Miami-Dade County Solid Waste Management had a vendor pull a promotional video off YouTube after being asked if it was appropriate for a county employee to endorse a vendor.
A viewer sent NBC 6 a video on Facebook asking if the video overstepped the vendor’s promotional boundaries.
In the video, the landfill operations director is singing the praises of John Deere. The county vendor has been paid more than $5 million dollars for heavy equipment at the landfills.
But his employer was not happy to see the video the viewer sent us asking if it’s proper for a county employee to promote a vendor in what amounts to an online commercial.
The county said the short answer is no. In a statement, a spokesperson said, however, that the employee didn’t do anything wrong. His “participation in the interview was not a violation of any county rules or policies,” the county said, adding, “Neither the county nor the employee benefited from appearing in or assisting with the video.”
The county approved the employee talking for a front page article in a John Deere internal magazine called The Dirt but not for the external video.
The Miami Dade County Ethics Commission said it couldn’t comment because it’s looking into the situation.
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John Deere’s local sales representative also didn’t have a comment.
