Following allegations of financial mismanagement, the Pensacola City Council placed a moratorium on city funding for a homeless camp operated by Re-Entry Alliance Pensacola until an independent audit can be conducted.

As part of the unanimously approved measure, the council also called on the city to exercise more oversight into the living conditions at the camp.

Pensacola City Councilman Delarian Wiggins proposed the moratorium Monday after he said he received complaints in August about the conditions at the camp. Wiggins said he later received an email from then-camp director Melissa Johnson alleging REAP was misallocating funding for the camp.

REAP Executive Director Vinnie Whibbs told the News Journal last week that Johnson had been terminated from her position with REAP, where she had been director of both the camp and the Max-Well Respite Center.

Johnson spoke at the City Council meeting Thursday and said that there had been purchases under REAP's account for the camp and the Max-Well Respite Center that were used for other REAP programs. Johnson gave one example of an air mattress purchased with city funds being used at a REAP program in Santa Rosa County.

The council has approved a total of $100,000 in city funds to be spent at the REAP Safe Outdoor Space (SOS) Camp. 

Johnson, who also directs her own nonprofit, Fearless Communities Inc., alleged she has received about $2,000 in cash donations from the community. She said she turned them in to Whibbs for the Max-Well Center but has only received a receipt for $500.

"All the money is being co-mingled," Johnson said. "I am on this account. My board has asked for this to be removed and still to this date it is not being done, and I believe that is what led all to this."

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Laura Kennedy, a member of Fearless Community Inc., also spoke to the council and denied allegations about poor living conditions at the camp and claims that food stamp cards were collected from people staying in the camp.

"We have, however, provided transportation and guidance to get food stamps and how to get replacement cards, which were mailed to REAP's main office," Kennedy said. "We would pick them up from the office and deliver them to the campers."

Candy Alcott, a former volunteer with REAP, first made public allegations about the conditions at the camp at an Escambia County Commission meeting. She told commissioners that people were getting sick from unrefrigerated food, that there were rats living behind the tents and that the camp isn't properly equipped to serve the number of people it is housing. 

She stood by her comments Thursday.

"Everything I said was true," Alcott said to the council. "The day you gave (Johnson) the key to the city, there was no water in camp and lunch was not delivered."

Whibbs told the council he disagreed with the comments but said an audit should address any concerns.

"(At) REAP, the last several weeks has been somewhat trying and challenging, but we recognize that we've got a responsibility," Whibbs said. "There's a job that needs to be done."

Whibbs said he felt the best way to move forward was with the city audit, as well as additional city oversight to clear up concerns about the operation.

Whibbs said the camp would remain open during the moratorium.

Wiggins was in Orlando for a conference Thursday, but the rules were suspended to allow him to speak at the meeting through a video call.

Wiggins said after receiving the complaints about the camp, he visited the site and saw an outdoor shower with a drainage ditch that smelled like raw sewage, food left out in the sun and wet laundry stacked in piles.

Wiggins said he also met a woman who was at the camp who later told him she was afraid to speak truthfully to him during his visit because she said she was being recorded. She called him later and said she was being mistreated at the camp.

"They took her emotional support animal from her," Wiggins said. "I can't sit down and allow that to happen. They're not being treated fairly. The only reason why they're changing things right now is because of this moratorium, because they know we're about to freeze their funds."

Wiggins said he thought a law enforcement agency should do the investigation into the operations at the camp.

Pensacola Police Department Chief Eric Randall said that PPD would investigate any criminal complaints made to them, but for any allegations of financial crimes, it would be best if the city conducted an audit as a starting point.

Deputy City Administrator Amy Miller said after Wiggins notified the city of issues with the camp, code enforcement officers went to the camp and notified REAP of all of the code violations. Since the visit in August, Miller said the issues code violations had been addressed, including the outdoor shower as of Thursday afternoon.

"No one is above the law," Wiggins said.

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.