Item 10B AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
To Whom It May Concern,
Let this stand as my response to the question of why I have lost faith with those
who sit on the City of Atlantic Beach dais with me. This has been a long process
and I had hoped for many months that events would unfold to restore my
confidence and faith and begin to make amends between us but this has not
happened.
Below I have listed some of the issues that are contributing factors to my decline of
trust, some more important than others, followed by an outline where each
comment is further detailed. This has been a rough year for our City. It is my
desire to welcome good and appropriate development and to meet our state
mandated TMDL requirements. My goals have always been and remain to
represent and protect the City's, and its citizens', interests against all harm and
waste.
I am not a smooth and seasoned politician and my approach to this conflict reflects
this. It is hard to affect positive results and feel an issue is being treated fairly and
appropriately when your concerns are simply dismissed. Sometimes it takes a
squeaky wheel to be heard and get the job done. Because of events that unfolded
and actions of the commission this was the remaining course of action open to me
and many concerned citizens.
I aspire to be an impartial advocate for the public good. I strive to have our local
government be as accommodating and open to public scrutiny as possible in
accordance with our Sunshine Laws. In this manner, trust can be rebuilt and
maintained, all parties will know their concerns are important, their needs
considered and good governing is the norm.
Very Sincerely Yours,
Commissioner Carolyn Woods
Why I have lost faith with those who sit on the City of Atlantic Beach dais
with me. (The list)
1. Alan Jensen failed to give me council as a commissioner.
2. Alan Jensen failed to act in a timely manner to protect a citizen's
property from a developer's land grab.
— 1 of14^-
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
3. Alan Jensen Okayed $140,000.00 payment to EAB even though the
policy he bought to protect this payment specifically excluded this
payment.
4. Alan Jensen tried to correct his commission meeting answer on whether
EAB's title insurance would cover the City and still got it wrong.
5. Alan Jensen argued that even though EAB was to have a minimum
$ 140,000 costs paid for them the EAB was not receiving any benefit
from the agreement.
6. Jim Hanson's staff report claimed that the route through EAB would save
$500,000.00 over any other route. It made headlines but was untrue.
7. Jim Hanson recommended paying tree mitigation costs that he knew
would not be required.
8. Jim Hanson's and Alan Jensen's contention that the decision of which
route to use for the TMDL pipeline is not a policy decision to be made by
the city commission appears to be a usurping of powers.
9. Alan Jensen's has misquoted me and continued to engage in other
unprofessional conduct at the dais.
10. Contrary to verbiage in the Easement Agreement Alan Jensen argued that
it was not the wording of the contract but the intentions of the contract
parties that would prevail in a court of law.
11.There were major red flags that were ignored by Mayor Meserve, Mike
Borno, Paul Parsons and John Fletcher before the vote on the Easement
Agreement.
12.Again and again the men who share this dais with me have tried to shoot
the messenger instead of heeding the message.
- 2 of14-
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
13.Even though the ownership of the RCBS Parkland / EAB easement has
been openly contested during most of the process Mike Borno, Paul
Parsons, John Fletcher, Jim Hanson and Alan Jensen have not wavered in
their resolve to push for payment of cash to the EAB and to continue
expenditures associated with placing a pipe on this property.
Now begins the outlined explanation of each issue.
Why I have lost faith with those who sit on the City of Atlantic Beach dais
with me. (The list with outlined details)
1. Alan Jensen failed to give me council as a commissioner.
a. Because Alan Jensen felt he could not represent me, on the issue of
my letter to the state attorney, I was forced to hire an attorney who
gave me the good and appropriate advice Alan Jensen should have
given me. The advice was:
i. Basically the demands of the EAB where rubbish, he had
never seen anything like it and they did not deserve a
response, and Alan Jensen should have advised me and EAB
of this.
ii. When EAB got this answer they withdrew their demands
and backed off.
iii. When the City got this answer Alan Jensen and Mayor
Borno crafted a resolution basically censoring me and
disavowing my concerns.
1. The entire commission, except me of course, passed
this "resolution" on May 10, 2010.
iv. I lost a lot of faith in everyone up here on the dais with me
that evening and so did a lot of other people.
b. Alan Jensen repeatedly stated that he was under no obligation to be
my council on this issue, and even got a decision from our
insurance carrier saying the city insurance would not cover me in
this issue because I was acting as a private citizen.
i. If this were true then why did he help write and the
commission pass the resolution condemning these actions by
me as a commissioner?
ii. This is an example of how I perceive Alan Jensen to be
continually twisting and turning statements and events to
attack me and try to discredit me instead of heeding my
concerns and protecting the city from real threats.
