The former Kissimmee city attorney fired in February by the city commission has now sued, alleging she was terminated in retaliation for warning that Mayor Jackie Espinosa’s acceptance of city grant money violated Florida ethics law, according to Osceola County court documents.
Olga Sanchez de Fuentes filed the lawsuit last week, accusing Kissimmee of violating Florida’s Public Sector Whistleblower’s Act and breaching her employment contract. She is seeking damages in excess of $50,000.
The suit names the city, not Espinosa personally, as the defendant and adds to the ethics fight that has already embroiled city hall.
Last week, a special prosecutor found probable cause to pursue articles of impeachment against Espinosa for the same ethics concerns Sanchez de Fuentes had raised.
The mayor has denied wrongdoing. It is up to the city’s remaining commissioners to decide whether to proceed on impeachment. They have not yet said when the Kissimmee City Commission will take up the special prosecutor’s recommendations, which also include referring the matter to law enforcement.
The ethics issue stemmed from Business Boost 2.0, a city program funded by federal pandemic relief money. Espinosa led the effort to create and expand it during her first year in office, and three businesses tied to her family later received around $50,000.
That prompted an ethics complaint from a resident in March and then the special prosecutor’s investigation. The prosecutor, Mayanne Downs, found...
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