Good afternoon and welcome to the special commission meeting on May 14th, 2025. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Now, if we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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. City clerk, please call the role. Vice Mayor Vasquez, here. Commissioner Clark here.
Commissioner Sison here. Commissioner Dicki here. Mayor Doctor here. Thank you. All right. Okay. Do we have any public comments? Seeing none, we will close the public comments and move on to items of
business. Uh the first item of business is a selection of the city attorney. Hi, good afternoon everyone. Um, so we put out an RFP for uh, city attorney services. Um, when it closed there were three firms who responded. Those firms
were Vos Law Firm, Tras Daniel, and Sabatini Law Firm. All three firms were present here today. they uh were able to speak with each commissioner individually so you could um ask questions and get to know them a bit better. Um and what we're going to do
now is allow you some time to speak with them again um as a group from the dis um and ask additional questions if you have any um and then if you would like to make a selection um at the end of that discussion then you'd be able to.
Okay. Any questions? Any questions of I I have not not of Jessica but of the of the Okay. candidates. Thank you. And then I'll let you get started with whichever firm you would like to get started with first. Okay. So, I think that uh we'll do this the way I did it
this morning. And starting out with uh Tras um Daniel. Thank you, Daniel attorneys. Thank you very much. Go ahead. All right. Yeah. I I had a questions for
Tras and Bose uh both. And I know both of you currently have uh clients that are neighboring cities. I think you have Madera Beach as one of your current clients uh and uh Vose has uh has St. Pete
Beach. And the question I didn't think to ask earlier was about uh any potential conflict of interest uh in in with interlocal agreements. We have a lot of interlocal agreements I understand between with with St. Pete
Beach and with Madera Beach. Uh and if you represent Madera Beach, how do you how how does that work out? Uh thank you very much. I'm not sure if this uh microphone is on or if I control it, but um Randy Mora, on behalf of the Trust Daniel Law Firm, I want to first um
before I begin answering your question, state um thank you each for the opportunity to be here today. Um you met with myself, my colleague Jay Daniel, our managing partner, and Erica Aello. Erica Aello is the candidate for city attorney. Um though I believe she told each of you this individually, she was
unable to join today as this was called on relatively quick notice and she had a commitment to another of our beach clients here in Penllis County. Um that said, um it is not uncommon uh for whether we were in neighboring communities or otherwise um to be on
both sides of an interlocal agreement. It's not a conflict for us because usually when you're looking at an interlocal agreement, there's the the analysis that you're looking at is we both want to cooperate and collaborate. It is not a a negotiation of of of give and take in that contractual sense. Um,
and that's true up and down the beaches, especially on the barrier islands. It's very rare that you're in a position where you have contention between beach communities. Um, there is a process set forth in the statute when local governments get there. Um, for as long as we've represented communities in this
area, and at present we represent 14 cities, 11 of which are in Penllis County, we have yet to encounter that as uh a direct issue that has ever presented um a conflict in in our representation and engagements with our clients. Okay. Thank you. Uh and the
only other question, and I have this for all three uh candidates, and that's uh when can you start? I forgot to ask that. I think it's a valid certainly an important and valid question. Um, as much as it would pain me to steal a moment's joy from Jennifer and being uh in the position, we are ready as soon as
practicable for you folks. You know, subject to any resolutions or contract negotiations, we are day one ready. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Nope. Okay. I do not. Thank you very much. Absent any questions, could I just given this is the first time the public
is seeing us present just briefly elevator speech on who we are. Sure. Um, we are the trust law firm. We have been in Penllis County for nearly 50 years now operating previously under another name of Frasier Hubard. Um we specialize in the representation of local governments. It's what we do day in day
out. Uh we this is our home. This is where we live. This is where we work. This is where we play. Uh we uh as I mentioned a moment ago represent 11 communities in Penllis County. The three that are not in Penelis County are the village of Asterero, uh, Port Richie,
and, um, Holmes Beach, uh, which is the one Erica represents in Manatee County, another barrier island community. Um, but this is where we where we practice. Um, when I talk about our list of current clients, I I think it's important to note we've been here this long because of the commitment we make
to our clients. I could tell you a little bit about some of our past clients. Frankly, the list is very short. When we make a commitment to a community, we stay there. Um, that said, you may hear in the news, for example, for my part, I'm recently announced that I'm not renewing my contract in Indian Rocks Beach to the north. Um, that was I
had a contract. I fulfilled it. I made a commitment to them and I and I stuck with and worked through all the difficult issues. Um, and that's how we work. Um, while this is our home, while this is our home base, uh, we have a statewide presence. One of our attorneys, Tammy Bach, um, yeah, Tammy
Bach is on the east coast in the Fernandina Beach area. Uh she is also city, county, uh local government certified. Uh through my practice with the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust. Um we and and and Jay as well through the litigation. Our region is we've represented cases as far north as Yankee
Town, as far south as Everglades City. Um I'll be in Bvard County on Friday litigating a public records dispute um involving two board members of the same body. Uh we and then again through the Florida League of Cities, I offer educational um seminars, webinars. I'll be at the Florida Municipal City and
County Attorneys Association conference, the Florida Association of City Clerks. That is to say, our reach is statewide. Um, we may not have clients in terms of direct engagements day-to-day littered throughout the state, but this is our home base with a broad reach because we
specialize in this. This is our passion and we believe in the idea memorialized in our constitution in 1968 about home rule. And what makes Florida unique are the individual communities. It is in fact the sum of its parts which is often overlooked and we believe in preserving
that, protecting that and I commend each of you for your service. Um, if this democratic experiment is to continue, it requires volunteers. Thank you for the time you put into serving your community. Um, I, as I often say when I meet with newly elected officials, it's very interesting when you go from being
on this side of the podium to that side of the magic show and seeing how it all works and the things that prevent you from doing what you thought was so easy. um we're here to help you navigate that um should you select us. So, thank you for that opportunity and uh thank you for the opportunity to present to you
today. Thank you very much. Thank you. And our next would be Vos. Good afternoon. Um I'm Becky Vos with the Vos Law Firm and I don't know if you want any kind of an
introductory whatever. Sure. if you're comfortable. All right. Okay. Very good. Well, um, our firm has a 50 plus year history. Also, um, we are a statewide law firm. Um, we we I guess
the furthest northeast we go um right now is um the city of Neptune Beach. Um, way northeast. Um we also represent Monroe County which um we do specialized
um litigation for them and we also are city attorney for um the city of Fort Myers Beach which is way southwest and all in between. Um we are city attorney for St. Pete Beach. We love it over
here. Absolutely love it. Um we would be really honored to represent Treasure Island. Um we do have um one situation over in Valuchia County where we represent both South Daytona and Daytona
Beach Shores and they are separated by the inter coastal waterway. So and we have all kinds of interlocal agreements with them and that's not a problem. I totally agree on that on that count. That's not an issue.
