Created: 9/14/2009 5:16:43 PM 
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The city-owned Ed Ball Building downtown is getting red-flagged by city auditors who believe taxpayers are owed $1.2 million by a private management company.
Jones Lange LaSalle (JLL) managed the property for two years after the city purchased the building that houses both city employees and private businesses.
Last week, the Public Works Deputy Director who handled oversight of the building resigned.
Lynn Westbrook, in his resignation letter, told his supervisor, "I have reached a place in my life where my personal needs have exceeded by desire to maintain my current employment."
Auditors, in a 14-page report, concluded that JLL did not comply with the city procurement procedures and in some cases the city paid for services not performed.
In a letter to Mayor John Peyton, the management company that no longer manages the Ed Ball Building disputed the million-dollar figure the city believes it is owed.
The company says the former property manager of the city building is no longer with JLL.
The Mayor's Chief of Staff, Adam Hollingsworth, says there is plenty of blame to go around.
"Clearly inappropriate things were done," said Hollingsworth.
"The responsibility here lies with the property management company and one employee of that company who appears to have engaged in criminal misconduct."
Hollingsworth says prosecutors are reviewing the evidence with the city, expecting full prosecution if the law was violated.
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