Loading...
Email from deLuna1 Bartle, Donna From:Ben [de-luna-jax@comcast.net] Sent:Wednesday, February 01, 2012 3:16 PM To:Bartle, Donna Cc:Hanson, Jim Subject:RE: Committee appointments Thank you for the response.      If there is still need for a pension board member, please consider me for such a position.  If I am selected, I will resign from the  Code Enforcement board where I am an alternate.    I believe you have my application and resume on file.      Ben      From: Bartle, Donna [mailto:dbussey@coab.us] Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 1:13 PM To: Ben Cc: Hanson, Jim Subject: FW: Committee appointments Ben,  Please see Alan’s comments below.  It should answer your questions.    Thanks,  Donna    From: Alan Jensen [mailto:alan@ajensenlaw.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:42 AM To: Bartle, Donna Cc: Hanson, Jim Subject: FW: Committee appointments Donna: In order to further clarify this issue, and quoting from AGO 2009-48, please consider the following: "The Florida Supreme Court has stated that a person in the service of the government, who derives his position from a duly and legally authorized election or appointment, whose duties are continuous in their nature and defined by rules prescribed by government and not by contract , consisting of the exercise of important public powers, trusts, or duties, as part of the regular administration of the government is a public officer." State ex rel. Clyatt v. Hocker, 22 So. 721 (Fla. 1897). This would logically apply to a member of the pension board, so that, since code enforcement board members are officers under the Fla. Const. provision, one person cannot serve on both the code enforcement board and the pension board at the same time. This would be dual office holding which is prohibited by the Fla. Const. However, I have also been asked if a board member who is a public officer, such as a member of the code enforcement board or the pension board, could be appointed to a committee, such as the upcoming police building committee. Such a committee member would not be a public officer, in my opinion, since he could not exercise any public powers, trusts or duties, but would only be in a position to make a recommendation to the city commission. I hope the above information together with my e-mail yesterday answers your questions, but contact me if we need to discuss further. Alan 2 From: Alan Jensen [mailto:alan@ajensenlaw.com] Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 2:20 PM To: 'Bartle, Donna' Cc: 'Hanson, Jim' Subject: RE: Committee appointments Donna: The Florida Constitution prohibits dual office holding. See Art. II, s.5(a) Fla. Const. The question becomes whether members of the Code Enforcement Board and the Pension Board are "officers" for purposes of this section of the Fla. Const. Code enforcement board members have been determined to be officers for this purpose. I would have to do substantially more research to be certain, but it appears on initial review that pension board members would also be officers for purposes of this section of the Fla. Const. Thus one person could not sit on both boards since that would be a violation of the prohibition against dual office holding. Also, I have not reviewed any city resolutions that might apply to appointment of these or other boards, and am uncertain if there are any city policies regarding one person serving on two different boards. AGO 2009-48 contains a good discussion regarding this matter and Ben may wish to review that opinion. I will try to e- mail it to you. Contact me with any questions or if you want me to do anything further. Alan From: Bartle, Donna [mailto:dbussey@coab.us] Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 10:49 AM To: Alan Jensen Cc: Hanson, Jim Subject: RE: Committee appointments Alan,  Below is an email string between me and Mr. deLuna.   Basically, he was interested in serving on the Pension Board of Trustees,  but he is currently on the Code Enforcement Board.  I explained to him that you cannot serve on multiple boards at the same  time.  So he asked for the provision that says it.   I sent him a link to F.S.  99‐021 because I remember this coming up a few  months ago.  I don’t have anything else in writing on the issue.      Please read Mr. de Luna’s response and reply as to whether or not he would be able to serve on both boards.  If it doesn’t  matter which boards it is, also let me know that.    Thanks,  Donna    From: Bartle, Donna Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 8:35 AM To: 'Ben' Cc: Hanson, Jim; 'Alan Jensen' Subject: RE: Committee appointments Ben,  I will have to refer it to the City Attorney.        Thanks,  Donna    From: Ben [mailto:de-luna-jax@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 10:56 PM To: Bartle, Donna Subject: RE: Committee appointments This is the e‐mail that I need a response to.         3 From: Ben [mailto:de-luna-jax@comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 7:29 PM To: 'Bartle, Donna' Subject: RE: Committee appointments Good morning!!    