of the Lake Placid Town Council this Monday evening, February 9th, 2026 in the Government Center, the great town of Lake Placid. I'd ask everybody if you're wearing a hat to please remove it while you're in in chambers. We appreciate
that. And make sure all your cell phones are either off or on vibrate. >> Uh clerk, I'll ask you to call the role. Mayor Hullber here. We have Father Clement. >> Oh, Father Clemente. >> Okay. >> If everybody would please rise, we have
with us from the St. James Catholic Church, Father Clemente, who's going to lead us in our prayer and our pledge. Dear heavenly father, to you we appeal your guidance so that we may reflect your will in our life and
in our deliberation. Send your forward your spirit. Open our hearts and our mind to inspire in all the issue that come before this council. Open our mind before you that you may want to decide each help us to decide in each case. We
know that we are sinners sometime we do know see the evidence clear the way. We know that our hearts of the person presenting the case before us. Inspire us and guide us. Oh Lord, you you giving life us life in abundance. To this we
are very thankful. We ask thankful blessing the town of Lake Blessed inspire to guide us so that the spirit of charity we are willing to give what you want. Open our hearts to your love.
You touch our lives that we may reflect your wisdom in abundance. Especially when it comes to difficult issue, you're able to deal with them as you as you want and not by any be preconceived idea. We ask that you eliminate all the
negativity which does not bring good fruit and influence us to your wisdom so that whenever we do we may always be done for the love of God. guide and direct us in any deliberation so we may never express anything that will be
harmful against or against your will. Sometimes we may not be able to see the matter clearly. However, through your inspiration, we can make the right and just judgment. Empower us that we may always reflect your peace. Bless each
member of the council and guide them today and every day. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. >> Amen. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen. >> Thank you, Father Clemente. >> All right, clerk, would you now please call the role?
Mayor Hbook >> here. >> Council member Hayes >> here. >> Council member Worley >> here. >> Council member Charles >> here. >> Council member Everart >> here. >> Okay. At this time, I'm going to open it up to the floor for public comments on
anything that's not on the agenda. >> Um, hi there. I'm Mary Gavin uh with Gavin Consulting. Um my relationship goes back uh probably about four or five years ago with the town of Lake Placid um when we were putting together a $40 million wastewater grant uh that was
actually awarded. And so u I didn't want the town to lose out on some grant funding that came about with SRF. Uh it was 100% grant. And so I'm just letting you know that uh for an agenda item for your next meeting, there
will be a resolution that needs to be passed and voted on by the board and an application to be submitted. And that resolution uh just states that it gives the authority to the mayor to sign those application documents and to submit the
application to D. And that's all I've got to say now, not unless you guys have any questions about anything. >> Right. >> Nope. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. My name is Lisa Sherman.
I live at 400 Lake Mirror Drive. I am not a town resident. However, I own a business and property in the town limits. My husband is Bert Harris, the former attorney for the town of Lake
Plen. Bert's not able to be here tonight. He is actually in route to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for some much needed medical test.
However, he asked me to share something with you that he's very excited about. Um, many of you will remember and are aware of the $40 million septic to sewer grant
that was previously awarded to the town, much due to BERT's efforts and preparation of a grant. Um, that that grant was much in part to clean up our lakes and to convert septic tanks to the sewer plant. As you know, that's in
process now. Bert requested of Congressman Scott Franklin to um get additional funds for this project to add to it to provide more funding that would not be required to be borne by taxpayers and homeowners.
and he recently heard from Congressman Scott Franklin's office that the town of Elect Placid has been awarded 2.5 million additional dollars grant that does not have to be paid back in any way. Scott Franklin, Congressman Scott
Franklin deserves a lot of credit for this. He's the one who got it through the US Congress. Um and it has already been signed by the president. Um, Congressman Scott Franklin's office is releasing a press release probably
momentarily, and I'd like to just read um, a portion of what Congressman Scott Franklin says. He said, "I'm committed to ensuring Florida communities receive needed resources to comply with federal
regulations while improving quality of life for residents," said Congressman Franklin. This funding will help Lake Placid make critical infrastructure upgrades that protect local waterways and support
long-term growth. So, any of you that come in contact with Congressman Scott Franklin or if you can even send a note to his office um thanking him. I mean, there's lots of people competing for these grants, and the fact that um the town of Lake Placid
has been awarded an additional two and a half million on top of the $40 million is really a great thing for our town. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. As as a side note, originally we
were hoping to get up to as much as $7 million. Um but as this went through the the things that it had to go through, um everybody got a little bit of their share, which is fine. 2.5 is is a great number. Uh we're we're pleased to be
able to get it. It's going to help a lot. We're working with the appropriations committee now that they know we're serious about the sewer and cleaning up the lakes and and canals and that they're they're just waiting on us
to to get some hoping to get some final notification to them and hopefully we'll have more money coming in the future. And as we do that, we're going to start hooking our residents up to their sewer lines and be able to hook them hook them up to their homes. So, uh, things are
happening. Uh, it's, you know, it's still coming. It's a ways out. We, we're probably not going to get as much as we did originally, but every year if we can just get a little bit, that'll keep us going on the right path, and that's what we're trying to do. >> Okay. >> I I just would like to add though and
and thank Mary for her comments and Lisa. Um, it's important to recognize, right, $40 million grant, which nobody ever thought this town would get, and now another two and a half million. And yes, thank you to Scott Franklin and everyone behind that, but also Bert
Harris. Bert is the one that's been passionate about bringing that project here. So, I just want don't want to be remiss in recognizing him and thanking him for diligently pursuing that money. me. I signed a paper, but for the record, Margaret dear, 1504 French
Street. As I have done before, I'm going to repeat some of the wise comments that have come from up there. You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of
the time. In simpler terms, misinformation may work for a while, but it cannot stand forever against the truth. Unfortunately, when the truth comes too late, the harm has already been done. And in this instance, it will
wreck a town and its reputation and what many, including Mr. Harris, who has been here for a long time, have established and tried to put forth in this town. I repeat these remarks because we were all under the impression that Mr. Harris was
remaining the town attorney until either an interim or permanent attorney was hired. Yet somehow around February 2nd, Bert's time with the town ended suddenly and abruptly. It is hard to comprehend
that someone who served this town for 40 years would choose to leave without the opportunity for a public acknowledgement or even a simple goodbye. Regardless, the absence of any recognition stands in sharp contrast to
how this town has historically treated long-serving employees. So, it was surprising to see nothing on the agenda regarding Mr. Harris's service. Indeed, on this agenda at the end, it shows employees being recognized for their length of service with the town. I'm
certain everybody would here would agree that Mr. Paris was not a saint, me included, and I fully acknowledge disagreement with some of his decisions, but we could do so without do so without rancor, ill will, or tarnish a
friendship. So, I'm going to place these records place these comments on the record in the event that Mr. Harris's ser so that Mr. Harris's service is formally noted. These are some various social media comments in regards to his retirement
announcement. Arlene Tut. The town has lost a great asset. Not only will he be missed, but his knowledge and love for his town will be greatly missed. He is definitely irreplaceable. Highlands County Supervisor of Elections. Thank you, Bert, and wishing you all the wonderful benefits of
retirement. Jeannie Tillman, the town has lost a great leader in the future of Lake Placid. His shoes will be hard to fill. There will never be anyone to fill his place that will have the love of the town first. Bert, you are so very deserving of stepping away so you can
enjoy some Bert time. So that's all I wanted to say. Just wanted to make sure that there were some positive comments made sooner rather than later. And Miss Sherman, please give Bert our best. And uh once again, thank you for your time. Good luck tonight.
My name is Rosemary Heath and I live at 588 Sunset Point Drive, Lake Placid. I want to read a post that was on Lake Placid Live. And there's thousands of them. There's not just this one and it's from Hos Compton. It says, "I've lived
in Lake Placid 61 years. No one has done more for Lake Placid than Bert Harris. Keep like placid beautiful was Bert's hard work signed ordinances noticed we aren't we don't have crazy billboards all over like Sebring the
grants we have received for water and sewer was all birch he has kept our town out of legal problems got to remember that one out of legal problems given sound advice naysayers have no memory of what Lake
Placid looked like before Bert Harris. Bert has always been trusted to put Lake Placid first. And there's one after another after another of these comments. And um I
can't believe what you all are doing. And where did this come from? I uh last meeting I was you were all saying how wonderful Bert was and now all of a sudden we have all this controversy. Mayor, you were the one that said Bert
was an asset. Where's all these problems coming from? >> It's your time. You speak. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Jack Connley, 607 Sunset Point Drive. I I just have a two two questions here
basically. Can you can you give us an update on the status of the police station and the pickle ball court constructions? And and also I agree with everything that's been said about Bert, even though I didn't always agree with some of his decisions.
>> Uh the way I understand it, the police station uh the the site review permits have all been accepted or done. Um they're waiting on a couple other things. the building department, the main official resigned,
so they had to find a replacement. And since they had, he's now reviewing it. We were told we would have the permits probably by the end of the week. I believe that's >> um we've already received there's just two corrections that have to be made to
the diagrams for door swings and then the final permits will be issued. >> Okay. So hopefully we should be seeing dirt move here real quick. That's the county building inspector, right? Chief building inspector. >> Yes. >> Okay. And and what about the pickle ball courts? What's the status?
>> That's >> There was a lighting agreement that was received from Sebring and after review by Mr. Harris, he said it wasn't sufficient. So, it will wait until we have further legal review. >> I'm I'm sorry. What was >> we received a an agreement from the city
of Sebring that we believed was sufficient. However, after Mr. Harris reviewed it. He said it was not. So, we'll have to wait for additional legal review. Th >> This is an an permit, but an agreement for for what?
>> We were only missing the lighting agreement. We had previous piggybacks that had already been ratified and had been agreed upon by Mr. Harris and he received the lighting agreements from the city of Sebring and he said that they were not sufficient. We could not use them.
>> Okay. So, so in other words, you have all the the contractors lined up now. Is that what >> we we have to find an agreement for lighting that will be sufficient for the town attorney to agree on them and he's not at this time.
>> Okay. But do you have a an electrical contractor in in mind or is it just a matter of negotiating with them or what? >> We have to find an agreement, Mr. calmly and the agreement from the city of Sebring would allow us to be able to piggy back off of their agreement and use it. However, our town attorney, Mr.
Harris, deemed it in in um he wouldn't he wouldn't agree to it. He said no. >> Thank you. Good evening, Sheila Wyatt, 146 Brentwood Drive, Lake Plazid. I'm here to support attorney Harris and frankly admonish a couple of
individuals. When a friend of mine is lambbasted, as was attorney Harris, a couple of weeks ago in this auditorium in the presence of an unsuspecting audience, I have lost total respect for you, Mr. Mayor, and
for your town administrator. Mr. Mayor, all of that should have happened behind closed doors. As adults in the 21st century, civility and professionalism needs to prevail.
That certainly was not the case the evening I sat for four plus hours listening to the administrator with your apparent approval, Mr. Bear, airing her laundry list, in addition to which pointing the proverbial finger at an
innocent member of the audience, Lisa Sherman. Attorney Harris has guided the town through thick and thin for 40 plus years. And now you plan to hire an individual identified in the local newspaper as a fire brand lawyer booted
from his city attorney job at Treasure Island in September. Quoted from Highlands News Sun January the 14th 26. May I ask you what your future plans regarding the town attorney's position are? No. Let me answer my own question
to you. The town the town attorney hired will be your puppet on a string as evidenced by your behavior at the meeting that I sat through and was totally embarrassed by the behavior shown by you, Mr. Mayor and the town administrator.
Suffice to say, as an outsider looking in, the integrity of your two positions is lost and major changes to restore confidence will need to be made. Let me finish by saying you both need to
look at yourselves in the mirror. Thank you. My name is Kathy Fibers and I live at 163 OB Road. I have been a resident of Lake Placid along with my husband and his family for over 40 years. My in-laws
are basically lifelong residents of our community. Uh when I was about 19 years old, I came to work for Bert Harris and Robert Dunny. And I continued working for Bert for about 11 years until I went to have my
own family. While working for Bert and for those that may not know in the audience, Bert and my mother-in-law Carolyn back in the late 80s and 90s worked tirelessly uh to obtain money and grants for Lake
Placid's beautifification project. They worked hand in hand. They weren't always friendly, but they always walked away shaking hands, and they're still friends to this day. Bird is not only a family friend, but he's been our family's
attorney for many years, and I just wanted to speak on his behalf. He has served our community long before he became town attorney. He worked alongside Mr. Denny for many years behind the scenes.
He's a lifelong resident of Lake Placid and he has devoted nearly his entire life or career to the betterment and enrichment of Lake Placid. And I didn't want it to go unnoticed
uh by the audience. And I'm sure many of the people behind me have known Bert for as long or longer than me and and know the type of caliber and character that Bert has. and I just think it would be remiss if he was not recognized for his
long-standing service in our community. Thank you. Marlene Barter, 760 Sunset Point Drive. And I will echo everything that Miss Biat said. I too was appalled with what I had witnessed at the last two town council meetings.
Good governance seems to have been missing. I've worked across many different departments and many different organizations and in many senior organizations and military units. I worked with different departments and intelligence agencies. I have never seen
such a display from anyone to inviscerate people publicly as I witnessed previously. Shameful. In addition, I have worked with Bird Harris for at least the last 19 years and respect him highly. And I think the way he's being
treated is disrespectful to the town and to the people in this town. He loves this town. He worked hard for this town. He did everything for this town. You people dismissed him categorically as though you were throwing out a pair of
old shoes. That's shameful. that shows lack of good governance. And if you don't like our attitudes and you want to say we're picking on people, just go back and listen to your words. Nobody from this audience is attacking anybody except to say we have a town. We need to
protect it. Mr. Mayor, Bert Harris, Mr. Mayor Bert Harris has been a loyal supporter of yours for decades and yet you threw him out. And quite frankly, I don't understand what
business it is of the town administrator to be in a meeting between you and Bert Harris. He does not work for her. He works for you. He works for the town council. If I were up there, if I were the mayor, trust me, there would be some major
changes. >> Any others? Okay, I don't have a report, so I guess we'll just Is there somebody else? Uh, we'll go to the consent agenda.
