Comprehensive Response to Grand Jury Presentment by

Bill Lambert
The Industrial Development Authority and a $7.25 million
grant award to Continuum Labs has been the target of a
recent grand jury investigation in Hardee County.
As the Director of the Industrial Development Authority
and the Economic Development Council, I have prepared a
response to clarify, supplement and counter conclusions
reached by the Grand Jury from their deliberations. I am
thankful we have a system of government that provides
for freedom of free speech to express agreement or
disagreement thru public discourse.
Hardee County has a number of imminent and serious economic issues. Over the
past two decades efforts resulted in opportunities to mitigate impending
circumstances from having catastrophic sociological and economic circumstances.
In order to fully and properly discern conclusions of the grand jury presentment
citizens must be aware of the circumstances surrounding Economic Development
efforts in Hardee County. This response is prepared to help Hardee County residents
and other interested parties better understand our local situations and why certain
criticized actions and activities have occurred.

History
Hardee County was created with the separation from Desoto County in 1921. The
result of this separation created two mostly identically rectangular shaped
geo/political areas or Counties approximating an area 20 miles north and south by
30 miles east and west containing a little more than 400,000 acres. Its political
mindset has been adamantly agricultural with increasing influences transitioning to
accommodate a phosphate mining economy.
There are significant, even vast reserves of phosphate under Hardee County.
Phosphate is one of the three primary components in fertilizer and vital to crop/food
production.
Mining and agricultural political compatibility has been a curious political alliance,
well planned and well-structured to assure mining permits and ensuing excavation
of the resource. There are however, several imminent factors and public opinions to
consider related to Hardee Countys economy and its future as a result of mining:

Our future will be dictated for centuries by the ultimate number of acres in
the County to be acquired, controlled or influenced by mining interests. The
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amount of land impacted by mining could easily approach 50% of the

Countys 407,000 acres.
The economic impacts that occur as a result of mining acquisition, mining
processes and resultant land uses in the post mining scenario will impact
recovery economies for centuries.
Who decides exactly what the post-mining scenario will look like, the
company or the County?
Will 50% of the mined out lands be covered in phosphatic clay?
Will be there be a sufficient surface area remaining to support a community
and its replacement economies?
The mining economy is the best we will ever have. We should make the most
of it while it is here. If you have land you better sell it because there will
never be a better market. Enjoy the mining company benevolence. Enjoy
their donations because they will not last forever.
The mining economy is temporary. What will we have left when they are
finished mining?

Every citizen must be ever mindful that it is the ancient history of Hardee County
that left deposits of phosphate in the sedimentary seas millions of years ago. It is
the recovery of those deposits and the resultant impacts of the recovery that will
drive the political decisions that shape our future.
The deposits of phosphate under the County will be extracted, and the manner in
which the Countys leadership attracts offsetting economic drivers along with the
degree to which the issues of reclamation are addressed to mitigate these mining
impacts, will define our Countys destiny.

Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern

Hardee County was designated a Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern thru
Executive Order by Gov. Jeb Bush approximately 15 years ago. After shedding
denial and acknowledging that we did in fact have some debilitating and
deteriorating circumstances, the political leadership of Hardee County was
successful in using this precarious designation in part, to obtain legislation that
more equitably redistributed severance taxes levied on phosphate mining
companies, especially to Counties designated as a Rural Area of Critical Economic
Concern. (This designation has recently been changed to Rural Areas of
Opportunity.)

Creation of the Hardee County Economic Development

Authority
The Hardee County Economic Development Authority was created by the Florida
legislature thru a local bill referred to as Senate Bill 3110. The circumstances
leading to the creation of the local bill were extremely contentious and curiously
divisive. Opinions and politics ranged widely and wildly and will likely never be
agreed upon by opposing viewpoints.

As chairman of the Hardee County Commission during this contentious time, I

personally experienced these following prominent, divisive opinions that drove
debate from various perspectives. Here are some of those opinions that continue to
exist in our politics today:

Leave the phosphate companies alone. They bought the land with the
intention of mining it and their property owners rights should prevail.
The Board of County Commissioners is the sheriff over phosphate mining.
They are a temporary land use but have permanent impacts. They must be
policed and regulated.
The redistribution of the severance tax money should go directly into the
hands of elected officials and only spent according to the prevailing political
philosophy.
The redistribution of the severance tax money will not go into the
governments coffers because it will never be utilized for economic
development to remove the Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern
designation. The temptation will be to pave roads of influential citizens,
lower property taxes, offset fire assessment fees or garbage collection fees
or to enhance the general operations of government.