But um we do have a far reach. We have um 50 years of experience. We do um have a very deep bench with nine attorneys. One thing which sets us completely apart is that
our firm only represents local governments. We do not do work for developers. We do not sue local governments. Um we do not um do insurance
defense. Um we have a total dedication to just completely representing local governments and to us that's important. um probably about 20 years ago, we did
do other um work and we did represent some developers and we did represent some vendors who dealt with other cities and I think it was probably the second time that I ended up suing a city. I said, "We can't do this anymore. We
cannot do this." I mean, our heart is always in the local governments. um we just will not represent a developer which can you know cause friction with another local government and um so we're
all in it for local governments and we'd love to represent y'all and I think there was another question about how when could you start uh this afternoon would be fine whenever y'all would um hire us we would just be absolutely
delighted Thank you. Great. You have a unique uh way of being compensated and and the type of activity. Can you explain a little bit about that? Okay. All right. For each one of our cities, we have a
flat rate that we charge. And the reason that we do that is we want to encourage our elected officials and our city staff people to contact us at the very beginning of any possible thing that
y'all might want to do. Whether it's just, you know, something you dreamt about last night, you thought it'd be really cool to do this, or if it's something you've thought about for for a while. Um, we encourage you to call us because we probably likely um have some
really good insight for you and we it would be difficult for us if we charge by the hour to say, "Oh, every time you even think about something, you know, call us and we'll write down the hours." We don't do that. We want to encourage
the um the interaction between our firm and city staff and between the elected officials and us. And in that way, our interests are aligned completely. Um if something is good for
the city, it's good for us. We keep you out of trouble. Um, one thing that we have seen often times is um, someone says, "Well, I I want to get over here and that's my goal." And they
think, "Well, the fastest way to get there and the best way to get there is just a straight line to it." And oftentimes the um uh the legislature, which I'm not crazy about um a lot of the attack on home rule that's gone on
in the last several years by our legislature, but oftentimes the legislature has said you can't do that straight line. Okay? But almost always there's another way to accomplish your goal. And if we are brought in at the
very beginning when you first have an inkling you might want to do something um we can help you um get to your goal and get to it in a legally defensible way. And in that way, I I think y'all
have um seen, maybe not experienced because I think y'all are relatively new at this. Um but you've seen where a city does something, you know, really great and then they get sued over it and you know, sadly sometimes they lose because
for whatever reason some eyes were not dotted and te's were not crossed. Um that's what we try to avoid that sort of situation. We try to keep you out of trouble. And as I said, our interests are aligned because if you get in
trouble, we're in trouble, too. We've got to defend you. And our preference is to keep you out of court when it is important to keep you out of court. But if you want to proactively go after
something, hey, we're all for it. Um, and another thing I'd like to tell you about, boy, don't get me started on stuff. Um, is our theories about litigation. And our litigation strategies are quite different from most
law firms strategies. We don't take endless depositions. We don't take um we don't file multiple um motions to dismiss things which just I mean you you can bill for them and they do have their
place and that sort of thing, but what we like to do is just a straight path forward to victory. And we try to basically stab them in the heart. Um get a motion for summary judgement if that's
possible. get it done, get it over with, and then our cities are free to go forward. Um, I hate to see cases which languish in the court. And I I do, you know, look at court dockets and it's
just amazing how you can just eat up time with a lot of dancing around in litigation, which which I understand is is the way it's often done, but um we try to take the most direct path for the
best result we can get. Um anything else? Is there any secret sauce to how you evaluate the uh the cost of their services? Okay. I've been
doing this for over 50 years and I know what it takes to represent cities and frankly I would have gone out of business a long time ago if I didn't have that ability. Um and I did some
deep dives into what's going on in this city. I mean, there's been a very short period of time that this city essentially has been in play. Um, but I tried to figure out what type
of effort would would happen. And one thing that um one thing that influenced it is we do represent your neighbor to the south and we propose the exact same
flat fee arrangement that they had and that has worked out okay for us. Um, I will tell you that for all practical purposes, for the first year or so that we represent a city, we really, it's not
financially beneficial to us, but during that period of time, we're straightening things out. We're getting in. I know you've been very well represented, but from what I understand, you've got some ideas about going forward with doing a
lot of innovative things, and that's going to take a massive amount of time. Um, and I really thought that the um dollar amount we proposed was the appropriate one. And it's and maybe
there is a secret sauce to it, but you know it it does um I have a feel for it and I'm typically very successful in that field. So you mentioned St. Pete Beach. Um and I could absolutely be wrong, but are you
full-time or are you there interim? Okay. Because I I was aware you thought you were interim. Okay. Y'all advertised for interim and as permanent, right? They advertised for interim and they said at the time that they hired us that they were immediately
going out and it was fine with us. Um, you know, for full-time and we told them, you know, we're going to be applying for full-time. Well, for whatever reason in the last, what has it been close to eight months? They haven't gotten around to going out for full-time. I don't think they're going
to. So, um, if you look at our agreement, it reads like every other city attorney contract out there. It just says that we will do the except it does have the word interim in the title. Um, it says that we will provide city attorney services and that's what we've
been doing. And I suspect if they were not happy with us, they would go out for, you know, a quote full-time. So, yeah, that's that's what's happening there. But we are servicing them and I
suspect we will be servicing them for the next many many many years probably with that same title because there's no reason for me to go to them and say oh by the way do you want to go out for a full-time you know there's there's no benefit to that. So I would think it
would make you more I'm sorry. Go ahead. I would think it would make you more vested in a community if you have a contract as opposed to at any time they could put it out and you'd be gone. Well, I will. No. Well, let me tell you, every every contract that we have with a
city, I call it, and I call it this affectionately, it's a contract for a day because if for whatever reason, and you don't have to have a reason, I mean, I could walk in and you didn't like the shoes I was wearing or whatever, what you know, and I'm not saying you'd ever
do that, but if you want to get rid of us, just whisper in our ear and we will fall all over ourselves. doing a an appropriate um transition. We don't believe that you
owe us anything. We are here on a weekly, a daily, and hourly basis of pleasing you. We don't take it for granted. I mean, the cities that we've represented for many, many, many, many,
many years, I have that attitude. I have to please them today. Okay? We don't sit back and say, "Well, you know, we've been here for 15 years and everything is going to be fine and we don't have to work that hard."
Um, and I will tell you that I drill this into the minds of the attorneys who work in our firm. you know, uh, we are not doing someone a favor um, by representing
them. Y'all are doing us a favor by having us represent you. And that is always in the the mindset of the attorneys of our firm. Thank you. Can you disclose what you're uh charging St.
Pete Beach? 37,500 a month. Gotcha. That's what she said. Nothing further. I just would like to comment a little bit about the presentation that uh that you uh did give back to us.