>> I'll make a move that we approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Uh, we got a motion to second. Are there comments from the podium? >> I just have a couple quick questions and they're just on the financials. is
um the electric service revenue is missing this month of it's typically about 40,000 a year but yet the franchise fees did come in. So is that just a timing glitch or is there an issue with you know the because that's the second highest revenue to the town.
So this month there is no electric um tax coming in revenue No. Um, we had one of the staff members out sick this and so when she come back, she going to have everything posted. So, it's
a posting timing issue, are you saying? Did the money come in? Do we know? Are we It's regular should get that revenue, right? >> The revenue is already in the bank. She just need her posted on the financials. She just have not posted yet. >> Okay. Um and then second is um there is
a $34,000 capital lay capital outlay for the police department. Uh there's no budgeted but we've spent $34,000. So what's that for? And wouldn't we have a budget amendment that should come
forward for that item? It's on it's on page 12. It's a $34,000 capital outlay. I'll have to look at that one. I didn't see that coming. Could I get back with you and let you know what it was?
>> That was for the officer safety plan that the uh town administrator and mayor gave me permission to move forward with. >> I'm sorry. It's the what? >> Officer safety plans that the town administrator and mayor authorized me to move forward with.
Shouldn't we have a budget amendment that comes forward for council approval if we're adjusting the budget for 34,000? >> As long as he don't go over the total budget, he can do a line item adjustment. So, if his budget is not 100% went over,
>> so where will the offset come from? >> With the budget adjustment, he will bring that back to you and let you know what he's going to not spend to actually um offset that cost. Okay. Um, and then on page 18 under DP,
there's a lot going on. This one's and and maybe we just need at a future meeting to have a whole update on the sewer project and where are we of the 40 million? Have we over spent or
what? But on on page 18, there's a there's a a lot of zeros coming in, but then all of a sudden there's a $4 million actual for D project management that has a zero budget,
but yet there's 18 millions for bidding and contractor that have nothing spent. So that whole section on D for design study and and again my concern is $4.6 million has spent year to date, but
there's no budget amount. So I I know I'm hitting you cold, but maybe what this just begs for a future update on the complete $40 million. Where are we the spending? And it would be helpful to me to know how now that it's coming
close to be completing is is there any costs that the town is going to need to incur on the sewer project? Yeah, it'd be helpful for all of all of the projects to break them out in their own block so we can see what was spent,
how much is projected then, but we have to kind of decipher where things are at in this format. Okay. We'll see if we can get a report that can show you that all in one place then because what you're looking at is the the AP report. So, >> no, I'm looking at the budget report
that's in the packet. >> Yeah, just the budget. >> Um, and then my last question just real quick, and it's on PRM, which is our insurance, right? >> Is this time in the AP report there's two payments amounting to $132,000.
So just how much do we pay for insurance annually in total? >> So I think what the two payments you're looking for, one is for the health insurance and the other one is for property insurance. So the property is like $350,000. >> So our property insurance premium is $350,000 a year.
>> A year. And so you probably see a quarter of that on one of those payments. >> Okay. Thank you. >> What I really find helpful is that If I have a question about the budget, instead of just Rachel coming up here
and trying to remember everything, I found it really helpful if before the meeting, you would give her your questions and maybe get your answers so that she's not sitting here in front of all the audience in public being
questioned about something about a very difficult, you know, and it's a lot of figures that she shouldn't be here sitting here without any information ahead of time what you're going to ask her. I this is what I do and I don't know if you want to do that but this is
what I do. I um now we go through our town administrator and I send my questions to her and to Rachel and then I get my questions answered ahead of time and if then they s aren't answered then I bring it to council but I don't sit an employee here asking her about
her entire budget and one line item and put her in front of everybody to answer these questions because it's impossible for her to answer just my comment. Thank you, Debbie. Because if without my computer in front of me, I'm not sure exactly where I have to look at the
numbers and look at the report that she put before you. >> Right. And I appreciate that. And we used to do that until I was told I can't go directly to Rachel. So, that's just, you know, it's just how it is. I'm available.
I know you are. Thank you. Any comments from the audience? >> Lisa Sherman, 400 Lake Mirror Drive, spouse to Bert Harris, former attorney of Lake Placid. um in reviewing um the the budget that
y'all are looking at for the last three months, just a couple of comments. Um you have two columns in there. One that is year-to- date budget and one is annual budget. Both of those columns have the exact same numbers, which is incorrect. The annual budget is the
amount that is for the full 12 months. The year-to date should only reflect however many months you're in the year. So, if you're three months into a 12-month cycle, it should be 312ths because when you're comparing, it makes no sense to have a year-to- date budget
number be the exact same as the annual budget. So, when you're looking at what's been spent so far, you want to see what the budget is so far. The other item that I'd like to point out um whenever Councilman um Charles was asking about something that wasn't in there, my question to Rachel would be if
it came in during the months that this covered, it should be reflected here. If it didn't come in until February, that's different. But if it came in, it should be reflected. It shouldn't just not be reflected, but it actually was received or paid. I'm a certified public accountant, by the way, so I am
qualified to talk about numbers. Thank you. >> Okay, bring it back. Pull the council. >> Council member Worley, >> yes. >> Council member Everart, >> yes. Council member Hayes. >> Yes. >> Council member Charles.
>> Yes. >> Okay. We have a couple presentations. Uh Janice Ririck, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County. >> Good evening, Honorable Mayor Hullbrook,
Vice Mayor Worley and council members Miss Everheart, Miss Fuin Hayes, and Miss Charles, as well as city administrator, Miss Rodriguez. I am Janice Rearic, chief executive officer of Boys and Girls Club
of Highlands County. I am grateful to speak to you tonight about a pleasant topic, one that I think will bring some some joy and some new excitement to Lake Placid. this is of bringing a program here for all the kids. I also want to
say thanks too to the many supporters who are here with me tonight to share their voices of confidence in the Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County. Boys and Girls Clubs of America points its start to 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. The history lesson won't be
very long, don't worry. The club in Highlands County will celebrate its 29th anniversary on July 27th of this year. Our organization is one club with two locations. Right now we have a clubhouse in Avon Park and one in Sebring. These
centers for athletics, learning and arts have been the premier afterchool program for thousands of students and generations of families. Tonight I will present you a proposal to open a club in Lake Placid, completing the network of three clubs in three towns serving all
the children who need us most in Highlands County. Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County is asking support and approval from town council and the citizens of Lake Placid to bring a Boys and Girls Club program to this town. The club is further asking
for an exclusive agreement from the town for the purpose of providing these services to children that meet the Boys and Girls Club's mission. And that is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to achieve their full potential as caring, productive,
and responsible citizens. The town-owned property at 151 Dal Hall Boulevard, recently renovated with an intent to be a birthday party rental, might be better serving the town and its youth as a dedicated boys and girls club with a reach of up to 60 plus children per day
after school and in the summer. The clubhouse in Lake Placid will enjoy its connection to and association with the two local clubs in Highlands County and an organization that has been serving our area for almost 29 years. At every talk I've given at a social and
civic organization for six years, I am asked, "When will there be a club in Lake Placid, I've always had the same answer. When I have a place that is safe and positive for kids, that is close to the schools
and have an arrangement that makes it affordable for the Boys and Girls Club." In December, a couple months ago, I received an answer to the question from our very own executive of the South Florida State College here in Lake Placid. When Dina Capawano looked at me
when the question was asked and said, "I have an idea. We need to talk." At that point in time, everything changed and wheels started turning in the right direction. The property at 151 Dow Hall is
perfectly suited to be the starter home for Lake Placid's Boys and Girls Club. Let me tell you why. Lake Placid Elementary School has right now 549 students and this is coming from the Florida Department of Education know your schools website.
549 students in the elementary school. We have about a 64% minority population. White students comprise 43% and 100% of those children are considered to be
coming from economically disadvantaged households. In the middle school, the percentages of students in the demographics are very similar. Again, economically disadvantaged households 98%. And in the high school, our economically
disadvantaged families rate in the 83% level. What does this tell you? There is a need in Lake Placid for some afterchool care and after school place for children to be that's affordable. In Florida, Boys and Girls Clubs impact
study revealed that there are four significant benefits to a club membership. Number one, significantly more school days attended. Number two, up to two times more likely to be promoted, up to three times less likely to drop out, and higher graduation
rates. I'm all about the academics in the education. If our kids are able to succeed academically, they can succeed in life. We we will soon have three sites. Um, and while we are one of the smaller
clubs in the state of Florida, which has 33 club organizations and 243 club sites, I believe that we have unique geographic perspective that makes this club especially, especially here in the rural center of the state.
Fully 95% of the students attending Lake Placid schools, elementary, middle, and high school are living in economically constrained circumstances. Parents are stretched to their limits and without an affordable, safe, and positive place for kids, it's on every agenda in every
household. The time is now to open doors at a Boys and Girls Club. With the closing of the after school reading program at the library, the club can be open and welcoming for all grades of students to have a place to be, a place with adults who care and can teach and demonstrate valuable character building
skills. The return on investment delivered by Boys and Girls Clubs has been studied and has been calculated to be almost $11 for every $1 spent on club operations and programs. The ROI is also calculated in terms of future economic
success, lower delinquency rates, lower risks of substance abuse, and higher scores on self-satisfaction as an adult, which ties very closely to higher high school graduation rates. As the steward of a town-owned property
at 151 Dow Hall Boulevard, we will deliver a program of tutoring, mentoring, life skills, and fitness activities every day after school and for full days in the summer. The goals of the Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County are to improve student academic skills, provide personal enrichment
opportunities, and promote adult family member involvement through workshops and partnerships. The program will allow elementary students to participate in lowcost to nocost comprehensive after-school program that will offer academic services to help increase
knowledge in reading, math, and English language arts and writing. Students will be able to learn from personal achievement activities about health and nutrition as well as problem solving and making smart choices in life. Specifically, the educational programs
will feature the power hour homework program. This consists of at least 30 minutes of homework assistance on Monday through Thursday with certified Florida teachers. On Friday's reading club will provide additional assistance in a form of small group or one-to-one tutoring
for club members identified as needing some additional help. The academic services include STEM projectbased learning to mirror the day school curriculum enhancing learning in new ways. STEM being science, technology, engineering, and math subjects.
We also have a second of three components that being personal enrichment. These programs are designed to engage club members in self-improvement activities from arts and crafts to health, nutrition, social skills, problem solving, and self-esteem.
Some of our curriculum to this end is known as charity for change, positive action, and smart lessons, which is standing for skills, mastery, and resilience training. This is a nationally recognized program to teach
prevention of drug, alcohol, and substance abuse as well as to foster strong self-esteem and positive decision-making. There's a lot of good things going on, aren't there? Those are two of the components that we rotate through every day. that there's also a third one and that is fitness.
Our BTC programs are called healthy habits and triple play and they demonstrate how eating smart and keeping fit add up to a healthy lifestyle. Organized social recreation games and play strengthen character, increase confidence and team building. We will
bring in sports experts all of which interestingly enough have the same first name and that's coach. Anybody who knows you've grown up in any kind of a sports program we always refer to that one mentor who means so much to us and usually his or her name is coach.
So we bring our own coaches to be able to work with the kids not just in the enrichment program but also in fitness. will be seeking um a lease with the comp with the uh town council's approval or an agreement of some kind that the town administrator and I will be writing
together. This will be written to run effectively with no end date as with contracts that are evergreen, meaning it stays in effect without change and with the full support of the town council. In total, ours will be a partnership of government, higher education, and the
private sector. Boys and Girls Clubs is already a partner agency with our local United Way of Central Florida and we share that designation with the Big Brothers Big Sisters and our friends at the YMCA. Plans are already in the works. We're not stopping right now.
Our club will be a gathering place for high school bigs to meet with their littles. And this is a program that's been in existence at Lake Placet Elementary School for quite some time. Having met with our leaders of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, we are simply coming with an an arrangement to provide
another place for the high school kids to meet with the littles. We're also working to share future sports activities with our YMCA. I know that the combination of our three organizations who all have a heart for
children and all have organized nationally recognized plans and programs will serve well with a very professional approach to start here in Lake Placid. We look forward to meeting and planning art activities as well with our neighbor, the Lake Placid Art League,
and making friends with the many strong businesses across many industries to collaborate and create workforce readiness experiences for club members and their families in Lake Placid. I don't know about you, but I sense in Lake Placid over these past two months a
profound and noticeable ground swell of interest in moving now to answer the question that I received so many times. When will there be a club in Lake Placid? I'm asking for your positive vote tonight to get that question answered with a sincere and committed
now's the time. >> I'm happy to answer any of your questions. >> And I hope that you've already been given some of the materials. Uh what what can I fill in that I that I missed? Okay. >> Like to add that you uh there is also adult learning. >> Yes.
>> I think um for literacy and computers and finances. >> Yes, absolutely. Um we're we're funded by by four sources as as many are federal, state, local, and private donations and contributions. Uh one of our grants is very wise in in directing
us and coaching us to make sure that we have programs for the adults. We call it adult family member services. We teach what we call literacy classes, computer literacy, uh family and family dynamics, uh finance literacy there. Uh we always
throw in um an artistic course because everybody needs to keep that their creative juices flowing. I would say we also do safety literacy. Uh very often that has to we bring in the fire department and have a demonstration of how to work a fire extinguisher. Not everybody knows how to do that, by the
way. So, it's kind of nice to be able to offer that. And we encourage our parents to meet um as well to to give us their feedback because we not just have club members who are kids, but our families are part of the club as well.