The roots of divisiveness in Hardee County are firmly planted in disagreement over
final disposition of these monies-- those provided to the Economic Development
Authority (EDA) from redistribution of severance taxes and in similar fashion those
under the stewardship of the Hardee County Industrial Development Authority (IDA).
The IDA revenues occur through the negotiated agreement known as the Economic
Development Terms, Exhibit B of Mosaic South Fort Meade Mine Development
Order to the Hardee County Industrial Development Authority over the mining
period for the South Fort Meade Extension mines first ten years.
The EDA revenues from this Florida Law directs a nine member independent
authority created by the Florida Legislature to solicit, rank and fund grants for
economic development and infrastructure (infrastructure inferred to be related to
economic development) and should provide $75,000,000-100 (million) to retrofit
our economic circumstances.
Those of us who worked diligently to make this income stream a reality were: Gary
Oden - to whom I give credit for making us aware of the need to return a greater
share of severance tax money to Hardee County, his replacement - Lex Albritton,
Susan Dick - secretary to the BOCC, who lived every day discerning how to properly
communicate these circumstances to the public, County Attorney - Ken Evers, Kris
Delaney - the Countys planner, Doug Knight - the Countys mining coordinator and
other commissioners thru this period who always unanimously supported the
direction of this initiative - Walter Olliff - a former mine employee elected to the
Board of County Commissioners, Milton Lanier - the salt of the earth for us, Nick
Timmerman - brilliant politician and a man of vision, Gordon Norris - savvy and well
connected politically and Bobby Smith - the incredible Hardee County pundit.

Economic Development Element of the Comprehensive

Plan
While I served as a Hardee County Commissioner, discussions related to Hardee
Countys future in the post mining scenario were frequently discussed and debated.
Two primary issues continued to stir controversy. The first was related to phosphatic
clay or slime ponds, and the second was financial assurance provided by phosphate
companies to the County Commission demonstrating or satisfying the obligation to
complete reclamation of mined out lands. Both of these issues were/are extremely
volatile, and the certainty that they are dealt with properly are vital to the Countys
future.
Failure to satisfactorily resolve the financial assurance issue (posting an insurance
bond or pledging financial resources to the County to pay for post-mining recovery)
became a significant component in the justification of the formation of the Mosaic
Company because Cargill was capable of providing the financial strength necessary
to satisfy the BOCC demands for financial assurances related to reclamation that
IMC could not. Thus, the formation of the Mosaic Company occurred, at least in part,
because of this.
CSAs, clay settling areas, or slime ponds are debilitating to our future land use.
The mining beneficiation process involves separation of the phosphate matrix
containing phosphatic clays, sand and phosphate into three separate components.
The phosphate is shipped by rail to chemical plants to be transformed into fertilizer
and the clay and sand are used for reclamation. The prevailing disposal method for
clay and sand is to pump the clay into massive reservoirs (thousands of acres) to
allow for settling or consolidation. Ultimately, these areas can be classified as
reclaimed. The sand is used for a more superior type of reclamation by being
pumped into the mined out areas or mine cuts, and then combined with
recontouring of the spoil banks or overburden for preparation for replanting trees
and plants.
These issues led to the creation of an Economic Development Element in the
Hardee County Comprehensive Plan. It is this element that established the
basis for the negotiated settlement contained in a Florida Statute Chapter 163
development agreement referred to as the Economic Development Terms,
Exhibit B (Mosaic Agreement).