Um and a lot of it uh you've been dealing with uh all the hurricanes and all of the everything that's out there. Um, I like the way it was set up, experience representing cities with focus on economic development. And then
it goes into actually showing areas that have been, uh, hit by hurricanes, uh, Cocoa Beach, a matter of fact, and, um, and then it goes on to say, uh, as well, experience representing recovering from hurricanes, which is exactly what we're
doing. Oh, absolutely. you you've pushed a lot of information out that says what uh we we we can do and what you can do for us. Mhm. Um experience dealing with the elephant or
ele alphabet alphabet agencies. Yeah. I'm sorry my glasses are not too good. agencies and concepts um FEMA and but just on and on and on that kind of laid out uh exactly what we are looking for
uh which is a good presentation to to show but I think that you showed the uh the work that was there as well you know and and how it was accomplished and uh I I really did appreciate it knowing that we're just coming out of this hurricane Oh yes situation within the last six
seven months. Absolutely. And and I will tell you that our beach communities I I don't think I would say it in Oakland or in um Brooksville, but our beach communities are in our heart. I mean,
it's just all the attorneys in our firm. We love our beach communities and you know you you are so blessed to be on the beach but you are cursed with the hurricanes and we do our absolute best
to you know when an act of God comes um we are there you know doing everything we can to help. Great. Thank you. Okay. All right Anthony.
It's great to see everybody again once again. Anthony Sabatini, Sabatini Law Firm, a honor to be considered along with these other great attorneys before this amazing city. The thing that struck me the most today when I met with you guys is a lot of you were coming in with a lot of passion and zeal and a mandate.
And you need a firm who's just as passionate and wants to get things done in this city as you are. Not somebody who's going to come and says they know everything and they're going to calm you down. Somebody who's going to match your energy and fight for you. And even though my wife's only practiced for 13, I've practiced for six, and we're a younger firm, we're a very fast growing
firm. And the reason why we're fast growing firms, a fast growing firm, is because the members of this firm have sat on the other side of the dice. They've made policy. And just like I told all of you today, I've often felt constrained by board attorneys who see themselves as having an extremely limited role of just telling you when
you're going to go to jail or not and not being a creative partner who's going to give you a toolbox of legal options to get innovative things done for a great city that's got an enormous opportunity. As you guys know, we talked about in each of our individual meetings
today. I don't know of a single coastal city with as much land, as much opportunity for growth in a future as this body right here. And you got to have somebody who's completely and totally dedicated to working with you hand to nail to get something unique
done. It's also great to choose a law firm that's not part of the same legal and political network as your immediate area. Somebody who's going to come in here with fresh eyes, no allegiance to anybody that will walk and stand in front of this podium. Nobody nearby, nobody else who's a relatively similar
client that they might have. I'm coming into Penllis County as a person who's practiced law in about 22 counties, literally 22 right now, statewide firm, local government clients in six counties, but absolutely no vested interest in any of the other competit
competing cities or entities of this area. Um, again, I think it's very important that you choose a firm that's u got a passion in their belly, who's going to fight for you and who's 100% accessible. My cell phone, this work cell phone is the direct form of communication. You'll
never talk to a secretary or parillegal unless you prefer to do that. You'll always talk to me. We we're prompt. We work extremely hard at what we do. And you'll always see generally another attorney from my firm with me. You'll never be double bill for that. But it's
because we're very passionate about the future of the cities we work with. And I have other attorneys come in to watch and work on things that are on the agenda as they go forth. So that way if I ever did miss a meeting, god forbid, one of the other attorneys is squared away and you're already on a firstname basis with them and you know them very
very well. Um we are doing everything we can to become um more involved with the with the cities we have. I consider the commissioners that I serve friends. uh when it comes to dealing with staff, it's the commission that tells us what to do. How much time do you want us
working with staff independently, but you are the boss, we are the servant, and that just comes across, I think, in our services. That's why if you call any of the city uh any of the government entities we work with right now, the superintendent, the mayors, the cities, the police pension board, they'll tell you we're very, very happy to work with
who we're working with. And really, quite frankly, they're going to tell you it was a massive upgrade from their former board attorney. And that's just the way it is. Uh so again, we're a threeperson firm growing very quickly, probably picking up another uh fourth attorney here in the next 60 days. And
we're animated by public service. I'm proud to be serving as a captain the Florida Army National Guard, oftentimes working out of the state emergency operations center on the state's response. You know, I served as a city commissioner, county commissioner, and a state representative. Public service is what I do. I didn't choose this
profession to make money. I did it because public service is what animates me in everything I do. I chose an area of the law in which I can help others serve their community. And my goal is to see this city grow into an amazing world-class city. I think it's already one of the most beautiful and unique
cities in the state. But obviously, God's given you guys an opportunity to turn the city into an even greater place than it already was, greater city than it was that when it attracted all of you here to begin with. And uh we would love to be part of that. And just like one of the other firms says, we're not here for
the short hall. We're here for the long haul. I want you guys to want us to stay on board. It's why again our rates are very competitive. Some would say they're low. They're not low. They're actually very good. We're very well compensated at that rate. Some attorneys feel they need to obviously have higher rates, but the truth of the matter is that is a
very fair and competent rate for a city of 6,000 persons. That's just a very good rate. And we're very proud of the litigation that we handle inside on land use. I love doing land use. just taught the University of Florida land use class at UF Law on behalf of my professor from 8 years ago, Thomas Hawkins, who you'll
all meet when you do uh Florida League of Cities soon enough. One of the perimeter land use experts in the state, wrote the only textbook on Florida land use and I was able to teach that class. Very happy about that. And um you know, we we take the job very seriously. We're 100% accessible and we're extremely
prompt. And I'll just leave you this one example of how we take care of issues as they come along at no massive crazy expense to the city. Over in the city of Lake Hamilton, uh there was a contract that was broken. There was a a third party that broke a wire uh underground
uh uh wire at the city, clear liability, 50,000 damages. We found out about it. We filed the lawsuit in 5 days. We had them served in three days and we recovered that. Most attorneys wouldn't do it that quickly. They would generally they would RFP it or it would take a very long time and process and they
would just generally drag their feet on something that I consider a very simple form of litigation that we're more than happy to do at a load to no cost in house. We literally charge the city $2,500 for the suit. That's pretty much unheard of. So, and we won. So, long story short, they settled immediately.
