Anna Maria commissioners unanimously voted Jan. 13 to approve Mayor Dan Murphy’s selection of Bradenton Beach city attorney Ricinda Perry as interim attorney to deal with the pre-lawsuit Bert Harris claims facing the municipality.
While the decision was unanimous, Commissioner Nancy Yetter inquired about possible conflicts and resident Richard McCormick spoke against Perry’s appointment. He offered two attorney names for consideration and suggested Perry has a conflict of interest.
Perry acknowledged her husband is a partner in the law firm of Lewis Longman and Walker PA of Bradenton. Scott Rudacille of that firm was hired by Anna Maria Island Vacation Property Owners to deal with any vacation rental ordinance Anna Maria proposes.
She said that would not be a conflict of interest because she is only working on Bert Harris claims and she and her husband do not discuss legal matters at home, where she also works.
Murphy agreed Perry would not be working on vacation rental issues.
Commission Chair Chuck Webb said he was confident Perry would alert commissioners if any possible conflict of interest arose.
Ironically, it was a potential conflict of interest on the rental issue that resulted in Murphy dismissing Jim Dye as city attorney.
Dye’s family owns a vacation home built in the late 1950s.
Webb and other commissioners want an ordinance regulating vacation rentals, although it will not address rentals in use before 1996, except to require an annual license.
The mayor said his reason for dismissing Dye was because he needed a full-time attorney for the vacation rental issue.
Dye said he contacted the Florida Commission on Ethics and was told he had no conflict of interest, but commissioners disagreed and voted Jan. 8 to remove Dye from advising on the issue.
Murphy got the files from Dye and asked Perry to review them before the commission’s Jan. 13 meeting and before her appointment.
Murphy said he would immediately begin a search for a permanent city attorney. He said he was looking for an attorney experienced with vacation rental issues. He set a deadline to apply of Feb. 16.
After the deadline, the mayor and a review committee will make a short list of applicants and present those to commissioners Feb. 22. The final selection should be completed by the end of February, the mayor said.
Perry said she is undecided on submitting a proposal to be the city’s permanent attorney. She has been the Bradenton Beach city attorney for almost 10 years and said that city takes a great deal of her time.