Economic Development Terms, Exhibit B (Mosaic

Agreement)
This agreement based on the same Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern
designation for Hardee County as the severance tax legislation, controls the terms
and justifications for funding economic development, including how the money is
spent in generalities and specificities and why the money is contributed relative to
mitigating the circumstances of the post mining scenario as a result of clay settling
areas, preservation easements, conservations easements and to comply with the

requirements of the Economic Development Element of the Hardee County

Comprehensive Plan.
It should be noted that the Comprehensive Plan is the overriding,
controlling law for land uses in Hardee County.
Everyone should be aware that this agreement is unique. There are other
negotiated agreements and settlements between the public and private sector
entities, but this Economic Development Terms agreement provided benefits
directly to the company in the satisfaction of the comp plan compliance issues
enabling the issuance of local permits to mine phosphate. It was historical in that it
set the stage for us as a people to attempt to carve out economic opportunities
ahead of and during mining. I have always believed the Company and the County
fairly and honorably reached this agreement because it was the right way to
approach negative impacts of mining.
This agreement could not have occurred without the caring and understanding of
Mosaic leadership, the Board of County Commissioners elected during this time
including Dale Johnson, incredibly savvy, Minor Bryant, very devoted to Hardee
County, Nick Timmerman, Gordon Norris and Bobby Smith, all three previously
mentioned, County Manager, Lex Albritton, County Attorney, Ken Evers, and an
Industrial Development Authority board that allowed the burden of stewardship of
$42 million to be placed under their responsibility and public critique.
This agreement was accepted because of a strong belief that anticipated benefits to
the County in the form of creation of replacement economies with future economic
development efforts could and would be accomplished with this agreement and an
eager attitude for the County to finally have a fair chance at diversity.
The divisive issues that have driven debate and misunderstanding related to the
Mosaic or Economic Development Terms Agreement are as follows:

The money should go into the Countys general revenue coffers and spent
under the control and direction of the Board of County Commissioners.
If the Mosaic Company provided money directly to the BOCC, it would be
certainly challenged as a pay for permits scenario and would never be
allowed. Mosaic refused to provide direct payments to the County.
Give the money to the people.
I want recreational opportunities (ball fields) for my children or
grandchildren.
I want my road paved.
I want my taxes lowered.
I dont want to pay for garbage pickup or fire fees.

The money is for economic development and diversity of the Countys

economy to hopefully create long term employment opportunities. Once
reasonable diversity and development is obtained the County should see a
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corresponding increase in tax roll values, payroll dollar multipliers for the
citizens and ad valorem tax revenue increases.
If the money is simply doled back out to the citizens to provide property tax
or fees relief, it would run out at the end of the agreement and nothing to
change our circumstances would ever occur.

It is this agreement, its interpretation, intent and application by the Hardee County
Industrial Development Authority that is the focus and object of the grand jury
presentment, and even more specifically, the funding of a grant recipient initially
referred to as LifeSync or BlueWater and its successor, Continuum Labs.

Continuum Labs and the Presentment

The Mosaic Economic Development Terms Agreement was negotiated in 2008. Due
to a delay in the issuance of permits the first complete disbursement of $5,000,000
was not received until May of 2011.
The IDA had been considering various options for utilization of this first
disbursement into the local economy. All persons involved knew that as
difficult as it had been to obtain the money, spending it to everyones
satisfaction would be even more difficult. Ultimately, the IDA board decided
upon a grant cycle, similar to, but not as time consuming and cumbersome as the
Economic Development Authority process.
The IDA members approved advertising to solicit applications for grants to be
awarded in a competitive process to be decided by a ranking process in which each
member would rank the applications received against the others received in the
grant application process. As word spread about the upcoming grant award cycle,
inquiries began to be made from different entities, groups and individuals.
One of the more promising ideas lead by James Grant (a State Representative)
involved a query for funding to develop a product called BlueWater. A newly formed
company, LifeSync was organized and began the application process, eventually
negotiating and attempting to include local citizens, Joe Albritton (an IDA member),
Ben Albritton (a State Representative) and Derren Bryan (an employee of the
Albritton Insurance Agency).
After the presentations, LifeSync, a newly created company, was ultimately awarded
$2.6 million dollars thru a contract, including a commitment by the IDA board for up
to $7.25 million over the ensuing three year period. There has been incredible
misinformation circulated about this project over the past three and one half years,
but the successor company, Continuum, continues to make great progress in
attracting market share for ultimate self-sustaining job creation in Hardee County.
Today, some fifteen months after the funding from the IDA was completed,
Continuum Labs has over 45 total employees with an approximate $1
million payroll in Hardee County. The company projects to have as many
as 200 employees by the end of the year.