So, long story short, I'm happy to answer all of your questions. It was an honor to meet all of you and I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say. Yes, sir. Oh, I thought you had a question. No, this is the same question, Anthony. The same question I asked the others about uh how how soon would you be available? Probably 10 minutes from now. Yeah. Now,
listen, we work full-time. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to be flying up to uh DC for a national lawyers conference. If you guys really needed me to, I would cancel that in two seconds. Come sit on that DAS and get to work immediately. Uh we don't we put our clients first. Everything we do is secondary. So, tonight would be I'd
be happy to start. And if you wanted me to start later, happy with that too. Whatever you guys can. Thank you. Thank you. Um, one thing I I I like the uniqueness that you've served on both sides that you've you've made policy, you've you
know, you've been in the House. That speaks volumes to me because it it definitely is a uniqueness and it gives you a different perspective um than just being on one side. And I definitely like that uniqueness. and we did talk one-on-one a little bit about that. Um,
but for the people that weren't in those meetings, um, not knowing if you went over that, could you just kind of go over again why you think that is a beneficial, um, with what you're doing now, why you feel what you've done on the other side benefits you as an
attorney. Now, first I'll say this much. Uh, I think that having somebody who's taken the slings and arrows of being in office and putting their name on the line, you understand, you appreciate the service that you guys do more than almost any person who's just been a normal board attorney or staffer ever
has because you know what it feels like when you go to Facebook or whatever and somebody's attacking you and you're not doing this for the pay. You're not doing this for the pay. You're doing this because honestly, you're patriots. You love this country and you're trying to serve and build great communities. So having somebody that has that humility
and that understanding because they've been through it too like somebody who served in the military meets another veteran literally does inform the attorney client relationship. Uh you know you're technically the client but you're actually my boss and uh having that is very important. The other thing
is I feel like a lot of board attorneys do want to drift into policym because they have their own policy views but I already do my own I get my fill on policy in my other life when I'm a county commissioner and different positions I have. I have no interest in being the policy maker here. What I'm interested in is taking the wealth of
experience I've been able to achieve in just the last 10 years and bring it to you in the set of policy options. And one of the things that I didn't really bring into uh go into in the introduction that I think is relevant to your question is we have an enormous amount of intergovernmental experience. You know, I work directly with the
governor staff on things. uh just one district over state house representative Bernie Jackson, longtime friend of mine, key leader in the state legislature, somebody that yeah, you might be a mile or two outside his district, but guess what? He's somebody who's going to lend an ear to getting things done for this city when he knows that there's there's
people who are reaching out to him at a consistent basis. So long story short, working with the existing players at the state and federal level, obviously I know your congressman very well, is something that I think brings a wealth of experience to the city when you were a policy maker at some point too. Thank
you. And you have military experience too, correct? Yes, sir. I've been happy to serve in the Florida Army National Guard for I can't believe to say it now because it's just really flown by. But 16 years eligible for major. If I could just find, you know, four weeks
somewhere to go up to Fort Le, Virginia, I would obviously be pinned, but I haven't done that yet. Now, my law partner Gavin, who's a brand new attorney, but actually nine years of local government experience as a county city commissioner. He's a major. He serves in the Florida Army National Guard, too. Different brigade, so hopefully there's no conflict there in
terms of the schedule. But uh again very animated by public service and that's why he decided to go into local government law versus just normal civil litigation of a different sort and and you would be the one sitting up on the dis and be our main contact. Correct. Correct. I will be at every single meeting and workshop in person and
available 24/7 by phone but you'll often see me bring in one of the other attorneys Francesca Sabin or Gavin Rollins. So that way if and when one day they have to step in, you're not getting somebody who's a brand new face, has no clue what's on the agenda, not engaged,
not passionate, doesn't understand the longer term visions of not just the council as a whole, but each of you individually. So you'll see them more, but you'll never see us build for that. We'll never build for travel either, hotels, anything like that. And also because I love coming to Penelis County. I think I mentioned to
all of you, my brother and family have had businesses here. My brother owns two bars downtown St. Petersburg. My dad's had probably the longest running car show at the Venoi the festival speed concourse de Alagons car show. So my family's very invested here. We love to come down. I've been coming here since I was a kid and it would be an honor to be
able to work here professionally too. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you. Jess, can I ask you to come up here and I don't know if you're going to have what I'm going to ask for or not.
Okay. But, uh, do we have the actual, uh, prices for each of the the three, uh, law firms? I have them pulled up. You've got them pulled up already? Yep. Would you go ahead and read those? All right. I happen to have Sabatini pulled
up. Yeah. For the folks that are out here in the in the I know them all off the top of my head. If you want me to do it, at it. Yeah. And someone correct me if I'm wrong. VO was 375 um flat fee a month. Um TRA was
325 per hour. I just I just want to note one thing. So I did a little analysis on that. I know Jen sent out something this morning that she was doing about uh $25,000 a month average last year,
but I looked at the hours and it was came out to it looked like she was she averaged about a 100 hours per month. So if you were to times just to try to compare TRask Duvos, they said 100 hours seemed about accurate. So at 325 that
would be 32,500 a month. Correct. But that doesn't include litigation. Um there's includes litigation at 375. So if you're trying to compare the two on a total monthly basis, that that would be it.
And then um for the Sabati law firm, it was $6,000 a month retainer um plus uh that litigation um and then I think it was 225 an hour um for for other for and 60 for a
paralle for other options. Okay. For stuff above and beyond. Uh but in my conversations, I think that um I think that the any litigation with the Sabatini firm would be would not would
not be huge amounts of money. Swift. Yeah. Swift and not large amounts of money. So Jess, please. So I did that all from memory. Thank you. That was impressive. Um if I could just add something to the litigation piece. Um,
and Jen, if you can correct me if I'm if I'm wrong, but we actually have insurance. We um, so our insurance will do defense litigation for us. Um, so if really we have to do any sort of litigation, it may be like small claims or like we had uh a trip and fall that may have like required a release or if
there's an employee who owes us money after they leave uh, employment. So there shouldn't be any litigation because that is covered under our insurance. Let me I'm going to ask you one that you may or may not be able to answer. That's fine. Does our insurance um allow for say our
city attorney to do the litigation for us if they agree to the their pay or do they insist that you use their attorneys? I'm going to have her. Okay. So generally what happens with insurance defense council is they qualify certain attorneys under their policy in which
they will um they you know they've gone through their process and that way that that firm defends and they pay them out so they have negotiated rates with those individual firms. So it's possible that your city attorney may have qualified
under your insurance and so they would deal with it that way. Also, just to be clear, like the example um that was given was the city as the plaintiff, the city bringing the action. And in that instance, your city attorney would be the person who would be bringing the
litigation. Generally, when you're sued for like a trip and fall or um something like that, then it is your insurance defense council. Okay. Thank you. I I have a little bit to add to the to the numbers that Chris supplied. What I
did uh I took those uh quotes that we got. I tried to stand standardize them all into the same format. And what I what I used as a basis for that calculation was the uh worksheet that was sent to us by Jennifer that accounted for her uh for her hours for
the past 12 months. So I just substituted uh our the hourly rates of each of the each of the firms uh with what she had in her worksheet and and of course with uh with TRA or uh I'm sorry with boss or votes it was very easy. It
was just 375 time. But anyway, here's using the same amount of hours that uh that Jennifer has build us in the past 12 months. Uh here's how it all uh adds up. Jennifer uh for the past 12 months has build us
$36,000. The uh TR firm at their hourly rate and using the same number of hours would be billing us at $462,000 and of course uh with with Bose it would come to