And and as I understand this is uh there uh it's not a playtime. It's it's not willy-nilly that there are these are all structured programs, curriculum, certified teachers. >> Yes. And um they uh also there is with
was it heighten colony food? They'll give them snacks after school. >> Oh. Yes, absolutely. Uh Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County has a long-standing agreement with our wonderful school board of Highlands County. We are part of the food nutrition program. And so every day after school, we pick up fresh snacks,
uh juice boxes and Teddygrams and and fruit and such. So every child coming in of any age group has a snack every afternoon. In the summer program, we provide breakfast and lunch because we are also part of the school's uh lunch program and the breakfast program during
the summertime. >> And so club kids are able to come and enjoy a breakfast and lunch with us. Most parents contribute to an afternoon snack. We we get uh there's a lot of involvement and excitement about, you know, showing off what snacks they bring. Uh but it's part of a program um
that you're familiar with. The schools are able to provide breakfast during the summer. And so this is also available to those children who may not be club members per se, but they are encouraged to be able to come by and we are able to work with our school board nutrition department to make sure we have food for
children. Okay. And my last thing is there was some concern about the distance from the school and you may be able to arrange transportation. Yes indeed. Uh transportation right now for our two other clubs is arranged for our target schools to come from school
board of Highlands County. We have an arrangement with the transportation department. It's our position that our elementary students especially should have a bus ride to the club that we should not have to ask them to walk. Middle school and high school students are pretty much able to do that. Uh that
the distance we've I've been driving my car and measuring it. It's it's a safe distance. But elementary kids, it's better to put them on a bus and bring them even if it's doesn't matter how short the distance is. And the arrangement with transportation is a contract that's well established. >> Thank you.
>> Yes. and I talked with you at length and you answered many questions that I had asked as well, but also that the facility we have would facilitate the um kitchen area and the need for the um
occupancy with the bathrooms and that what we needed and I was especi I think we talked about especially the concern about trying to get children from you know the school facilities to the place and that would be worked out with the
school board for transportation. >> Yes, it will. >> Okay. So, um I find this um a win-win everything we had talked about. So, um I'll make a motion that our our staff
continue to explore um working with um this organization, Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County to um use our facility just to work towards that and see what else can come out of this and
we can finalize everything. Could I ask that we make it a little more clearer? Because what I heard her say is she's working with Charlotte to get a contract. So, I'd like to even take that if we're able to make a motion
versus say bring it back next week, you know, for a motion. But, if we can make a motion, I'd like to see authorize the town administrator to work directly with her on a contract and bring it back so we can get it signed and go. because
you've got contracts from Sebring, you've got contracts from Avon Park. I also had a good conversation with you that we could, you know, here we go piggyback, but we could really use one of the better ones and this way we can get it going faster versus I think we at
least I support it. I'd support it and I'd like to see us get a contract that we could look at and get it signed and get it implemented. >> Um, I support it, but we haven't heard from the YMCA yet. my point exactly. I I support it as
well, but I'd like to hear from the YMCA as well. >> That's fair enough. So, we have the YMCA and then we can have a discussion on both programs. affair. >> Happy to I was I was just going to say we also need to look at the budget because the
budget will be greatly needed to be evaluated more um because that's going to impact our budget. Um so just and I think we've talked about that as well with fundraising. So there's other variables outside of just going into a contract that we'll need to be able to discuss because of the financial
implications. >> I was wrong motion although it was exactly to move forward and explore this further. Um it's just a motion to proceed with um you know investigation and trying to find out how the town can
work with this organization. That's all >> I I agree. And then that was where I was saying and bring back a contract oluding the budget implications for a decision. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much,
>> Mayor. Any any question from the audience with her before she leaves? >> Mayor, so that motion there wasn't a second. Is that correct? >> I'm sorry. >> There wasn't a second on that motion. >> It wasn't Was it a motion?
>> I made a motion for the staff to continue negotiations and talks with them to move forward. That's was my motion. Authorize staff to do that. So that they're authorized to do that >> and I agree. >> Okay. So is that a second?
>> It was a second. Yeah, it was just clarification of what does work with staff mean? It's like a contract in the budget. Sure. >> Yeah, there's a lot of moving parts in that. So yeah, we just want to I'd like to authorize them to move forward so they're actually authorized to spend time on this. So
>> at least that way we'll get to get >> That's my motion. Yes. >> Okay. All right. We have a motion and second. Any comments from the audience? >> Seeing none, bring it back. pull the council. >> Council member Warley, >> you have a >> what?
Nobody stood up or raised their hand. >> No, you have to come to the podium, please. >> Hi, Dina Capawano, 129 Observation Street. >> Good evening, everybody. Uh for nearly 20 years I've worked with the students
in Lake Placid uh from Trinity Tots Preschool to Lake Placid Elementary and Middle and now I am the campus coordinator at South Florida State College here in Lake Placid. Um I'm here today to support the opening of a Boys and Girls Club in the town of Lake
Placid. Uh as Janice had mentioned to you guys, we um well Janice and I met through Leadership Highlands. So uh it's Never in my in a million years would I have expected me to be in Leadership Highlands and meet somebody and possibly have this opportunity for our town. So,
it was very exciting when she was sharing how we just need a building and I said and previously to that time when she shared that with us um I had learned that the town just um acquired the building on Dell Hall and that maybe somewhere down the line it could be used
for the youth in our community. So knowing that and hearing what Janna said, I said I said, "We need to talk." Um, by the end of the day, I was here showing her the building and we were very excited. Um, so it that was a moment that I think we both
will remember regardless of where this goes. Um, I have something written out, but I think I having worked with the children in Lake Placid from all all ages. I work with students now who are dual enrolling
that are in the high school. Um, as Janice had talked to you, the number of students that we have that come from homes where students go home after school by themselves, 6 years old, 8 years old, 10 years old, they're taking they take care of each other because
they have nowhere to go. Um, when I think about that and I think about having the opportunity to have a Boys and Girls Club here where the fees and the costs are extremely minimal, if any, um, as somebody who has invested a lot
of their self into this community when it comes to kids, the idea of having that opportunity for our kids, I it just means everything to me. Uh currently, just to keep in mind what afterare afterchool care costs, uh Lake
Placid Elementary has an afterchool care program, which I'm sure most people know about. Um just to give you an idea, there's a $25 registration fee and it is $60 per week per child. So, a family that has three children in elementary school, um while they may give a
discount for each child after, you're still looking at a very large number to have your child taken care of by somebody. uh with the Boys and Girls Club that is not the case. Uh Janet has shared they have a registration fee that she will work with with parents um on.
Um it it's it's something that she sees as not it will not be a barrier for students to come stay with the Boys and Girls Club. Um so it is an opportunity. Oh, okay. Sorry. Anyway, I'm here to support the Boys and
Girls Club. I absolutely love the kids of our neighbor of our area and um if this could pass it would be wonderful. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Ann Kennedy, 1406 County Road 17 North here in Lake Placid. Um, since the
library closed its doors to kids under 12 or 10, I guess it is, who are not accompanied by parents, um, I've learned that there are no programs offered in our town by nonprofits or the town for indigent children. I volunteered at the library for two years and got to know a
lot of them and I care about those kids. Um, I take walks in the afternoon and now I have had children approaching me asking for money. And I've seen board children throwing things at park benches and wandering around aimlessly.
And I believe our town can do better than this for our children. I'm am pleased to have been asked to be a founding board member of the Boys and Girls Club branch here in Lake Placid, which would cater to these to these really super kids that I've met. Um, and
I hope town council I I have faith that y'all will help provide a place for that. I have to say I've already received enthusiastic responses by groups willing to contribute in various ways to such a center uh such as New Hope who has volunteered to provide uh books and puzzles and some furniture.
Um, and I had a wonderful conversation with Keith Goodson. Very exciting. Um, if we're able to obtain that building on Doll Hall, we'll need to bring that building into our town's awareness and make it attractive for children and parents. And Keith has
agreed to work as a mentor with a high school art class to help them design and execute a mural on that building. Um, and I will work tirelessly to raise the necessary funds for that.
I'm excited about the town participating in providing highquality afterchool care for our valued children. And I think this is an effort that will help keep Lake Placid one of the best little towns in America for everybody who lives here. Thank you.
>> The town of Lake Placid could not survive without our volunteers. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Karen Hixon. Um I live at 577 Sunset Point Drive and I'm here to um as a proponent of the Boys and
Girls Club in Lake Placid. Uh, and I just want to really express my support uh to have it established here um and to join forces with um those that have successfully established the Boys and
Girls Club in Avon Park and Sebring and other areas of Florida and and throughout the US. Uh I have many years of experience uh working with and for children uh and adolescence via UNICEF and its partners including many NOS's
and community groups in a multitude of countries in the different regions of the world throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Most recently I was in Sagal working West Africa um where I was most
impressed as I usually am um by the communication skills and social activism of youth groups composed of high school students and out of school students. Throughout my various experiences, I've always found engaging with and
supporting the participation of children in clubs and other organizational activities, whether they are school-based, community- based, faith-based, to generally be of great value and most beneficial to the development of young people. Clubs for
children and adolescence after school or during school vacations provide safe, protective learning, constructive and social environments. These are all very important aspects that are evidence-based with regard to positive child and adolescent development.
I personally have been supportive of and involved with the design, development, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of many such clubs or other name type organizations through education and child protection programs. I've always been amazed and energized by
the dynamic they create. I've seen how much children gain from learning life skills, pursuing their interests and aspirations, developing their talents and other skills such as social and physical skills, artistic skills, STEM related skills, communication, entrepreneurial
and leadership and advocacy skills, many of which Jen has talked about. Um, there is nothing better than seeing how such a safe and nurturing club environment creates spaces that enable children and young people to be creative, innovative,
supportive, and empathetic of each other and others. I envision that the Boys and Girls Club in Lake Placid would welcome and be inclusive of diverse groups of children, different age groups, and especially ensuring vulnerable children are engaged and that all girls and boys can be
involved and become active participants. And in some there is so much potential to build and chart ways for this proposed club and engage members of a community to support it in different and co-creative ways with and for the
targeted groups of children and adolescence. There's a lot of adult talent and support that could be tapped in the lake placid community. I for one am ready to contribute my vast experiences working with and for children and adolescence in this context
and setting and as described by Janice and and an um and also yes and I just hope that the council will be receptive and supportive of such a great
addition to the lake placid community. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. My name is Rosemary Heath and I live at 588 Sunset Point Drive. Um, first of all, I'd like to compliment Miss um,
Raret Rick, I think is how you say it. You've got better statistics than I have and I've been searching forever, so I want to compliment you for that. Um, okay, let me start. I'm sorry, I lost my place. Okay. We are
blessed to have this organization designed for younger children and adults that um are helping us with this age group. Currently, many of our young children waiting for their older siblings to pick them up and their parents to pick them up would wait at
the library, but there was no dedicated adult to supervise them. Um there was just too many numbers of children for the staff of the library to manage. So, this is absolutely wonderful because these children are just walking around and they have no supervision, no help
with their homework. Um, okay, where am I? And there definitely needs to be an affordable and free program for these children, for all the children. Um, an afterchool care, a
program to help them with their homework. This is something that we could offer to the families here and attract other families with young children to Lake Placid. Thank you. >> Carolyn Morrison 119 Sunset Point
Boulevard. I just want to tell you that I am super super excited about those presentations. That is like crazy exciting because we are lacking so much for the kids here in Lake Placid. I mean Janice, Dina, I think it was Annie and Karen. I mean, wow, that was amazing.
And I almost I'm sorry. I don't know Demetri, but I'm excited about listening to his stuff, too. And I hope that we can accommodate both organizations because this is super exciting. It's so needed in Lake Placid. This is all for the kids and it's so heartbreaking to
know the poverty level that our kids are at and the things that are needed. I I'm ready to volunteer and I hope I can recruit a bunch of other people to volunteer too because this is exciting news for Lake Placid. I mean just so positive. So thank you for the presentation. I look forward to hearing Demetri too and I hope we can also
accommodate YMCA. So thanks so much for your time. >> Just like you don't have enough to do. >> Okay. Any others? All right, seeing none, bring them back. Poll the council. >> Council member Worley. >> Yes. >> Council member Charles. >> Yes.
>> Council member Hayes. >> I I just want to know that if I say yes to this, does that mean that staff can also work on the YMCA program? Because I don't want to say yes. Although I I I love the presentation.
and I had a chance to meet with Janet and you know I love the Boys and Girls Club but I also love the YMCA and I think we might be jumping the gun a little bit by voting on this before we even hear the YMCA. So
that's my question before I vote. My motion is just for staff to proceed exploring all the different moving elements of this which is one of those getting the children from the school board, you know, all of that. I just
think this is an exploratory to get to where we want to go. And I just want to add this. Um, and for people that don't know, the building is next to the park where there's play structures and there's other things to do with physical for the children. So, it is a perfect
location. I'm not excluding YMCA. We still have to hear their presentation, but this is to just authorize staff to move forward. It doesn't do anything other than to move all these moving parts, which are a lot, but I think could be accomplished.
>> Okay. Then then I can go with I can I can vote yes as long as we're going to consider the YMCA to go forward as well. Council >> member. >> Yes. With the same understanding. Okay.
And we'll go to B. Uh we have the CEO of the Highlands County Family YMCA here, Dimmitri Bosam. Pleasure having you, sir. Good evening, council members, community
stakeholders. My name is Demetri Busan and I'm the CEO of the Highlands County Family YMCA. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I would like to share a brief overview of the history of the Highlands County Family YMCA in Sebring
and discuss the potential interest and benefits of opening a YMCA branch here in Lake Placid. The Highlands County Family YMCA located in Sebring has served the community for decades as a trusted nonprofit organization dedicated to the
strengthening in individuals and families. Founded in 1987, the YMCA operates under a longstanding mission focusing on building healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. Over the years,
he has grown into a vital community resource offering programs that support wellness, youth development, and family engagement. At this point, the YMCA has more than 3,000 members in Sebring. The Steing YMCA provides a wide variety of
services including aquatics program which we are the number one swimming lesson program in the United States. Youth sports and enrichment activities. We are right now in Highlands County
from my understanding the only provider of youth sports. We have things like soccer, flag football and basketball. We have for example in soccer three seasons. Every seasons in soccer brings more than
600 kids per season. Okay. Flag football brings around 200. Basketball brings around 200 per season. Okay. Fitness and wellness classes is part of our mission too. Child care and afterchool programs. The YMCA is the biggest child care
provider in the United States at this point. community outreach and support initiatives. A key component of the YMCA's mission is inclusivity. Through financial assistance and scholarship programs, the YMCA ensures
access for individuals and families of all income levels. Okay. The Highlands County Family YMCA has become more than a fitness facility. It serves a central gathering place that supports the overall well-being of the
community. It impacts includes promoting healthier lifestyle through fitness, swimming, and wellness programs, providing safe structure environments for childrens and teens, supporting working families with reliable child
care services, creating volunteers opportunities and partnerships with local organizations like Boys and Girls Club. Lake Placid has a strong sense of community and a growing need for accessible health, wellness, and family
focused services. And by the way, I'm a resident of Lake Placid. I've been living here for the past 13 years. Opening a YMCA branch here would allow residents to benefit from programs currently accessed permanently in Sebring. Potential benefits for Lake
Placid, health and wellness. A local YMCA would provide convenient access to fitness programs, aquatic activities, and wellness education for residents of all ages. Youth and family support programs such as youth sports,
afterchool care, summer camps, and family activities will directly support local families and children. Community engagement. A YMCA would serve as a welcoming hub where residents can connect, volunteer, participate in
programs that strengthen our community ties. Economic and quality of a life impact. A local branch could create jobs, attract families, and enhance Lake Placi's appeal as a healthy family oriented
community. A leazi location would reduce transportation barriers, making participation easier for seniors, youth, and working families. The Highlands County Family YMCA has a proven history of serving and strengthening communities through
comprehensive program focused on health, youth development, and family support. Exploring the opportunity to bring a YMCA branch to Lake Placid represent an investment in the long-term well-being of our residents and the future of our community. Thank you for your time and
consideration. And I want to be make something very clear. Boys and Girls Clubs were not competitors. We're partners. Any questions? Uh proposal for us would be to start
using the late June facilities, meaning the fields, certainly soccer, to start bringing youth programs here to the city of Lake Placid. The future will be to build a YMCA, but that's not on our plans right now, but it's definitely
something that we want to consider moving forward. >> Very good. I I want to just say I met met Dmitri and he was over at the um paddle board endurance at the um Bishop Park um on on Lake June
and he was so on fire to help Lake Placid. It's almost like we said we need help with our children and they just showed up. It was like a miracle. And so this man right here has a heart for Lake Placid. And I would also like a motion
to do approve you all to approve a motion to move forward with working with him. Um, whatever that the YMCA at this point can help our our town, our children in the greater Lake Placid area as well. He has a heart for it. I'm
telling you, he was just so I'll never forget you for that. Thank you. It was like we asked for it and these people came out of the woodwork and I'm so thankful. So, I would like a motion to go ahead and have our staff to um move
forward with working with the Highlands County Family YMCA as well to do what we can do for our for our Lake Placid area at our parks. >> I second that. I like using Lake June
Park. Yeah, I just a couple questions. So, first off, I am so excited that we've got two great programs coming forward for discussion uh to help the town and and especially with the Y, it's the seniors, too, right? That's kind of the
the group that we're bringing in that it seems to be overlooked a lot. >> Um >> how how would it work with the current sports teams that that's all, you know, we've got the uh youth baseball and that because I think you have the same in Sebring, right? You have the YMCA and
Sebring has the sports programs and in this case we only have one ball field. >> Correct. So right now at this point we don't do baseball. So we do soccer, flag football and basketball. The other thing that we're going to be adding is volleyball because I don't know if you guys know there's two sports that were
invented at the YMCA. One of them was basketball, the other one was volleyball. Uh so baseball right now for us is not part of our program. So it definitely would not wouldn't be a conflict. >> Okay. And and so I totally agree and you know we just wanted to make sure
Charlotte and working with because we do have flag football, right? We've got some football teams that use the facility. So it's you know everybody wins nobody loses. >> Correct. is what's really important. But but thank you and um I support it totally
>> and and and getting back to the one of your questions was yes, we serve I want to say 40% right now of our members are seniors. So we offer programs like uh silver sneakers, Renew Active, and Silver and Fit. >> Perfect. And your interest isn't the 151
Dale Hall Boulevard. >> Nope. So, >> like I said, we're partners and we're here definitely for the community and that's exactly what we want to do. Again, a YMCA would require a bigger facility. So, in all fairness to Janice and the community and the city of Lake
Placid, I think definitely that would definitely suit her a little bit better. Are there any questions from the audience? Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Do you have a motion? >> You have a motion in a second.
>> There is. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Any comments from the audience on the motion and second >> Morrison 11 set point boulevard. I just wanted to say that I think it's awesome that Demetri is looking at Lake June
Park because I think that's a there's a lot of usage there. And I did just want to bring up again an if you remember two months ago I think Anna and But shut came up and they had interviewed 195 middle schoolers and one of their biggest comments was they wanted
volleyball. So he just mentioned that volleyball was invented by us, you know, uh the YMCA. So, I think that's awesome. If we can figure something out for Lake June Park, that would be awesome to incorporate volleyball since 195 middle schoolers would love to see volleyball. Thank you.
>> Good evening. My name is Heather Parsons and I'm the founder of Tadada Yoga Studio. I am here this evening. I am so excited to hear about the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA coming to Lake Placid. We have kids zone that we offer from
2:15 every afternoon, Monday through Friday, until 5:15 every evening. We are a donationbased yoga studio and we are more than excited to have these donations come in as part of our donationbased yoga studio. We will
totally be accepting donations for this. We are so excited. I can tell you that I have interviewed students at the elementary school, the middle school, and the high school. I teach yoga at the local nursing homes, the prisons, the
jails, and at rehab centers. This is much needed in Lake Placid. We have lots of families that bring their children to our small little studio and we have to turn them away because we just do not have the staff in the room in our small
little studio. I just want to say that this is amazing. I have been a part of the YMCA for over 25 years. I taught yoga at the YMCA and this is something that we totally need in Lake Placid. Thank you so much for this. It is a
divine intervention. I will be praying and meditating for this to come to our beautiful gem of a town. >> Okay, bring it back. Bold the council. >> Council member Worley. >> Yes. >> Council member. >> Yes. Yes.
>> Council member Hayes. >> Yes. And I too am excited for both programs. It's great. Council >> member Charles. >> Yes. Okay. All right. Number six, we don't have any public hearings,
so we'll go to uh seven, action agenda, consideration and selection of a town attorney. Yeah. uh before moving into this uh back in October
and I want to state right from the beginning that nobody in this town has more respect for Mr. Harris than I did. I have worked with him for probably over 30 years. Did we always see eye to eye? No, we didn't. But we were always able
to work out our differences. Things change over the years. In October, when I had a meeting with him, he indicated that he thought it was time to step down and he wanted to do it his
way. And I thought, that's great. Let him do it. So, in November, he announced on this podium that he was going to retire and gave his resignation. We decided we'd keep him on on a temporary basis till we found somebody
new. But it went from November to December, December to January. Now it's January to February. And staff and everybody was we were not getting things done the way it should.
So I had a meeting with again with Mr. Paris and he had made the comment months ago that when the time came that we would just shake hands and he would walk away and that's what we did Monday. We shook hands and and he told me that he
would just he would just step aside. Is he done? No. In fact, I think we were still getting correspondence today from him. So, he he's still our attorney, but we are in the process of looking for
a full-time. I've been told over the past few days that I fired him. I'd like to find out who who put that out there. Firing never came into the picture. Mr. Harris on his own resigned
and retired at the same time. Uh I always feel things happen for the best. When I took this job 20ome years ago, I told everybody that the decisions
that I make may or not be in the best interest of you. May or not be in the best interest of you. May or may not be in the best interest of you. But it's going to be in the best interest of the town. And the town needs to move forward. We need to hire an attorney
that's going to be here forever. Well, not forever, but for a long time. And that process has been started. Uh the rhetoric you heard tonight is attacking me personally. That's fine. I've got
broad shoulders. I can take it. But what you got to understand, I think some of these people that got up and top are going to turn in packets and are going to run for office in a couple months. So, of course, they're going to want to attack. That's the only way
they're going to get elected. I would ask you to listen to them. I will defend their right for them to speak. That's fine. This is America. They can do what they want. But then I would ask you to call me and let me come talk to you so
that you can get the true and honest opinion because you're only going to hear one side of it. I guarantee you. So, I I hope you pay attention the next few months. Uh it's uh it's it's going to be a lot of fun.
But at this time, I'm going to ask for the council to vote to accept Mr. Harris's resignation and retirement effective immediately. I agree. I mean, it's It's not been easy for um
what's been going on. I just it's hard for me, but Mr. Harris did resign and I just think it's time for him to um move on. It's hard for all of us because
we've been part of our lives for so long, like a family. We have been a family for so long. But um what's been going on I don't think is good for the town. It needs to it needs to happen and I I see it. I
don't never understood in corporations why they do what they do, but I think when somebody does decide to move on, they they probably need to do it. So, um you know, I've known Mr. Harris. I mean, I grew up with him. I went to school
with him. I mean, his grandmother and I were so close. She lived right across the street from where I live now and she was over at my grandmother's house every day all day long. So, it's not easy for me to say this, but I think we need to
move forward. So, I'm going to go ahead and move I'm going to move move to relieve Mr. Harris of his duties as town attorney effective immediately and authorize staff to work with interim legal counsel for proper succession.
It's not been good at town hall. Um I'm really afraid for the town if we don't move forward. It's just Mr. Harris is so wonderful. But we need to move forward. So that's my motion. I move to relieve Mr. Harris
of his duties as town attorney effective immedely and authorize staff to work with interim legal counsel for proper succession. I'd ask you to second that and vote for my motion, please. I didn't understand the authorized staff to do what?
>> I'm sorry that I I got the first part, but then you're going to a to authorize staff to move forward and proceed for looking for a new town attorney. Is that what you said? >> Okay. Thank you. >> It was ringing down here.
>> Yeah, I just was it wasn't clear down here. Thank you. I'm just going to add that when somebody goes to the state attorney's office and names three of our staff as violating the sunshine law, we have two other
legal opinions that that's not true. Um and then if that we went ahead with the um interviews and we were the council was said that we are violation if we go forward. We went ahead and went forward. I'm not sure what Mr. Harris is going to
do about reporting us to the state attorney's office that we went forward with interviewing um the attorney we had at hand instead of doing the other one as well. But I'm just saying it it's gone down to that where staff is being
at turn turned in as violating sunshine law with the state attorney's office and this council has been accused of violating the sunshine law if we went forward with the with the interviews and from what I understand everybody did. So according to Mr. Paris were all in
violation of Sunshine Law, including our key staff, which is our our um clerk, um our town administrator, and our um financial officers. We're all in violation of Sunshine Law. So, I just
think we need to move forward. I mean, I don't know where this is going to go from here since we're all in violation of Sunshine Law. All of us and staff, our key staff people, and Mr. Paris has made this move and I just think it's time to move forward
and God bless him. He has been so wonderful. Everything he's ever done for this town and I know he has a heart for it just like me. So, I'm just saying we need to move forward. We need to end this. This needs to stop right here, right now,
today. um uh unless we get into fur further litigation that either all of us have violated the sunshine law and key staff have violated the sunshine law. Mr. Harris has pushed it to that point and I don't think that any of us have
and we have two legal opinions that say we haven't. So what I'm saying is let's just move forward. Let's celebrate and I'm saying let's celebrate his retirement. I I don't know why people don't think we wouldn't celebrate that. He's done a lot of good for this town
for a long, long time. So, let's move forward. Let's just get a new attorney and celebrate Mr. Harris. I'd like a second and let's move forward. This um this is a sad time and I've
known him for about 20 years, but um I will second it because we do need to move on. We have a motion to second. >> I just have some questions. So, Mayor Horbrook, you said he's still our attorney.
So, I'm confused. Just earlier you you made some comments and I wrote down you said he's still our attorney. So is he or is >> and until the council votes to accept his resignation, the way I understand it, he is still our
attorney. Even though he has resigned and has retired, the council still has to vote. >> So be because earlier I heard as of last Monday he's not our attorney. So are we like ratifying? >> Well, I don't I don't know who you heard that from.
>> This is what you're saying. It's what Charlotte told me earlier. So >> Mr. Harris is our attorney until we do this motion to relieve him of his duties and then effective immediately and then we need to authorize staff to get us a
new attorney to proceed. >> So I was saying we were still getting correspondence from him today. >> So he so as we speak he's still the town attorney. >> Absolutely. >> Until we vote. Yes. And your motion is
that we accept his resignation >> in retirement as as of immediately. >> Immediately. And then who will be our interim town attorney? Who will be >> this has to be done first. >> But this this was not on the agenda.
>> No, the town attorney of the town the agenda item is consideration. this selection of town attorney. There was nothing on the agenda to ratify or release the town attorney.