Lamberts response to the Presentment

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In an attempt to clarify with supplementary information I have taken the conclusions

and recommendations put forth by the grand jury in its presentment to provide and
clarify information for the public to better discern and to assist in the drawing of
proper conclusions.
I would like to begin this process with a personal statement.
The path Marie (my wife) and I have taken to provide opportunity and a future for
even yet to be born Hardee County citizens has been extremely difficult. We have
been shot at, set on fire, had for sale signs placed on our property, received
numerous obscene phone calls, openly criticized, shunned, overlooked, and scoffed
at, had fingers pointed at, we have been lied to and lied about. However we have
not wavered in an attempt to improve the daily lives and existence for all of our
citizens.
When I was elected County Commissioner in 2000, my focus was to do whatever
was necessary to change the direction of life in Hardee County, driven in part,
because I knew the opportunities for our children were basically non-existent. I was
criticized by friends and other elected officials for not prioritizing getting reelected because significant, meaningful, political accomplishments rarely occur in
one term. I never had an ambition to be re-elected, but rather to pursue what I
believed was right for Hardee County while I was in office.
My personal goal was to create a dynamic change in the mindset of Hardee
Countians, so they could have a reason to believe in themselves and their future.
Life did not have to be relegated to a simple agriculture existence simply waiting on
the dragline to even destroy the agrarian mentality. I should make it clear here that
there are those who can live in Hardee County comfortably, but those who are
entirely dependent on its economy have a much more precarious existence.
MANY OF US RAISE OUR CHILDREN IN HARDEE COUNTY WITH VERY LITTLE
EXPECTATION OF THEM HAVING MUCH OPPORTUNITY TO STAY AFTER
GRADUATION.
WE EDUCATE THEM SO THEY CAN HOPEFULLY FIND
EMPLOYMENT, BUT IT IS RARELY IN HARDEE COUNTY. THEN WE SPEND THE
BALANCE OF OUR DAYS TRAVELING TO BE TOGETHER PERIODICALLY, RATHER
THAN LIVING AS A FAMILY UNIT. THERE IS REALLY NOTHING WRONG
WITH CHILDREN LEAVING HOME AND GOING INTO THE WORLD,
EXCEPT THAT IN HARDEE COUNTY MANY OF THEM MUST LEAVE
HOME. IT IS NOT BY CHOICE. IT IS BY CIRCUMSTANCE. I HAVE
ALWAYS BELIEVED WE COULD CHANGE THIS CIRCUMSTANCE.
The circumstances faced by many in Hardee County will remain arduous (hard) for
several more decades. If the new economic diversities that have been created fail,
the situation will become bleak (miserable). Drive to Ft. Meade and look around.
The County Manager at the time, Gary Oden advised me early in my tenure as
Commissioner, in a genuine and earnest fashion that the best way to help our
County was to figure out a way to get more money from the mining companies or
the mining process. We looked at every possible avenue to capitalize on the
presence of mining in our community, and finally decided the best and fairest
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process was to get a larger distribution of the severance taxes returned to the
County to offset the impacts of mining.
This process took almost three years of intense negotiations, lobbying, boxes of
chocolate and assertiveness on all sides of the equation. Ultimately Hardee County
prevailed with a statutorily created independent special district (the Hardee
County Economic Development Authority) to administer a supplementary
redistribution of phosphate mining severance taxes for economic development and
infrastructure (hopefully invested in, because it was related to economic
development) known as Senate Bill 3110. It could easily approach $100 million
before mining is completed.
In 2007 I was solicited and eager to consider taking over the job as Director of
Economic Development and administrator of the affairs of the Hardee County
Industrial Development Authority. I was approved in October of that year and again
set about to change the way we looked at and felt about Economic Development in
Hardee County. In less than one year we had completed the Mosaic Economic
Development Terms agreement to be administered by the Industrial Development
Authority to create certain economic changes and to provide certain economic
opportunities in Hardee County.
The Economic Development Terms Exhibit is available for you to read at:
http://hardeebusiness.com/archive/public_records/Contracts_Appraisals/Mosaic_Agre
ement_signed_copy.pdf.
This agreement was negotiated to provide $42 million over 10 annual
disbursements through an agreement between the Board of County Commissioners
and the Mosaic Company. Neither Mosaic nor the BOCC had any desire for the
money to go into the County governments coffers. This money was paid to comply
with the Economic Element of the Comprehensive Plan that compels mining
companies to demonstrate how Hardee Countys economy can recover before,
during and after mining.
It is this money and the philosophy of how the IDA has deployed it into the local
economy that has caused this investigation. I might add that the detractors of
the agreement would have aligned to challenge any expenditure approved by the
IDA no matter where a decision was made to spend this money.
The IDA has grown from no assets ten years ago to an investment
portfolio of cash and market value of assets of over $20 million today.
Additionally, the IDA has contributed through agreements and
investments for certain roads, structures and facilities over $4 million
back to the County.

