{"id":63098,"date":"2026-02-26T17:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63098"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:04:25","slug":"four-polk-county-commissioners-use-polk-sheriffs-airplane-for-tallahassee-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/02\/26\/four-polk-county-commissioners-use-polk-sheriffs-airplane-for-tallahassee-flights\/","title":{"rendered":"Four\u00a0Polk County\u00a0Commissioners\u00a0use Polk sheriff’s airplane for Tallahassee flights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A trip by four Polk County commissioners to Tallahassee on the sheriff\u2019s aircraft for annual meetings with state legislators was called out for costing too much by a former K-9 sheriff\u2019s deputy at the Feb 17 Polk Commission meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office confirmed\u00a0Chairwoman Martha Santiago, and\u00a0Commissioners Bill Braswell, Becky Troutman, and Rick Wilson\u00a0flew together on the round-trip flights to Tallahassee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further,\u00a0Bobby Block, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, said the flights together are at least against the spirit of Florida\u2019s Sunshine\u00a0Law, designed to ensure\u00a0transparency in government matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two commissioners denied discussing any public policy matters on the flights and said they followed state laws regarding open access to government for its citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Block sees the situation differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be fair, scout’s honor isn\u2019t a satisfactory guarantee of government Sunshine,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cThat elected officials got together with a local constitutional officer and later swore to the fact that they never\u00a0talked business is not transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould they admit to it if they did? Would they acknowledge they committed a crime?\u201d he asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe law is there to put these doubts to rest,\u201d Block said. \u201cIf this act doesn\u2019t violate the letter of the law, it certainly steps on the spirit of it. Elected officials offered a group ride on a sheriff\u2019s airplane should take a page from Nancy Reagan\u2019s advice to kids about drugs, \u2018Just Say No!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioners and their attorney say no violations occurred<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Bill Braswell said, \u201cOf course, we did not discuss public business. We are all well aware of Sunshine Laws and respect them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troutman said, \u201cNo public policy was discussed in any group setting. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cColleagues traveling together, whether by plane, at an event, or simply riding in the same car is no different than any other incidental interaction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added, \u201cElected officials are allowed to have conversations about their families, their schedules, community events, or life in general without it becoming a policy discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santiago and Wilson did not respond to attempts to contact them for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

County Attorney Randy Mink, who represents and advises the county commissioners, said he was not familiar with the details of the flights when asked via email. But he added that the commissioners know how to comply with the Sunshine Laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo or more commissioners being together, by itself, does not violate Florida Sunshine Laws,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Florida Sunshine Laws do not prohibit county commissioners from being together but prohibits them from discussing a matter that may foreseeably come before the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe the commissioners are aware of what they can and cannot talk about outside a publicly noticed meeting,\u201d Mink said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was there a cheaper way to Tallahassee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Sheriff\u2019s K9 Deputy David Butler said the plane ride was too much of a burden on taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur taxes continue to go up,\u201d he said during public comments at the Feb. 17 commission meeting. \u201cBut once again, y’all took our plane to Tallahassee, didn’t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou got mad last time I said that. You cut me off. Pointed your finger at me last time. Told me that you didn\u2019t like my attitude. I don’t like y’all wasting our taxpayer money for that. It’s a whole lot cheaper to drive. That plane is roughly $1,000 an hour to fly,\u201d he said, a figure disputed by the Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butler added, \u201cIt takes away from the public safety aspect \u2015 six to 10 hours to go up there and come back. We definitely could be doing patrols. Stop wasting our money, please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s in Florida’s Sunshine Laws?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida\u2019s Sunshine Laws prohibit private discussions between two or more members of a board on matters that may foreseeably come before them occur in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The laws also require commission meetings to be publicly noticed, among other requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace Nzekwesi, a legal fellow at the First Amendment Foundation, said via email, “The Sunshine Law extends to the discussions and deliberations as well as the formal action taken by a public board or commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is no requirement that a quorum be present or that an item be listed on a board agenda in order for a meeting of members of a public board or commission to be subject to statute (286.011, F.S). As the Florida Supreme Court said, ‘collective inquiry and discussion stages’ are embraced within the terms of the statute,” she said, citing the case of Town of Palm Beach v. Gradison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The question becomes whether the Polk County Commissioners discussed matters that will be taken for a discussion and or voted by the commission on the plane informally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is reasonable to assume that informal discussions may have been made while on a plane together, and if so, then it would be a violation of the Sunshine Law,” Nzekwesi wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheriff\u2019s Office defends the flights<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Scott Wilder, communications director for the Sheriff\u2019s Office, Sheriff Grady Judd, who receives a budget annually from the commissioners, was not on board the airplane to Tallahassee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Jan. 16 start to the current state legislative session, Wilder said, \u201cWe made two round-trip flights on our fixed-wing airplane to Tallahassee from January 16th to now. Both were to transport four county commissioners. We flew them up on January 21st and returned on the 23rd to pick them up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plane is multi-purpose \u2014 transporting our county commissioners to Tallahassee for important government meetings is a necessary honor for us, and a wise use of the plane,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you know, the Board of County Commissioners\u00a0funds\u00a0the Sheriff\u2019s Office, including paying for capital expenditures such as\u00a0our fixed-wing and rotor-wing\u00a0aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilder said the cost per hour to operate the aircraft the commissioners flew in is approximately $387.50 (fuel, maintenance, reserves). The trip to Tallahassee is about one hour, so each round-trip cost was about $775.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheriff\u2019s airplane has raised eyebrows before<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Calling it a \u201cspy plane,\u201d residents were critical at a December 2023 commission meeting when they voted to buy the sheriff a $5 million fixed-wing aircraft with thermal imaging cameras, which they said would invade the privacy and the constitutional rights of residents and especially marginalized populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office defended the need for the new aircraft \u2015 a Kodiak 100 turboprop with 10-seats and payload capacity, and short takeoff and landing capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheriff\u2019s representatives at the 2023 meeting said it was to be used for law enforcement, including going after drug traffickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But critics complained the plane would be used to monitor marginalized people, including the LGBTQ community and abortion clinics, as well as places such as bars, LGBTQ proms and DRAG shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vote to buy the plane was cast by a different set of commissioners. Commissioner Michael Scott, who did not travel on the plane to Tallahassee, and Troutman had not yet been elected to the board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A trip by four Polk County commissioners to Tallahassee on the sheriff\u2019s aircraft for annual meetings with state legislators was called out for costing too much by a former K-9 sheriff\u2019s deputy at the Feb 17 Polk Commission meeting. The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office confirmed\u00a0Chairwoman Martha Santiago, and\u00a0Commissioners Bill Braswell,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDJcL2ltYWdlcy0xLTcud2VicD9maXQ9MjkwJTJDMTc0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiRm91clx1MDBhMFBvbGsgQ291bnR5XHUwMGEwQ29tbWlzc2lvbmVyc1x1MDBhMHVzZSBQb2xrIHNoZXJpZmYmIzgyMTc7cyBhaXJwbGFuZSBmb3IgVGFsbGFoYXNzZWUgZmxpZ2h0cyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.uNIJGpA_IcXmGeOGjAldMVJLplX9uqhO-nek8M6M0PcMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13826],"class_list":["post-63098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-four-polk-county-commissioners-use-polk-sheriffs-airplane-for-tallahassee-flights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63100,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63098\/revisions\/63100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}