A former Escambia County employee is suing the county, alleging it violated the Florida Whistleblower’s Act by forcing him to resign after reporting his boss for “gross mismanagement.”
The case is now at a point where the County Commission will have to decide in a closed-door meeting how the county will move forward.
Former Waste Services Engineer and Environmental Manager Nicolas Howard filed a civil lawsuit in May 2025 alleging the county retaliated against him when he brought concerns that the previous Waste Services Director, Donald Seitz, had misrepresented the Perdido Landfill’s capacity, which Howard had projected would be out of space by August 2026.
Howard’s lawsuit also alleges that the former director told him not to raise concerns about groundwater monitor wells around the closed Klondike Landfill, which is now an archery park, that had been destroyed in a local development project, stating, “the developers are paying the Commissioners.”
Other allegations in the case claim the former director was structuring purchasing contracts to get around procurement rules that would have otherwise required a competitive bid, and that the Waste Services Department was being used to fund projects in the Road Department when the law requires they be used to support solid was services.
Howard alleged he raised his concerns with Assistant County Administrator Debbie Bowers and continued to do so even after Seitz announced he was resigning. Three months after he raised his concerns to Bowers, Howard alleged Bowers told him he had to resign from the county or be fired.
In court filings, Escambia County has denied Howard’s allegations and argued he does not meet the legal requirements to be considered a whistleblower.
In August 2025, Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Paul Bailey initially dismissed the case, finding that the initial complaint didn’t meet the legal requirements to move forward under the Whistleblower Act. An amended complaint filed in September 2025 survived Escambia County’s attempt to have it dismissed, and the case moved into the discovery phase.
The Escambia County Commission is set to vote on June 17 to schedule a closed-door meeting — often referred to as a “shade meeting” — with county attorneys to discuss the case. The shade meeting will be on July 23.
Both sides are deposing witnesses in the case, and a mediation session is scheduled for July 29.
Escambia County spokesperson Kaycee Lagarde declined to comment to the News Journal, citing the pending litigation.
Whistleblower concerns or an attempted ‘coup’?
Howard alleges he brought his concerns about “gross mismanagement” to Assistant County Administrator Debbie Bowers in a phone call in early January 2025.
According to the complaint, Howard worked for the Waste Service Department since 2020, and his primary concern was Seitz misrepresenting the Perdido Landfill’s capacity and the need to permit two unpermitted waste cells.
“Seitz had presented false or unsupported projections claiming the County had adequate disposal capacity, when in fact (Howard’s) analysis showed that permitted space would be exhausted by August 2026,” the complaint said. “These concerns were later validated by independent engineering experts.”
In court filings, the county confirmed that Howard’s analysis showed the landfill would run out of space if it kept the height capped at 250 feet, but denied that it had been validated by independent engineers. The landfill is permitted to reach as high as 325 feet above sea level, but the court filings say the county had capped the height of the landfill to 250 feet.
On Jan. 6, 2025, Seitz announced to the department he was resigning in 90 days, but Howard was still concerned he was mishandling projects in the department through change orders to get around procurement rules, and diverting revenues to Road Department projects, according to the filing.
Howard continued to raise concerns with Bowers and handed over a memo with a bullet-point list in a one-on-one meeting with her on Feb. 20, 2025.
As the county searched for a new director to replace Seitz, Howard applied, but Bowers told him he would not be a finalist for the job despite having a good initial interview.
Bowers allegedly told him the county needed someone “more politically inclined,” which the complaint said was a signal he was being retaliated against.
The county denied Bowers said that to Howard in its filings.
Funds spent on Road Department projects questioned
The Waste Services Department is run as an “enterprise” department, which means it operates like a business off the revenue it generates. Florida law requires that landfill fees be spent in ways that support solid waste services.
In a staff meeting with Bowers and Waste Service on March 11, Howard and others raised concerns over the department spending funds on Road Department projects.
The complaint said Finance Manager Susan Hold expressed concerns with the spending practices to Howard in multiple meetings and that she had to frequently justify the expenses to the Clerk of Court and Comptroller Pam Childers’ office.
“Bowers dismissed the concerns by stating, ‘Y’all need to quit your bitching, you should see what we take from EMS,’” the complaint said.
The county’s Emergency Medical Services is another department that often generates a surplus, and those funds are transferred to support other services, though there aren’t the same legal restrictions on those funds. The issue has echoes of former Medical Director Dr. Raymer Edler’s retaliation lawsuit against Escambia County that alleged the county was overbilling for services to boost EMS revenue. Ultimately, the county settled the relation portion of the lawsuit for nearly $1 million.
In court filings, the county denied that Bowers had made the statement about EMS.
On March 14, the finalist for the Waste Services director position, Andy Liess, came for an on-site visit, and Howard alleged he and Waste Services Deputy Director Karrah Shreshock were excluded from meeting Liess. Liess was ultimately hired.
On March 17, Howard was called into a meeting with Bowers to discuss the Feb. 20 memo, and she allegedly told him he had to resign.
“Bowers informed him, ‘I’m here to give you the opportunity to resign,’ offering a payout of his 90-day notice period and accrued leave,” the complaint said. “She warned that if he declined, his employment would be terminated with no severance. Bowers justified this by citing a ‘loss of trust’ and characterized (Howard’s) memo as an attempted ‘coup’ against outgoing Seitz.”
In the court filing, the county denied that Howard was told to resign or be fired.
Howard said that in February, Bowers would keep the memo confidential, but at the March 17 meeting, told him she had shared the memo with Seitz, who had denied all of the allegations.
“Did you think I wasn’t going to follow up with Don about this?” Bowers allegedly told Howard, according to the complaint.
On the same day, Shreshock, who had supported Howard going to county leadership with his concerns, was demoted from deputy director to Howard’s job, and she later resigned, according to the complaint.
Escambia County’s legal argument
While denying Howard’s account of events in court filings, Escambia County confirmed that the monitoring stations for the groundwater around the old Klondike Landfill were destroyed during a local development. However, the county said it was in negotiations with the developers to pay for the replacement of the monitoring stations.
Escambia County had sought to have the complaint dismissed on the grounds that Howard didn’t meet the law’s definitions of whistleblower. The complaint lists one of the five categories for employees, and one category is submitting a written and signed complaint.
“There are no specifics provided about (Howard) writing and signing a complaint,” attorneys for the county wrote, emphasizing with italicized text that the law requires the complaint to be signed.
The argument opens the question of whether the Feb. 20 memo Howard’s attorneys argue triggered whistleblower protections was signed by Howard.
Escambia County also argued that Howard’s complaint wasn’t made to the appropriate official, which the law says has to be either the chief executive of the county or an “appropriate local” official.
In its motion to dismiss, the county argued Bowers did not fit that description because she isn’t the chief executive and “is not responsible for the management of county staff” even though she is the second-highest-ranking official in the county administration.
Previous court rulings on whistleblower status found that the appropriate local official was also a person who had the authority to investigate, police, manage or otherwise remedy the issue.
The judge ruled against the county, and the county now may have backed off arguing that Bowers didn’t fit that description, as in a more recent filing it admitted that Bowers has the authority to investigate, police and manage the Waste Service Department.
No trial date has been set in the case.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County forced whistleblower to quit or be fired, lawsuit says
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