450,000. Uh Sabatini came in at just slightly under uh what Jennifer build us. Uh he came in at 301,000. So, I know we're not looking necessarily for the lowest bidder here, but uh but two of the firms would be we would be paying
about 50% more than what we're paying right now. And and I want to add into that, and that's I always count on you for your your math because you definitely always bring it. Um but I I want to point out too that I couldn't
agree more. It's definitely not and and I'm by no means speaking because of price point. I'm speaking of who I think would be best for the city. And I got to and I'm going to be honest with you, even I was surprised to be completely honest with
you because I went in with one mindset and I came out with a different and um and I was very surprised at that because it takes a lot to impress me. Those who know know that. And um I am stunned um that I changed my
mind like I did because I was impressed and I'm just going to call a spade a spade. I was extremely impressed. Um I personally love the fact that you've been on both sides. I think that is a experience that is
priceless. Um, and not saying that everyone else isn't fabulous. I just think that that is a absolutely priceless um, addition that we get um, with Sabatini is having that experience
that you have been on the other side. You do know what it's like. You do know what it's like to you saw us kind of giggle a little bit to get massacred on social media when you're trying to do something. And the the quicker it happens, the easier it goes away. And
price aside, if you everybody was exactly the same price, um that is something to me that is um you can't put a price on. And I will say as a side note as a serial
entrepreneur um I love the drive and it's it's very obvious that it's a sincere drive. It's uh it's a you can tell and I love that. So, I will say
I went in with one mindset and I came out with another and it really had because I purposely didn't look at cost until after our meetings this morning and I did that on purpose because I did not want to go in with a mindset of
because we all know I'm fiscally very frugal and but I did not look at that for that exact purpose. Um, I wanted to have a completely clean slate of my thought process and and make up my mind and
I was very impressed. I really was. Yeah, I I'll speak now. First of all, I want to thank all three firms. I think you all did an amazing job today, but I didn't really come in with any um preconceived
notions, but um I was uh blown away by Anthony. Um, first of all, he's a military man. He's been in the Florida legislature, and I think now he's decided to build his practice. And I think that we are connecting at the
perfect time because if we really all through all of us up here, we've been talking in the last months about how we want to do development. And if we really want to do development and we want to do it quickly, I think that he is the best bet
to help us do that. Um I I he brought up uh public private partnerships. He brought up um tiff districts. Um so did so did the vos firm. But but I I just think that he's done with his
legislature stuff now and he really wants to focus on building his practice and he wants this business. So because of that we are getting we are getting a a really good deal and you know I don't think you should skimp on
uh you know attorney services. I mean I when you go look for a brain surgeon you don't try to find a bargain based on one right. So, so it really doesn't have anything to do with price with me. To me, the price is just a huge bonus to
us. And I just think he's at the point of his career and we're at a point that's meeting together right now that's going to just meld together perfectly to do what we need to do. And I think, you
know, the only the only the only um thing that I had that was really a red flag for me was the size of his firm, but I brought that up to him three times in the interview and he he sold me on the fact that it's not going to be an
issue and I believe him and I like the fact that I'm going to have his phone number and I can call him whatever I want. And the other thing I will say is I've h as a as a as a manager and and a leader in big companies, I've hired a lot of people. And what I've always
found, no matter what position I was hiring for, I had my list of of you know, eight questions here. And the people I don't usually hire are the ones where even if their answers are good, is we go through each question and they give me an answer. With Anthony, I got
through question one and I didn't I didn't even ask the rest of the questions. We just start talking, planning, figuring out how we're going to grow stuff, do stuff, and and that that's the people that I that I always find I wind up hiring. So,
want me to go next? We'll skip three and go to four. Uh, I came in uh to this uh uh came into this u meeting today willing to support any of the three uh firms. Uh I I really was super impressed
with all of them. Uh, and I was, you know, I didn't know if I was going to be go first in line in making my choice or or fourth. Uh, but I because I felt so comfortable with all three of them, you know, and I and I'm not going to the lowest bidder, but I thought, you know,
let's let's go ahead and work with Sabatini and see see, you know, the worst case. And I hate to use uh Becky's Becky's stories, but we have a one-day contract. And if it didn't work out, you know, it didn't work out. But I thought uh he he seemed to have everything I
thought the city needed at this particular point in time. Again, taking nothing away from either one of the other two firms because both of them were very impressive. Uh but at this point in time, I would I would go with Sapatini as well.
Well, I had about 22 questions to ask and uh I went through all of them. Kind of little uh I guess uh I can't find the words, but uh I don't think I asked any questions
to Mr. Sabentini. I think we just had a one-on-one conversation. So, that kind of impressed me pretty good. And I did come into uh the meetings uh going with uh one and then you know uh I got uh my
mind changed I guess. So I'll be voting for Sabatini as well. I just want to uh to thank all three of the firms. Um, and I'll tell you, I thought uh you hit it right on the the nose of what we're trying to overcome,
which is the hurricane and uh and everything that uh that the damage that's been done and trying to to return to a vibrant community and everything else. So, I want to thank all of you uh for that. And with that, um what I'd
like to do is uh is call for a motion. Yeah, I'd like to uh call for a motion to hire uh Sabati law firm as our new law firm and I would like to make it effective like 7 pm tonight. Um, I think that, um, he could I don't I'm not
asking you to cancel your trip, but I think that you expressed interest in getting in here and working with our current attorney and doing a transition. And I think that's the ab absolute best thing to do is to do that now and when
you get back from your conference, start hitting it and and um and uh uh working with Jen to kind of transition things over. Yeah, we'll need to bring this up at our May 20th meeting uh and with
contract and and all. So, um so we can't do it actually tonight, but we can do it very shortly. Would you like to amend that motion? Uh then I make the motion to hire the uh Sabatini law firm. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a
second. Uh do we have any public comment? Do I have to do public comment on this activity? Any public comment hearing? None. Uh, let's close the public comment and let's call roll. Commissioner Clark, I. Commissioner
Sison, I. Vice Mayor Vasquez, I. Commissioner Dicki, I. Commissioner, sorry, Mayor Doctor, I. Thank you very much to all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, taking a look at our activity. Uh, we don't have
to worry about D2. I didn't know there. I see. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. So, D2 is a selection of an interimm city attorney and we will not need that. So we can uh move on to uh to
the third item which is MMA interimm city manager update. What is that? I don't have that. I'm fine with it. I just don't have it. I wonder is are you in Granus? You got
to refresh. You got to refresh and it'll pop up. It's going to make a liar. yours isn't pulling up, but uh yeah, that's what what we have. So, all right, I can
fly blind. Jess, if you would please. Okay, sure. Uh so, the actual deadline for submission for the interim city uh manager applicants is this Friday on the 16th. We have so far received five
applicants. Uh some are local, some are not. Um, so we have a few options at this point since it is a pretty tight timeline that we're looking at. Um, obviously when it closes on Friday, we'll know exactly how many people will
have applied for it. Um, we could if you're really So on Tuesday, if you're looking to make a decision on Tuesday, you will need to I'll have to work with you to try to find some time to interview these candidates. Now, some of those will be, you know, teams that might be virtual, some I might be able
to get here, but it's going to be pretty short notice. Um, so try to make that happen as quickly as possible in order for you to make a decision by Tuesday. Uh, the other option that we have is we could push it to the June 3rd meeting. Um, but that would require us to extend
Chuck's administrative leave um in order to still have a sitting city manager. Um, and then we could then conduct interviews and it wouldn't be as rushed at that point. You'd have a bit more time. Um, and then also, uh, the other decision that's going to have to be made
is maybe how long you want this person to be with us. Uh, because that is a question that I've received. Is it a four month? Is it a six-month? Uh, the time it's going to take to run a recruiting for a city manager could take anywhere between four and six months.
