ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — OnePULSE Foundation has not turned over financial documents after Orange County requested the records in November. Now, the County Comptroller’s Office tells Channel 9 it’s no longer seeking the records.
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In November, the county requested onePULSE Foundation’s financial records, including bank statements and board meeting minutes. The documents would shed some light on how the Foundation operated and internal decisions made by the board.
The county requested the records from the now-dissolved Foundation after onePULSE violated its agreement with the county by renting out land purchased with Tourist Development Tax funds.
“We’d like to see-- are there funds left?” said Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond in a lengthy commission meeting on Nov. 28.
Read: Leaked financial documents show OnePULSE fundraising shortfalls
Three months later, the Foundation has not provided those documents.
Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond spoke to us about it in late February.
“Why is it essential for or the county to have this information?” Investigative Reporter Ashlyn Webb asked.
Read: Department of Homeland Security reviews complaint on onePULSE Foundation
“Well, we wanted to look at it just to double-check the expenditures that were made,” Diamond said.
Diamond said in November next steps would be based on what the County found in those documents.
But this Monday, Orange County Assistant Comptroller Chris Dawkins says the county is no longer seeking these financial records because onePULSE Foundation said it is unable to provide them, due to lack of staff.
“We have been informed that onePULSE is basically Defunct; therefore, there are no staff currently employed by the agency that could research, compile, and provide the requested documents,” the Comptroller’s Office said in a statement Monday.
Read: Property records reveal more details about sale of planned Pulse memorial land
The Foundation instead offered to let the county come and inspect the documents in person, which both the County and Foundation confirm.
However, Dawkins said Orange County was “uncomfortable” with that arrangement.
The Comptroller’s Office said the county’s priority is to get back the land on Kaley Street that onePULSE Foundation purchased with Tourist Development Tax funds for the museum project “without any, or minimal additional liabilities.”
Pulse shooting survivors tell Channel 9 they were hoping for some answers from these documents, with one survivor saying the county “failed them” by not demanding the records.
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