10-23-89 v MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OF ATLANTIC BEACH
CITY COMMISSION HELD AT 5:00 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1989 AT CITY HALL
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Gulliford. Present in addition
to the Mayor, were Commissioners Cook, Edwards and Tucker. Also present
was City Clerk King.
The meeting was held for the purpose of interviewing the three
candidates who had been recommended for the City Attorney position by
the search committee. The Commission reviewed a list of questions which
had been compiled from the suggested questions they had submitted to the
City Manager.
Each applicant was given an opportunity to make an introductory
statement, answer the prepared questions and then ask any questions they
may have. Committee members Dorothy Kerber, Hugh Carithers, and Ron
Della Porta, who were in attendance were also given an opportunity to
ask questions.
The candidates interviewed were as follows:
Ada A. Hammond and John Hines of the law firm of
Taylor, Day and Rio
Alan C. Jensen
Howard L. Dale and Mike Altes of the law firm of
Dale and Bald
Ms. Hammond said while she would be the primary contact person in their
firm, she would be able to draw on the expertise and experience of the
nine partners in the firm. One partner, Vince Rio, a legislative and
administrative lawyer, has an office in Tallahassee. On matters related
to bond work, Ms. Hammond said they would seek legal advice outside
their firm. Mr. Hines presented each Commissioner with two fee
proposals based on hourly rates. On inquiry regarding an annual
retainer and an hourly rate for litigation, which would be authorized by
resolution, Ms. Hammond and Mr. Hines said they would not have any
problem with that but they had not prepared a proposal on that basis and
requested some time to consider it.
The next candidate interviewed was Alan Jensen who responded to the same
list of questions. Mr. Jensen said he had recently gone into partner-
ship with Steve Hould. He said Mr. Hould was well experienced in
matters involving litigation and outlined some of his qualifications and
work experience. In his absence, Mr. Hould would be very capable of
handling the city's needs. On matters relating to bond work he said he,
too, would seek legal advice outside his firm. Mr. Jensen requested a
monthly retainer of $1,500.00, and $75.00 per hour for litigation and
said he was in favor of an annually renewable contract. He also felt a
budget for legal services should be approved by the City Commission and
the City Attorney should be expected to stay within budget.
On inquiry about the role Mr. Jensen may have played in the removal of
the former city attorney, Mr. Jensen said concerns had been raised about
the fees being paid to the city attorney and he had been asked by the
Mayor to look into the matter. Through computer print-outs he
PAGE TWO
MINUTES OF MEETING OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
OCTOBER 23, 1989
discovered the city was paying rates far in excess of what the
Commission had approved. Payments from outside third parties had also
been made directly to the former city attorney. He said after several
meetings on the matter, Mr. Mullis had requested an annual retainer of
$50,000.00, with all litigation to be contracted to outside firms. He
said he felt sure any of the other Commissioners would have found the
same information had they been selected to look into the matter, and the
action of the Commission was based on these findings. He said he had
not spearheaded any effort to have Mr. Mullis removed from office and
did not see anything improper in applying for the position.
Mayor Gulliford said he had initiated the inquiry by letter to the
Commissioners in which he had voiced concerns regarding professional
fees, both legal and engineering. He had asked Commissioner Jensen to
check into the matter of legal fees because of his experience in the
legal field.
The final candidate to be interviewed was Howard Dale who was
accompanied by his associate Mike Altes. Mr. Dale said his firm
consisted of six attorneys, and dealt mostly in commercial real estate
and civil trial work. He felt the opportunity to represent the city
would be a challenge and an opportunity to broaden their experience. He
said labor related matters would be the only area where his firm would
need to seek outside legal advice. He agreed to an annually renewable
contract and requested an annual retainer of $24,000.00 and an hourly
rate of $100.00 per hour or the standard hourly rate of the attorney
handling the litigation matter, whichever was the lesser.
Stephen Stratford suggested the city may wish to negotiate a fee with a
bond attorney before beginning work on future bond issues. By doing so,
the city would know exactly what the legal fees would be before the fact
and not be put in a position of having to pay any figure which might be
invoiced after the bond issue was concluded.