Factual" issues in the Presentment addressed by Lambert

I have selected and addressed certain issues in the Presentment for specific
discussion contained herein:

1. there was a lack of any meaningful review of the proposed

CareSync project (Presentment page 2)
As stated earlier, Continuum Labs took over the development of BlueWater through
a lengthy and detailed Assignment and Modification Agreement. The direction of
the projects changed to a broader development of software for managing medical
records referred to as CareSync. Prior to the approval of the agreement, the IDA
agreed to let an outside vetting group, the Hardee County Chamber of Commerce,
review records including discussion and interviews with the Assignee, Mr. Travis
Bond. This Agreement, among other changes allowed the IDA to add Mr. Bond as a
guarantor of the note assuring the money would not be spent in a fraudulent
manner, and if it was, he could be held personally liable for its reimbursement. Mr.
Bond is extremely knowledgeable of software development related to medical
records.
The Chamber Vetting report was made available during the investigation.
2. Hardee County is a community divided (Presentment page 2)
All communities are divided with varying political philosophies. What about America
and its divisive political issues? It is what we are as a people. Either we allow the
private sector to expand our tax base with reasonable risk of losing some of the
money, or we only fund money to conservative areas that enhance or simply
maintain the status quo. The IDA has been almost unanimous in its direction to
positively improve our economic circumstances by taking reasonable risk with the
private sector.
It should be noted that the fall 2014 election cycle removed Commissioner Grady
Johnson, an outspoken opponent of the IDA and replaced him with Russ Melendy, a
former IDA member during the funding of the Continuum grant monies. If our
politics are to side with the majority or plurality in Hardee County, in the State of
Florida, in America, then the apparent lament of the grand jury, while noted is
overridden by politics-the WILL of the majority rules.
While the grand jury cited the IDA as a dependent special district of the BOCC as
follows:
3. The IDA is a dependent special district of the Hardee County
Board of County Commissioners, with the purpose of financing
and refinancing projects that foster and promote economic
development in the county. (Presentment page 2)
it made no mention of the Attorney General opinion issued in 2012. The attorney
general opinion concurred with the IDAs interpretation (contrary to the Auditor
Generals position) that the IDA was also authorized to enter into contracts to foster
and promote economic development outside the definition of projects as defined
in Florida Statute Chapter 159.

