he has a concern, then that worries me,” Clarke said. “But on the other hand, let’s put it on the table, and let’s deal with it.”
Action News Jax reached out to Blocker for a response and in a statement he said:
“As per Florida bar rules and Florida statute, all information that is pertinent to this matter has been disclosed to the appropriate law enforcement agency for review.”
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