Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 04-28-09 regular — reading text

I put in her that I thought was a client -attorney relationship. Going back to a regular Council meeting we had minutes and her submittal of a contract she point out several things and I' d just like to give you a background, said first all your attorney' s are retained at the convenience of the Council and work as independent contractors. Third, I am available at any time to discuss concerns you may have with my performance and I believe that your immediate feedback is the most effective evaluation for my work efforts. Well this is the time for immediate feedback. There has been some things in the newspTer about a former Director that came out, it came out last week and he has since retired, but on the 14 I was given some information by him concerning one of our former City Councilman, and he identified himself today. And once I looked at it I felt like it was confidential, I felt like it was sensitive, and it appeared to be incomplete. Now to preface this, I did have permission of the City Manager to talk to Mr. Frazier. And so I slept on it but I felt like I had to share that. And I shared it with the City Manager and I called up the City Attorney and told her that we' d probably need to have a meeting with her to ask her legal opinion on what to do with this but I wasn' t quite confident that I had all the information because it was dated like 2 -2 -09 and so I had asked Mr. Frazier to provide me the complete club card information of Mr. Minch, which I felt like I, I didn' t know if I had all the complete information or not. Once I looked at it there was some double entry on vouchers, which I didn' t know if it was an error or if it meant if two people played on the same ticket, it was not clear. I also mentioned to Mr. Meams that I had asked Mr. Frazier for information and he said fine. Well, and I told that to the City Attorney and I told her, I said this is a sensitive matter and this is confidential. And then she asked me, does this concern Mr. Frazier' s letter and that was the first time I had heard about Mr. Frazier' s letter but since I was on -line I pulled it up and looked at it and I said, no it don' t concern Mr. Frazier' s letter it concerns Mr. Minich' s golf club account. And he was mentioned in the first paragraph of the letter. But I entered the conversation telling her that I wanted to get more detail information before I came and talked to her, I wasn' t ready to come and talk to her I wanted to set up an appointment. Well unbeknownst to me afterwards she called up Mr. Minch and discussed it with him and gave him my name that, of my conversation I had with her that I felt was in confidence. But it wasn' t, she decided to reveal my name to a former City Councilmember. Now when we approved her contract with us last time there was a question asked quite specific by Mr. Pullen. He said, let' s say I call you and disagreed with what you are doing, are you going to share that with the rest of the Council? City Attorney, it is not my, no sir, I do not do that, I don' t do that with you now or I will try my best not to because again you violated a sunshine law in the conversation that you are having because it would come down before you for a decision. And then she expanded on it by saying, so if one of you were to call me and ask for my advice or ask for a performance review or disagree with my opinion, I do not tell that to other Council members. So what am I to expect, what are you to expect when we talk with the City Attorney? Do we want to expect full confidentiality? Have a client- attorney privilege and be assured that she doesn' t share this with whoever she pleases to? This is something that you need to know and I need to know. Now we can set up a workshop and discuss this but somehow we need to know what expectations are of our City Attorney and just have her to decide on her own what she can share or not share is not the way to do it. The way I look at it she recognizes she works at the convenience of the City Council and in a way we are her employers. And to share with somebody not even on the Council something that was given to her in confidence and said confidentially and sensitive because it affected somebody' s personal account is, I think was wrong. And I told her that, she knows I was going to bring this up and I felt that she had a right to know. So if we want to discuss this further, OK. But you may be the next one who talks to her in confidence and you can' t leave the room or leave the telephone without knowing how far it will go.  