4. It was the IDAs award process that the Blue Water project was
initially funded after being ranked by the IDA along with other
applicants. The root of all of the issues this project has faced
can be traced back to a flawed application process administered
by Bill Lambert. (Presentment page 3)
I fully accept any criticisms directed at the IDA or its members squarely on
my shoulders. There is no such thing as a perfect application process. The
number of variables to consider in order to assure a reasonable chance at success
for an unflawed grant process are too numerous to list. However, I can state that
the human traits of jealousy and envy certainly did appear with sectors of the public
when applicants began to apply for this grant money.
However, even though the IDA concurred with the grand jury (later recommended in
this report) that the funds should at least be made available on a priority award
basis to Hardee County residents, it is the Hardee County resident involvement that
stirred the most controversy. Almost all of these applications in this cycle had
Hardee County citizens involved.
I remain firm in my opinion that the IDA should transfer money to the EDA or
administer grants from the EDA for any grant funding that involves the expenditure
of money other than capital investment such as bricks and mortar projects or job
training activities.
5. We find it troubling that at the time the IDA was considering
LifeSync Technologies, Inc.s grant application, Joe Albritton, a
member of the IDA board, was heavily engaged in the
negotiations between the IDA and LifeSync Technologies, Inc.
(Presentment page 4)
After an exhaustive investigation by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics, the
board concluded on December 14, 2014, all complaints against Mr. Albritton were
dismissed as having no probable cause. Among the findings specifically in the
Public Report of the investigation regarding Complaint No. 13-083 the conclusion
was that the Commission on Ethics finds that there is no probable cause to believe
the Respondent violated Section 112.3143(4), Florida Statutes, by participating
and /or voting on issues which would have inured to his or others private special
gain.
6. The implementation and monitoring of the grant by Bill
Lambert and the IDA Board Members was incredibly insufficient.
Bill Lambert seemed more concerned with protecting the privacy
rights of the company receiving public funds at the expense of
truly understanding how the company was spending the publics
money. (Presentment page 6)
Not one day has passed since October of 2011 that I have not been involved in
some aspect of the grant. It has been tense, but fascinating. While I am not new to
dealing with controversy, the issue of privacy versus the publics right to know is
one of the most complex issues in which I have ever been involved. I am keenly
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familiar with the public records law and the exemptions afforded the Hardee County
Industrial Development Authority.
There are two laws to consider in this equation Section 119.07, Florida Statutes
(public records) and Section 288.075, Florida Statutes (Confidentiality of Records).
Violation of either of these laws could result in fines including jail time.
This issue is still being litigated between the IDA and Henry Kuhlman, and because
of this litigation I have great concerns when discussing it in any forum. I believe the
IDA had an obligation to protect certain information as confidential. However,
because I did not possess the information I reviewed in the LifeSync/BlueWater
portion of the grant period, I do not believe it ever rose to the level of a public
record. I made this circumstance regarding these records publicly known on
numerous occasions.
7. Bill Lambert appeared timid, afraid, and embarrassed to
scrutinize closely or ask questions about how the various
expenditures were benefiting the project and the people of
Hardee County. The following LifeDash spreadsheet Illustration
1 and Illustration 2 show some ways the publics money was
spent in the first year of the contract. (Presentment page 7)
I reaffirm my concern for the privacy rights of the company in order to protect the
IDA investment of public money. If I had made one misstep I could have committed
breach of the contract between the IDA and grant recipientsLifeSync and its
successor, Continuum Labs. If I had released information that led to the companys
failure it could have precluded the IDA from any recovery in a court of law.
Aside from this important issue I support the provisions of the public records law
affording the public a right to view records and to know what is occurring within
government agencies. If discernment over the conflicts of laws related to
proprietary confidential business information, millions of public dollars and public
record laws causes me to appear as timid, afraid and embarrassed to scrutinize
closely, then I suppose I have to accept it. I know I have handled this
circumstance in an appropriate manner.
Almost three pages of the presentment disclosing the expenditure of $49,703.97 as
an example of how public money was spent is perplexing. LifeDash, while similar in
sound to LifeSync is a totally separate company and is not related with any common
ownership interest of LifeSync. Because there are no dates on the information
apparently obtained by subpoena (I could have never had access to this
information) it is difficult to determine whether the LifeDash expenditures occurred
during the LifeSync contract or the Continuum Assignment and Modification
contract period.
Regardless, LifeDash primarily provided a license fee based service to LifeSync and
Continuum. The value received by the grant recipients and the citizens of Hardee
County is totally vested in the computing platform usage under the license to the
project.
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A computing platform is defined in the most general sense, whatever pre-existing

