ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Did Orange County pay too much for services provided by a non-profit organization? Well — not according to the head of that organization.
But her perspective is not the focus of a new report released by the county comptroller Thursday. Auditors found that the county incorrectly paid $250,000 to ‘From The Heart Charitable Foundation’ (FTHCF) to provide broadband and digital literary classes for Orange County seniors.
The report includes concessions from county officials, who agreed with the assessment that there was a “significant overpayment” and that “the contracted rate was probably unreasonably high.”
“I think the county taxpayers go the short end of the stick,” said county comptroller Phil Diamond, whose office determined that the correct payment should have been $148,637.50 — not $250,000.
Retaining FTHCF
According to Diamond’s report and to emails reviewed by News 6, county officials and the founder of FTHCF, Kietta Mayweather Bracy, had been discussing providing literacy services since 2021.
“We provided a service,” Mayweather Bracy said. “And provided an excellent service.”
In a proposal from FTHCF dated Sept. 29, 2021, Mayweather Bracy wrote that her organization had an “ambitious strategic plan to teach ‘Broadband Skills Training’ at your designated centers.”
The audit stated that “according to the procurement documents, the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to isolate/quarantine from public places has made broadband infrastructure and literacy a necessity.”
The September proposal also outlined the cost of courses:
“Each class can be offered for a maximum student body of 30 students each class. The program cost is $1,525.00 per student and an additional $75.00 handbook and material fee, with a Total Cost = $1,600.00. The students are able to keep these books for ongoing practice. Students that do not successfully complete program will be billed at percentage of time they participated. We will provide two (2) instructors on site for each class.”
June 2022
Speaking to News 6 about the audit Thursday, Bracy combed through email exchanges she had with county officials over the last few years.
In one email that she had sent to the county, Bracy attached a similar proposal to the one from September.
Like the original proposal, the June document proposes a weekly class for four weeks, with each class lasting two hours. The course in total would amount to eight hours. But, unlike the September document, the proposal dated June 1 2022 dates calculates the cost differently:
“Each class can be offered for a maximum student body of 30 students each class. The program cost per class (includes handbook and materials fee) Total Cost = $31,250 * 8 classes = $250,000. The students are able to keep these books for ongoing practice. Students that do not successfully complete program will be billed at percentage of time they participated. We will provide two (2) instructors on site for each class.”
“It was always per class,” Bracy said. “Not per person.”
January 2023
The audit includes an interoffice memo to Mayor Jerry Demings and county commissioners.
In the memo, a county official from the procurement division requests approval of a purchase order for broadband literacy classes for Orange County residents with FTHCF “in the not-to-exceed amount of $250,000.”
The memo states that the Family and Community Services Department concurs with the recommendation and that the organization “is the sole entity able to provide broadband literacy classes.”
The purchase order—also included in the report of the audit—bills the county for eight classes at $31,250 for each class, coming to a total of $250,000.
However, the order cites a proposal dated: January 11, 2023. That proposal closely mirrors the one from September, calculating the cost “per student.”
Comptroller’s Conclusions
The audit found that the services provided were not invoiced according to proposal terms, which resulted in an overpayment of $101,362.50
Bracy does not believe she overpaid, pointing to several emails with county officials mentioning $250,000 as the amount to be paid for services rendered.
“They came to me and gave me the amount and requested that it goes in my non-profit,” Bracy claimed.
Auditors also found that the county’s community and family services department “contracted services at unreasonably high rates” and used a “sole source determination process” that was “inadequate to protect the county from inflated pricing.”
“We think there were other vendors that could do this,” said Diamond. “This was a sole source contract, meaning the county staff said that basically there was only one company that could do this.”
An attempt to recoup
Emails provided to News 6 show that in October 2024—three months after the comptroller’s office received an allegation concerning inappropriate spending related to the literacy courses—Orange County’s procurement division sent Bracy a ‘Notice to Cure,’ informing her that an error in the billing process resulted in an overpayment of $100,756.25.
In an October 28, 2024 response to the ‘Notice to Cure,’ Bracy pointed to the proposal dated June 1, 2022, that was to be paid ‘per class,’ not ‘per student.’
She wrote that her “final offer and proposal was dated June 1, 2022.”
A manager from the procurement division responded that it maintained its assessment that Bracy was overpaid.
“On Jan. 11, 2023, Orange County requested confirmation of the best and final offer in compliance with federal requirements. In response, you confirmed that the quotation dated September 29, 2021, was your ‘best and final offer,’” the manager’s email reads. “This confirmation established the September 2021 version as the final proposal for billing terms, superseding any prior and subsequent versions.”
The audit recommended that the county’s community and family services department demand reimbursement from FTHCF for the apparent overpayment of $101,362.50 (slightly more than the amount referenced in the ‘Notice to Cure.’)
News 6′s Mike Valente asked Bracy if she had any intention to return the money in question.
“Absolutely not,” she said defiantly. “I think they need to pay me for my time my energy, and for actually dragging me into something that has nothing to do with me that they know is wrong.”
The audit also recommends that the county “ensure that future requisition documents accurately reflect proposal terms.”
“I’m disappointed,” Diamond said of the county’s actions. “We just don’t think that the county staff did what they should have done and didn’t properly safeguard taxpayer dollars.”
‘A political witch hunt’
Diamond emphasized the audit did not focus on Bracy or her organization.
“In your view, did (Bracy) or her organization do anything wrong in this process?” News 6′s Valente asked Diamond Thursday.
“I don’t have any evidence of that because we weren’t auditing that organization,” he said.
Despite the absence of any allegations of misconduct against Bracy, she told News 6 that she believes she has been the target of a “political witch hunt.”
“I think it’s an injustice,” Bracy said. “I think that I have to carry a scarlet letter because of my husband’s political affiliations and his ideals.”
Bracy’s husband, Randolph Bracy, is a former state senator and recently announced he plans to run for the late Geraldine Thompson’s state Senate seat.
Bracy contended that the person who made the allegation last summer of “inappropriate spending” to her organization was a political rival of her husband.
Diamond refuted that theory, telling News 6 that the allegation came from a concerned citizen who was not an elected official and as far as Diamond new, not a figure seeking political office.
“It’s not true,” Diamond said of Bracy’s allegation of political malfeasance. “And I don’t know why she would say it.”