^ 3 of 14
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
C. I'll finish this topic by offering this synopsis of my discussions
with the State Attorney's office.
i. They have their many reasons for not opening an
investigation.
ii. They have let me know, on more than one occasion, they
feel I am justified to have concerns.
iii. And they have encouraged me to continue to seek the truth.
2. Alan Jensen failed to act in a timely manner to protect a citizen's
property from a developer's land grab.
a. In Mr. Harden's cover letter, dated May 18, 2009, he notes the
EAB title policy insures "the northerly 60 feet of Selva Marina Dr.
(a 100 foot right of way) as closed by the city of Atlantic Beach in
Ordinance 65- 88 -18 ".
a. Then Mayor Meserve stated at the July 27 commission meeting
that there was only a 50' x 60' easement.
b. In an email dated August 5, 2009 Alan Jensen acknowledged The
EAB, LLC only owned Y2 of this easement per state law regarding
abandoned right of ways.
c. However in commission meetings;
i. Alan Jensen did not correct this error but instead repeated
the error as fact 5 days later at the August 10 meeting (pg.
3, 3 paragraph).
ii. Only after repeated requests to correct this did Jensen finally
relinquish to ask the EAB's attorney his opinion, even
though it was Jensen's responsibility, and
iii. It was finally corrected, May 10, 2010, by being placed as
an item for the commission's vote of approval along with
approving $140,000 cash payment to the EAB.
i. Since the EAB's ownership of the property was in
question this put me in the position of voting against a
citizen's rightful claim to his property and an issue I
had been fighting for, that shouldn't have been an
issue nor need a vote.
3. Alan Jensen tried to correct his commission meeting answer on
whether EAB's title insurance would cover the City and still got it
wrong.
a. In the April 26 2010 commission meeting when I asked what
protection the City had for any damages resulting from the City
going on the land if it ended up the EAB did not own the property
he stated that the City would be covered by EAB's insurance.
-- 4 of 14
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
b. He later sent a memo, April 30, 2010, to clarify this that states:
i. "It is my opinion that the City would not be directly covered
by the owner's title policy for any damages incurred by the
City."
ii. "However, in the event there were damages to the City
resulting from EAB not having title to the property, then in
that event the City would have a claim against EAB for its
damages."
iii. "It is my understanding that the owner's title insurance
policy insures them against actual monetary loss or damage
sustained or incurred by them by reason of the matters
insured against by the title policy."
c. When I called and spoke with Mr. Pierce, on March 29, 2010, at
the Old Republic National Title Insurance Co., and asked about the
EAB policy SDC 613841 he explained that:
i. Any agreements after the date of this policy would not be
covered. In other words any post policy events would not be
covered.
ii. If there is something wrong with the title than the owner can
file a claim and get back what was paid for the property.
EAB paid $10.00 for the Quit Claim from the City of
Jacksonville.
iii. This policy insures against anyone making title claims, it
insures for what was paid for the property. Again EAB paid
only $10.00 for the Quit Claim Deed.
4. Alan Jensen Okayed $140,000.00 payment to EAB even though the
policy he bought to protect this payment specifically excluded this
payment.
a. In the end the policy he obtained, Stewart Title 0- 2125- 610675, to
insure this money specifically excludes the RCBS Co, claims to
the property and the easement between the City and the EAB.
From Schedule B -II:
b. Exceptions from coverage # 19: "Rights of Reversions as
contained in Official Records Book 15252 page 1985 and created
in Deed Book 608 page 8 of the Public Records of Duval County
Florida"
c. Exceptions from coverage # 20: "Corrective Grant of Easement
between The Estates of Atlantic Beach LLC a Florida limited
liability company and City of Atlantic Beach a municipal
corporation dated June 22, 2010 and recorded in the Official
— 5 of 14 —
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
Records Book 15289 page 1187 of the current public records of
Duval County Florida."
5. Alan Jensen argued that even though EAB was to have a minimum
of $140,000 costs paid for them they were not were not receiving any
benefit from the agreement.
a. State Statute 286.23 requires all parties with beneficial interest in a
property to declare that interest before any contract involving the
property is entered into.
b. It is clear that the Agreement calls for compensation by the City to
EAB in the form of paying permitting and mitigation costs,
including as well ancillary costs described by Jim Hanson in an
email of 3 -1 -2010.
c. Alan Jensen argued in a March 5, 2010 email no disclosure
statements were required by EAB because "Payment from the City
was to go to the City of Jacksonville for mitigation and to whoever
removes any trees."
d. This clearly shows monies being obligated by the City on behalf of
the EAB. This sounds like compensation to me.
