HomeMy Public PortalAboutPRR 16-2361Renee Basel
From: Chris O'Hare<chrisoharegulfstream@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2016 8:34 PM
To: Bill Thrasher, Rita Taylor, Renee Basel
Subject: Follow up Public Record Request to GS #2233 (Thrasher statement - no additional
assessments)
Attachments: GS #2233 (Thrasher statement - no additional assessments)_prod.pdf
Dear Custodian of Records,
I have not yet received a response from you to my email of June 15, 2016 in which I again asked that you respond reasonably to my earlier
request of June 9 which you labelled GS #2233. Your last response is forwarded herein for your reference.
I remind you that 1 had respectfully asked again that you produce for my inspection the minutes of any public meeting that contain the
recorded comments of any Town official, staff or consultant that conveyed to any Town residents that there would
be no additional assessments as referenced by Mr. Thrasher during the May 13, 2016 meeting. I also asked you again that if the
record no longer exists, you produce its disposition record.
Considering that it is now over four months since 1 wrote you on this matter, I assume you do not intend to respond further. I therefore am
writing you to broaden my search for responsive records by requesting you produce the following records:
Any public record in the custody of the Town of Gulf Stream of any communication from anyone to "everyone"* (or anyone) that
"there would be no additional assessaent" as stated by Mr. Thrasher during the May 13, 2016 meeting.
* The word "everyone" used herein is intended to have the same meaning as intended by Mr. Thrasher when he used the word while
making his statement which was recorded in the minutes of the May 13, 2016 Commission Meeting as follows: "Town Manager
Thrasher reminded that at the beginning ever0anre was told there would be no additional assessment so this will be from the General
Fund..,
While I am not statutorily obligated to explain why I want to inspect these records, I tell you it is for the
purpose of informing myself of the historic and current workings of the Town of Gulf Stream and its
associated entities, vendors, consultants, advisers, contractors and agents. The records I wish to
inspect may also be material to current, anticipated or presently unforeseen legal action. In addition,
inspection of these records may be essential to my ability to make informed comments in an
upcoming public hearing. The production of any and all responsive records is therefore urgent and
must be acted upon in compliance with Florida Statutes and established case law as soon as
possible.
Before making this public record request, I first searched online and in the public records portion of
your agency's website hoping I could locate the public records I seek without having to write you
directly. Unfortunately I cannot find the records I wish to inspect. Therefore I am writing you now and
requesting you make every effort as required by law to produce these public records without delay.
I make this request pursuant to Article 1, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution and Chapter 119 of
the Florida Statutes. I hereby reserve all rights granted to me under the Florida
Constitution and Florida Statutes.
I ask that you take the following action:
• Read this entire request carefully and respond accordingly.
• If you are not the custodian of the public records described herein please determine who that person is and
notify me immediately in order that I may make this request to the appropriate person without delay.
• Reference Florida Statutes and appropriate case law when responding to this record request.
• Do NOT produce any records other than records responsive to this request.
• Identify by name the person or persons responding to this request if that person is not the Custodian of
Records for your agency as required by 119.07(1)(b).
• Respond to this public record request in a singular manner and do not combine this
request with any other public record requests when responding to this request.
• Once you have determined that you do or don't have any records in your
custody responsive to this request, immediately act to obtain any responsive records
that may be in the custody of your contractor(s) or other parties.
• Provide only those records for inspection that do not require extensive use of
information technologies or extensive staff time or both in excess of 15 minutes.
• If records responsive to this request are not presently available but you expect that
they will soon be available I request that you produce the records as soon as they are
available.
I ask you to take note of §119.07(1)(c) Florida Statues and your affirmative obligation to (1)
promptly acknowledge receipt of this public records request and (2) make a good faith effort which
"includes making reasonable efforts to determine from other officers or employees within the agency
whether such a record exists and, if so, the location at which the record can be accessed." I am,
therefore, requesting that you notify every individual and entity in possession of records that may be
responsive to this public records request, including individuals and entities under contract with your
agency, to preserve and produce all responsive records on an immediate basis.
