ATTORNEY/CLIENT SESSION CITY OF LAKE WORTH -Part VI- NOVEMBER 14, 2012

ATTORNEY/CLIENT SESSION

CITY OF LAKE WORTH

CITY OF LAKE WORTH

CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE

7 NORTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

LAKE WORTH, FLORIDA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012

4:52 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.

IN ATTENDANCE: 

Pam Triolo, Mayor

Scott Maxwell, Vice Mayor

Christopher McVoy, Commissioner

Andy Amoroso, Commissioner

Michael Bornstein, City Manager

Glen Torciva, Esquire, Interim City Attorney

Brian Joslyn, Esquire, Outside Counsel

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[People mentioned, other than listed "In Attendance", in order of mention: Ms. Anderson, Greater Bay, Jack, Lucerne.]

MR. BORNSTEIN: Look, I parked the car yesterday and Ms. Anderson came up to me and said don't give Greater Bay a penny. So there are people in this community who feel very strongly about this matter.

VICE MAYOR MAXWELL: How would anybody deduce from a notice that says closed door attorney-client session for the purpose of discussing the pending litigation, how would they deduce there's a settlement pending, that we were going to talk about a settlement? My point is that information had been sent and circulated and I as specifically told I don't want you to settle. Okay?

MR. JOSLYN: Are those people going to pay by way of special assessment if we get hit?

VICE MAYOR MAXWELL: I don't know. I don't know. But for everybody's edification in 25 minutes I don't know what type of a turnout we're going to get for this meeting. I would hope that we're not going to be faced with that. I would hope that of the folks who come and participate tonight would be appreciative of the fact that there has been a risk analysis done and that we're able to kind of put this all together.

MAYOR TRIOLO: Well, Vice Mayor, we have no control over what the public is going to think. We have to be concerned with what the facts are and what has happened and transpired up to this point and what we're going to do about because that's the facts Jack.

MR. JOSLYN: Until two weeks ago they weren't willing to talk about less than three and up to nine months ago where we had the first mediation they weren't willing to talk about less than ten. So the investment the City makes in attorney's fees has resulted I think in them being willing to come down and a mediator leaned on them like he leaned on us.

MAYOR TRIOLO: The difference is when we walked into that room it was at seven and we were trying to stay at like 750 and then we ended up where we ended up.

COMMISSIONER MCVOY: I'm just looking for clarification on two points. One in what we can talk about can we talk numbers? Presumably not I would think or we don't want to talk numbers.

MR. JOSLYN: Yes, you just can't talk about specific things that were said at mediation. They sued for 30 million. Their initial settlement demand was 10 that they didn't come off at mediation. We were told by the attorney later that their bottom line absolutely was 3 and we have a potential deal here 1.6.

COMMISSIONER MCVOY: And that was my second just for clarification so I understand is 1.6 their number that we can agree to or is that our number that we hope they will agree to?

MR. JOSLYN: No, no, no. They signed a settlement agreement subsequent to City Commission approval.

MAYOR TRIOLO: They wanted 2.5 million. That was the last offer they made. They wanted 2.5 million and they came back.

MR. JOSLYN: Actually, I'm sorry, because I have to give props to your City Manager here. It was his idea -- we were at the 2 to 2.2 million over a number of years and it was your City Manager who suggested you give them a one time payment of less than that to get them out the door, but a number that would be so enticing that it would be real hard for them to walk away. 

COMMISSIONER AMOROSO: And where is that going to come from?

MR. TORCIVIA: It's a budget ordinance that's part of tonight if you agree to go forward it will come out of the insurance fund which is part of our hurricane money. There's about 5 million in there for that and there's about another 3, 4 million that we keep in that reserve to pay out for worker's comp claims and things like that. So there is money, but it's a working fund. I told them basically I was going to have to take quarters out of the couches. I think I also said something about doing some other nefarious activities. 

     And my fear and before we get in there is if indeed there are a lot of people and this becomes sort of a circus as sometimes things happen in Lake Worth, how much explaining are you capable of doing because if there's not enough information out there about why you're agreeing to settle to 1.6 million you're just going to get hammered and I think you're going to get more desperate to have that information come out. What's that point, Brian, that you explain beyond the risk assessment?