And so I'm trying to understand Councilwoman Worley's because it's two-sided. One is to accept his resignation and the other is authorized staff, but that's the agenda item. I'm I'm just kind of confused as to the order of the way
things are being done. Okay. It's consideration and selection of town attorney. That's what we're doing right now. So consideration and selection of a town attorney. I'm saying the selection is is that we remove Mr. Harris of his duties of town attorney effective
immediately and authorize staff to go ahead and work with interim legal counsel. We can still go ahead and and look at what's going you know this is to just to remove Mr. Harris. Um, >> but it was two things. You said two
things. One is relief him and the other is and and again it's kind of not clear. Authorize staff to find an interim or work with an interim. >> Yes. And and let's just Okay. So, let me just do this. We could just do I move to
I want to go ahead and move forward. So, I'm authorizing staff to work forward with whatever we you know, whatever we decide to do with interim legal counsel. If we vote to select a new the the attorneys firm before us, we can do that
tonight, too. I mean, it's all we just need to move forward. That's all. We need to move forward. Mr. Harris needs to be um removed from office as far as our town attorney and then we need to move forward. We can select the people tonight. We can go with an interim
attorney. We just need to move forward. That's all. That's This is all about selection of a a town attorney. I'm trying your motion on the table is to relieve Mr. Harris of his duties, but then there was an and authorized staff
to find an interim attorney. I'm just trying to understand your motion. >> Well, let me Okay. Okay. Well, >> because again, our charter says that the mayor upon consent of town council will hire the town attorney, the town
administrator, the police chief um and the town clerk. >> How would you like me to um amend my motion to >> My concern is and I just heard we still have our attorney. So, I just heard Bert
is still our town attorney. I don't like the risk of not having a town attorney whether and so if you relieve our town attorney of his duties
tonight. My question is who is our attorney tomorrow? >> Well, that's what we're moving forward with. >> That's not what your motion says. >> It is to you said interim interim legal counsel. It may be who we select tonight. We don't know till we get to
the next to the next step. >> If I could, this is the typical process. You have to release the current attorney in order to to appoint the next attorney. This is the typical process in government. You can't have a current
attorney and appoint an interim or another attorney unless you relieve the current attorney of his duties. So, this is typical practice in government, >> right? So something's changed because in November it was the Bird Harris is retiring but
he will continue on until an attorney is in place. And now we're we've changed that to say relieve him immediately and allow staff to work with an interim.
Absolutely. I am changing that because we're right now in litigation as far as I'm concerned. Mr. Harris has accused staff of violating the sunshine law and if we had proceeded with our interview, which we did with further staffing, he
said that we were all in violation of the sunshine law as well. So, um, we're in litigation with Mr. Harris as far as I'm concerned. He said he's not backing down. He said we are um violating we just violated the sunshine law according to Mr. here is not according to other
legal counsel and staff which are this is their jobs for God's sake. You know this is going to just like all of that stuff that gets to the newspaper all the newspaper is going to say is like town council violated the sunshine law. They
don't care about the end result. I'm just saying this is too much. We just need to move forward. And and I I hated that, you know, you're bringing this up and I'm make you're making me say all this stuff, but I'm just saying we need to move forward. Okay. So, I move to
relieve Mr. Harris of his duties attorney effective immediately. That helps you. >> Okay. May May I ask a question? Um, it's my understanding that the PRM has somebody in the wings and even if we do not decide on a permanent attorney
tonight, there would be somebody to be representing us tomorrow. >> That's correct. >> Where where would that attorney be located? >> That is the attorney that we spoke about. I have talked with all of council regarding that interim attorney and he
would be coming an hour and 10 minutes away >> out of >> Lakewood Ranch. >> Okay. >> Let's just clarify. >> I'm sorry. Can Can I just say one thing? >> I I I understood the sunshine situation a
little differently. And and that doesn't mean I'm right, but but the way I understood it, the sunshine violation was the alleged meeting between our town administrator, our town clerk, and our
finance or or HR director. Okay? That that was the sunshine violation, not the fact that each of us council people met with an attorney candidate. That can't be a sunshine violation because we met with them individually. We didn't meet
with them as a group. We met with with the Mr. Sabatini individually. So in in my limited knowledge, I don't think that's a sunshine violation. I think what was accused of the sunshine violation was the review of the
candidates that came in from the RFP. That that was the sunshine violation, not the fact that we interviewed anyone. And that was found not to be a sunshine violation according to other council. But then he went further to say if we
did interview, we went forward. You missed me email because then he said he told me personally if you go forward with interviewing these candidates, the one that without including the one he wanted us to interview, then we are
we as a council are in violation of sunshine law. I I didn't get that. I didn't said that. >> And I also understand >> and we went forward and I'm sorry you didn't know that because you're in it because I think you did interview and so
I'm sorry you didn't know that because that's >> evidently you're in with the rest of usated. >> I I've been in I've been in stuff with the rest of you before. It's it's all right. But um but I still feel that from what I've read that yes, there are
several attorneys that agree that there was no Sunshine Law violation, but there also are several attorneys that say that there was. >> And the cure that I understand is you you just interview the candidates
and then you make a decision. So, we're we're kind of circulating circulating here with a selection of a new town attorney, and I don't like the risk of relieving the current attorney of his duties with
no plan of tomorrow who takes over. And yes, Charlotte, you just said we were all aware of a new PRM attorney. And I want to clarify at 4:30 today I was handed a resume from her of some person in
Lakewood wherever and I haven't even looked at it. So to be fair again, council mayor upon consent of council approves a town attorney and I would want to talk and interview with
somebody versus just say here's a resume and we're going to be covered until we have a permanent in place whether it's an interim and a permanent. It's my comment and I think it's fair to the town that they know who
is being selected so then they can have comments on it too. I >> Well, all I'm asking is that we go ahead and remove Mr. Harris with all accolades, all honor, and everything he has done
for this town and move forward. And um we have an interim until we select someone else. But I personally do not like being called up on the count on the carpet for sunshine violation when I truly know that that's I mean
it's and let me tell you something with the news. It doesn't matter just like the interview people were going to go to the news rules. It doesn't matter if you're not guilty. You're you're you're a sunshine violation. Deborah Worley. Yeah, I it's in the news. She was
sunshine violation. You know, Charlotte, Eva, and Rachel. It's going to be that's going to tarnish them for the rest of their lives. I mean, this needs to stop. We just need to move forward. Like, honor Mr. Harris, move forward. Get an
interim attorney, decide on the next one, whatever we want to do. But this needs to stop. It needs to stop right now because what's Mr. Harris going to do? Is he gonna proceed? He's, from what I understand, he's proceeding with what he said that we should have interviewed.
We shouldn't have interviewed anybody. What? Let's just stop it. Let's just I'm I'm going to make my motion again. I'm And if you don't want to vote for it, that's fine. I move to relieve Mr. Harris of his duties as town attorney effective immediately and authorize
staff to work with interim legal counsel for proper succession. And that, you know, that's it. We have a motion, a second. >> Is there a second? >> We have a motion and a second. >> So, I'm going to clarify one more. Is
staff coming back with the recommendation to council for approval of their interim attorney? >> We'll do that after we do this >> interim. >> We'll do that after we do this. I think that that's >> that's okay. >> That's the way it's got to work.
>> All right, we have a motion and a second. Any comments from the audience? >> My name is Margaret Deer. Again, for the record, 1504 French Street. I have heard such righteous indignation about truth and stories. You've just told two. What
are the semantics? You are going to relieve the gentleman of his duties or you are going to accept his resignation. They may not be the same. I don't think you would find anyone in here that would disagree with me. Miss
Worley, you have brought up information that no one here is privy to. You talk about airing dirty laundry. Ma'am, you have just done so. Semantics matter. You're concerned about Sunshine Law following these employees all their lives and yet you don't take into
consideration as you cried. Now we're going to relieve him of his duties. Ma'am, that's disingenuous. It can't be both. And for you to stand up there and say that, oh, he he
resigned or whatever. Which is it? And we can't have this. And you want it to just stop. You want it to just stop your way. You didn't ask any of us. It just needs to stop. What needs to stop, ma'am? What exactly needs to stop? What
needs to stop is the rhetoric and the lack of truth and transparency. What exactly happened Monday, February 2nd, between the mayor, the town administrator, and the town attorney. No one here knows. There are three sides to
the truth. His, hers, and the truth. None of us know which it is. None of us except those two individuals and the town attorney were in the room. We've all heard the innuendos. We've all heard the rumors and we all know it's ugly.
But sweeping it under the carpet the way that seems fit because you think it needs to stop is just wrong. Thank you. Pam Pinterest 12373 Lost Lake Drive, Lake Placid. Kind of going to be hard to follow that one. Throughout the years,
I've sat here in the audience at council meetings, utilities, LPA meetings, Bird Harris has done more for the town than any other person here. Granted, however, it seems to me people haven't been at the last several meetings. It's not
sustainable. Bert's the one, as far as I know, that sent in the retirement letter. He's the one that announced at the podium he wanted to retire. So, you follow on the process. So, I'm not sure right now you're saying you won't accept
his resignation or his retirement letter because that's what it's kind of sounding. I just find it highly ironic that a lot of the people that spoke tonight, not all of them of course, for years have pretty much hated Bert Harris. They have come up here to the
the podium and talked so poorly about them and now Bert can do no wrong and that's just not the truth either. And I I I'm just so sad that this we are tearing down our town. I am so sad for
the town of Lake Placid because we're picking sides. Bert's side, not Bert's side. Who car? I'm for the town of Lake Placid. That's whose side I am. I'm on. But um and I'm sorry that Bur's not here, that he has medical issues, but I
think it's really unfair for people to come up here and and and to think that what happened at the last meeting, the the meeting before, what's been happening, I go to utilities meeting many a time bird has pulled agenda items the day of. So, and if something
happened on Monday or Tuesday or whatever, I don't know about it. I don't need to know about it. Council maybe should or should. Um, you don't want to get sideswiped at 4:30 in the afternoon, but things are unfolding quickly around here or it seemed we're spinning out of
control. So, I thought he his intentions were to retire. If they're not, then I guess I don't know. Good luck. Marlene Barer, 760 Sunset Point Drive. How many attorneys responded to the RFP?
>> Two. >> But I thought a third one was mentioned. Did you not say what did you get at 4:30 today? >> Supposedly an interim attorney. And that was what was mentioned earlier.
>> Why is none of this on the agenda? >> When you have legal litigation where the town could potent potentially be sued, it's client it's >> what >> it is client confidentiality, which means that we are trying to protect the town.
Any attorney knows that. Mr. Harris is fully aware of that and there are attorneys in the room that know that what I'm saying is accurate. >> What are you protecting the town from? Arlene Barker. This is up for the council to decide and to vote on and I have met with them individually. With all due respect, I have reviewed the
history of events with them and they are fully informed of what has been going on. They are fully informed that our PRM attorneys who are fully capable of handling this for litigation purposes have given us the recommendation both from a town staff perspective and also
from the way to move forward. Mr. Harris has made decisions that no longer best suit the interest of this council and will affect the town. >> We are not. No, it's not in my opinion. It is in a legal opinion that is in a legal writing that our mayor has been
privile and the individuals on this council have and even Councilwoman Charles read it today. So the the residents and I'm talking about the residents, the taxpaying people in this town who I either operate businesses here or live here have no say
whatsoever. Is that what you're telling me? >> I'm telling you that when >> everything is up to we are in this mess because of you. >> We are in this mess because of you. And I don't care what Pam comes up here and just says, "Oh, wow. You're doing a wonderful thing." She doesn't live in
this town. She's not paying taxes in this town. She doesn't own a business in this town. We are trying to figure out is who's our attorney now and why are we getting rid of an attorney before we have a new attorney? That's the crux of
what we're trying to do. Why are we saying no, you're no longer here, Burton. We don't have attorney for tomorrow. I don't get it. There's no there's no >> there's no sunshine on this at all. >> Miss Berger, I just explained it to you
and I didn't want to do that. >> You explained what you want. >> No, I >> Yes, you did. You explained what you wanted. You didn't explain what the town needs. Why are we getting rid of Bert Harris? I thought the mayor signed his
paper, but no, he's not. You just want to now bring it to the council. Why are we getting rid of an attorney that we have when we haven't selected a replacement? That was the agreement that you all agreed to. >> Well, I tried to explain that.
>> You think this is easy for me? It's not. I love Bird Harris. He's been part of my family my whole life. So, this is not easy for me either. Just me. >> So, let me get it clear one more time. when I said that there is an attorney
from PRM from Lakewood Ranch that is available tomorrow. So, we will not be without an attorney. Is that correct? The way that it works is we have to relieve Mr. Harris of his duties. We would then hear the Sabatini law firm
who is waiting in the audience because council so directed for us to proceed this way. He is and it would go up for a vote. it would vote up or down. At that point, it's on the agenda for another vote to put them in as interim if you so
decide to do so. And if not, the PRM attorneys have recommended attorneys to us that you can make a vote on to put into office or into um legal services for us immediately.
I would just uh like to say that uh I appreciate a a law firm out of Lakewood Ranch rep recommended by our attorneys. However, I think it would be prudent to consider a local attorney as well. And
so when we get to that point, I'll make that point. Well, we just need to make a motion. I have a motion and a second on the table. So, we need to do this before we can move forward. >> I think there's still more discussion. So, so, um, Charlotte, on what you just
said is just for clarification, Councilwoman Iard, it's not a PRM attorney. It's a PRM recommended someone. And again, seems like this is backwards. maybe we need to table this because he's continued to be our
attorney as the mayor said and that we talk about the next one which is the replacement attorney or the interimm attorney and then that decision is going to be determined on when Bert's resignation is um in place.
>> Do you not understand? >> I do understand. >> Do you understand you're included in the sunshine violation? He said >> I do not see it the same. I read the letter letter at 4:00 today and I do not see it the same. I think what the letter said as far as a recommendation to cure
the concern is to interview and to make the decision. >> Councilwoman Charles, when there's legal litigation, you're not supposed to continue making comments on the record. >> I am not. >> You implicate yourself. >> I am responding to Councilwoman Worley who's continued to talk about this
>> and I'm saying I don't see it the same as she does. >> Okay. Okay, I'd like to call for the vote. >> Okay, we have a motion in a second. >> Bring it back. Pull the council. >> Council member Worley, >> yes. >> Council member Everheart,
>> yes. >> Council member Hayes, >> no. >> Council member Charles, >> no. Tina, you have to call the mayor. >> I'm sorry. >> Mayor Hullbrook.
>> Yes. >> May I speak? >> Okay. >> You know, I'm just a simple person. My name is Josephine Conley at 607 Sunset Point Drive. I have never seen any such a display as this. You have been Bert
has been our attorney for how many years? 40. All of the sudden some people don't like him. I don't get it. He's been by your side standing there and this is how you treat him. I mean, this is sinful.
I'm I'm just embarrassed to to even see this scene that you want to vote against because two people can't agree. Well, I'm looking at something here. Is it because Bert accused
Charlotte of violating the sunshine rule? Is this what this is all about? >> Is Well, there's something in here in a letter. So, what was it that Bert did? What is it that you didn't like about him? I
mean, he stood by us when he offered to retire and I'm very thankful to that and he did the job all this time and all of a sudden gee whiz, you sign him off that he's him. You all keep missing the point. It's not
that we dislike Mr. Harris. Every one of us love him. I had more respect for him than anybody. But in November, he retired. He resigned. I didn't force him to do that. Did you? >> I >> No. No. I asked you. Did you ask him to resign?
>> No. >> I didn't either. That was his own choosing. Now, if he's had a change of heart, he never talked to me about it. Uh, >> but the town has to move on.
>> We have to make we have to make determinations what we think's in the best interest of the town. and what's been happening the past few months was not in the best interest of the town. And hopefully Mr. Harris agreed with that. We never got a chance to talk
about it, but uh and and at this point it's mute because he design resigned. He did it on his own free will and that's what everybody's missing. >> And I >> we have to move on now. We have to hire a firm that can represent us the way it
needs to be represented. Okay. But at the last meeting, you you actually asked him, "Did you want to stay on?" >> So, this is why this is such a surprise to all of us, and he said yes. >> Wasn't wasn't the last meeting. That was in November. We agreed to have him stay
on till we found a replacement. >> But this is three months later, and it's still dragging on. And him and I shook hands and he left and it's over. And I listen, I don't know how else to say it. I I didn't cause him to leave. You
didn't cause him to leave. He I wish he was here. I don't know what he would say, but he he did res. He did. It was his own free will. >> But we could certainly use his knowledge as far as when you choose an attorney. I
mean, after all, he obviously did a good job. >> He's got the world of knowledge. You know, I was hoping I was hoping we could still use that in the future, but >> with all this negativity, I don't I don't know that we could ever rely on on
him to to come back. >> Time >> time's up. So, but again, we didn't cause him to resign. He did it on his own. >> Okay. Thank you. Ken Leblanc 120 yesterday lane. Um, it's
kind of painful to see this. I mean, I don't know if everybody realizes, but this is a toxic work environment in the town of Lake Placid right now. And we've got to get back to business. You know, Bert Harris resigned. He's no longer the
town attorney. We have to I and I know there's people here that um that love Bert Harris. I mean Bert Harris been for 40 years. He did great things. There's no doubt. But he's not the town attorney. We need another town attorney. We have to get back to doing business.
There's business to be done. And going in circles here is not helping anything. And if you don't stop the toxic environment and Marlene, you and some of you people are part of the toxic environment. You've got to get off the back of some of these
>> staff. Our charter says that you should address the council, not the people in the audience, please. >> Perfectly happy to do that. So, we just need to to move on. You know, if we keep in a toxic environment with the
town of Lake Placid, you're going to start losing town staff. Doesn't do you any good to have a council and have no staff. So, I mean, there's key people here that are under serious pressure in in a serious toxic environment, you know, and we need to just, you know,
move this thing forward, you know, and let's just get back to doing business because there's real business in this town. It has to be done. And for meeting after meeting after meeting, we've been going in circles and circles. And that's what the mayor is saying. He's like, we can't just keep going in circles. We have got to move forward. So, you know,
I understand that you guys accepted his resignation. I mean, that needed to be done. He resigned. You know, he's going to I don't know if he's going to retire, but you know, he's resigning from the town, you know, um staff, but um let's just move forward. That's all. Right.
>> Thank you. You know me already, but Chad Heath, 588 Sunset Point Drive. Um, if this were national politics, I think we'd call this situation a constitutional crisis because there really is no definition here of how
you're going to uh pass the power from one individual to the next. And it's like we haven't had the election yet. We haven't determined who the primary person is who will assume assume power, but we're going to get rid of
the guy who's already there. We don't do that. That's not the way our constitution is designed. We need to have a decision about who will be the next person to assume this responsibility.
Then we need to set a date and there will be a transition of power and it will be formal. That's how our country works. All I can say is I think you need to define a process before you execute it. Thank you.
Lisa Sherman, 400 Lake Mirror Drive, spouse to Bert Harris. I um have been coming to the council meetings the last several when it first came up about replacing the town attorney and the two
um the two resumes that were received. And we were told by uh the town administrator that only one of them met the requirements. And some of the things that were cited as being the reason that the second one did not meet the requirements are
absolutely not true. And you had people get up here and talk and say, "Well, certainly we should not let anybody be part of the interview process if they didn't meet the basic requirements." Well, no one knew except basically the talent uh administrator what things had
were were not met. Well, so she started telling us some of the things that were not met and some of those were very misleading and not even true. She said that one of the applicants did not have all of the insurance requirements.
Well, there were several insurance requirements and the applicant that she said did have the requirements was very much lacking a couple of the ones that were cited in the proposal. So what came forth also she uh said that
the uh articles of incorporation were not included on the applicant that could not be interviewed. Those things when I look at the application that actually came out for the one that got interviewed there were many missing things that she said were missing from the other one. I think that this town
council and this town has been misled by those qualifications and by saying the things that we're missing. You had people get up here and speak from the audience that said, "Oh my goodness, certainly we should not be interviewing someone who didn't meet all the criteria.
They just took the word that the person did not meet all the criteria." Well, the one that actually got interviewed was missing several things. And I will just note one that should be a really big concern. The town administrator said that the one they could not interview did not have all the appropriate
insurance in place. Well, when I look at the packet for the one that was interviewed, it only addresses one form of insurance, which is liability. Doesn't have anything about malpractice or the other three. There is only the certificate of insurance for liability insurance. None of the others. Well, I
would think the most important one would be malpractice. So, either it was left out of his packet or he didn't have it. which is it? So, we only interviewed one um because of all the things that we're missing. I think that this town and this
council may have been misled about that and uh there there needs to be some thought to that. You have hinged everything on what the town administrator and her staff decided was there and was not there. So I I think you should have had an
outside party, someone who didn't have a vested interest to impartially review those. >> Thank you. My name is Rosemary Heath. I live at 588 Sunset Point Drive. Um,
for 40 years we've accepted what B Harris had to say. He gave us excellent legal advice. We have not been sued. We've progressed. And now all of a sudden there's all the squabbling going around. Who said this, who said that?
Who's arguing with who? Who would so and so? who states well I read this whatever it is law recommendation whatever and Bert's saying well no this isn't correct that you can't do this and
the other one says oh well here it says I can believe who are we going to accept and who's going to represent us and who's going to keep us out of trouble bird has kept us out of trouble trouble for 40 years.
You I don't see how you could let him go. And because people are squabbbling, I don't think that's a reason for him to go. It's like you're a bunch of little children that don't get along that have to get rid of the person that they don't like. Doesn't matter if they take care of them. Doesn't matter that he's been
per not perfect, but he's been good to them or res represented them legally for 40 years, helped with all the different organizations and and wrote grants. We're not writing any grants
now, but Bert used to write grants um and receiving them and getting them accepted. And now I I don't know. I think you're all wrong. I think you're all foolish. And I can't believe that you're up there squabbling the way you
are. And you've got some people that are smart that are trying to justify what's being done and they're being completely ignor ignored. And the mayor always makes the decision towards. Okay,
we've got a couple different options here. Upon Mr. Harris's resignation, as you heard, an RFP was put out
and it was put out. Where is that? Let me read it. Just so everybody knows. No, >> that's not it. I don't have it. >> Went out on >> it.
>> Anyway, it it went out on bismat. Several attorney firms were notified. I think personally uh it was put out many different places and after all of that we had two firms
that applied there. Again, you've heard pros and cons, but the RFP was, I thought, pretty specific on what it asked for and what was required by the firms that
participated. One firm sent in everything, the other firm did not. To me, it sounds like now because the one firm was eliminated. All
of a sudden, there's some people that want to change the rules. I'm I'm totally against that. We have had these RFPs in effect for years. They've never been questioned until now.
and staff was put on was put on the pedestal. Three or four people were accused of violating the sunshine. And frankly, we had to put six attorneys on it
to get legal advice that showed they did absolutely nothing wrong, that everything we did was perfect. They even looked at the recordings of the minutes to see what was said and how it was
said. And they came back with the that the RFP was fine. There was no sunshine violation and therefore we we should proceed. Now,
this council can do whatever they want to, but I'm telling you, I I I think it's totally wrong to change the rules halfway through the game just because you didn't get what you wanted. And I'll sit here and tell you right up
front, Michael Durham was my top pick. He was when that when that young fellow was growing up, my wife and myself babysided him and his sister for years. They lived across the canal from us. His
grandma and grandpa raised him raised those kids. And Michael's a great guy. I really like him. But that doesn't mean I should break the rules. And I'm I'm sorry. That's just the way I
feel. You you you guys can do what you want to, but we've we've got a motion to appoint the Sabber Sab Sabatini law firm. Uh they were here. They met with staff for what eight nine hours
and we even I even we even notified John from the newspaper to to come down and interview him. He wouldn't do it. He didn't do it. But the articles you see in the paper are all negative. They are
all negative on Mr. Sabatini. But what everybody's forgetting is we're not hiring just Mr. Sabatini. We're hiring his law firm. He's got other lawyers. Mr. Sabatini, if we hire him, may not sit up here.
Mr. G, Mr. Gavin. Yes, he's one of his attorneys. And I believe there's another one. Uh, I'll let him get up and talk in a minute, but >> his wife. >> Oh, his wife. That's right. Yes. And his staff.
He works for a lot of great cities for in Florida. I think City of Frost Proof is one of them. I can't remember all of them, but uh we can get into that. But it came back all their everything
everything they submitted was fine. Michael didn't do that. He chose not to send any references. Claim client attorney privilege which is which is fine. I I can understand that.
But that was against the RFP. The insurance asked for liability insurance. It didn't It didn't ask for what was the other one? >> Malpractice. >> And that's that's what they keep
bringing up that uh he brought up malpractice insurance. That that's a great idea. I think it should probably be in any RFP we do from now on. But the RFP asked specifically for liability insurance. He did not do that.
There were several items that he left out. Why? I don't know. I've not talked to uh I've not talked to Michael Durham. I haven't seen him in years. But uh but the fact is these two firms were the
only two that submitted applications. And out of the two, Sabatini was the only one that fulfilled the uh
everything we asked for. Uh so we have we have a we have a motion to appoint the Sabatini law firm >> and no. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, I just I was reading I was
reading. Sorry. >> Sorry. Yeah. >> Yeah, we talked about that. The RFP would advertise pursuant to council direction. Council member were individually met with the firm given the town attorney's requirement and need. Okay. Council has asked to consider the
appointment of legal legal counsel. Again, this council can do what they want, but personally, I think you're going to lose face if you if you don't follow what we have had in effect for years.
