Attorney Bach clarifies impact fee matters

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

December 4, 2014 5:54 p.m.

At the close of the December 2, 2014 Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) meeting, Vice Mayor Sarah Pelican thanked City Attorney Tammi Bach for copying her and others on the email Bach had sent to Commissioner Johnny Miller regarding questions about the impact settlement recently raised by local blogger Dave Scott. (http://www.davescottblog.com). At the request of the FBCC, Pelican read the email below into the record:

From: Tammi Bach <tbach@fbfl.org>

Date:12/01/2014 11:05 AM (GMT-05:00)

Johnny:  thank you for forwarding to me…see my response below which I am also copying all Commissioners on.

First, the $1.8 Million is NOT being paid from TAX DOLLARS.  The settlement and City’s outside attorneys’ fees for the “cadre of out-of-town attorneys and consultant” will be paid from reserve funds in the Water Utilities account which is an enterprise fund not at all funded by property taxes or any other kinds of taxes.  The Utilities Department is funded solely by rate and fee payers who use the system.  The $700,000 refunded last year was due to an error in providing 90 days’ notice of an increase in impact fees in 2009.  Only the increased proportion was refunded not the whole thing.  There was $155,000 in water impact fees refunded, not $735,000.  Most of the refunds in 2013 were sewer impact fee increases which are not at issue in the lawsuit being discussed here.

The settlement documents and amount of settlement ($1.8 Million) were published prior to the City Commission’s public meeting giving the public an opportunity to make comments at the meeting and for Commissioners to discuss it.  Some interested parties and media, including Mr. Dave Scott and Mr. Phil Griffin were present at the November 18^th meeting.  Why did they not make public comments to the City Commission to express their views then?  The reason that the agenda was amended the day before the Commission meeting is because the City was waiting for signatures on documents from Plaintiff and their attorneys before the City Commission could formally consider the settlement at the November 18^th meeting.  In a perfect world, the settlement documents would have gone out on Wednesday, November 12^th or Thursday, November 13^th with other agenda items but that is still just a few days prior to Commission meeting.

City Attorney

There was never a vote taken at any attorney/client meeting behind closed doors indicating that the City Commissioners had voted on a settlement outside of the Sunshine.  The City followed all legal procedures pursuant to Section 286.011(8), Florida Statutes.  The Commissioners considered the settlement issues and amounts in attorney/client meetings which are recorded in transcripts prepared by Bill Hazes Court Reporting.  Those transcripts will be available to the public in the next few months upon the conclusion of the class action (after Court approves settlement and class members are identified).

I have a couple of questions to folks who are sadly misinformed by bloggers and weekend editorialists:

1)      Do you really believe that the City Commission did not settle this case earlier because they wanted to pay more attorneys’ fees or wanted to continue the legal fight for the sake of fighting?; and

2)      What would be the purpose of the City Commission violating the Sunshine Law when every word discussed behind closed doors is taken down verbatim by a Court reporter present in the room the entire time with the City Commission?

The City Commission, City Manager, City Attorney and outside attorneys believe and still believe that the actions taken by the City Commission back in 2003 when the City purchased the FPU water system was a benefit the community and done through a public process of several Commission meetings with consultants presenting evidence that buying the FPU water system was a good thing for the City.  The rates paid by users of the Fernandina Beach water system are lower than any neighboring communities which is a testament to excellent management by the City of the water system and the wise decision to purchase the system.

Editor's Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne's many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.