TAMPA, Fla. — The HART board has voted to immediately terminate CEO Ben Limmer after an investigation found he spent public money on personal expenses and shared inside information.
The board voted for the firing Friday morning after meeting to discuss the results of the investigation.
The most serious finding included in HART's internal investigation found that Limmer gave inside information to a vendor in what could have been a multi-million dollar contract.
“Mr. Limmer received information from an agency, from a vendor, that wrote up the scope of work for a contract with $3 million. And that particular vendor was allowed then to bid on a contract that they wrote, that is absolutely wrong," board chairman Les Miller said.
"On Wall Street that’s called insider trading and you go to jail behind that," Miller added. “To have a CEO that violated every policy we possibly had, basically insider trading on the most egregious of them all, to bring him back would have been detrimental to this agency, as far as I’m concerned.”
Limmer addressed the board personally, reading a brief written statement that included a series of apologies.
“I wanted to stand up and personally stress to each and every one of you how deeply apologetic I am over all of these transgressions," Limmer told the board. "I want to apologize to the citizens of Hillsborough County, the thirty-five thousand daily customers that we serve, the 800-plus HART employees who remain dedicated each and every day, the board and, of course, you Chairman Miller.”
Once the board voted to terminate him, Limmer walked out of the room. He had been HART's CEO for less than a year.
Limmer sent the following statement:
When I arrived last spring, I was tasked by this board to transform HART into the world-class transit agency that Hillsborough County deserves. That transformation required bold action, a new executive team, and a complete internal review of policies ranging from how we hire people to how we deliver great service to our customers. As I focused on the new direction of our agency, I made avoidable errors in regards to some internal policies. However, those errors were not intentional. I want to thank the hundreds of HART employees who have stood by me during this process and who will continue to serve the people of Hillsborough County.
An investigation into the now-former Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority CEO found Limmer spent public money on personal meals and items, provided a consulting company with inside information, violated travel policy and more.
The investigation began in November 2019 after a whistleblower complaint about Limmer's behavior. He had been suspended with pay for three months following the complaint.
10Investigates got a copy of the whistleblower complaint, which had previously been confidential, shortly before Friday morning’s special Board meeting.
The whistleblower accused Limmer of “mismanagement, malfeasance, misfeasance, and/or gross waste of public funds, especially considering HART’s very constrained financial resources.”
The whistleblower also wrote that Limmer “forcefully orders me not [to] talk to anyone or email anything about his expenses,” saying Limmer “does not want to go to the board, wants to award to whomever he wants, for whichever task he wants, for whatever dollar amount he wants."
The written complaint from the whistleblower also raised concerns about Limmer spending thousands on twice-monthly executive coaching, noting invoices didn’t reveal the content or length of the sessions.
“I question why a self-proclaimed 'seasoned' leader would need immediate 'executive coaching'; this appears to be a waste of taxpayer funding,” the whistleblower wrote.
HART board members got the 76-page investigative report Sunday evening from Carlton Fields, a firm the board chose to conduct the investigation into the whistleblower complaint.
According to the report, multiple employees expressed similar concerns about issues in the whistleblower complaint.
The report said Limmer accused the director of procurement of being part of a "conspiracy" and an "organized assassination" by certain people to make him "look bad" because he was "significantly changing personnel" following an influx of funds from the transportation tax.
Among the findings, the report said violations include soliciting for management consulting services, retention of a law firm to document employee terminations without board approval and providing a consulting firm with improper inside information about HART's procurement needs.
The investigation also found Limmer used his travel and purchase card for daily allowance meals while traveling, which is a violation of HART policy. He also got a daily allowance even if meals were already included in conference registration costs.
The report said Limmer also violated policy by using his P-card to buy meals for his child while traveling for business. And, investigators found Limmer used his P-card to buy "inappropriate" personal items like a Keurig coffee machine and coffee pods for his office despite HART having machines in the break rooms.
Limmer's P-card was also used for him to stay at a Tampa hotel for five nights -- totally $1,122.84 -- because he was a speaker at a conference, the report states.
HART attorney Carolyn House Stewart has been serving as interim CEO of HART since Limmer’s suspension.
Stewart started working at HART in September 2015 as a Temporary Litigation Counsel and was promoted to Director of Risk and Legal Services in 2019, according to HART Director of Communications Carson Chambers.
The whistleblower complaint:
What other people are reading right now:
- Death of doctor who warned of virus unleashes fury at Chinese officials
- Crews to assess damage left behind by storms
- Matt Gaetz files ethics complaint against Nancy Pelosi, but did she break the law ripping up State of the Union?
- 'Gray death' cases surge across the south. What you should know about the deadly new drug mix
- Pizza shop gets shut down for third time in 2 years
- Infant carriers sold at Target, Amazon recalled because baby could fall out
