New Complaint Filed Against Commissioner, Public Safety Director

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A former candidate for the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners has filed complaints about the county’s Public Safety Director Jacob Saur and Commissioner Vanessa Baugh after they wouldn’t answer his question during a May 24 virtual hurricane town hall session for Baugh’s District 5.

Chris Gilbert, who ran against Baugh as a Democratic write-in candidate in District 5 last year, filed complaints with the Florida Department of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this month after his question went unanswered and was called “not appropriate” by Saur.

Gilbert told Patch that he had concerns about equal treatment for all District 5 residents — especially those “not rich and white and living in Lakewood Ranch" — after Baugh hosted a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic only for those living in the district’s wealthiest ZIP codes in February.

That event bypassed the county’s vaccine lottery system in place at the time. Baugh also created a VIP list for the clinic. Of the five names on that list, hers was one of them.

“If she cheated during a pandemic, she’s not going to have any moral qualms about cheating during a disaster,” Gilbert said.

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In the video of the virtual town hall meeting, Gilbert can be heard asking, “We know that there is likely to be an unpublished and informal VIP list for accessing all of the services of District 5. What fail-safes do you have in place to ensure that folks like in my ZIP code of 34208 don’t get ignored when we’re writing for help in emergencies?”

Gilbert claimed that Baugh “doesn’t answer any emails unless they’re from donors or someone who specifically (and) reliably supports her. So, how do people know that they're going to get equal treatment when they write in for help?"

Saur responded, “Ok, that’s, that’s not an appropriate question.”

As the public safety director moved on to the next question, a small video screen in the upper righthand corner, Baugh can be seen smiling and laughing.

“When I asked my question at the end, she was just incredulous. She just shook her head and couldn't believe it,” Gilbert said. “Sometimes I think it doesn’t get through to them that there’s a conscientious objection population out there that really wishes they weren’t there (on the BOCC.)”

When asked by Patch via email why she didn’t answer the question, Baugh wrote, “I was not handling the meeting, Public safety was.”

When asked about Gilbert’s allegations that she only responds to her supporters, the commissioner wrote, “As far as responding to any emails, I am responding to you (Patch) and you did not contribute to my campaign.”

Patch has emailed Baugh on matters related to February’s elite vaccine clinic eight times. Her only response came Tuesday when asked about the hurricane town hall.

A criminal investigation of the February vaccine clinic continues after Michael Barfield, a paralegal and ACLU of Florida board president, filed a criminal complaint against her in February. Randy Warren, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office’s public information officer, said there’s “nothing new” to report.

A local attorney, Jennifer Hamey also filed an ethics complaint against Baugh with the Florida Commission on Ethics. She said the case has passed the commission’s legal review and has been assigned to an investigator.

Patch reached out to Jacob Saur, FDEM and FEMA for comments.

Watch/listen to the full May 24 hurricane town hall meeting for District 5 here: