It’s hard to gamble on a shown hand.
A settlement between the city of Bradenton Beach and Paradise Boat Tours owner Sherman Baldwin for the lawsuit filed by Bradenton Beach Marina owners Mike and Allan Bazzy fell through before it even began May 31 after emails of the potential deal were disclosed to the press and published in the June 1 issue of The Islander.
A question remains: Who released the information?
Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon said Commissioner Jake Spooner released the emails.
Spooner denies releasing them.
Either way, the deal is done.
Baldwin has been trying on his own to negotiate a settlement with the Bazzys.
The Bazzys allege in a November 2015 lawsuit that the city negotiated with restaurateur John Horne outside of the Sunshine Law for the pier restaurant and two upland buildings at the city’s Historic Bridge Street Pier.
Horne was awarded the restaurant lease in September 2015, which also included the accessory buildings and the right to sublease them.
Baldwin operates Paradise Boat Tours from one of the buildings.
A retail store occupies the second storefront.
On May 24, Baldwin telephoned Shearon about his communications with the Bazzys. Baldwin said May 31 he spoke with Shearon and asked the mayor if he would like to have the emails between himself and Mike Bazzy forwarded to his email and the city clerk.
Baldwin told The Islander Shearon retrieved printed copies of the emails in person from the Paradise Boat Tours office.
Shearon said June 1 he wanted copies of the settlement in person because of client-lawyer privilege. After seeing the emails pertained to the ongoing lawsuit, Shearon wanted Fred Moore, the city’s attorney on the matter, to review them before they were filed with the city clerk.
Baldwin says he also contacted Spooner and furnished him a copy of the emails between himself and Bazzy.
Spooner said he printed a copy of the emails May 25 and delivered them to city hall.
“I got my copies, took a look at them and then sealed them in an envelope so they could be filed,” Spooner said May 31.
Spooner said he hand-delivered the envelope to city treasurer Shayne Thompson to be time-stamped and put into the record.
Under Florida’s Sunshine Law, records concerning ongoing litigation do not need to be released to the public until a decision is made or a settlement is reached on the lawsuit.
Thompson confirmed that after he put a time stamp on the envelope, he slid it under city clerk Terri Sanclemente’s door.
Sanclemente was away from the office, attending the International Institute of Municipal Clerks conference in Nebraska. She was absent from city hall May 23-27.
Sanclemente said when she returned to the office May 31, she found Spooner’s sealed envelope.
“It was stamped 12:40 p.m., May 25, 2016,” Sanclemente said.
Spooner said he would never publically release information regarding an ongoing lawsuit.
Meanwhile, a public records request for the emails Shearon and Spooner received came into city hall.
Thompson said he received the record request May 27 and spoke to Shearon, who told him to scan the May 24 copies and fulfill the request.
“He’s the boss,” Thompson said.
“This is just frustrating and disappointing. Now a settlement will never be reached,” Shearon said, adding that he couldn’t recall when he gave his email copies to Thompson.
The city is currently trying to schedule a shade meeting before June 23. It was previously set for July 11, but Commissioner Jan Vosburgh was not able to attend.
Shade meetings allow city officials to meet with their attorney to discuss litigation strategies. A court reporter is present to transcribe the meeting, but the transcription isn’t made public until the litigation is resolved.
Twelfth Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith Jr. is scheduled to hold a hearing on the lawsuit at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.