First America: An exercise in fraud, waste and abuse

Definition: STRAWMAN; a person set up to serve as a cover for a usually questionable transaction.

They won’t want you to remember who they are, but the actors in First America Foundation, Inc., it’s incorporators, officers, and very public “board of directors”, may go down as the most flagrant abusers of taxpayer money in the 450-year history of St Augustine.

Early on in the abusive wrangling of public funds for entertainment, a rock concert, rented exhibits, inflated salaries, and lots of other-than-government purposes, it became clear to then-mayor Joseph L. Boles, Jr., that Florida’s government in the sunshine laws were going to be bothersome to him — especially when it came to holding public meetings, raising money, and spending money the way he, and his inside circle of friends, would see fit.

Incorporated as a not-for-profit Florida corporation on July 13, 2010, and voluntarily dissolved July 29, 2011, First America Foundation, Inc., was created specifically to assume control of St Augustine’s 450th anniversary commemoration.  It needed a board who would serve, but who would not ask too many questions.

The handpicked incorporators, Colin A. Bingham, a local demolition, waste hauling, and environmental remediation contractor, and Donald W. Wallis, a local tax attorney, were contracted, without bids, and presented a $300,000 advance payment from the city treasury for services that were never provided.

An investigation by Historic City News is continuing to discover the details of where the city went so horribly wrong with other people’s money — a management flaw that has permeated the entire 450th Commemoration.

To be continued …