ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The new president and CEO of Workforce Central Florida is speaking out about the troubled agency.
WFTV was the first to report the agency's mishandling of taxpayer money on things like capes and cars.
The agency's new leader has a lot of problems to clean up.
Wednesday marks a new beginning for the beleaguered employment assistance agency that last year faced defunding and saw a wave of top-level resignations.
Eyewitness news was first to uncover how the agency misspent thousands of dollars.
On Wednesday morning, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs revisited the past before introducing a new CEO.
"Money was being spent on cars, red capes, bad leases and lawsuits, instead of finding jobs for the unemployed," said Jacobs.
With that came the introduction of the woman who's been tapped to turn it all around.
New Workforce Central Florida CEO Pam Nabors replaces Gary Earl after Gov. Rick Scott insisted the agency be gutted.
Nabors told WFTV she's just getting started understanding the problems.
"I think I'm still evaluating. As I said, I'm looking at all of the systems, and I intend to do a thorough 360 review of everything WCF does," said Nabors.
Nabors is taking over from a similar agency in Connecticut and said working closely with the governor's office will help win back confidence of state leaders and the public.
"I'm beginning to learn about where we are in those stages, and I expect that we will be continuing to work with them to work through the challenges that WCF," said Nabors.
And the mayor believes she picked the right woman for the job.
"The call for reform came from the governor's office, from the consortium. It came from the citizens. We answered that call," said Jacobs.
Last year seven board members resigned, along with the chief executive officer, the chief financial officer, and several vice presidents.
The agency has received about $100 million in federal funding over the last five years.
WFTV