It's really just going to depend on kind of which how you want to go about it um and how many candidates we actually get for the position. So um so right now it's really kind of that timing piece. Um and just to kind of give you an idea, the uh posting closes on Friday. Uh we
still need to interview for it. Um if your selection can either be May 20th or June 3rd, but then there's also contract negotiation and then the resolution and appointment still has to come before you. So June 3rd would be the earliest for that. Um and then there's also a
possible relocation for this person that you choose. So um if you don't mind, I'll speak on this first. Um, one of the things, um, that when I emailed when you kind of sent that out initially, um, one of the big things that I wanted in kind
of the pre-in was if these people are interested, if it works out, if they come in as interim, are they interested in doing it more on a um, long-term basis? Because obviously the less turnover you have, the better. um you know and knowing that they're invested
in our city is important to me as well. Um which is why we you know ended up where we did with the attorney. So, um I think that is paramount. Um because
one, if we can find someone within, and when I say local, I don't, you know, it has to be right here, but I would love to see someone within the state of Florida, preferably coastal would be great. Um we don't have that major moving expense, but we also don't have
that expense of hiring someone to go out and try to find it. So, if we have someone who's interested in a long more long-term contract, um, and we all, you know, end up agreeing, hey, let's bring them in as interim, but, you know, that
could weigh in the factor, I think, in how we all would vote as well if we're happy with them as interim. Um, and again, not saying that there is anybody like that, but I would love to see that be one of the one of the main questions is, you know, one, you know, do they
have coastal experience is everything. Um, as we know, um, and two, do they have a vested interest long term in our city? Mhm. Um because it would really stink to get somebody who was great and
they're here for 120 days and then they're out and then we're back where we started. Mhm. Um and since I can't convince chief to, you know, but I do agree with the um I think that's I mean obviously it would almost
be at your discretion because I think rushing trying to rush that fast is is kind of crazy and I might be the only one who thinks that but that's like really fast. I think this is like the biggest decision we're
going to make. I think we just made the other one just now. And um I think that um we got to get this right. Um so did you find out too I know we talked about and I heard that you know what's the story now with the the firm that will
they will they do it again because Chuck didn't last. Is that has that been confirmed or do we know? Yeah. So I was actually going to mention that. So what we could do is potentially bring somebody in on sort of that interim kind of temporary basis while running the search concurrent. Do we really trust
that company with the ones they brought us the last time? Well, it's they're doing it for free, right? They would do it. The only uh we would not have any professional fees associated with it. So the fees that we have associated are the advertising fees, the travel expenses, those types of things um that we would have to pay again, but there would not
be any professional fees associated with the search. um and that was in their proposal and that is their guarantee. I did speak to um their representative yesterday um and confirmed everything. So, which again I did I knew that um was
99% the case. However, again kind of the same reason FEMA should be ran by the state. If we can find somebody in our state, they're going to know what's best for our state and for our coastal. So, if we could
I would again because it's turnover, turnover, turnover. So, if we can find someone who we all like and does a killer job and they're here and we decide to offer them the full-time if
they're interested in it, that I mean, I'm just speaking to me that makes the most sense. You know, I I totally understand they do it at no cost, but they're still going outside. They're still going um to different states. They're still going to people that, you
know, haven't dealt with hurricanes for the most part. I mean, I guess you could find somebody that's coastal Texas that might apply for the job, but I just to me that makes the most sense and we kind of have nothing to if again if we find
the applicants are are in that realm. If not and we have to hire just a straightup interim, you know, it is what it is because I know we have chief for a limited time. Um, but I mean I think if it's if it's free basically we should run the other search in the background.
