Potential Drastic Action this Friday to Change Your City on the Sly

–Dick Winger, former City Councilman

In a five minute meeting Monday, City Council narrowed the lists of City Attorney candidates to 5.

One candidate is a firm, not a person, meaning the City would lose its Charter Attorney and the mass of legal work would be done by an outside firm.

There are several things wrong with this if the “possibility make a decision”in the Agenda below is invoked Friday.

  • A major change in City Structure would occur and the public would have no advance notice or opportunity to comment to Council.

  • In my opinion, the Charter Requires a Charter Officer. The Charter can be changed by a referendum, but not by a vote of City Council.

  • To select a firm, the City must go through a legal bidding and selection process of all interested and qualified firms. Selecting from a list of one, without public notification, through a process to select an individual person does not work.

  • Recently, the Chair of the Finance Commission made a Presentation on the low cost of the City Attorney’s Office. The sum was approximately $100 an hour for the huge mass of work handled.

No firm can do this, no matter what they promise upfront.

  • Since 2011, The City Attorney’s Office has won 100% of all major cases that have been adjudicated.

We could get sold down the road Friday.  Nobody would know that our Charter Officer Attorney is gone without a referendum.  The costs and consequences could be draconian.

Can you attend Friday to see City Council sticks to choosing a living, breathing person?

 

SPECIAL CALL CITY COUNCIL MEETING FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2019, 1:00 P.M. CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS, VERO BEACH, FLORIDA

A G E N D A

  1. CALL TO ORDER
  2. A) Roll Call
  3. PRELIMINARY MATTERS
  4. A) City Council to interview the applicants for the City Attorney’s position and possibility make a decision
  5. PUBLIC COMMENT
  6. ADJOURNMENT