Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 01-22-1980 Regular — reading text

t I! 1/ 22/ 80 v ,:;1" covered. I think this is important. It could end up costing the City because anyone can file a law suit, whether they are right or wrong, they can file a law suit against any of the administration or against any of the supervisors. The City may win the law suit and it could end up costing a 1 lot more money than the premium on liability in- surance coverage would cost. This is the reason I think you need coverage. It is not so much what you do wrong, but what someone might think you' re doing wrong, and they could file a law suit. I think we should definitely consider this coverage. It would really save the taxpayers money. If it wouldn' t, then you would not have insurance on City vehicles and City buildings. I think we should definitely consider some type liability insurance, whether it is this policy or not. Mayor said he recently read an article which said this is the age of suing, everybody is suing every- body for everything. It would seem to me, and we' ve got several options, that we could take the million dollar policy for $ 4, 578 annual premium or 10 million dollars for $ 12, 017, but I think some coverage is necessary. Mr. Rigdon asked if this could be held for a couple of weeks? Mayor said he would like to turn it over to the Insurance Committee for a recommendation. Mr. Baughman said I didn' t say that I was opposed to us covering ourselves. If each one of us, as elected officials, feels the need to protect our- self, I think it is great for them to buy that insurance. What I said was I don' t think it is right spend the taxpayers money for us to pro- to tect ourselves against our mistakes. I think it is up to us to conduct ourselves i a way that we don' t need the insurance. Mayor said he agreed with Mr. man but we are not j'ust talking about us, we alking about all the City employees too. I Dr. our Houghton said his point was it mistake. A law suit can come it is not our mistake, but if we w wrong, that is what I' m talking a always thought in the At this point, Mayor referred Liab' lity Insurance coverage to Insurance Committee fo recommendation to Council. Mayor asked for reco endation from City Attorney. 014 1/ 22/ 80 City Attorney said the Council is not nearly as likely to be sued as the administrative and depart- ment heads. For example, you deny a building permit to someone and he should have had the permit, and he loses money on a commitment or whatever; if a law suit is filed, any attorney is going to sue o the City of Fort Walton Beach, the individual and the insurance company. He will generally sue anyone they can get their hands on and someone is going to pay if they prove negligence and basically this is what this policy is. The thing is, we all make mistakes. You all are probably the least likely of everyone to be sued. That is why I am looking down the line, like when the Police Depart- ment took out the false arrest policy, we sat here and defended a number of cases where someone claimed their civil rights were violated and they were improperly arrested. It was real quick the first time it hit there with the premium, I think we would have been foolish not to take it. Within the succeeding years the cost of defending those suits, had we won everyone of them, would have far exceeded the premium. They kept jumping the prem- ium on us too, you will notice because all cities are being sued. The attorneys are smart, we are suing each other now, you know that' s the big thing and it~ just that type of world, consequently if you can get insurance at a reasonable rate I' m the last not to recommend it. Mayor asked Mr. Baughmant.o take City Attorney' s recommendation under advisement of the Insurance Committee. City Clerk said he had been working on this for about four months, ever since Council had been excluded from the pOlice policy. Mayor asked Committee to consult City Attorney and report recommendation back to Council. CCM- ITEE fi'eN VEl'ERANS Mr. Bishop reported, he received a call from AFFAIRS Representative Ken Boles requesting permission to use the auditorium facilities for a meeting of the 11.". . House Committee on Affairs on February Veterans 14, . 1980. Mr. Bishop made a motion to grant this request. Motion was seconded by Mr. Rigdon and carried unanimously. Mr. Rigdon reported appearing before the Board of County Commissioners this morning and gave them the resolution passed by Council on double taxation. They have 90 days to answer this resolution. I waspersonally well pleased with the way it was accepted and felt the Commissioners were a little  c 1/ 22/ 80 1 1 more friendly than in the past. I feel we are going to get some results and I feel the people are tired of paying double taxes. Mayor said the taxpayers in the City do not need to be paying twice for what they are getting, and I thanked Mr. Rigdon for all the work he had done on this project. BEAIJTIFIC'ATIrn Mr. Grant reported, in view of the public hearing cx:: D: E M- T rE: held on the sign ordinance and in order to get started considering an ordinance I would like to put in the form of a motion, to use the Claus ordinance as a model in order to form a new ordi- nance. Dr. Houghton said he would like to use our old code ordinance as an example also and would second the motion. Motion carried. Mr. Grant said a meeting of the Beautification Committee would be announced shortly. My committee will begin a study on requirements to put utilities underground and also as quickly as possible, begin addressing the remaining requirements on the cemetery. aJIJIURAI/CIVIC No report. CEN'lER EE C<: l' Hfi' I ' INDUSTRIAL REDUIT- Mr. Rigdon said OIDC has submitted letters to MENl' EE C<: l' Hfi' I ' certain agencies asking for relief of the traffic in the Industrial Park and hopes to report back on this in the next 30 days. SENA'lOR CHIIDERS Mayor reported, on February 4 at 5: 00 p. m. Senator Childers and the Northwest Florida delegates would hold a hearing for area citizens, either in the auditorium or Council Chambers, depending on the number of people attending. BICYCLE PA'IHS Jeff Ellis from the Fort Walton Beach High School Newspaper stated they ran an article October 26, 1979, about City Council debating the bike path. Ellis gave Council members a copy of the story. 1 Ellis further said, in that article he talked with Bob Fisher, owner of Bob; s Schwinn Cyclery and he stated that bicycle sales have risen 25% and to me that people is a significant difference and means many are riding their bikes within the community. Also a poll was taken on the students at Fort Walton Beach High School on their ideas on the bike path. Ellis introduced two students: representing the Sophomore Class was Peggy OtNeal and Senior Class was Fred Jordan. Jordan said they feel they should  L~ 016 1/ 22/ 80 have some say so and the bike path should be approved. A lot of students feel the Council has not gone as far as they could on the bike path. O' Neal said she