After more than 20 years as a chartered officer of the city, Anna Maria fired Jim Dye less than two minutes into the Jan. 8 meeting, the first of the new year.
The decision to remove Dye was presented by Mayor Dan Murphy. Commissioners gave their approval in a unanimous vote.
Previously, Commission Chair Chuck Webb claimed a conflict for Dye in providing legal advice on regulating vacation rentals. Dye disclosed that he owns a vacation rental, one of the late Warren Spahn’s cottages.
Dye responded to the possible conflict by consulting the Florida Commission on Ethics and obtaining a favorable opinion on the matter.
But commissioners voted Dec. 18 to decline Dye’s legal advice on the issue.
But, said Murphy, the vacation rental question is the most important issue facing the city and he could not operate without an attorney’s advice on the matter.
Dye said no conflict exists because his cottage was built around 1959 and commissioners have proposed vacation rentals built before 1966 would be exempt from any proposed rental regulations.
However, Webb said Dec. 18 that he believed Dye had a conflict and commissioners voted 3-2 at that meeting to decline Dye’s legal advice on vacation rental matters.
“I need a functioning city attorney and we don’t have one,” Murphy said Dec. 18.
The mayor said he didn’t want to remove Dye and his firm, Dye Dietrich Petruff and of Bradenton, from the city attorney post, but he needs legal advice on the vacation rental issue.
Murphy’s solution, which he said was difficult to make, was to dismiss Dye as city attorney and hire an interim attorney until a permanent city attorney can be named.
Commissioners unanimously voted to accept Murphy’s recommendation.
After the vote, Dye left the meeting, saying it’s “been a fast 20-something years.”
Murphy said after the meeting he was “starting from scratch” to find a replacement for Dye. The next day, Murphy circulated a memo calling for a special commission meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, to consider retaining Ricinda Perry, Bradenton Beach’s city attorney, as interim city attorney for Anna Maria.
Murphy later said he wanted to thank Dye for his years of service to the city.
In other business Jan. 8
Lacking an attorney for advice, commissioners moved quickly through their Jan. 8 agenda.
They tabled discussion of a proposed vacation rental ordinance, but voted unanimously to hire attorney Sue Trarvarthen of Fort Lauderdale to provide an opinion on whether a 1996 ordinance prohibits vacation rentals in the residential zone.
In a Jan. 6 memo to the city, Trarvarthen said she would charge $6,000 to prepare an opinion. Any further work, including appearances at a commission meeting, would be billed at $275 an hour. Trarvarthen said she would have her opinion completed and delivered to the commission in three weeks.
In other business, commissioners unanimously accepted Murphy’s appointments of Maureen McCormick to the planning and zoning board and Kathleen Grandstad to the environmental education and enhancement committee.