And that's just >> I I would like to hear from the firm and I think they're present now. Please, >> may I speak? >> May I speak first? No, >> it's it's after after we could hear from
the firm and discuss it up here, please. >> So, >> I feel like um maybe I need to start with a joke or something. It's a little tense in here. Um, one of the things I know that this isn't about legal representation specifically, but u my background I have a master in besides a
jurist doctorate I also have a masters in in um education leadership and was a history teacher and actually still certified and love teaching history to students. And one thing I'm reminded about is throughout American history, Americans have gone at each other to include fighting each other in the Civil
War. But at the end of the Civil War, General Grant and General Lee were in the same room and they had literally fought each other, shot at each other in brutal combat. And at the end of that, even though the disagreements had been deep, they came together and General Lee
said, "Should you do you want to take my sword?" And General Grant said, "No, General Lee, you can take your sword." And they parted ways. And so I am confident that uh whether you select our firm, whether you move forward, however you move forward, I wish nothing but the best for this town of Lake Placid, I have fond memories of learning to
wakeboard here, among other things. And I think as Americans, we can come together. Uh regardless of how you decide to move forward on legal services. So I'll just say that um maybe as a a moment of reflection that um history teach can teach us a lot about coming together even after very
difficult times. I do have a very lengthy um insurance document if anyone would like to review that. Uh it wasn't u my understanding that that was on the RFP, but we do have $2 million in liability insurance. That's um double what most cities require and what this
city requires. Um so that if that was a concern, I know there was some some information about that. Um we certainly did submit that certificate of insurance on the RFP. Um but I know that a lot of this focus has been and and I've experienced I' I've known Mr. Sabatine
for a number of years and um he has strong political opinions and so I think sometimes people focus on that political realm that political hat he wears and the newspapers love that they the newspapers are generally very liberal and um fake news did not come about for
no reason. Um often times the newspapers like to malign conservative views and so um they fixate on Mr. Savatine's political hat but I can tell you he wears another hat and that's as an attorney. He and his wife are both up for board certification as local government attorneys. Um, and that is a
testament to their um, time serving multiple clients. We currently currently have three city clients, the city of Edgewater, the uh, city of Frost Proof, and the city of Lake Hamilton, and we serve them um, honorably with no issues. Um, and they don't have a concern about
Mr. Savin's political views. He doesn't interject that because our role if we are selected as an attorney in a city is not to be a policy maker. It's not to give our thoughts on our political views. It is simply one thing to give you our legal opinion on what should be
done and what is legal. That is irrespective of who hired or fired us. That is irrespective of who we like or dislike. All those are aside and and all five members of a council um in this case or in other cases become our client
and that is a legal obligation that we have when we swear in before a judge. We have that legal obligation and I know you have a lot of decisions tonight to make and I don't envy your position. I've sat in your position. I was a two-term city council member at the uh ripe old age of 22 and then went on to
become the youngest county commissioner in the state of Florida and served um two terms on the county commission and then um had some military service interwoven in there and I went on active duty for a number of years. I'm a major army national guard officer and intel officer um and then and practicing law
now in local government. But what I can tell you is this that there are a lot of different possibilities here. if you however you decide to move forward, we could serve as your interim. And the advantage of that is it's it's sort of
like a free sample at the mall. I mean, if you remember those, I do or Costco. I like to go and just wander around and get free samples at Costco. Um, and you get the opportunity if you don't like us, just get rid of us. I mean, we we won't fight. We won't you. We serve at the pleasure of the council and we would
be happy to step in at whatever point this council decides they need and and provide that legal representation. And if you say, you know, we just want you as interim, that's fine. In fact, uh, an article that's been mentioned a couple times was the city of Treasure Island. And the city of Treasure Island had some
um some internal turmoil, some other things that if you Google you could see. But what's interesting is after the article where there was a parting of ways with the city of Treasure Island, I actually served as their interim attorney officially their interim attorney for three or four months and
guided that process as they found another firm and it was a smooth transition and that firm is doing a great job. We worked with them on that transition. So I I guess I'm happy to answer any specific questions you guys have. We have three attorneys, two parallegals, and we're continuing to
grow rapidly. So we anticipate in the next month or two, not we don't have a a hard and fast timeline, but very soon hiring a fourth attorney. And so that the reason for that is because we want a team to support you. Um we hand out our cell phone numbers. U we did this in the
interviews. Um then Councilwoman Hayes, I I had a a Edgewater City Council meeting I had to go to, so I wasn't able to meet with you, but I got to meet with each um of the rest of the council individually. And what one of the things we pride ourselves on, affordability and accessibility. And um as I've been in
this meeting, I've had several calls from Edgewater City Council members that I'm going to handle on my drive home tonight and and talk to those folks and and we love that being able to share and provide that. And what what they will do and often other council members will do is they'll often say, "What do you think
about this policy or this policy?" And we'll share maybe off the record if they really want us to but on the record sitting on the dis our job is not to push anyone's agenda. Our job is to tell you what you legally can do give you legal options and then let you guys decide what you want to do. And that's
our promise. That's our commitment. That's my commitment if I had the honor of sitting in that chair and serving whether an interim capacity or whether full-time. Um and I know that's the commitment of the rest of the firm. So, with that, I'll um shut up and answer any questions if you have any. But I
think there's some several paths interim for for a time until you um as you're evaluating. Um there there's some options there. Thank you. >> I have some questions. I did not get to interview with you. So, first of all, have you passed the board?
>> The board? So, um I'm not eligible. So the um the way the board works is that they they go before not first of all a lot of attorneys aren't necessarily board certified. >> So the answer is no. >> Well, I've passed the bar, but the board I'm not even eligible for the board yet. So you have to have a certain number of
of years as as an attorney in a specific realm. And then you you have references and it's a packet and that kind of thing. So it's not required to practice. It's sort of like a cherry on top of um colleagues recognizing you, but it's not it's not a requirement in any way to be
board certified. So >> So are you board certified in government? >> No, ma'am. I I passed the bar though and am eligible to practice in all of Florida and federally barred in all of the federal jurisdictions in Florida as well. >> Okay. So in essence, your firm has two
attorneys, not three, that are certified in in government. >> No, ma'am, that is not correct. as an a complete mischaracterization. We we can board certification is a very nuance specific thing. So for instance um if to say if Lance Armstrong did not win a
seventh tour to France he was not a bicyclist or to say that uh since Lindsey Bond hurt herself on the slopes that she is not um a gold medalist is not accurate. She is she just doesn't have that additional thing that but I am qualified to and have been the attorney
for the city of Treasure Island. Um, I was just in the city of Edgewaters meeting as their city attorney. Um, actually, and that's why I was unable to meet with you the night of the interview. So, we have three qualified attorneys. The board certification is a a packet in a process that you can apply
for after a certain amount of time. So, it's just purely a time uh realm. I plan to apply for that as as quickly as possible. But I have over 15 years of experience in government between four terms as an elected official and then now as an attorney.
>> But you haven't got that yet? >> No. Um, how many counties is your firm in in the state of Florida? The 67 counties. How many counties does your firm practice in? >> So, we have three full-time city clients and then the superintendent of Sumpre
County is a client. Um we also do some work with the mayor of uh Deltona and then um we have filled in as as interim attorney um in the city of Fort me um and city of Treasure Island um for a time. So that's and then we litigate
throughout. So we have local government and litigation. So, we litigate and we're also So, as far as actual clients that we represent, um, probably four or five counties and then when it comes to litigation, we've done litigation in over half of the cities and counties
throughout the the state. >> And how many cities in the state do you currently represent? >> Three. >> Three full-time as their attorney of record. And then we we represent uh the city the Mount Dora or Deltona's mayor.
So there when they there certain cities when they have conflict um they can do conflict counsel and then we come in in that in that role in in that what's the case in in uh the city of uh Deltona. >> So you have frost proof and what else
did you say? Frost Proof, Lake Hamilton, the city of Edgewater, and we also, as far as government clients, we represent the the uh superintendent in Sumpre County um for Sumpre County schools and then the mayor of Deltona. And then Miss Miss Sabatini Francesca was before she
came to the firm, she um she actually has almost 15 years of experience as an attorney um and has on top of the JD, she also has an LLM in environmental science. so specifically related to water, land, agricultural law, that type
of thing. And she represented, I think it was about 20 different cities that she has had experience with and working with. So, but currently the f our firm represents three full-time city clients and then we have um the other clients that we represent um from time to time. So,
>> thank you. Um I just wanted to make note that when I asked Mr. Sabatini what he could bring to the town of Lake Placid. He said that it was his goal for his firm to represent as many small towns in the state of Florida as possible.
Thank you. >> I we we do agree that we love representing the small towns, the heart of America. >> I'm glad you're not going for Orlando, >> huh? >> I'm glad you're not going for Orlando. >> Definitely not. So there there's enough drama in small towns for Right. So we can
Thank you. I don't know why you would say that, but never mind. Ju just a couple questions. And it's Gavin, right? Yes, ma'am. >> Um, >> so you're the firm is located in Mount Dora, >> correct? >> Will you be our primary representative?
I mean, who's who's going to be the attorney assigned to Lake Placid? >> So, there's um all three of us will be um representing and answering emails. And the reason we do that is because we want to be able to respond quickly. And so if somebody isn't available, we can
get answers within 24 hours on most um routine stuff. Obviously, if it's a more research required, we we take a little more due diligence there. Um so it would likely be me and and Mr. Sabatini doing some of those meetings. Um if you feel like you guys that one attorney versus
another is a better fit, we can, you know, accommodate that request. But we certainly have all three um ready and able to to attend meetings as necessary. >> Okay. And then did I hear you correctly earlier on similar to Councilwoman um
Hayes's question is none of the attorneys in the firm today are board certified but two of them are proceeding with that process. >> Uh two are yeah two are currently proceeding and and there's actually a lot of um probably over half the cities in Florida are represented by attorneys
who are not board certified. I think it it would be a mischaracterization to say that that is a requirement. It's not. Um and and we're a part of the Florida um League of Municipal um attorneys association and um about half are about half and I don't have the exact numbers
but board certification is again a nice thing to have but it's it's not a requirement. In fact um they're you know Supreme Court justices many of them are not US and Florida and US Supreme Court are not board certified in anything necessarily. So, board certification
um can be helpful. I I don't know whether your current attorney is board certified or not um one way or the other, but I know that there are plenty of cities throughout the the state that do not have that. The requirement is to pass the bar, be be involved in local government. We certainly specialize in
local government. So, >> and then you passed the bar recently, right? December 2021. >> In February of last year. >> Okay. So, you're one year. >> Yes, ma'am. And then um Mr. >> as an attorney, but as an >> about 15 years in government.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But as a Florida attorney and then Mr. Sabatini is seven years, >> seven or eight, something like that. And Miss Sabatini is like 13 14 years and has the masters in law on top of the jurist doctorate. So she did the jurist
doctorate and then went on on to um specialize in environmental law specifically in agriculture and land related uh LLM and and law >> and and then just on the pricing uh because you're what 200 miles awayund and some miles away up at Mount Maldora
is the pricing including the travel or when the meetings start and that because we you know we've got a lot of meetings that >> Absolutely. Yeah. We never never charge for travel. And I'm going to say this three times because this seems to no matter how many times you say it, people still mischaracterize it and love to say, "Well, they live a little bit away,
so they're going to charge for travel." We do not charge for travel. We do not charge for travel. We do not charge for travel. None of our cities because, and there's several reasons for that, but like tonight as as I was driving down, I was talking to multiple legal clients
and and catching up on issues they have. And a lot of our work is on the cell phone. It is in the car. It is virtual. It is I was actually we have a first amendment case and I was listening to some case law in the first I was the oral arguments from a 1973 case. So, you know, pretty exciting stuff. But um and
no, we do not charge for that and we would not charge for that. The only thing we would charge for is um preparation of legal issues specific to the meetings obviously and that would be the research aspect of it and then for the actual meeting itself while we're here but we do not charge to or from
that's not fair to the city in our opinions. So >> just uh for clarification um you uh you represent the city of Lake Hamilton. >> That is correct. >> You've been there for 18 months. >> Um something like that. I'm not sure. Something like that is exactly what Mr.
Sebatini said in his interview because I wrote it down. >> Okay. >> You've represented the city of Frost Proof for 13 months. >> Um the city frost proof. Yeah, it sounds about right. >> That's also what he said in his interview because I wrote it down. >> Okay. >> Um you've represented to the city of
Edgewater for only two months. That's also I wrote it down. Okay. >> Okay. >> Uh Mr. Sabatini for your answer. Councilman Charles, he has been six and a half years practicing and his wife has 13 years practicing. I wrote that down,
too. I take notes. That's all. Thank you. >> Didn't sound like questions, but >> just for clarification. >> Okay. I also have some comments. Um, you Mr. Sabatini presented himself as
being the principal attorney with you as a backup. And so we established that um uh he has only been uh has his license approximately 6 years and four months something like that. The RFP required 10
years experience. You have your bar license one year and a few months. That does not meet the requirements. Um some facts he Mr. Sabatini represented a client in
in this county and the judge found that he had pursued a baseless and frivolous lawsuit and the legal theory he relied on was without merit. That is in the judge's decision. And the judge ordered that Mr. Sabatini
and his client repay the legal fees for the other party. That's a fact. That's not political. Whatever. Another fact, in the four months that you were representing Treasure Island, there were two
decisions by Mr. Sabatini that had to be reversed because they were not correct. So, I'm again, I'm putting aside any political things going on with Treasure Island. This was just bad advice. Um,
you also did not show the umbrella insurance or comp. Um, we go on here. Uh, oh, here we go. In his term, what to
use in uh the house in the U Florida House. He was excused. He had unexcused absences. The rules committee chairman, Paul Rener, who was House Speaker designate, sent
Mr. Sabatini a memo notifying of his removal from a committee for absences. And quote, it should also be noted that of your 21 committee meetings over the six week interim, you have been absent for 13, nine of which have been excused.
And Mr. Rener added, "Of the five meetings of the children, families, and senior subcommittee, you attended only one meeting." That's not a good record. Um, now, as far as the response by Mr.
Durham and Roads, it's mischaracterized to say it was not complete. He provided an extensive list of references. All he left off was names and phone numbers. He also said he would provide those
names and phone numbers if requested if they uh came to the final. Uh he did not provide all the insurance. That's true. But he also stated he would get the insurance whatever was required.
Um, the RFP allows for waiverss. So, I would suggest that we wave the format of his response on um references.
I cannot vote for Mr. Sabatini even as interim. I would like to propose a fourth motion that we appoint Mr. Durham and his firm who is certified in local law as the
interim attorney and give him the opportunity to cure what are the perceived defects and I will second that. >> Okay. I think we had originally decided that we would just vote for this attorney and then we would do another.
We need to vote what we're going to do with this RFP before we move forward because that's the procedure. I mean, it's just like any other bid we do. We have to do we have to vote on this before we move
forward on another motion. So that's what we had decided and also to keep us out of any litigation that that's how we do all our bids. We open up the bids who's who's qualified, who's provided the proper information.
That's what we do. Okay? Then we vote on that and then we move forward after that to whatever else we want to do. So I would like to do that. Like >> there's three there's three motions here. >> I'm sorry I I can't hear you.
Oh, sorry. Thank you. There are three motions here that are options for us and and um Miss Everheart and and I as a second are taking the second motion and to appoint I'm sorry, the third motion. No, you're
making your own fourth motion. >> I'm making a fourth motion. Fourth option. >> A fourth option to to consider um uh Michael Durham as the interim attorney. And also while he's the interim attorney, we would put out the RFP as as
Miss Worley is saying and we would put out the RFP and if Murmur Mr. Durham would choose to put in for the RFP at that point, that'd be fine. And anyone else that would and we would consider the RFP process again. >> Correct. So he would be interim and we
would do as we said earlier. >> Yes. >> Send it out again. >> Yes. Okay. So, I'm just confused that we're still considering an an RFP that was not qualified. So,
the fourth motion, I mean, if denied, proceed to option three, which was what was option three? Okay. For the mayor to secure. So, I think we could do we could do up or down
on this this this contractor. Just basically look at him as a contractor. Up or down, we make a motion and then we do another motion to do what we want to do next. Either >> I just made a motion. >> Okay. And I seconded it.