6. Jim Hanson's staff report claimed that the route through EAB would
save $500,000.00 over any other route. It made headlines but was
untrue.
a. All of these savings were to be realized after the point that the pipe
passed through the EAB property.
b. In my meetings with Jim Hanson he told me the difference in costs
between the routes was basically $40,000.
7. Jim Hanson recommended paying tree mitigation costs that he knew
would not be required.
a. Jim Hanson's staff reports to the commission recommended
accepting the original EAB Easement Agreement that included
paying $140,000.00 in mitigation costs, for removing enough trees
to create a clear an approximately 50' x 1000' roadway. However
the record shows:
b. There are no mitigation costs when a developer obtains a permit
from the city of Jacksonville to develop a roadway:
i. City of Jacksonville Codes & Ordinances Sec. 656.1205
Removal of Protected Trees item (7) Any tree located within
an existing or proposed street right -of -way and /or easement
shown on a set of approved final construction plans..., may
be removed during construction of such improvements. $0
cost.
- 6of14 —
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
c. The City of Jacksonville would not permit removal of trees not
needing to come down for the directional drill pipe installation.
i. September 9, 2009 email from the engineer G. Grimes to
City manager Jim Hanson. G. Grimes then informed Jim
Hanson that the City of Jacksonville Landscape Architect,
Kim Stewart, confirmed for directional drill the "only
mitigation that would be considered is what trees had to be
removed to accommodate equipment ".
1. So only these few trees would be permitted to be
removed, requiring far less than the $140,000 in
mitigation included in the proposed (at the time)
agreement.
ii. This is the extent of the emails until well after the vote on
the agreement.
iii. J. Hansen recommended approving an agreement which
stipulated removing all the trees in the proposed roadway yet
per the emails he had received at this time the only trees able
to be removed, by law to come down were very few.
iv. All of the cost estimates for the TMDL pipe routes presented
to the commission showed directional drilling to be used.
v. Directional drilling requires minimal tree removal.
vi. The entire "roadway" path did not need to be cleared for
equipment.
vii. Many people complained loudly about removing and paying
to remove so many trees that did not need to come down.
viii. After much ado M. Sones "agreed" to allow the trees to
remain.
ix. The Easement Agreement was renegotiated with M. Sones
for the City to pay EAB the $140,000 cash directly for the
use of the property — property who's ownership was in
continued dispute.
8. Jim Hanson's and Alan Jensen's contention that the decision of
which route to use for the TMDL pipeline is not a policy decision to
be made by the city commission appears to be a usurping of powers.
a. Our City Charter states "all powers of the city and the
determination of all matters of policy shall be vested in the city
commission."
i. The City charter also entrusts the responsibility for spending
City funds squarely on the shoulders of the Commission.
ii. Any route chosen greatly affects the price tag for the TMDL
— 7 of14^-
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
project.
b. Any route chosen affects the quality of life for the City's citizens.
These are policy decisions to be made only by the city
commission.
c. If the commission had delegated this responsibility to staff then
any meetings held to discuss this would be subject to the Sunshine
laws.
i. Alan Jensen and Jim Hanson contacted the EAB about using
their property and negotiated an agreement.
ii. I was shown a negotiated contract after the fact. Never asked
if I felt the City should engage in the negotiations. This
supports the fact that the route had been chosen and not by
the commission body.
iii. Jim Hanson contends all of the commissions knew of the
negotiations.
iv. Jim Hanson also contends none of the other commissioners
thought the commission would select the route.
v. This is not the same information I was given.
9. Alan Jensen's has misquoted me and continued to engage in other
unprofessional conduct at the dais.
a. Alan Jensen seemingly pretended our commission meetings were a
court of law and that he had a right to grill me without previous
warning and expecting me to offer detailed legally binding answers
on the spot without the specific information at hand, repeatedly.
i. This seems to be more common of behavior of opposing
council.
ii. This definitely does not instill trust; in fact it breaks it down.
b. Repeatedly admonishing me for contacting outside resources in
order to be informed about an issue before voting on it.
c. Insisting I could not identify myself as a commissioner when I
contacted sources for information.
d. Alan Jensen has misquoted me in his emails and in his comments
at commission meetings.
e. I have never represented to anyone that I speak for the commission
on any issue.
