Vice Mayor Jack Clarke said, “I call this ‘theater on the dais”
It’s still early in the process, but some parties are optimistic about settling four lawsuits in Bradenton Beach.
The city commissioners were mostly receptive to what they heard March 5 when a lawyer for the city outlined steps he took to begin the process to end four lawsuits involving the city.
Few details were discussed. That’s the next step. Attorney Chuck Johnson of the Bradenton-based Blalock Walters law firm agreed to give commissioners “deal points” related to resolution of the lawsuits before March 7.
Next up, commissioners were to give city attorney Ricinda Perry their deal points for discussion at 9 a.m. Friday, March 13.
“Hopefully we can come to a good starting point for him to draft a settlement proposal,” Perry said of Johnson.
The lawsuits, which Mayor Bill Shearon said “are all, to some degree, related,” include:
• Jo Ann Meilner and Tjet Martin suing the city in 2012 over a joint development agreement between the city and ELRA Inc., the corporate entity of Ed Chiles’ Beachhouse Restaurant, for development of a parking lot across Gulf Drive from city hall, including a city-owned beach access and the adjacent beachfront owned by Chiles.
• ELRA suing the city in 2014, claiming Shearon acted like a strong mayor in a city generally considered to have a weak-mayor form of government. Shearon was elected to a two-year term in November 2013.
• Martin suing in 2014 over the failure of the city to comply with a public records request.
• Shearon suing the city to prevent commissioners from suspending him during the forfeiture process they brought against him.
Vice Mayor Jack Clarke, who initiated the forfeiture proceedings, appeared angered by the proposal, but agreed to postpone the planned March 10 workshop regarding forfeiture, “in the spirit of cooperation.”
He said the agenda topic required “more than a catchy title and a targeted media blitz … to receive serious consideration from me,” adding, “I call this ‘theater on the dais.’”
Shearon said the global settlement is “his concept.” He said it would require every party “to have some skin in the game and that there were no real, true winners.”
Shearon took his concept to Johnson, who now has represented the city to some degree in all four lawsuits.
Johnson told commissioners he has spoken to the mayor, Perry, private attorneys Ralf Brookes and Robert Lincoln, and Lynn Burnett, the contracted engineer for the city.
Johnson described the attitudes of the parties outside city hall as “cautiously optimistic” toward the notion of concluding the lawsuits. “Nobody loves the concept,” he said. “This is one that involves a meaningful compromise from all of the parties involved.”
Meilner said she wants to see the city return to normal.
All four lawsuits would be dismissed with prejudice, meaning no party could refile unless new facts or circumstances occur. Each party would pay its own legal fees and costs.
Regarding the Martin-Meilner parking lot lawsuit, Johnson said, “You’ve got the opportunity to put something that is more than two years old out of your misery.” The restaurant would retain its parking lot, while the city’s property would remain a beach access and park, with no parking allowed.
Shearon stressed that a settlement must be reached quickly because the Florida Department of Environmental Protection permit for the ongoing parking lot project expires April 15.
A judge determined recently at an injunction hearing that whatever work is done to convert the beach access into a parking lot could be reversed. As part of the settlement, Perry said, the city may have to tell Burnett “to rip those improvements out.”
Regarding the Martin public records lawsuit, a modest number of the documents requested would be produced.
Johnson said, according to Brookes, ending the mayor’s forfeiture lawsuit “would involve the rescission of the current resolution” related to the mayor’s forfeiture of office.