>> All right. I'm just worried that we're not we're going off off the rails on what we normally do for FPS. We we're taking in another contractor which didn't qualify. I don't know. >> That has nothing to do with the motion
that's on the table. >> Well, it does if we're going to consider another attorney. >> No, we're not considering another attorney reference to the RFP. We're considering another attorney for an interim position, which is not with reference to the RFP at all.
Well, I just don't want us to get in legal trouble. I just want us to, you know, like we opened a bid, yes or no, and then we can make another motion. I don't know. I don't care about the motion. It's just >> this is having
uh Mr. Durham's firm as interim is no different in my mind than if we would take as an interim attorney the one recommended by PRM. >> Okay. I I totally agree. And you know,
Councilwoman Ibahard, I kind of had that same comment that the RFP actually says that the town of Lake Placid reserves the right to wave any irregularities and reject any and all proposals. So, it it's like I think as
more of us are getting into the details between the two resumeés that have been submitted and the backup information and comparing it to the RFP. to the point you made, the RFP says you need 10 years experience. So there's a lot of things that we're not going to go over in the
RFP that sadly Sabatini firm doesn't have, but yet it wasn't ruled out whereas the other was. So, you know, I I support the motion that you're making. >> I think
I I think maybe >> Mr. Mayor, um could I comment on the 10 years? I know you guys are going to vote our firm down anyways. I can see the writing on the wall. But I do think it's important since this is a public meeting to correct the record because I don't want it on the record that our firm did not meet the qualifications because it
did. One of our attorneys alone has 13 years of experience. That meets the qualification. An RFP is not required that each attorney in a firm meets the qualification. Otherwise, it would be impossible for a firm to bring in a new attorney because that new attorney would not meet 10 years of experience. So, as
long as one of your attorneys meets the qualification, then it meets the qualification. So, I know you're going to vote it down. I understand that. That's um but I want the record corrected. Our firm did meet the 10-year requirement, and to say otherwise is just not correct. Thank you.
>> Since I made that comment, let me just clarify. I appreciate that. Um I guess it was the understanding I had that the attorney that was going to be assigned to us was six years. Um and then second is just in the RFP it
says 10 years but then later it says five years. So it it sure you meet he meets the five years but is it the 10 years or the five years? So there's different inconsistency in the RFQ in the first place. I think um
maybe I I'm almost scared to ask this but I think maybe I should ask Mr. roads if he will is cool with Mr. Durham even being considered for uh an interim town attorney because he is in your firm,
right? >> Good evening. My name is Cliff Rhodess. I'm uh the principal and only owner of Clifford Roads, PA. Michael Durham serves as of council in my firm. That means we affiliate. He has an office in my firm
in Sebring and he's been with me for two years. We also have another lawyer that helps us affiliates with us. Her name is Cara Groves. She works predominantly in none other than Mount Dora, Florida. And she uh speaking for myself, I've been uh
a member of the Florida Bar since October of 1980. That would be 45 and a half years. Michael Durham, I understand. I I didn't I didn't realize this would be the time for interviews, but I would I'm going to suggest maybe
that this board select a committee that conducts interviews of attorneys in the sunshine. That would be by my way of thinking how this process should work, whether it's interim or permanent. I would like to think that Bert Harris
would be willing to come back while that process occurs if he is no longer the town attorney at this time. This proposal or response to proposal was put in front of you by my firm because
Michael asked me to do it. Michael has been board certified I don't know how long. I don't have our uh proposal with me. I didn't expect to have to refer to it. I think he's been board certified
county and local and municipal uh certification for at least 10 years. Did I say he's been an attorney? >> I I have the research I have say 25 years. >> Well, he's been a member of the bar. This gentleman very adeptly
distinguished between me being a member of the bar which myself 45 years, Mr. Durham 25 years board certification as uh as government if you will. I don't know how long I I know a number of
years. In fact, Mike would be here tonight except he's an adjunct lecturer at University of South Florida and he had another commitment over there at Sarasota to instruct municipal code enforcement indiv uh
officers on how to conduct proper code enforcement. Cara Groves specializes in code enforcement matters. I served on Sebring Utilities Commission, a municipal board during the
80s nearly 40 years ago for eight years. I represented Sun and Lake Improvement District of Sebring in in multi-million dollar litigation. last year. This is not my deal. It's Mike's. But
I'm there to back him up. Unlike Mr. Harris, whose wife said time to retire, my wife said, "Keep working." So, while I would like to slow down, my plan is to keep working and support
Mike. I own I used to have a satellite office in Lake Placid until the real estate meltdown in 2008. It was here for five or six years over there in Mike Ryder's old office. Currently, Currently I own LP Title,
which has been in Lake Placid, Florida for the last seven or eight years. I I don't have the exact year, but I know it's been at least five because we're on our second five-year lease over there on Tower Street. We are Lake I did I hear Mike I don't
know this. Did I hear Mike Durham grew up in Lake Placid? Did I hear that? Yeah. I used to vacation on Lake June in the mid60s when I was a little guy when my dad
when we took two weeks before he went to Vietnam. So, we can we can debate our credentials tonight or this council can select an executive committee of at
least several of you town council members. I think maybe maybe the entire council should be on this executive committee. Ask Bert to come back in the interim and interview us lawyers. Speaking of the
request insurance, oh, by the way, in my file folder, I heard a rumor that I need I didn't supply my articles of incorporation. Those articles were filed with the Division of Corporations in 1981.
I have seven copies if y'all would like to see them because I heard a rumor that I was defect or Mike Mike did this that Mike was defective with not supplying articles of incorporation. I got them. Anybody want them?
>> I don't think that was the point. The point was is that you fill out the application. >> Listen, I heard a rumor about articles of incorporation. If I may finish, >> may May I just say something because I haven't said anything yet. is that what
my my goal is instead of having personal and I and I don't say this in a bad way. I think it's just natural if you've been involved with something for a long time. I want straight legal opinion. I don't
want, oh, you know someone or you feel this way, you were involved in this and it carries over. I just want straight legal opinion. Nothing else. That's my goal. And you know, Cliff, I've known
you for a long time and I don't I know you're whatever. I mean, I'm just saying I just want straight legal opinion. I don't want, oh, well, this I know this person and they felt like this and they lived here and they lived there and yeah, we were friends and frat brothers.
I just want for this town to have straight legal opinion. That's it. That's my goal. >> This guy will agree that our job is to give you straight legal opinion. >> Okay, that's that's all I care about. Right, wrong, or indifferent. You can go on and on and on. But, you know, and and
and I just have to say, I know, but if you're asked to put something in a packet and you don't do it, you have to understand that our staff is not to blame for anything. They did not violate anything. They looked at the packet. It wasn't in there. Yeah, it's easy. You just print I can look it up yours up
probably almost from here on my phone and print it out, but it wasn't in the packet. So, let's just leave that part out. It wasn't in there. So, don't please just stop. Just All I want as a as a council member for this town and representing the people of this town,
all I care about is straight legal opinion. That's it. I I that's what you should expect from this firm or that firm or any firm. That's that's purely uh understandable and that's what we're here for.
The uh RFP again I I I'm Mike's taking the lead, but he's not here. So I I said I'll come and listen. I didn't realize I'd be doing what I'm doing now, but here I am doing what I'm doing. The RFP says if
with respect to insurance upon town's notification, the firm shall furnish to the town administrator the insurance. I don't know if Mike was asked to supply that, but the point
is the RFP suggests that it's not necessary to be submitted with the proposal. >> I don't think we need to argue that now. That's part of a litigation issue right now. So, can we just move on to >> Councilwoman Worley, you've you have
said at least twice, maybe three times, that the other firm's proposal was not acceptable because it lacked documentation. This gentleman spoke of his firm. I
should be entitled to speak of mine in our in our proposal, and that's what I'm doing. See, and I didn't think we were going to hear that tonight. I thought we were just gonna if you want to be interim attorney, then that that's fine. My >> my firm is my firm is prepared to serve
as interim. I think a better approach is to have Lisa go home, call Bert and ask him if he would serve what is it another month out of 40 years, maybe two months.
>> Mr. Rhodess, we've already voted that Mr. My suggestion is he serves you this this town council interview firms whether it's interim or permanent. I I appreciate the time that you have taken
to listen to me spout off. We are happy to serve. We're local. I think Michael is extremely competent to serve. I think he listed some of his former uh government positions as as attorney. And
again, 40 years myself, 45 25 Michael, I think, Cara, I'm not sure, maybe 10 years of bar uh experience. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. All right. What what's the motion in
second? >> The fourth motion was to appoint the Mr. um Durham and his company as the interim and then we'll we'll proceed with finding a permanent
>> and to and to put out another RFP for >> yes >> uh a permanent attorney during that process and I seconded that. >> Thank you. >> To what? to what what she just what she just said to to appoint Mike Durham as interim attorney and then to proceed at
the same point to proceed with a new RFP for looking >> there won't be a reason to go to an RFP. >> Okay, >> that I I did that for transparency that that that is not necessary. >> Okay, so we'll leave the motion. If
>> this is what you want to do, then you you can just you can just hire Mr. Yeah, that's correct. We don't have to legally we don't have to go out for an RFP for a legal position. >> I mean, >> so we can just >> after all this, I don't know what firm
would even want to apply, but if if Mr. Durham is willing to do it, >> that's what if that's what council wants to do, then that's fine. >> I think Mr. Mr. Mayor, you can hire Mr. Durm with Period. >> Yeah.
>> With consent of council. >> With the consent of council, you can you can hire Mr. Durham with the consent of council, I believe. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> But we >> do you want to amend the motion? >> I'd just rather go ahead and have the council do it.
>> Well, mayor, if you're agreeable, I would then amend the motion that uh with uh Mr. Durham accepting um that we would appoint him as full-time.
>> And I will second that as well. >> Okay. >> I can't vote for that because I still still think we need to vote down the other attorney. So without even considering that, I'm just thinking that procedure they both put in bids. One
didn't do the qualifications. I thought we were going to vote them up or down and then proceed. So, I'm not going to I'm going to vote no just because I don't want to violate the RFP or whatever procedure there is. So, I'm sorry. I just think we should vote on
the first one first and then proceed. So, >> all right. So, we got a motion in a second. just go ahead and hire Michael Durham and uh the law firm of Roads, whatever it is. I'm not sure how the le legal is,
but >> Clifford Roads, Mr. Roads, you think he would accept it. >> I I was just testing him asking, but let's assume he will. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. We have a motion, a second.
Any comments from the audience? Ken Leblanc. Um I don't know um Michael Dur. He might be a great guy and he might be the actual person for this job. Um but you know, having being a builder that's gone through the RFP process myself and do does projects through RFPs
occasionally. Um, do you realize what you're doing is you put something out for RFP, you kicked one person out, you interviewed the other person, and now without interviewing the person you kicked out, you're hiring him and bypassing the other one. I think
Deborah's right. I mean, it seems like you're opening yourself up for having done things procedurally wrong. It just seems wrong the process you're doing. Not saying that Mike Dur shouldn't be the in, you know, the attorney all said
and done, but it just seems like you screwed the whole process up and whenever you do that, you open yourself up for litigation. >> The the difference is that we were not required to do an RFP for legal services. We did it,
I guess, just to get multiple um responses, but it's not required to have an RFP. Okay. So, when you put an RFP out to people and you tell them this is a process, then you change the process. During the process, there's no
obligation at all to the process. I mean, maybe there's not, you know, it just seems wrong to me for the process. That's all. And like I said, I mean, you know, you haven't even h you haven't even interviewed. I mean, even um Cliff Roach said that you ought to have an interim and you ought to interview, you
know, even them, you know, before you hire him. But it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom. you just skipped everything. Kind of didn't go with your own process and you're just hiring somebody on the fly. So, I don't know, just seems a little weird. And, you know, you talk about transparency and stuff like that.
This doesn't seem transparent at all, you know. So, uh if you want to be open and trans and I I think he was right. You know, you ought to interview the attorneys in the open in the sunshine. That's not a bad idea either. But in the end, you guys do whatever you want to do. It just seems wrong, you know, as
we're looking from the audience. >> You know what I say? It is what it is. It'll be what it'll be. >> This will be quick to correct one error. The RFP did call for page 19 described
malpractice insurance coverage, carrier limits, and expect exemptions. So, it is in the RFP for malpractice insurance. John, just wanted you to know that. The second point is I've known first of all, the Roads Law Firm and Mike Dorham are
well known in Highlands County and have been they are local. I worked with I've worked with both Cliff and Mike Rhodess years ago when I was the co-chairman for the group for better government and we worked closely with the the board of county commissioners. So, I think it's
an excellent choice and I commend you for making that decision or making that motion. Thank you. >> Okay, bring it back. Pull the council. >> Council member Everheart. >> Yes. >> Council member Hayes. >> Yes.
>> Council member Worley. >> No. >> Council member Charles. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, we do have here Monday. >> Okay.
Yeah. the motion. We do have a meeting on Monday the the 16th. So, just so everybody knows, there'll be a meeting at 5:30. >> Okay. All right. Where are we? >> That's it. We're done. >> That's it. We're done. All right. We'll
bring it back to council now. >> Okay. >> I'm good. >> Happy Valentine's Day. >> No, nothing here. Okay. Staff, anybody? All right. Any other any other business
to come before council?