UPDATED – SAO: Sunshine Law investigation suspended in wake of HCBOCC secretary’s firing

Article revised with additional information printed at the request of former secretary’s attorney

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: At the request of Marie A. Maddox, attorney for former Holmes County Board Secretary Judith White, we are reprinting this article to add clarification that Mrs. White had no responsibility for any meetings live broadcast before or on March 26, 2025, and to incorporate technical context from Facebook’s public resources regarding livestream archives and disruptions.

The State Attorney’s Office has advised the Holmes County Board of Commissioners there will be no further investigation into alleged violations of Florida’s public records laws in light of the recent termination of the board’s secretary.

The investigation was opened in July following a formal complaint filed by the Holmes County Advertiser. The complaint chiefly focused on social media, specifically the fact the board’s Facebook account is not backed up as required by Florida’s public records retention statute, as well as allegations that recent live broadcasts of the board’s meetings had been deleted and/or stopped and restarted.

State Attorney Larry Basford addressed the issues in an August 1 letter to Holmes County Attorney Nate Nolin, which began by acknowledging while there is no requirement that the board record its meetings, any audio or video recordings made by commissioners or board staff become public record and are subject to public records laws.

Basford’s second point was in relation to the posting or streaming of commission meetings on social media.

“If [streaming] is done at the direction of the commission, then it is also an official public record and must be preserved. Failure to do so could result in criminal and/or civil penalties,” wrote Basford. “We have received a complaint that one or more of the 2025 monthly commission meeting videos that had been live streamed have been deleted or were not preserved. If this was done intentionally, it would be a violation of Section 119.10, Florida Statutes.” 

At the time of the complaint, videos deleted from the board’s social media included those from March, April, and May, with another from June having been stopped and then restarted. Videos from October 2024 to February 2025 remained. These actions took place prior to Facebook’s July 3, 2025, launch of an app-wide automation that deletes live-stream videos older than 30 days.

Basford went on to address the alleged stopping and restarting of meeting broadcasts, stating, “… if the meetings are live streamed or recorded, the entire meeting should be live streamed or recorded. Failure to do so could also violate the law.”

Basford closed his statement to Nolin by acknowledging efforts by the county to correct perceived non-compliance with Sunshine and Open Records Laws.

“It is my understanding that the individual responsible for the violations is no longer employed by the commission and the commissioners have taken measures to comply with all the requirements of Florida’s Public Record laws. Therefore, no further investigation into this matter is required at this time.”

The Advertiser confirmed the individual to whom Basford was referring in his letter as no longer being employed by the commission is former board secretary, Judi White, whose employment was terminated July 8; however, White was not responsible for the county’s live meeting broadcasts until after March 26, 2025.

A formal dismissal letter cites the reasons for White’s termination as “refusal to perform work assigned or comply with written or verbal instructions of a supervisor” and “discourteous, insulting, abusive, or inflammatory language or conduct toward the public or coworkers.”

The latter of those reasons stemmed from White’s response to receiving the letter from the newspaper expressing concerns about the county’s Sunshine Law violations, in which two witnesses stated White said publicly in the county office of The Advertiser’s Publisher, Carol Kent Smith, “I’m going to whip her f***ing a**.”

Commissioners voted in September 2024 to begin live broadcasting the board’s meetings via Facebook, a duty for which White was primarily responsible with Building Department employee Nina Nallick serving as backup.

The Advertiser reached out to the board on July 1 after noting the perceived violations relating to the board’s social media activity. This is the letter to which reportedly resulted in White’s threat to Carol Kent Smith; however, White did later state in a written communication to the commissioners that she felt she had been “falsely accused of a crime” and had been defensive.

“Being falsely accused of committing a crime both publicly and in writing has caused me to go on the defensive, as it would most people,” she stated in the email.

It should be noted that The Advertiser’s letter addressed the concerns to the county, Sunshine Law concerns that included more than the deletion of videos.

The letter also addressed concerns that the county did not have a records retention for the social media page as required by law and reminded the county that commissioners should be mindful of Sunshine Laws when texting and calling one another – neither of which are issues over which White or any other administrative staff would have control.

It should be noted that Facebook states, “Live disruptions, such as streams dropping, buffering, or failing to connect, are frequently caused by internet connection issues, device limitations, or Facebook’s own platform problems.”

It should also be noted there have been no reported broadcast disruptions since July 8.

Records show White sent a letter to County Coordinator David Corbin the day after the county received the letter of concern from the newspaper stating she would no longer be logging into the county’s social media and that she had “falsely been accused of a crime.” White also told commissioners following the July 1 meeting she would refuse to participate in any future live broadcasting of county meetings on social media, also texting then-active County Commissioner Brandon Newsom during that meeting, saying, “No not by me EVER again!! I’ll let you know about it later” when he inquired about the meeting not being livestreamed. White’s refusal to perform the duty was classified as insubordination, according to county officials.

White later expressed she suspected there had possibly been some unauthorized use of the county’s Facebook login, suggesting in a subsequent letter to the county that the board create a new social media page to “alleviate the possibility of other unknown parties accessing the page and causing more of the problems we currently face.”

While the State Attorney’s Office indicated White’s separation from the county resolved some of the issues, investigators do have the option of re-opening the investigation should the board be found to not take corrective action or have further allegations of violations.

One measure being taken to bring the county into compliance is acquiring the use of an automated web and social media archival service. The board is expected to vote on retaining the use of this service when it convenes again in regular session Tuesday, August 5.

