County attorney on friendship between fired SVAA director and assistant: 'one of the best witnesses against Mrs. Carni'

Nicole Carni is shown here with her husband, Kyle on their Facebook page, with friend, Kathy Woods Burrows, in the inset, listed below the Carni profile as her "sister." A county e-mail shows they weren't so sisterly after all.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Fired Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority Director Nicole Carni and her trusted assistant, Kathy Woods Burrows were best friends, sisters even. At least that's what people were led to believe.

A series of e-mails obtained Thursday from Volusia County through a public records request indicates Burrows sold her out.

Carni had loaned her personal iPad to her trusted assistant before she was fired from her job in January amid allegations of overpaying herself by allegations of over-paying herself by more than $46,000 while she was briefly in charge of the SVAA's New Smyrna Beach Visitor's Center.

The e-mails revealed that when Carni's attorney, Judith Lane, asked Larry Smith, a deputy county attorney about Burrows safeguarding the iPad, he wrote back as follows: "Why did she leave it with Kathy Wood-Burrows? She actually turned out to be one of the best witnesses against Mrs. Carni."

Burrows' position was eliminated by the county, which took over the day-to-day operations of the ad authority within days of the County Council giving County Manager Jim Dinneen the green light to seize the assets of the authority. That led to the SVAA board firing Carni.

Prior to being let go in March, Burrows identified herself on Carni's personal Facebook page as her "sister," even though they are not related.

"We're friends," Carni told Headline Surfer of the way Burrows identified herself. "We're close. She thinks of me as a sister, what can I tell you?"

Just after her own termination, Burrows deleted her Facebook account and her image at the bottom of Carni's profile was gone.

Burrows could not be reached for comment late in the day Thursday because Headline Surfer had no way of contacting her. 

Carni declined to talk about her legal issues when contacted Thursday night and abruptly ended the conversation before Headline Surfer could ask her about the county e-mail indicating Burrows had turned on her.

Carni attorney Lane did not react to the deputy attorney's insinuation of betrayal. She could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

The string of e-mails were a precursor to a civil lawsuit settlement agreed upon between Carni and the county over the salary overages, though the county may have a challenge trying to collect because her lawyer indicated she's broke.