10.Contrary to verbiage in the Easement Agreement Alan Jensen
argued that it was not the wording of the contract but the intentions
of the contract parties that would prevail in a court of law.
a. During the many discussions about how many trees would be
removed;
8 of14^-
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
i. The City arguing for clear cut of all trees verses the citizens
advocating for minimal selective clearing.
ii. Alan Jensen said it was the parties' intentions that would
prevail in court.
iii. If the intention was to clear cut all along why was the
verbiage added to insure saving as many trees as possible?
b. Alan Jensen's claim that the intentions of the parties would
prevail over the wording of the contract is disputed by the
Easement Agreement itself.
i. In section 9. "The above constitutes the entire agreement
between the parties and there are no other agreements, either
verbal or written, except as expressly set form herein. This
Agreement shall be governed by and construed according to
the laws of the State of Florida."
ii. Per the Agreement Section 2. (b) Work with The Estates to
locate the sewer force main in the easement so as to avoid as
many of the trees, and especially large trees, as
economically possible so as to save as many large trees as
possible, and the City shall pay for any tree mitigation costs
resulting from the removal of any trees for the sewer line
and right -of -way for future road construction (50 feet in
width).
iii. This is clear that the intentions were to save as many trees
and as much money as possible by cutting down as few trees
as possible.
11.There were major red flags that were ignored by Mayor Meserve,
Mike Borno, Paul Parsons and John Fletcher before the vote on the
Easement Agreement.
a. It was the irrational insistence on using the route through the "EAB
easement" that started the decomposition of my trust. The
continued irrational comments, actions, votes and dogged
determination to put an effluent pipe on this property despite all
the problems are why I have lost my faith in those who sit up here
on the dais with me.
b. For beginners the SJRWMD had denied the EAB development
permit application. This was deemed inconsequential.
c. M. Schmidt, a respected engineer whom AB had contracted with
and relied on professionally for past projects sent a lengthy fact
based letter of opposition to using this route for the TMDL
pipeline. This was dismissed.
^ 9 of14^
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
d. We did not have to use this route. There were 15 or so other route
options. Citizens came up with a very viable one — more on this
later.
e. Citizens of Atlantic Beach were going to:
i. Have their lives negatively impacted
ii. Their property values negatively impacted
iii. In order to accommodate a development outside of our city
limits that:
1. Would not add to our tax base
2. Would require city services and use of city
infrastructure.
3. The development would not be diminished in any way
if the TMDL pipeline was installed elsewhere.
f. Per the original Agreement all tree mitigation cost are to be paid by
the City of AB, even though tree removal is not necessary to place
the TMDL pipes.
i. Why would a city advocate for and agree to remove
hundreds of inches of mature oak canopy it didn't need to?
1. Which would negatively impacts taxpaying citizens
far more than the supposed cost savings of this route.
2. Plus maintain the roadway clear of any new tree
growth in perpetuity — forever even if no development
was ever built, at Atlantic Beach citizen's expense.
3. All this for a development that was denied a permit. It
really seems so irrational it was mind boggling to a lot
of people!
ii. Jim Hanson stated in an email to a citizen and told me that
the City was removing the trees to "save face" for the
Estates of Atlantic Beach so they would not take the public
relations heat for taking down the trees, the City would take
the trees down and the heat.
1. Again for a route that is not necessary for the pipeline.
2. Both the developer and the City received a lot of heat
for this audacity and not just from me.
iii. Per the original Agreement if this developer never gets
permits to build, the city has paid $140,000 to unnecessarily
remove trees and potentially alter the drainage of important
AB wetlands and natural drainage system. This in my
opinion is not a good deal for the City or its citizens.
— 10 of14 ^-
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
1. Citizens of Oceanwalk proposed an alternative path
that would not affect the wetlands, stay within the city
limits and be cost effective,
a. The official estimate came in at only $25,000
more than the negotiated EAB route cost
estimate presented at the 9 -14 -2010 meeting.
i. This is a very inconsequential number for
a project of this size, $11 million and
counting. And as John Fletcher reminded
me estimates change.
ii. And change they have the cost estimates
for the EAB route have gone from:
1. $3,339,400 in December 2008
prepared for the Commission's
decision on whether to close
Buccaneer or not.
2. $3,687,160 in June of 2009 for the
upcoming July commission
meeting.
3. $3,433,000 in September 2009 for
the commission meeting.