Page 2 of 3 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 4 -28 -09 Mike Minich — Mr. Mayor, this is exactly what I was talking about earlier, may I speak? Mayor —because you were brought up in the conversation? Yes sir. Mike Minich, 106 Waynel Circle — I' ve heard several things here wrong. Number one, I' ve heard a City Councilman going directly to a Director which is against the City Charter. I' ve heard that he has given that Director directives, told him he wanted more information without the knowledge of the City Manager directly against the City Charter. I don' t think this is appropriate to bring up in City Councilman Comments to begin with. I think this should be put on the agenda, it should be given time to be studied by other Council members and I think this is typical backdoor type of performance that shouldn' t be allowed by the Mayor. I brought this forward. I asked if there were any questions. My name was brought up once again. I hear things worse like confidential, except I don' t hear confidential right now, I hear names. Now, as to what Mr. Frazier told Councilman Miller is not confidential. Every conversation a City Councilman has with anyone other than legal business is not confidential. It' s public information if asked for. I' ve heard Mr. Miller state that he had all permission from the City Manager. I have not heard Mr. Mearns say that, not now, not in any conversation I' ve had with him. I think what Mr. Miller is trying to do is cover his own self because what he did was in violation of the City Charter. Now, I' ll talk about a conversation I had with Ms. Craig. She called me and asked me if there was something wrong with my account at the golf course. I said that I had paid for all of those rounds. I asked her who, if it wasn' t confidential business, asked her that. She said it wasn' t a confidential conversation, it was Mr. Miller. It was not privileged. I think it' s wrong to bring it out here. If you want to bring something out because you got some sort of personal vendetta then put it on the agenda and bring it up. But if you want to point the finger at somebody doing wrong, point it at yourself because you went to a Department Head and you directed him to do something without knowledge of the City Manager. And that is a violation of City Charter. Now, I explained to Ms. Craig that I had paid for those rounds and that' s the end of the conversation. Do you have any questions? Virgil Miller —may I address him? Mayor -- no, I just think, I agree with Mr. Minich that what has been brought up now has gone too far, it' s not appropriate for Councilmen comments. It' s something you should put on the agenda. Virgil Miller —well put it on the agenda. Mayor —OK then I think we should end right now. Virgil Miller —he made some false statements. Mayor —well then put it on the agenda we' ll get it out of the way then. Virgil Miller —can we have Mr. Mearns address, because he' s been addressed twice. Mayor —I just, I would just assume, just drop the whole subject unless you have a quick answer, Mr. Mearns. Acting City Manager — I did not document the conversation I had with Councilman Miller, or any other Council member, regarding a request to talk to Directors. I ordinarily say yes if that' s what you want to do or you have a need to discuss it with a Director, have at it, fine.  Page 3 of 3 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 4 -28 -09 Mayor —OK Acting City Manager —that' s my general policy. I don' t remember. If Councilman Miller says so then I would have to agree that he' s probably more than likely correct. Mike Minich —but directing a Department Director to give additional information without the City Manager' s approval is violation of City Charter. Mayor —OK, alright Mr. Miller wants to continue it at another time then he may so do so. Virgil Miller —let' s put it on the agenda then. 12th? Acting City Manager —ok, May 12th Virgil Miler —May Mike Holmes — I think this is something that Mr. Miller and the City Manager need to sit down. I It' s nothing for us to get involved in. It' s don' t know why this is even being brought in front of us. not a policy and that' s where we' re supposed to stop. There' s no reason for this to be on an agenda. Mayor — and that' s why, before Mr. Minich, I was going to mention that if you' re getting into the appraisal factors and evaluation of the City Attorney, that needs to be an agenda item. It is very inappropriate the way you went about it appraising her in front of this without a formal agenda item. So, do you have anything else sir? Virgil Miller —yes Mayor —OK Virgil Miller —Mr. Frazier, I had never had a confidential conversation with Mr. Frazier. I told Mr. Minch Mayor —about something else sir Virgil Miller —I had a confidential conversation with the City Attorney and he asked me why did I go to him directly and I told him that this information was given to me and I wanted to keep it under wraps because I didn' t know if it was true or not so I went to her for legal advice. Mayor —OK, alright, when you bring it up as an agenda item we' ll continue it sir. I think we have to stop it now because we' re going to get into a very lengthy discussion, possible arguments, counterpoints and all this kind of stuff. So I think we need to stop it. Do you have another topic to talk about at this time? Virgil Miller —I think that' s sufficient.