Martin County board agrees to pay $450,000 legal bill of commissioner acquitted of public records violations

During their June 18, 2019 board of commissioners meeting the Martin County Board of Commissioners agreed to pay $450,000 to a law firm for work done in obtaining an acquittal of Commissioner Sarah Heard on charges of public records violations.

Commissioner Heard abstained from the vote.

According to a report published by WPTV in partnership with TCPalm, Commissioner Heard was indicted by a grand jury in 2018 on charges she violated the states’ public records laws alleged to have occurred during the course and scope of her commissioner duties.

“Heard was charged after the rock mining company Lake Point sued the county in 2013 in a breach-of-contract lawsuit that, in part, claimed Heard, and former Martin County Commissioners Ed Fielding and Ann Scott destroyed or failed to produce emails pertinent to their case. (read more) “

Coming Soon! The debut of County Examiner-keeping an eye on county government

Welcome to County Examiner! After more than 10 years contributing content to a nationally-known Harris County, Texas-based political blog and publishing original content on her own blog covering Fort Bend County, Texas, the County Examiner is expanding the scope of reporting on county-level governments outside Texas to now include the 67 counties of Florida.

By exploiting a void in media reporting on the workings of county governments, County Examiner will publish “public information from public sources”. Through leveraging the Texas Public Information Act and the Florida Sunshine Law this blog intends to inform and educate readers on public policy issues, publish & share reports affecting Texas and Florida counties, and provide insight into matters of public interest facing your county commissioners. It’s my hope you’ll find the unique reporting informative enough to spur robust conversations on legitimate issues worthy of public debate in accordance with the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Drop me a note at siennamud10@gmail.com if you’ve got a tip or with your feedback. Thanks for your readership and welcome to County Examiner!