Former Sarasota City Commissioner Erik Arroyo is asking the city to reimburse more than $10,000 in legal fees he spent fighting ethics complaints that had not previously been reported.

Three local residents — Harrison Lovisa, Laura Bowers and Bill Farber — filed complaints early last year with the Florida Commission on Ethics, accusing Arroyo of using his elected position to promote a proposed project without disclosing his business ties to it. 

The complaints stemmed from a February 2024 commission meeting where local businessman Jeff Koffman presented a proposal to turn Ken Thompson Park into a Park Golf course. Arroyo had requested the proposal be added to the agenda and, after the presentation, voted to send it to a city advisory board. 

One month later, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that Arroyo had business connections to a company affiliated with Koffman’s Park Golf business — ties he did not disclose before the presentation or before he voted.

The statewide ethics commission launched a preliminary investigation but later dismissed the  case after concluding that none of the complainants had “personal information” about the allegations, a requirement under a newly tightened state law governing ethics cases.

Florida legislators overhauled the state’s ethics laws in June 2024, a move some advocates say has made it harder for residents to file successful complaints.

While Senate Bill 7014 increased the maximum fine for violating the state’s ethics rules to $20,000, it put more restrictions on who can file ethics complaints. It now requires anyone filing one to have personal knowledge of the alleged unethical conduct and makes them responsible for attorney fees for “malicious” filings.

Although the Florida Commission on Ethics publicly stated it dismissed the case because of recent changes to state law, suggesting the decision was procedural, it did not disclose that its own advocate in October had recommended finding a lack of probable cause.

The ethics commission advocate — a lawyer who fills the role of prosecutor in an ethics investigation — appeared to base his decision on the fact that Arroyo did not directly represent the two companies at the February commission meeting: Ride Entertainment and HSK Industries Inc.

Koffman was presenting for Ride Entertainment of Sarasota LLC, with Arroyo providing legal services for other Koffman affiliated companies: Park Golf Entertainment Inc. and Park Golf Entertainment Orlando LLC.

Arroyo says complaints were political attack

Arroyo denounced the ethics complaints as a political attack by his rivals to damage his reputation and maintained that he did nothing wrong in the matter.

“All this was, was a presentation that went nowhere,” he told Suncoast Searchlight.

But two of the three residents who filed complaints denied politics played a role, telling Suncoast Searchlight that they believed Arroyo simply had crossed a line and needed to be held accountable. 

Harrison Lovisa, a State College of Florida student who plans to attend the University of South Florida in the fall, said he typically agrees with Arroyo’s political positions, but was shocked by what he saw as legitimate conflicts of interest.

“The evidence I found was pretty easy to follow if you just put two and two together,” said Lovisa, who expressed disappointment with the conclusion to his complaint.

Bill Farber said he filed the complaint with the support of the Lido Shores Property Owners Association, over which he presides and expressed concern about the intertwined interests of the commissioner and the local businessman.

However, he said he had no problem with Arroyo seeking to be reimbursed.

“If he can get reimbursed from the city, we wish Erik the best,” Farber said.

Suncoast Searchlight also reached out to Laura Bowers, but the call was not immediately returned.

City staff recommends approving request

The City Commission will vote Monday on whether to approve Arroyo’s request for $10,285 in reimbursement, with city staff recommending the payment. Staff noted in a report included in the upcoming commission agenda that Arroyo had not been found guilty of wrongdoing and that Florida law entitles public officials to legal representation at public expense when defending against ethics complaints.

Kelly Franklin, a city resident and frequent critic of City Hall, blasted the ethics commission decision and urged the commission to reject Arroyo’s reimbursement request.

“This nonsensical ruling places elected officials who do not follow ethics rules for public officials out of reach of the law,” she wrote in an email to the city clerk and forwarded to a reporter. “In essence, it awards absolute immunity for any action, no matter how obviously unethical, as long as the official claims, even on the flimsiest of pretenses, that they are engaged in something that has a public purpose.”

Franklin noted that a similar legal argument resulted in the city commission spending $25,000 defending a defamation suit she brought against City Commissioner Kyle Battie, stemming from a doctored social media post she said he used to discredit her.

That suit was dismissed after Battie argued his role as a city commissioner provided him immunity.

Franklin said she has spent $60,000 in the suit against Battie, while questioning the fairness of the city footing bills she views as self-inflicted by the commissioners.

“Will you show any ethical backbone at all by declining to pay the legal fees for Erik Arroyo’s undisclosed conflict of interest?” she asked in her email.

Arroyo brushed off the complaints and lingering controversy as political theater, saying critics were eager to create drama where none existed.

“My political opponents do it all the time,” he said. “They love the big spectacle.”