4. That is a lowering of the estimate
by $254,160.00 in preparation for
comparing this route to a route
through Oceanwalk.
b. I say negotiated EAB route cost estimate
because, after John Fletcher's email
recommendation that the tree mitigation costs
be capped, they were. It was decided to use
$140,000 for the tree mitigation estimate,
without confirming the actual number and size
of trees that would actually come down.
i. A 5 year old survey provided by the
developer was used for the City's tree
mitigation cost estimates.
ii. Per Jacksonville code trees over 6 ",
including pines and palms, must be
mitigated for.
iii. Of the 30 trees listed on the August 2009
City tree mitigation estimate none were
11 0f 14 --
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
smaller than 14" and no palms or pines
were listed at all.
1. The 2010 City tree survey shows
167 trees less than 14" and 90 trees
equal to or greater than 14"
2. To clear a minimum 30' roadway
and only affect 30 of the 257 trees
is amazing. And rather
unbelievable.
2. The route through Oceanwalk came in at $25,000
higher and thus claimed to not be a viable route
because of two things.
a. At the September 14, 2010 Commission
meeting the cost estimate for the "EAB" route
decreased by over $250,000 from the estimates
prepared for the July 27 commission meeting.
b. The tree mitigation estimate was not based on
facts.
3. I asserted that the alternate Oceanwalk path proposal
was never considered by the commission, the majority
had already made up their mind to approve the
Easement Agreement.
a. This was based on the behavior and comments
of those up here on the dais with me.
i. Mr. Meserve championed it, repeatedly.
ii. Mr. Borno stated we were trying to save
$500,000.
iii. During the July 27 Mr. Fletcher
commented to me he felt basically that it
was his, referring to Mr. Sones, property
rights and let's vote on it now.
1. This issue was suppose to be about
the best decisions to meet our
TMDL requirements not property
development, yet the Easement
Agreement has more sections
concerning the property's
development than the benefits for
the TMDL pipeline, the City or its
citizens.
--- 12 of14^•
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
12.Again and again the men who share this dais with me have tried to
shoot the messenger instead of heeding the message.
a. Despite all of the real and serious concerns that have been raised
with this issue the men at this dais have repeatedly chosen to try
and deflect attention from the facts and make this an issue about
me.
b. Diversion is the tactic of choice for those with a weak position.
c. Gentlemen this is not about me it is about your behavior on behalf
of the City and the decisions you have made;
i. The bountiful pertinent information and citizen concerns you
have ignored.
1. John Fletcher has repeatedly led the charge to censor
and edit the commission meeting minutes by;
a. Limiting the content and meaning of citizen
statements from the commission meeting
minutes.
b. Blocking my proposals to have the minutes
clarified to accurately depict conversations held
between the commissioners and between the
commissioners and staff.
c. Failure to support funding for videotaping of
the commission's meetings.
2. Mike Borno claimed he had no conflict of interest but
his actions said otherwise.
a. Mike Borno was advised by Alan Jensen, and
chose to follow the advice, that he had no
conflict of interest in the EAB Easement
Agreement issue and cast his vote.
b. At the time Borno was a City Commissioner.
c. Also the President of the Oceanwalk
Homeowners Association.
d. Borno claimed that by not speaking about the
issue at the Ocean Walk Homeowners
Association meetings he did not have a conflict
of interest.
e. Since Borno was their neighborhood
representative Oceanwalk residents were left
without representation on the commission.
f. And without leadership on this issue within
their Homeowners Association.
— 13 ofl4
AGENDA ITEM # 10B
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
September 13, 2010
g. To me this makes a case for conflict of interest
otherwise he would have been free to speak to
his neighbors at the meetings.
h. Without Borno participating in the vote on the
EAB Easement Agreement there would not
have been enough votes for the Easement
Agreement to pass.
13.Even though the ownership of the RCBS Parkland / EAB easement
has been openly contested during most of the process Mike Borno,
Paul Parsons and particularly John Fletcher, Jim Hanson and Alan
Jensen have not wavered in their resolve to push for payment of cash
to the EAB and to continue expenditures associated with placing a
pipe on this property.
a. The City is currently being sued over this issue.
Jim Hanson has rebuked my loss of trust in a memo, also included in tonight's
agenda packet, by stating there is no smoking gun. Well I disagree. It may not be
the single shot he is referring to it is more like a sawed off shotgun that sprayed
many, many disconcerting issues.
Please consider the above detailed outline as answer to why I have lost faith in the
gentlemen sitting at the dais with me and embarked on the course I have to ensure
citizens' issues are addressed and city resources are not wasted. It could be that all
these actions mentioned have been honest, with the best of intentions for the City,
the citizens and towards me. Maybe there are no inappropriate intentions and all of
this is just incompetence. If so than I offer and please accept my sincere
condolences.
Commissioner Carolyn Woods
—14 of14 ^