Maybe our interim turns out being good then we want to keep them. That's fine. But I don't know that I don't know that the interim is going to want maybe the good interim does doesn't want to do it full time. to me. Well, I mean, that's an important thing, I guess, but then are we going to be able to find somebody and I hope you
don't mind me sharing, Anthony, but he he shared something with me today that kind of struck me and and you know, and I know because of the experience we've had, everyone's saying you got to find someone who's been a city manager before. And you know, he said he's seen
some cities that that grow immensely with someone who is been owned a business or been a business leader or been a CEO and came in and they actually what you really need is a leader a and a leader number one and someone with some
business experience. So I guess what I'm saying is I'm off the bandwagon of they have to have been a city manager before. Um, and I just think we need to find, if they've been a city manager, great. We got to find a leader and we got to find someone that
understands business and development because I think that's what we want to do. And I think that's the most important things that we need to look for. Just and I actually agree with that. I to me it's 100% about being a leader. And case in point is
um you've never been a city manager? No. And look what's happened in seven days. No offense. I know. We had that conversation. It's the first It's the first time that I've
been doing this. I um I requested something and I actually got an email back with it like with the same day. So yeah, it's the difference in seven days was pretty astounding just in replying to um constituents whether it be building
permits, whether it be different things. It's it's been great. And um so leadership to me is the single most important thing over anything is leadership and I agree business experience because a city is yes you have municipal law however it's still a
business. It's still a business. Yeah, I I believe that uh the city manager is is a profession and uh and that that is why they have the MMA accreditation. Um that's why they have
to uh been in certain roles within the city to be certified. I think that what we did is exactly what what is being presented again uh with Commissioner Clark is that we don't have to have a
city manager that's actually done the job before. No, I think that we we tried that experiment and I think that that failed and we really do need to I agree that they need to have business experience and all the things that you say, but that you know this is really it's a profession. It it's a job. It's
like a doctor or a dentist or whatever you want it to be. You need to have that accreditation and that doesn't happen just over months. It happens over years. And uh but we do have at least one person that is MMA uh accredited that is
looking for the interm position. I don't know if they'd want to do it full-time or not, but um we we need to find a strong leader. I agree with that as well. That's the most important thing is they need to to be a a leader, but they also we need to be looking at the the
audience that is ICMA accredited for a good leader. And uh because like I said, this this really is u and I think that the attorneys would would basically say as well that you know to run the city and understand everything that's going
on, you know, that you really need to have somebody that is going to take the time to, you know, submerge themselves in our business. But they've got to do it, you know, uh the the right way. There are right ways to run a city and wrong ways to run a city. And we need to
make sure that we're getting the the right person, the right leader, the light the right business person, CEO, whatever it is. But, uh, like I said, I I think that, uh, we'd be mistaken if we were trying to take somebody that has not done the job, uh, and put put them
into the job because like I said, I think that, um, I I think that Chuck was was a a great guy. uh but uh you know that it lacks some leadership and I think that uh that that we needed strong leadership especially when the hurricanes came and now we need stronger
leadership to to get us out of the hole that we're already in and and move forward. Okay. I don't know what to add to what's already been said. Obviously, I I I'm uh looking forward to beginning the process of finding a long-term city manager. Uh
I think if if we uh do believe that uh having been a city manager and having that experience and having that certification is important then we make sure that we only accept uh applications for that people who meet that basic
criteria that they have the city manager experience that they have ICMA certification and I'm fine uh vice mayor Vasquez your point about if we want to limit just to for just to Florida, not go look in other parts of
the country or in I think we even had two international candidates. Oh wow. Uh so on the f last time around. So if we want to if we want to narrow it down to just Florida, I'm I'm fine with that. So we've now we've narrowed our universe quite quite significantly. But uh or if
we want to narrow it down to any of the uh the Gulf uh states, you know, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, of course, who that that that did this work in the coastal cities because it is it is a different animal. So, I'm I'm supportive of that. I I
think uh uh I I I do feel as as mayor uh said uh having that that city manager experience is very important and I don't want to go I don't want to make the I'm not saying to make the same mistake but I don't but clearly a lot of people feel
that that we made a mistake by selecting somebody that didn't have that that experience and that certification. So you know let's let's not make the same uh mistake the second time around. Uh question I was going to ask Jessica is uh for the head hunter guarantee uh
can we uh say that we want coastal uh experience like for example all coastal experience um golf Carolas they go through a lot of hurricanes and and so on. Anybody be open to that? Like absolutely I'm fine
with that. Like I said if I mean I would love to have a Florida person obviously. Um, but as long I the one thing to me and I know this sounds terrible and it's you should never say never, but the one thing that is almost non-negotiable to
me is somebody who has zero coastal experience. I agree. That is to me that is pretty much a non-negotiable. I want to push back on that just a little bit. Okay. And the reason is that this the number two candidate I think that was in many people's mind uh had been a city
manager in in in a landlock city for for many years and and he certainly appeared to be very he was Florida am I correct Florida so that's and and when I say coastal exper I consider because hurricanes hit Orlando right so you know
so I I guess to your to your credit you are 100% right it's still though still a Florida person who deals with hurricanes very who deals with the catastrophes that we deal with. Um where someone in, you know, Indiana or or you know isn't
going to have that same kind. Is that because I'm from Indiana? Well, I was born in Indianapolis. So, on that, that's so I would agree with that 100%. Coastal and all of Florida. Coastal and Florida. And uh what about the uh living here as an option? I think
that's very important. I think uh city managers of past that lived on the island, you know, were more attentive because they saw the problems all the time and they got you're more vested, I think, and you're walking at night. Don't we don't they have to live here if they're going to be city manager full-time? So, pursuant to your charter,
they do, but you can wave that requirement. And so, in the past, the commission has at times waved that. It was only waved after the hurricane though, right? No. Oh, no. It was It was waved. Chuck Coward lived here. Gary Brach lived here. I did not know that. Okay, thank you. Did not know. Yeah, I
think it was waved with Reed and with Amy. Yeah, I I I mean, again, I'm selfish. I love my people to be vested in my community. And of course, that this can be pricey as well. It can be a very pricey community. Oh, I know you're 100%
correct. Pricey and limited supply, especially right now. Right. But so I'm not saying that that's a but I am saying that would obviously be a huge plus if less pricey if he want to buy a non-elevated home right now. That's correct, too. So all right, do we
have anything else? Well, I just want to make sure. So with regard to the direction, it is to bring forth the ICMA candidates once it closes on Friday. And I would assume you would like to go through go through those and um have
Jess set up as so long as there's not like 25, but I mean have her set up interviews for you so that you can whether they be virtual or in person. But are there are do all these candidates you brought up meet the criteria that we just talked about or not? Um I mean are some going to get
They're not going to. Okay. Yeah. No, not No, they don't meet all the criteria. I know you said one. are just so if you would like and I honestly I can't remember all of them off the top of my head but if you if you if you would like to not necessarily have the interim you know necessarily meet all of those criterias except for the fact that
maybe they'rema um then or maybe they have some coastal experience or if you want them to meet all of the criteria that you're that you want to set forth for who would be the permanent person that would so that way it can start to narrow down the list however you want to I mean I would say
interim of course anybody that's applying for interim is going to be a Florida person anyway. No, not necessarily. Oh, well, interim I think that's I don't because interim can be six months, it can be a year. And and you did mention early on about the possibility of relocating uh an end term
and I don't think we really should go to the expense of agree. I'd rather pay for somebody's apartment for four or six months than I would relocating them. Okay. I agree. So, but to me, even as interim, I want a Florida person. I don't I mean because they're coming in
in hurricane season. I agree. We had someone send us a resume from Okay. So should um all of us didn't even know who the mayor was. We need to give direction. Does the commission want to go ahead and have Jess evaluate the ones that have come in so far and any that
are Florida based would be of interest and then um I don't know if you can change the ad in time but if so make that change so that on Friday hopefully all of them can be evaluated any that are Florida you would like to interview
Florida and meets the criteria of whatever coastal experience you want coast or Florida I mean if it's if it's Florida coastal is a huge Coastal State. Yes, Coastal State. There you go. Well said. All right. And that Go ahead. And
then for the um along with that, do you want her to go ahead and contact the prior search firm that's going to do it at cost and have them um revise the criteria? And I would suggest that when they revise that criteria, that that
criteria come back before you just to make sure that everything has been accounted for. and then she can give that them to them and they can move forward. And I would say even if you have an interim and you you know are considering there's nothing to stop that interim other than if they don't want to
from contacting that search form too and then they will have gone through the same process. Obviously they'll have a little bit more insight than somebody from the outside. just to know that could happen as well. Or you could always, if you were really happy with them, cancel the search and and offer
it. Whoever, whether we call them interim or city manager, they're going to have a city manager contract. It's going to have those, you know, standard terms. And if you want to make it for a set period of time, you can or you don't have to. I mean, you heard one of the candidates tonight say that they're inter room and they've been serving for
eight months, right? So, um, so that was all. I just want to make sure we were clear on the direction and then also on the dates. So would you like me to try to be prepared to bring all of this forward? Do you want to try to inter do interviews before the May 20th meeting or would you be more prepared to discuss
and make a selection at the June 3rd meeting and we extend those interviews out? I would almost say it depends on how many meet the criteria because earlier the better. Earlier the better. Yeah. Because I would say if because it sounds like that a lot even the five that have applied that'll there. Yeah.