Mayor Gulliford thanked the committee for reviewing the applications and
narrowing the selection to three.
There being no further discussion, the Mayor declared the meeting
adjourned at 6:55 PM.
..Th ' I
liCrj
/
William I. Gu 1urd
Mayor/Presiding Of cer
ATTEST:
Maureen King, City Clerk
CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
REGULAR MEETING, MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 1989
AGENDA
Call to order
Invocation and pledge to the flag
1. Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of October 9, 1989 and
special meeting of October 16, 1989.
2. Recognition of Visitors:
3. Old Business:
A. Discussion and related topics for the proposed purchase of land
from Roberts Mt. Pisgah
4. Consent Agenda:
A. Items to be declared surplus by the City Commission in regard to
an auctioned to be held by the City October 28, 1989 at 9 a.m. ,
Public Works (Joan LaVake)
5. New Business:
A. Recommendation for purchase of street sweeper for Public Works
through bid process of City of Jacksonville (Don Ford)
B. Action by the City Commission regarding the City Attorney
selection.
6. Actions on Ordinances:
A. Introduction and first reading of Ordinance #90-89-148 accepting
and approving a land development plan and proposal submitted by
Ashco, Inc. for a Contract Quality Development known as Tiffany
by the Sea (Rene' Angers)
7. City Manager Reports and/or Correspondence:
8. Mayor to call on City Commissioners, City Attorney and City Clerk:
Adjournment
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ATiAN'IC BEACH CITY COM-
MISSION HELD AT CITY HALL ON OCTOBER 23, 1989 AT 7:15 PM V V
O O
_RESENT: William I. Gulliford, Mayor T T
Robert B. Cook, Sr. E E
Glenn A. Edwards D D
Alan C. Jensen
Adelaide R. Tucker, Commissioners
M S
AND: Kim Leinbach, City Manager 0 E
Mark Arnold, Interim City Attorney (Substituting) T C
Maureen King, City Clerk I 0 Y
NAME OF ONEN
COMMRS. N D S 0
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Gullitord. The invocation,
offered by Commissioner Cook, was followed by the pledge to the
flag.
1. Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of October 9,
1989 and special meeting of October 16, 1989 Cook x x
Edwards x
Motion: Approve minutes of the regular meeting of October 9, Jensen x
1989 Tucker x x
Gulliford x
No discussion before the vote. The motion carried unanimously.
Cook x
Notion: Approve minutes of the special meeting of October 16, Edwards x x
1989 Jensen x x
Ticker x
No discussion before the vote. The motion carried unanimously. Gulliford x
2. Recognition of visitors
None
3. Old Business:
A. Discussion and related topics for the proposed purchase of land
from Roberts Mt. Pisgah Church
Mr. Freeman of Mt. Pisgah Church said Rev. Kennerley could not
attend the meeting and at Mr. Freeman's request, action on the
matter was deferred to the next commission meeting.
4. Consent Agenda:
A. Items to be declared surplus by the City Commission in regard
to an auction to be held by the city October 28, 1989 at 9:00
AM at Public Works (Joan LaVake) Cook x
Edwards x x
Motion: Approve passage of consent agenda Jensen x
Tucker x x
No discussion before the vote. The motion carried unanimously. Gulliford x
PAGE TWO V V
MINUTES NAME OF
OCTOBER 23, 1989 COMMAS. MSYN
5. New Business:
A. Recommendation for purchase of street sweeper for Public Works
through bid process of the City of Jacksonville
Don Ford said he had been checking into different types of street
sweepers for about three months. Information on the top four models
had been included in the agenda packets for each commissioner and
Mr. Ford said, of those four models, he recommended the purchase of
the Elgin Pelican through the City of Jacksonville's bid process at
a cost of $67,396.00.
Discussion then ensued relative to funds for the purchase of the
street sweeper and the Mayor said this would be one of the accepted
uses for the proposed utility fee. The City Manager said while
street sweeping would assist with drainage problems, the primary
function of the street sweeper would be for the care and maintenance
of streets, and it was his opinion the one-cent gas tax revenues
would be an appropriate source of funding for this purchase.
