FORT PIERCE — At the same time city officials are investigating past allegations of favoritism in the Community Services Department, some actions this week are raising eyebrows.

In particular, citizens are questioning the recent hiring of Finance Director Gloria Johnson’s daughter, Ursula, as a program specialist in the Community Services Department, which assists low-to-moderate income families with obtaining housing using state money.

“The Finance Department is supposed to provide a kind of check and balance over monitoring and checking on the financial transactions, and preventing or finding mistakes and irregularities (in the Community Services Department),” residents Linda Salisbury and Linda Hudson wrote in an Oct. 4 e-mail to City Manager David Recor. “Ursula Johnson may or may not be competent, but this family relationship makes a mockery of serious, honest scrutiny.”
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