Bradenton Beach is courting new legal counsel.
City commissioners on Oct. 7 interviewed attorneys Erica Augello and Robert Eschenfelder of Trask Daigneault LLP for the city’s interim attorney position, seeking continuity in legal services while the city prepares a request for proposals for a permanent hire.
The search for new legal counsel follows the Sept. 18 resignation of Ricinda Perry, who had served as the city attorney for more than two decades.
Perry had long represented the city while also performing administrative duties that blurred the line between legal and managerial roles — a dual arrangement that commissioners have said they want to avoid going forward.
Augello, who serves as city attorney in Holmes Beach, told commissioners she is familiar with coastal city coordination and worked with Perry and others on post-hurricane recovery and interlocal agreements. She said the firm’s size would give Bradenton Beach access to specialists in FEMA compliance, building codes and legislative tracking.
A Florida Bar board-certified specialist in city, county and local government law and a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator, Augello’s focus is on municipal representation and litigation, including land-use, employment and civil-rights defense, and code-enforcement appeals.
Eschenfelder has served as assistant city attorney for St. Petersburg; assistant, deputy and chief assistant county attorney for Manatee County; special magistrate for Bradenton Beach and associate general counsel for Florida Gulf Coast University.
Eschenfelder drew a clear boundary between legal and managerial duties.
“As I understand it, your city attorney became the city manager in many ways and billed you attorney time for that,” Eschenfelder said. “We are not going to be your city manager… .It’s a dangerous role for your lawyer to be so involved in running things, because if a lawsuit happens, that lawyer is going to be potentially named as a defendant … and therefore can’t represent you.”
Mayor John Chappie framed the city’s needs around coastal realities and immediate projects.
He pointed to a utility undergrounding project, a pending water and sewer agreement with the county and a state submerged-lands lease as top legal priorities.
Under the city charter, the mayor nominates and the commission approves charter positions. Chappie on Oct. 7 said he will nominate Trask Daigneault LLP, with Augello as primary counsel, for consideration at the commission’s next meeting.
The commission’s next meeting will be at noon, Thursday, Oct. 16, at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.