ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A hearing began Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. over a lawsuit filed by Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean against the county and Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond.

This follows an ongoing feud between Gilzean and county leaders after the November elections.

The issue first arose when Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings accused Gilzean of misusing $2.1 million in surplus money to fund debt-free scholarships for Valencia College students.

Demings initially threatened to sue Gilzean for not returning the full $4 million in surplus funding.

While the elections office returned at least $700,000 in leftover funds to the county, Gilzean said he established the scholarships to expand voter participation among the youth.

CareerSource also received $1.9 million in additional funding but has since refunded the money back to the Supervisor of Elections Office. 

The county questioned Gilzean’s spending record on non-budgetary expenses dating back to Oct. 2, after a “confidential informant” told commissioners that the elections office wired more than $1.1 million to a Central Florida nonprofit on that date.

On Dec. 3, county commissioners voted to shut off funding to the elections office while the comptroller audited Gilzean’s spending record.

Following that, Gilzean sued the Orange County government and Comptroller Phil Diamond, saying they put his office in “dire straits” and that he can’t pay his employees.

On Monday, Dec. 16, the comptroller’s office released a report examining the financial records of the elections office.

The 12-page report shows the elections office spent about $9.8 million, or about 51% of the coming year’s annual budget in the past two months, which Diamond claims is against Florida law.

Diamond said that besides spending more than allowed, the Supervisor of Elections Office allegedly violated Florida statute by paying more than $1.1 million to the nonprofit Central Florida Foundation.

Diamond also said Gilzean did not follow generally accepted accounting principles, saying he wrote checks totaling more than the checking account balance.

Gilzean’s office responded to Monday’s report with a statement that read, in part:

“The comptroller broke the law by withholding payroll funds from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. The court found that the supervisor had a clear legal right to the funds, and the comptroller had an indisputable duty to disburse them.”

On Tuesday, Dec. 17, Orange County commissioners passed two motions aimed at addressing what the county comptroller says is persistent overspending by Gilzean.

The first motion authorizes the county mayor and comptroller to take necessary steps to ensure Supervisor of Elections employees are paid. The second directs the elections office to cancel a $1.1 million contract with the nonprofit Central Florida Foundation and return the funds.

Among the proposed solutions is paying employees directly through the county’s payroll service instead of sending funds to the Supervisor of Elections account.

Diamond expressed concerns about funds being misdirected if sent to the overdrawn account.

Gilzean denies any wrongdoing and claims the county illegally withheld funds.

 “I will always fight for my staff and appreciate the county ensuring payroll is made over the holidays. Unfortunately, our office was put in this position due to lies told by the Mayor and an astonishing misunderstanding of elections by the Comptroller. We will continue to make our case in court and shine a light on the laws the Mayor and Comptroller broke,” Gilzean said in a statement.

Diamond said, at this point, it’s unclear exactly how much money needs to be recovered, and that the whole situation is “unprecedented.”