All entries tagged with “Citizens for Sunshine”

City of Sarasota Reverses Course, Will Cover Chapman's Sunshine Defense

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Monday Jan 5, 2015 8:46 pm

Sarasota City Commissioners voted 3-1 tonight in favor of covering all of City Commissioner Susan Chapman's legal fees in defense of a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Sunshine. The commission previously voted to cap city coverage of fees, but two commissioners appointed in November took a different position than predecessors on the issue.

City Commissioner Stan Zimmerman, one of the newly appointed commissioners, raised the issue. "There is no stronger supporter of Florida's public records and government-in-the-sunshine laws than me," Zimmerman said. "But the only way to stop this is to defend [Chapman's] right to be a good public servant."

Chapman and Commissioner Suzanne Atwell in 2013 attended a merchant meeting about the handling of homeless issues downtown. Florida's Sunshine Law does not allow commissioners to discuss city issues outside of publicly advertised meetings, and Citizens For Sunshine filed suit against Atwell, Chapman and the city saying the meeting was not properly noticed and commissioners violated the law by attending. The city settled on the notice allegation and Atwell settled early without admitting any violation of law.

Atwell tonight provided the lone vote against covering all of Chapman's legal fees. "The merits of the case are not lost on me," she said. "But this is trying to slay the dragon. You can't slay the dragon on the backs of taxpayers."

The commission last year voted 3-1 to cap fees on Chapman's case, and the city has covered $85,000 amount used up in the first 10 months of the case. At the time, then-commissioners Paul Caragiulo and Shannon Snyder were opposed to covering more fees and Commissioner Willie Shaw was the only commissioner in favor of covering the fees. Chapman has not voted in any commission decisions on the fees for her own case.

But Snyder and Caragiulo are no longer on the commission; both resigned to run for a county commission seat, which Caragiulo won in November. Zimmerman and Commissioner Eileen Normile were appointed in November to replace Snyder and Caragiulo respectively. Chapman and Atwell were the votes in favor of appointing the new commissioners. Normile, Zimmerman and Shaw tonight vote in favor of covering all legal fees in the case.

Tags