The City Manager was requested to review projected gas tax revenues,
and proposed projects for the coming year, including streets
scheduled for repaving. Joan LaVake was asked to check to see what
:ypes of street sweepers, if any, were on state contract and also
2heck into prices of same.
B. Action by the City Ccnmission regarding the City Attorney
selection
The Mayor reported the commission had interviewed the finalists for
the City Attorney position earlier in the evening. One of the
applicants had not provided a figure for retainer or an hourly rate
for litigation. These figures would be forwarded to the city the
following day and a special called meeting was scheduled for 7:15 PM
Wednesday, October 25, 1989, for the purpose of making a selection.
6. Action on Ordinances:
A. Introduction and first reading of Ordinance No. 90-89-148
accepting and approving a land development plan and proposal
suhnitted by Ashco, Inc. for a Contract Quality Development
known as Tiffany by the Sea (Rene' Angers)
Before introducing the ordinance, Mayor Gulliford requested Brenda
Dockery to report on the matter. Ms. Dockery reported the Community
Development Board and considered and recommended approval of the
26-unit single-family project known as Tiffany by the Sea. Although
they had recommended approval, the Community Development Board
felt the density could be reduced from the proposed 26 units to 24.
The said a question had been raised about approving a "Contract
Quality Development" since the ordinance to establish a CQD zoning
PAGE THREE V V
MINUTES NAME OF
OCTOBER 23, 1989 COMMAS. MSYN
classification had not been approved by the City Commission. The
City Manager said he wished to bring to the attention of the
commission that some lots in the project are under the 5,000 minimum
sq. ft. area, and also that property would need to be dedicated for
a sewage lift station to serve the project. He felt this should be
reviewed by legal counsel and city staff members and then brought
back to the commission with their recommendations. Commissioner
Jensen said similar developments had been approved under the
provisions of a contract quality design statute.
After review, the matter will be brought back to the City Commission
for action.
8. Mayor to call on City Ccmuissioners, City Attorney and City
Clerk:
The City Clerk presented the Mayor with a tribute from Senator
Graham to WPDQ Radio and Mayor Gulliford for their recent efforts in
helping those residents of the Carolinas who had been so devastated
by Hurricane Hugo.
In response, Mayor Gulliford thanked the police officers who had
escorted the caravans, and also those officers who had gone to South
Carolina in their off-duty time and worked so enthusiastically to
kelp the local authorities. He said the general out-pouring of aid
from the community was most gratifying.
Mr. Edward Ash, 1238 Beach Boulevard, who had entered during the
course of the meeting, said he represented the Tiffany by the Sea
project and would answer any questions the commission may have on
the project. He was advised that no action had been taken on the
matter pending review by city officials, after which it would be
brought back to the next meeting for action by the commission.
* * * * * *
Caminissiooer Edwards announced the matter of unfunded state mandates
would be on the ballot in 1990 as amendment #3 and he encouraged the
elected officials to inform the public as much as possible on the
matter.
* * * * * *
Mayor Gulliford read a letter from Carol D. Campbell in which she
complimented Officers Raynor and Cobb for their handling of two
separate incidents in which their 16-year-old daughter had been
involved. She said they had been reassuring and patient and showed
concern for her well-being.
PAGE FOUR V V
MINUTES NAME OF
OCTOBER 23, 1989 COMMRS. MSYN
.
The Mayor said he had received complaints from residents in Royal
Palms Drive and Plaza about people parking on the sidewalks,
creating a dangerous situation. He also presented a petition from
residents on Plaza between East Coast Drive and Seminole Road,
complaining about speeding and requesting stop signs at the turn
through areas. These complaints were referred to the Police
Department.
There being no further business to come before the commission, the
Mayor declared the meeting adjourned.
ii
LAI , Al
William I. Gull W d
Mayor/Presiding �� (ver
ATTES T:
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laureen King, City Cler