City Council

City of Marco Island Florida 51 Bald Eagle Drive Marco Island, Florida cityofmarcoisland.com Meeting Minutes - Final Monday, January 5, 2015 3:00 PM Special-Called Meeting / Workshop for Legal Services Community Meeting Room City Council Chairman: Larry Sacher City Council: Joe Batte, Bob Brown, Ken Honecker, Larry Honig, Amadeo R. Petricca, and Victor Rios City Manager: Roger Hernstadt City Clerk: Laura Litzan - City Attorney: Burt Saunders City Council Meeting Minutes - Final January 5, 2015 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call Present: 7- Councilor Batte, Vice-Chair Brown, Councilor Honecker, Councilor Honig, Councilor Petricca, Chairman Sacher and Councilor Rios Absent: 0 Also Present Roger T. Hernstadt, City Manager Laura Litzan, City Clerk Burt L. Saunders, City Attorney Derek Rooney, Attorney Amy Garrard, Attorney Guillermo Polanco, Director of Finance Mike Murphy, Fire Chief Gretchen Baldus, Director of Information Technology Sandra Schildhorn, Administrative Assistant Citizens and Visitors 3. Business Legal Services (Editorial History: At the meeting of November 10, 2014, Council directed staff to request proposals for legal services from the firms of Gray Robinson, Lewis Longman & Walker, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman & Popok. Additionally, at the meeting of December 1, 2014, City Council voted unanimously to: 1) Request the legal firm of Gray Robinson to identify two to three attorneys employed by them with whom City Council may interact, so as to make a determination regarding retaining the present City Attorney from their firm or selecting an alternative attorney from their firm to represent the City of Marco Island, and 2) Reschedule the legal services discussion as a workshop on January 5, 2015 and to invite the attorneys identified by the firm of Gray Robinson to attend the workshop. Council has been provided with a proposal from the present City Attorney with Gray Robinson, as well as proposals from Lewis Longman & Walker, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman & Popok. Representatives from these firms have not been formally invited to attend this meeting.) Chairman Sacher opened the meeting, explaining that Council’s request to invite two to three additional attorneys employed by Gray Robinson to today’s workshop was not accomplished, and so the preparation for this meeting was not what Council expected. City Attorney Burt Saunders explained that attorneys Derek Rooney and Amy Garrard were present and that attorney Michael Randolph could not be present due to court obligations, but would be available by telephone if necessary. Mr. Saunders further explained that he was under the impression that the purpose of today’s meeting was to talk about any existing deficiencies and how they can approach solving them. He added that the proposal provided to Council by Gray Robinson includes a listing of the major attorneys that have been involved with Marco Island matters and whom have expertise in any subject that would need to be addressed by Marco Island’s legal counsel. City of Marco Island Florida Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final January 5, 2015 Councilors were individually given an opportunity to express opinions and to point out specific issues and concerns regarding legal services being provided to the City of Marco Island by the City Attorney. Mr. Saunders addressed some of the concerns identified by Council, and requested a summary of all of the allegations made, acknowledging that he will respond in writing, as requested by Council, in one week addressing all of the issues identified. Following a lengthy discussion a majority of Council voted to invite the legal firms of Gray Robinson, Lewis Longman & Walker, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman & Popok to a City Council meeting to be scheduled by City Clerk Laura Litzan at a time convenient to all parties. City Manager Roger Hernstadt reported that he will work with Council, based on their comments today, to establish criteria to include in the form of a term sheet for the respective invited legal firms to fill out, as a method of comparison and for augmentation of engagement letters/draft proposed contracts. MOTION by Councilor Honecker, seconded by Councilor Rios, to invite the legal firms of Gray Robinson, Lewis Longman & Walker, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman & Popok to a City Council meeting to be scheduled by City Clerk Laura Litzan at a time convenient to all parties. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE: Yes: 6- Councilor Batte, Vice-Chair Brown, Councilor Honecker, Councilor Petricca, Chairman Sacher and Councilor Rios No: 1- Councilor Honig 4. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m. ___________________________________ Larry Sacher, Council Chairman ATTEST: ___________________________________ Laura Litzan, City Clerk PREPARED BY: __________________________________ Sandra Schildhorn, Secretary City of Marco Island Florida Page 2