The Northeast Florida Regional Airport | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today.
Published on March 11, 2025 at 9:58 am
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The elected board who oversee St. Augustine’s Northeast Florida Regional Airport are anticipating a criminal investigation into allegations that two board members violated Florida’s Sunshine Laws governing public meetings.
The accusation came to light last month when the board’s general legal counsel, the Palatka-based Douglas Law Firm, abruptly announced that it would no longer work for the board.
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Elected boards typically have general counsel, a lawyer who can answer the board’s legal questions.
In a Feb. 20 letter to the St. Johns County Airport Authority Board, attorney Jeremiah Blocker wrote that his law firm had an “ethical obligation” to withdraw its services.
“The legal and ethical conflict involves a pattern of violations of Florida’s Sunshine Law, failure to disclose conflicts of interest and other ethical violations by the Chairman of the Board, Reba Ludlow, and an individual board member, Len Tucker,” Blocker said in his letter. “These violations have been ongoing and continuous, necessitating our withdrawal.”
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Blocker did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the specifics of his accusations. Board members also said they were unaware of specifics when asked by a member of the public during Monday’s meeting.
Speaking with Jacksonville Today on Monday, Ludlow said she and Tucker are close friends, but she is well aware of the state’s laws prohibiting elected members of the same board from discussing board matters in private. She has, she noted, served on the Airport Authority Board since 1985.
Reached by phone in recent weeks, Tucker said he would not comment on the matter.
The Airport Authority’s aviation attorney Chad Roberts told the board Monday that documents concerning the alleged violations had been turned over to the State Attorney’s Office.
“Based on the seriousness and the gravity of the issues, the visibility and the public interest, it would be highly unusual if there were not a criminal investigation,” Roberts said.
He urged the board and staff at the airport to cooperate, as an investigation is “likely to happen … or has already begun.”
In addition, Roberts has advised the board’s interim Executive Director Courtney Pittman to retain his own independent legal counsel. Board members have also been advised to call ahead when entering the airport’s administrative building in case investigators or other board members are present.
Some members of the board said they were caught off guard by the allegations and swift departure of the board’s legal counsel.
Board member Dennis Clarke said he wished the Douglas Law Firm would have been more transparent about the allegations before leaving.
“I find it very ironic that two of our board members are being accused of Sunshine Law violations at the same time the public and your elected representatives are being kept in the dark,” Clarke said.
Ludlow, one of the board members accused of breaking the law, repeatedly called the allegations “unsubstantiated rumors.”
Two board members, Jennifer Liotta and Michelle Cash-Chapman, voted to have the board proceed with its own independent investigation. Tucker, who was accused of wrongdoing by the board’s former legal counsel, recused himself from the vote. Liotta argued that Ludlow should do the same, but she disagreed.
“Rumors are rumors,” Ludlow said.
Liotta responded that they are “way beyond rumors. There are written allegations.”
The vote ended in a tie — resulting in no action — thanks to “no” votes from Ludlow and Dennis Clarke.
The board did agree on one thing Monday: to proceed with a public request for a new law firm to serve as its general counsel.