I am not absolutely sure but it seems to me that subsection (6) of Section 99.012 excludes non paid appointees from the  requirements of this section.      I do want to point out that the development board provision in the municipal code does contain a requirement that a member  not be part of another board.  See Section 14‐7 of the Code of Ordinances.    Please note that neither the Code Enforcement nor the Pension board provisions have such a requirement.   See 2‐141 and 2‐ 266.    From my reading of these provisions, it seems to me that a person can be considered for the pension board even though  currently a member of the Code enforcement Board.      Let me know what you think.             From: Bartle, Donna [mailto:dbussey@coab.us] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:40 PM To: Ben Subject: FW: Committee appointments Ben,  F.S. 99.021 addresses the issue.    For your convenience, I have attached the link.    http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/99.012    Thanks,  Donna    From: Bartle, Donna Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:33 PM To: 'Ben' Subject: RE: Committee appointments Ben,  It’s not in our code.  I believe I found it in the Florida Statutes a few months ago, but I can’t remember where I found it.   I’ll have  to research it in order to let you know, but it came up just a few months ago before we recommended appointing members to  the Pension Board.    Thanks,  Donna    From: Ben [mailto:de-luna-jax@comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 1:24 PM To: Bartle, Donna Subject: RE: Committee appointments 4 Thank you for the information and the assistance.    I look forward to testing the new audio feed.    Can you direct me to the code provision that deals with the prohibition of serving on multiple boards?    Thank you for all your assistance.     Have a great day!    From: Bartle, Donna [mailto:dbussey@coab.us] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 11:43 AM To: Ben Subject: RE: Committee appointments Ben,    A new audio feed was installed last week in the Chamber, so we will be testing it out next Monday night.     I have your application on file; however ,it is no longer being considered for vacancies since you have been appointed to the  Code Enforcement Board and you cannot serve on multiple boards.    Nelson said he spoke to you today and you had questions.   If this did not answer your question, please call or email me.    Thanks,  Donna    Donna L. Bartle City Clerk  City of Atlantic Beach  800 Seminole Road  Atlantic Beach, FL 32233  (904) 247‐5809    From: Ben [mailto:de-luna-jax@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 7:09 PM To: Bartle, Donna Subject: RE: Committee appointments Thank you.    Any further improvements on the meeting recordings?    Also, is my application for the board member review committee still active?        From: Bartle, Donna [mailto:dbussey@coab.us] Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 5:08 PM To: de-luna-jax Subject: FW: Committee appointments FYI.  Donna  5   From: Alan Jensen [mailto:alan@ajensenlaw.com] Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 9:55 AM To: Beckenbach, Mark Cc: Hanson, Jim Subject: Committee appointments Mark: I had a nice talk with Ben Deluna after our Code Enforcement Board meeting this past Tuesday evening. He asked that I correct the statement I made at the meeting on 1/9 that he did not call me back after my office called him in December. Apparently there was a mistake in my office and he was not contacted. I thought he had been because his name was checked off, like the others who in fact were contacted. I apologized to Ben for any inconvenience and told him I would correct that information with you. If you have any contact with him, I would appreciate you informing him of this e-mail, since I do not have his e-mail address. Also, Brooks Rathet called me a couple of days ago, but I have spent the last several days mostly in court, so I have not spoken with him yet. I will call him early next week. Let me know if you need anything further. Alan ALAN C. JENSEN, ESQUIRE 935 North Third Street P.O. Box 50457 Jacksonville Beach, FL 32240-0457 (904) 246-2500 (904) 246-9960 FAX Alan@AJensenLaw.com CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information and all attachments contained in this electronic communication are legally privileged and confidential, subject to the attorney-client privilege and intended only for the use of the intended recipients. If the reader of this message is not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail and please permanently remove any copies of this message from your system and do not retain any copies, whether in electronic or physical form or otherwise. Thank you.