“I always felt we needed to go to a county-wide phone system in lieu of the phone stipend to allow additional transparency among county workers and elected officials,” said Erickson. “With this information coming out from Mr. Basford, this is good news – not only for Holmes County but for how we need to move forward with being transparent, ensuring records are more easily accessible and giving additional ease of transparency.”

County Commissioner Clint Erickson also recently suggested drafting a new policy specifically addressing public records, as well as shifting from paying employees cell phone stipends to a county-wide cell phone system. 

Attorney Nate Nolin says the county is dedicated to a higher standard when it comes to public records.

“The Board of County Commissioners is committed to transparency,” said Nolin. “While livestreaming meetings are not required, the board is committed to clarity and accessibility. All meetings of the board are also open to the public, and the board’s dedication to making government operations visible to citizens is a top priority.”

“Appropriate measures have been taken by the board to ensure public access to all governmental proceedings, by continuing to offer the livestream service of all meetings,” he continued. “The tasks associated with preservation of record and public accessibility can be difficult for rural fiscally constrained counties, who not only lack the ability to raise revenue, but also have limited staff. The board continues to meet these challenges and is committed to high standards of care to ensure trust is instilled by the citizens of Holmes County.”

In an agreement with White’s attorney, Marie A. Mattox and in the spirit of transparency and promoting the public’s ability to drawing their own conclusions, the public records referenced in this article are available online. The Advertiser will also email or print mail copies of these items to anyone who requests we do so by calling 850-638-0212.

LETTER FROM ATTORNEY MARIE A. MADDOX

To Whom it May Concern:

Please be advised that our firm represents Judith White and I write to address inaccuracies in your article titled “SAO: Sunshine Law investigation suspended in wake of HCBOCC secretary’s firing”, published online on August 4, 2025.

While we acknowledge that portions of the article refer to public or otherwise verifiable information, it omits key facts, presents a misleading narrative, and includes speculative and damaging insinuations.

The statement in your article that “ videos deleted from the board’s social media included those from March, April, and May, with another from June having been stopped and then restarted,” followed by your claim that “these actions took place prior to Facebook’s July 3, 2025, launch of an app-wide automation that deletes live-stream videos older than 30 days” which is not only categorically false but highly misleading.

First, your article fails to mention that another employee was solely responsible for managing the Board’s livestreams until that employee’s resignation in March 2025. Any issues with the livestreams prior to that occurred entirely under this other employee’s supervision, not Judith White.

Second, your characterization of Facebook’s video deletion policy omits critical and publicly available information. On February 18, 2025, Facebook announced that beginning February 19, 2025:

 “Live videos currently older than 30 days will be removed from Facebook. Before your archival live videos are deleted, you will be notified by email and in the app, and from then you’ll have 90 days to download or transfer your content.”

This information was published more than four months prior to the July 3, 2025 date you cite, and contradicts the timeline and implication of intentional deletion by county staff. Your failure to include or acknowledge this material fact misleads readers and unfairly implies misconduct by our client.

Significantly, you submitted a public records request on June 19, 2025 and stated “The live broadcasts – which is a public record – for both the January 7, 2025, meeting and the June 17, 2025, meeting were both stopped and then restarted.” Yet in your article, you mention only the June 17th meeting and omit the January 7th livestream entirely. This omission is significant. The January 7th meeting occurred during the other employee’s tenure, and responsibility for that livestream rested solely with that employee, not with Judith White.

Additionally, Facebook makes clear that livestreams can be interrupted due to bandwidth limitations, or device issues, a factor not acknowledged in your article. This omission reinforces a misleading narrative suggesting misconduct by Ms. White. This material fact, if included, would have clarified the circumstances and prevented the unjust attribution of responsibility to Ms. White.

Accordingly, we demand that you:

a.      Amend the article to include reference to the January 7, 2025, meeting and clarify that Ms. White had no responsibility for that date or any dates before or on March 26, 2025.

b.      Incorporate technical context from Facebook’s public resources regarding livestream archives and disruptions;

c.       Confirm in writing within five (5) business days the corrective actions you intend to take.

The overall effect of your publication is to draw misleading conclusions and attribute responsibility to our client without accurate timelines, full context, or acknowledgment of publicly available information that undermines the article’s insinuations against Ms. White. The article, at the very least, is defamation per quod.

Please be advised that Ms. White reserves all rights and legal remedies available to her, including but not limited to claims for defamation, false light, and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.

Very truly yours,

Marie A. Mattox

Marie A. Mattox, attorney for former Holmes County Board of County Commissioners Secretary Judi White, reached out to the Holmes County Advertiser to request a reprint of the adjacent article ‘SAO: Sunshine Law investigation suspended in wake of HCBOCC secretary’s firing’ that ran in the August 6, 2025, edition of the Holmes County Advertiser. The Advertiser is reprinting the article and adding clarifications, as well as additional information that was omitted due to what the publication perceived as lack of relevancy to the story at the time. The article has been rewritten to include Mattox’s requested additions, as well as additional information taken from public records.

Another detail The Advertiser omitted from the original story was that Mrs. White’s response to a letter written to the Holmes County Board of Commissioners expressing concerns regarding Sunshine Law violations – according to witness statements – was to threaten to assault Publisher Carol Kent Smith. Due to profane language, these witness statements are censored; however, the uncensored public record is available for public viewing at holmescounty.news