MR. BORNSTEIN: I think it's almost similar to what happened in here. I think we do the risk assessment, Brian gives the context, some of the background, the scaries, the jury, mock juries. I would suggest that we don't engage in an interactive process with the public and when they're finished if the Commissioners want to ask Brian or I questions based on that. 

MAYOR TRIOLO: Is this a special meeting? It's a special meeting.

MR. BORNSTEIN: It's a special meeting.

MAYOR TRIOLO: I'm sorry, Commissioner McVoy.

COMMISSIONER MCVOY: And I have not contacted anybody. I'm not trying to generate people coming to the meeting, maybe I should have, I don't know, but I have not. I have no idea who is going to show up. I don't think if I had to guess just because I haven't heard anything, I don't think there will be people showing up saying you have to pursue this and go to the mat because we personally were involved. I don't think that's very likely but, and that's just a guess that's based on very little information or none, but that's a guess, but I would make a suggestion that in -- if you do or if either you do or we as Commissioners get into laying out the history and we start saying Commissioner this did that and this Commissioner did that, my own advice even though I philosophically sit more to those views, I wouldn't go there because I think you'll just irritate the hell out of people and won't gain anything out of it.

MAYOR TRIOLO: I personally don't think it's the job of the Commission to do any such thing anyway. I think that it's the job of the attorney to talk about the situation because we couldn't talk about -- I personally heard the conversation in the mediation but I can't talk about the mediation. So therefore my opinions on it are one thing; however, the situation in regards to the legal case is up to Mr. Joslyn to do it. 

COMMISSIONER MCVOY: And I would just stick to that and the risk analysis.

MAYOR TRIOLO:  I can't mention what was said and how many times their names were mentioned and what they said about --

VICE MAYOR MAXWELL: I just did some quick math and you used the word irritation. Let me tell you who is going to be irritated. The people of this City are going to be irritated when they find out that we got into this mess in the first place on the backs of somebody being elected to be a third vote for a majority that has done in many cases irreparable harm to this City, financial harm, and the cost of that building in the end is going to be somewhere between 11 and $12 million factoring in the lies that went along with the infrastructure, factoring in the cost for the legal, factoring in the settlement, factoring in the years of human resources that were expended by staff. That's what's going to irritate people. Okay? And as far as I'm concerned we need a complete and thorough vetting and transparent discussion about how we got here and who those players were. And I hope that through our discussions tonight some of that will come up. I don't want to leave anything unanswered when we leave that meeting tonight.

MR. JOSLYN: If I don't cover it, ask me the question and I'll answer it to the best of my ability.

COMMISSIONER AMOROSO: Because as confused as I was coming in as new, so will the citizens that have not sat in the meetings.

VICE MAYOR MAXWELL: You mentioned something earlier and you kind of mentioned it and none of us picked up on it and I'm going to throw it out there. And it kind of got spoken to by one of our Commissioners who got sworn it. It was the issue of telling truths. You mentioned that there were flagrant lies put out in the public about what was going to happen with that beach. It's the same type of rhetoric and lies that go on about every issue in this town and we have got to stop this nonsense.

MR. JOSLYN: Every issue that I've been involved with.

VICE MAYOR MAXWELL: Every single one of the issues you mentioned, the Save Our Neighborhood, the Lucerne, every single one of those and there was the same core group of people involved each and every time each and every step of the way.

MAYOR TRIOLO: And I agree with you, Vice Mayor, and in fact I didn't say anything when you mentioned earlier, Commissioner McVoy, when you said about it the truth needs to be known and we have to look back and see how we got into these situations but we have to look at that as a learning lesson as well. We can't keep doing this and we can't distort the truths and we can't do whatever. We all have to be on the same page and present all the facts whether they're good, bad or indifferent or whatever people are. I know you said we can't make the same mistakes again, but we also can't make these same mistakes again because we can't afford to make these mistakes again. 

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