environment a piece of software is designed to run within, obeying its constraints,
and making use of its facilities.
In simple term, LifeDash was the lumber used to build the Bluewater/CareSync
house. Im not sure why we care what the lumberyard did with the money it
received for the lumber (license fee).
Two more pages of the Presentment were dedicated to diagrams of how the money
flowed between the various parties involved in the grant. There is no doubt that
much of the money spent did not go into Hardee County citizens pockets. During
this stage of development of the project the IDA comprehended why money had to
be spent outside the geographical boundaries of the County, but the intention, hope
and risk was predicated on a long term return on investment with the
development of superior product to provide services to health care medical records
needs nationwide.
8. Clearly some individuals employed through the Blue Water and
the Caresync Project were living large off Hardee County money,
and only the fox (Bill Lambert) was protecting the hen house
(Hardee County citizens).
While acknowledging the potential for many foxes to exist in Hardee County, I am
not certain about the application of this nursery tale to this situation. Similarly,
inference to Mr. Bond, (who has procured a supplementary minimum of $5 million of
private sector skin in the game), as a pied piper, is curious.
I do take exception to the law enforcement or court system or the jury itself allowing
the casual usage of such derogatory and defamatory innuendo in such an important
document. It devalues the seriousness of the presentments impact.
I know of no person or group that has worked more diligently to procure and utilize
economic development money in a manner that will truly benefit the henhouse
than those of us current and past members involved in economic development. It is
through these efforts that a henhouse even exists
9. We are particularly concerned about the amount of public
money paid to Continuum Labs, Inc. for Training and
Mentoring. (Presentment page 15)
The training and mentoring situation was recognized by the IDA board throughout
the process. This situation, however was not disregarded. Instead, the priority
acknowledged and agreed to by the board and Mr. Bond, was to first create a
product that would generate sustainable cash flow in the market place to keep the
company alive, which subsequently delayed the training and mentoring contractual
provisions.
In retrospect, the contract and the draw requests should have been amended to
reflect the approval of the money being spent on product development in a greater
amount and the amount spent on training and mentoring in a lesser amount. A
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contract amendment would have certainly minimized this criticism but we

anticipated reconciling with an independent examination to be performed by
outside auditors.
Government entities do not generally have to be concerned about funding once
their budget is approved. For the private sector company, cash flow is king. If
money needed to develop the product was deployed into training and mentoring we
could have resulted in a well-trained, but unemployed staff.
As a general statement, a technology company would never decide to locate in
Hardee County and to create what has been created by Continuum with the
CareSync product. The purpose of these previously mentioned income streams is in
part, to allow the grant recipients to attempt to create a product(s) that will provide
opportunities in Hardee County that otherwise would never occur.
10. We find no oversight of public money in this endeavor and
we find that unacceptable. (Presentment page16)
Just because the unilateral presentation to the grand jury by the States Attorney
led them to the conclusion of no oversight, I know with certainty there was plenty
of oversight. Was it enough to satisfy all queries? I suspect not. Was it enough to
compel the IDA members to complete their obligation for funding the contract? Yes.
Is the company still alive and functioning 13 months after the last draw from the IDA
with an annual payroll currently of $1 million in Hardee County? Yes.
11. The Auditor Generals Report, a public document, contained
findings showing that the IDA failed on multiple levels, including
failing to ensure LifeSync was financially responsible and able to
fulfill obligations under the grant: that no reasonable outcomes
and other descriptions of deliverables were in the agreement;
and that no detailed reports were submitted. Rather than
complying with the Auditors recommendation, the IDA board
resisted, disagreeing with the findings. We find the Auditors
Report should be complied with in full, and the Boards response
was unacceptable. (Presentment page 16)
One of the most difficult aspects of replying to the Presentment is the vacillation of
the jury back and forth between criticisms of LifeSync and criticisms of Continuum
Labs. The Continuum Labs Assignment and Modification Agreement was written
during the operational audit period of the Auditor General with a primary intent of
addressing concerns about the LifeSync contract.
The LifeSync criticisms by the Auditor General were based in great part on specific
sections of Chapter 159 and how the Industrial Development Authority should
administer projects as defined in the same Chapter and sections.
The Auditor General agreed that in order to resolve the differences we should obtain
an Attorney General opinion. We obtained an Attorney General opinion that
concurred with the IDAs interpretation of Florida Statute regarding its
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latitude under Florida Statute. Application of the law according to