Some Yeah. Some that's we're going to knock a few of those out. So I mean if it's I think two people or three people it's not bad. Now if it's 10 people trying to do that is so just to throw this out there because I want to think about it. Um so let's say you've
identified a candidate on Tuesday at on Tuesday's meeting like let there were five they were I'm going to make this up. They were all qualified. You interviewed them. You liked them. But you guys decide on one person. Generally, just like with the city attorney, you have a negotiated contract that comes back before the commission
for approval and you have the formal resolution appointing them because they're a charter officer, much like the city attorney. So, can we do that in a special meeting? You could, but you will have a gap if you terminate Chuck on
Tuesday and is out. So that's why I was wondering, do you want I we could still push for the 20th and then my question is do you um No pressure, Jessica. Yeah. Do you do you want to extend Chuck to
the end of that week or until the 3 um on administrative leave so that you can bring back that contract in that resolution or I mean how do you want to handle? I'm fine with extending the the leave. I mean, if everybody else is, I'm fine with that. I am as well. I think
that's better than rushing. So, I do too. I do. I agree. And just for the benefit of people that aren't uh aware of the reason we need to uh extend that uh administrative leave, does somebody want to take that on? I'll do a a a
brief summary on that. So, basically um there are certain people under the constitution that serve as officers and this doesn't have to do with being elected necessarily. So, for instance, our chief of police is an officer. Our fire chief is an officer. There are
different folks that serve as officers. There's a dual office holding prohibition that says you can't hold two offices in the state of Florida at the same time. And so, if you are an officer um in one and you take the other one, you've given up your office in the first
is how it's interpreted. So, in an in an abundance of caution to try to make sure that um we're doing everything constitutional um and that chief doesn't lose anything with regard to his his uh services as a fire chief um he can't take that city
manager office and when you would appoint an interim or in this case you just appoint a city manager appointing him there would relieve him of the other. Um and there was an attorney general opinion on this that has this isn't just me that has opined that um fire chiefs are um officers as well. So
that's why we're and that's what's really pushing the time frame and and making it so you're having to make decisions quickly. So all right. So So I think it seems like we're all supportive of that. Yes. I I do have while we're all in full agreement with each other.
I'm going to make one more. This has been so nice. We've all agreed. Everybody's see if we can keep it going. I was going to ask uh since uh we we put Chuck on administrative leave originally for two weeks uh at which time we were going to come back two weeks later and
and and settle up on whatever we're going to settle. I was just going to ask if we could uh give uh him the opportunity to resign as opposed to us terminate. That's a her question. So, it's possible under his
contract, absolutely because once the will of the commission is known that they would like him to resign or they're going to terminate him, um he can treat that as a termination, consider it for 14 days under I think it's 14 days under his contract and then resign. So, in
this instance, um given that he was on administrative leave, we could inform him of that that clearly the will of the commission is that he's going to be terminated on Tuesday. Um, but doesn't that jeopardize chief? Or he can or he can continue to serve out the
administrative leave and um or he can resign and he could make his resignation effective uh on the the the two weeks. So it' be on the June 3rd meeting. Is that risk and because I don't have a problem with it. That's what I was
hoping for anyway. However, does that is that risky considering the leave is why chief can serve like he's serving, right? So, I
mean, technically, you put him on admin leave, he could have resigned the next day, right? And you would be in the position, correct? So, I offering that doesn't in and of itself affect this issue. Basically, it's saying, "Will you stay until June 3rd, I believe, is your
next after the 20th is your next meeting." And at that time, your um severance agreement and release would identify that you've resigned as opposed to being terminated. And then we would need to correct the contract uh for the
uh the severance pay. No, if he resigns after you all have basically said you need to resign or we're going to terminate you, um he gets a severance. Okay. And Commissioner Vasquez, that's what I meant when I meant behind closed
doors. Oh, no. No. I again that's what I wanted to happen. That was that was Yeah. Okay. Fine with that. Are we going to agree on that? I think I agree. Go ahead. Okay. So, just so that it's clear, I am going
to ask for a motion just to say that um you have under the contract basically identified that he needs to resign or would be terminated. And I'll I'll bring that forth to him as an option. And we're also going to bring forth the um administrative leave
extension for two more weeks. You want it? Yes. With his employment ending. Remember to do a motion. How you can say so moved. Just a move. Just a question. Not that I care, but if he if we extend
his leave Mhm. then does the does the severance start after that period? Yes, it starts upon the separation of employment. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, anyway, it's been mo motioned and I seconded it. So,
okay. We have a motion and a second. Uh public comment. Public comment. Yeah. Public comment hearing none. Uh will you please call the role? Vice Mayor Vasquez. I. Commissioner Dicki. I. Commissioner Clark. I. Commissioner
Sison. I. Mayor Doctor. I. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Are we now ready for adjournment? We are now. I did have a question. Mr. Mayor, real quick. We're unjust back in. All right. Let's call us back in. Just clarification for staff.
We went to write the um the st the memo for uh the action you took at the special meeting yesterday um where we allowed the uh fee wavers for raising the homes and new new permits. We were just wondering do you
want that to be uh only applying to single family properties or uh commercial as well? And then does that go retroactive all the way back to the date of the storm? We haven't done anything with the commercial. It's all been residential, hasn't it? No, I think your second
resolution had provisions in there with relate relating to commercial on repairs. We weren't here for that. Okay. Um I don't have it in front of me. We had said something about it being uh you had to be a resident at the on September
24th, I think, is what we said. So, yeah, but you're asking single family as opposed to like a duplex, triplex, forlex type thing. So, I mean, we didn't want to guess the bad guy that says first. I think it should be single
family personally because even if it's a duplex, triplex, that's still an income property. So, um that's my opinion is single family is is what makes sense because that's not an income property, right?
Even if they live in one of them, they still have income coming from the other. That's my opinion. I think we all felt that when we were doing it yesterday that it was single family homes and not anything else before we brought the stuff before you. And then uh do we want that
retroactive to September 25th? We made we made the other ones retroactive to September 25th. So the answer would be yes. I say yes. Got it. You thought so, but we just wanted to confirm. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Now we are
ajourned.