BY MELISSA PYLE
Special to the Telegraph
There was high public turnout at the city of Lawtey’s June council meeting following reporting on an inquisitive letter from the Florida Legislature’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee letter sent to city leaders.
The committee addressed potential violations related to budget transparency, public records requests, and financial and other reporting.
Discussion of the city’s response to the letter was absent on the agenda but was added at the request of Councilwoman Emily Hoffman.
City Clerk Lisa Harley had previously responded to the committee’s letter, clarifying some matters and acknowledging shortcomings the city needs to address.
City attorney Dan Sikes said — as the letter had pointed out — that the council could request an operational audit and suggested the city research the cost. Councilwoman Debra Norman said.
this was a good idea and would help the city to “repair its reputation.” Council members decided to move forward with a vote to allow the audit even before establishing cost because of the seriousness of the committee’s letter.
Hoffman, attorney address council
Public comments included a lengthy address by Attorney Bobi Frank, serving as legal counsel for Councilwoman Hoffman, who is awaiting fulfillment of large public records request.
“I don’t want to come to the city of Lawtey, I assure you, but I feel forced to, to represent Councilwoman Hoffman,” she said,
Frank directed some of her statements specifically to Sikes and his previous statements at the May council meeting regarding the cost of Hoffman’s public records request. Sikes told council members that the city could be liable for the cost associated with the request.
“Actually, when people do public records requests, it saves the taxpayers money because Ms. Hoffman’s public records request is being paid for in full by her,” she said. “The taxpayers, the people that vote and put a lot of you public officials in office understand what the statute provides.”
She went on to say these requests should be encouraged.
Sikes later responded to Frank by saying when he told the city it could be expensive to fill a records request he was talking about “failure to properly comply is very expensive.”
Frank called the council to task regarding their lack of a special meeting to address the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee letter. She read portions of the city’s response letter to the state. In the response, the city stated they post agendas the Monday prior to the meeting, but as of the week prior, her client had not received the agenda, nor were other materials available at the time of the meeting.
Hoffman also addressed the council regarding the lack of an emergency meeting to discuss the letter and the city’s response. Her second concern was her perceived conflict of interest with Sikes serving as the city’s attorney. Hoffman said that she had to abstain from the vote to hire Sikes as city attorney because he had represented Harley, Chief Jerry Feltner and Capt. Nathan Blom in a complaint against her.
Hoffman said the council “never voted to solicit” other attorneys for the job. She said has hired counsel to represent her for these reasons. Hoffman then made a motion to terminate Sikes as the city attorney. The motion died due to lack of a second.
Hoffman continued, saying she had finally received her public records request from the warden at Lawtey Correctional Institution. Hoffman said the records revealed that the city maintenance man had “wrote a fraudulent report on me.” She told her version of events of the day she took pictures of trash falling on her car from a trailer, that unbeknownst to Hoffman was the city’s trailer. This was the incident used to file a complaint against her.
Hoffman alleged that the maintenance man lied on his report so he could blame her for the loss of inmates, possibly to cover up his own mistakes causing a temporary loss of inmate workers.
In response to these revelations, Hoffman made a motion to fire the current maintenance man. Councilwoman Amy Blom recused herself from voting due to a family connection. Hoffman used her recusal to bring attention to what she called obvious nepotism within city departments.
Just as her previous motion to fire Sikes, this motion also died due to a lack of a second from another council member.
Brandon Road still unresolved
Sikes reported his findings to the council on Brandon Road and the city’s options on handling road repairs and garbage service. Sikes warned council that the biggest issue in making the road a city property is the cost incurred. If the city takes over the road, it will be liable for road improvements and maintenance.
Currently, residents are very concerned over access to emergency services. The conditions of the road make it nearly impossible for an emergency vehicle to quickly respond to a call. One resident stood up and stated she was concerned that if she needed help, she would die before the medics could arrive.
The long, detailed discussion concluded with council members voting to hold a workshop to discuss cost and informing Brandon Road residents of the city’s intentions and property owner’s legal rights.
Hero recognition
Chief Feltner recognized Sgt. Robert Jordan for saving the life of a choking child on April 29. Feltner said Jordan arrived at the home before emergency rescue and was able to administer lifesaving techniques that allowed the child to start breathing again.
Feltner said Jordan will be receiving an award.
“We want to thank Sgt. Jordan for that and for his quick responses to the city and to the county based on our MOU that we have with the county sheriff’s department,” Feltner said.
Everyone at the meeting gave a hearty applause for Jordan, who was in attendance.
In other business:
— a fire department MOU was still not approved due to two council members awaiting financial information from the county.
—in response to citizen concerns over the city clerk being bonded, Sikes said there is no law in Florida that requires the clerk to be bonded, but if it is in the city’s charter, she can and will be bonded.
—impact fees were suggested by a member of the public. Council members said they will refer to what the county decides.
—Bradford County Fire Rescue Chief Ben Carter discussed fire assessment fees under county consideration.
—council approved $2.700 for the cost of fence supplies to repair areas around the recreation building and park.
—John Mercier presented the council with a certificate of completion for the recreation center from the county and explained the max capacity for the building.
—the traffic camera program sent over 900 violations in May.