recommendations by the Auditor General would have been impossible in
this circumstance.
The LifeSync contract, even though we refer to it as a project was not a project as
defined in State law. Apparently up until this point there had never been an IDA
that had enough money to accomplish the mandate of fostering and promoting
economic development unless the financing of the project was tied to a bond issue.
We did not have to issue bonds to finance the LifeSync contract and argued the
criteria delineated in the Statutes were not applicable because we had the ability to
enter into contracts to foster and promote economic development outside the
definition of projects listed in Florida Law.
The Attorney General agreed with the IDAs position.
By whom should the IDA abide? We understand the need for grant monitoring. We
also understand the need for flexibility in creating a new business. If we are too
austere, the business will fail. If we are not strict enough, the door could be open
for fraud. We will continue to refine rules and objectives to produce a greater
balance between accountability and flexibility.
12. Bill Lambert and IDA Board and Travis Bond engaged in
public relations stunts, such as the creation of TechRiver
University. (Presentment page 17)
For a grand jury to be under informed to the point that they would come to the
conclusion that Tech River University was a public relations stunt is sad. We are
keenly aware of the traditional educational opportunities in Hardee County and are
proud of their presence and function in the community.
But, for the record, the intention of Tech River University is to provide learning in an
employment setting. Conventional education is a one way ticket out of Dodge
for Hardee County students. The efforts with Tech River University is to deter the
desire to obtain a one way ticket out by providing a job with training. We have not
yet accomplished this task but will continue to search for suitable and successful
on the job training program.
13. Another reason for public concern over this project is the
results. The public is entitled to know what it got for its
$7,250,000. (Presentment page 17)
The jobs continue to increase at the company at Tech River in Hardee County.
What did the public get from the first child that entered the public school system?
What did the public get from the interstate highway system when the first mile of
interstate was built? What did the public get from NASA when John Glenn went into
orbit? This project, like the aforementioned is not a short term production from an
ice-cream churn. It will take years to mature and if/when it is successful, thank
you to the IDA members will be in order. If it is not satisfactorily successful, the

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comments from this grand jury may be appropriate and the criticisms may be wellplaced. Time will tell. We must have patience
14. We learned that those who have opposing views to the
Chairman of the County Commission, or who ask too many
questions, are not welcome as member of the IDA; that must
change. (Presentment page 19)
I have no idea what dialogue occurred with the grand jury for this comment to be in
the presentment. Nothing is further from the truth.
15. We recommend that the process for application, approval and
monitoring of IDA grants be completely revamped and that Bill
Lambert not be involved with the process. A model to consider
following is the grant approval process utilized by the Economic
Development Authority. (Presentment page 20)
Bill Lambert served as Chairman of the Hardee County Economic Development
Authority from its creation in 2004 until 2011. Bill Lambert is fully aware of the EDA
processes but the Mosaic Agreement is different from the severance tax
redistribution legislation (EDA) and the two of them will hopefully find a compatible
chemistry to create a fantastic future for Hardee County citizens.
16. A significant flaw in the process was the failure to have a
technology expert looking out for the interests of Hardee County
citizens interests. (Presentment page 20)
If there was a technology expert available to accomplish this task it would beg the
question of why isnt the grant being provided to the technology expert? The
technology including the platform and software are meaningless if they are not
designed to fit a place in the market that will make enough revenue to pay for all of
the expenses of the business and including a decent profit. It is the adaptation
of the software to the market wherein the entrepreneurial genius exists.
17. Any future grants awarded by the IDA should have
restrictions that require open positions to be advertised and
priority should be given to Hardee County residents.
(Presentment page 21)
All jobs to date have been posted and all hires have come thru the workforce
agency. Im not sure what the grand jury means by require open positions to be
advertised. Our objective is to create jobs in Hardee County. Certainly the creation
of jobs that are filled by Hardee County citizens is the primary and ultimate
objective, but the real situation is making sure the company has the right talent to
assure success. This will always be an issue but at the end of the day the business
has to decide which persons are best to advance the development of the enterprise.
18. Needed: an individual unafraid to make absolutely certain
every dollar spent by the grantee had an articulable purpose
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toward achieving the stated purpose of the grantBill Lambert

does not appear to qualify to continue as Economic Development
Executive Director. There should be a penalty attached for the
failure to safeguard public monies.
I would close by stating that there should be a penalty for all of those public and
elected officials that left these very precious and legitimate income streams on the
table for over 30 years. Someone needs to make absolutely certain that we survive
the post mining scenario. I have done my best to assure we at least had a chance.
Procuring the money has been arduous, spending it to every pundits approval is
impossible.
I stand in judgment by my peers and detractors every day. I, along with all current
and previous EDC/IDA members have worked diligently and will continue to work
diligently to procure economic development income streams for Hardee County to
utilize to create a future. I can make no promises or commitments that other
circumstances will not arise similar to this grant, but if they do, and if I am around
to shepherd them to success I will give it my best.

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