Florida City's Fiscal Oversight Panel Appointed

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BRADENTON, Fla. - Florida Gov. Rick Scott has appointed nine people to take charge of Opa-locka's finances while the city is in a state of financial emergency.

Scott released the names of the panel Thursday.

Six of the appointees are high-level state employees, including Scott's Chief Inspector General, Melinda Miguel.

Scott issued an executive order June 1 declaring the small city to be in a financial emergency, for the second time in its history. The designation makes the city eligible for state assistance, including loans.

The city cannot issue any bonds or take out any other kind of long-term debt without Scott's approval while it remains in an emergency, and his signature is required for the city to file for bankruptcy.

Opa-locka, a suburb in Miami-Dade County with 16,000 residents, had total long-term debt outstanding of $11.6 million, including $6.56 million of revenue bonds and state loans, according to the fiscal 2014 audit, the latest available.

A financial assessment conducted by Miami-Dade County Auditor Cathy Jackson found that the city used debt service reserves, general contingency funds, and other restricted monies in violation of debt covenants and various agreements.

In addition to Miguel on the financial emergency board, Scott appointed Christian Weiss, the policy coordinator for the governor's office, Kim Mills, the Florida Housing Finance Corp.'s audit director, and Andrew Collins, chief of financial monitoring and accountability at the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Other members are Angela Knecht, Florida Department of Environmental Protection program administrator, Marie Walker, audit director for the Florida Department of Revenue, J.D. Patterson Jr., former director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Vernita Nelson, assistant city manager for the city of Miami Gardens, and Frank Rollason, city manager for North Bay Village.

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