If you contend that any of the records I am seeking, or any portion thereof, are exempt from
inspection or disclosure please cite the specific exemption as required by §119.07(1)(e) of the Florida
Statutes and state in writing and with particularity the basis for your conclusions as required
by §119.07(1)(f) of the Florida Statutes. Produce for my inspection all responsive records and ONLY
redact that portion of the record that you consider exempt. To be clear, if you consider an entire
record to be exempt, produce that record in its entirety with all portions redacted that you consider
exempt. I specifically ask you to do this in order that I may inspect fully redacted records for the
purpose of challenging a particular redaction or establishing a reference for a future request of a
record that is only temporarily exempt, as in the case of a public record that was prepared by an
agency attorney exclusively for litigation and is only exempt from disclosure until the conclusion of the
litigation.
If the public records being sought are maintained by your agency or contactors for your agency, in an
electronic format please produce the records in the original electronic format in which they were
created or received. See §119.01(2)(f), Florida Statutes.
Again I ask that you provide only those records for inspection that do not require extensive use of
information technologies or extensive staff time or both in excess of 15 minutes. Take note
of §119.07(4)(a)3.(d) Florida Statues and if you anticipate that any records exist, the production for
inspection of which will require extensive use of information technologies or extensive staff time or
both in excess of 15 minutes, then please provide those records that can be produced within the first
15 minutes and advise me of the cost you anticipate to be incurred by your agency for the remaining
records prior to incurring this cost. Please do not incur any costs on my behalf without first obtaining
my written authorization to proceed. If you produce only a portion of all existing responsive records,
please tell me that your response includes only a portion of all existing records responsive to this
request.
If you anticipate the need to incur any costs that I would be statutorily required to pay in order to
inspect these public records which would exceed $1.00 please notify me in advance of your incurring
that cost with a written estimate of the total cost. Please be sure to itemize any estimates so as to
indicate the total number of pages and/or records, as well as to distinguish the cost of labor and
materials. Again, please do not incur any costs on my behalf without first obtaining my written
authorization to proceed.
A record that does not exist because of its disposition requires the creation of a disposition record. In
all instances where you determine a record does not exist please determine if the record once existed
and in its replacement provide the disposition record for my inspection.
The term public records, as used herein, has the same meaning and scope as the definition of Public
records adopted by the Florida Legislature as Statutes Chapter 119.
The phrase Town of Gulf Stream when used herein refers to the Town in its entirety and all entities of
the Town including all employees, appointees, officials, assignees, counsel and consultants including
Town Manager, Town Clerk, Town Police Chief, Town Commissioners, Town Mayor, Town
Departments, Town Police Officers, Town Employees, Town Staff Attorney, Town Engineer, the law
firm (Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A.) that claims to be the Town Attorney including all attorney,
partner and employee members of that firm; the Town Counsel of Sweetapple, Broeker &
Varkus including all attorney, partner and employee members of that firm, the Town Counsel
of Richman Greer, P.A. including all attorney, partner and employee members of that firm and any
other entity associated with the Town and subject to public records law.
If you do not understand any part of this request or if you need clarification about this request, notify me as
soon as possible so I may further describe or clarify this request. Due to issues of delivery failure and occasional
rejection by your server this email is being sent to multiple recipients to insure prompt delivery.
All responses to this public records request should be made in writing to the following email address:
chrisoharegulfstream@gmall.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Thrasher <bthrasher@self-stream.org>
Date: Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 1:19 PM
Subject: GS #2233 (Thrasher statement - no additional assessments)
To: Chris O'Hare <chrisoharegulfstream@smail.com>
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended
recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all
copies of the original message. Florida has a very broad public records law. Written communications regarding
Town of Gulf Stream business are public records available to the public upon request. Your e-mail
communications are therefore subject to public disclosure. Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public
records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send
electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.
TOWN OF GULF STREAM
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
Delivered via e-mail
June 15, 2016
Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstream@gmail.com]
Re: GS #2233 (Thrasher statement - no additional assessments)
As background to this request I call your attention to the Agenda Packet for the regular meeting
of the Town Commission to be held on June 10, 2016 at Town Hall. I have attached a copy ofpage
5 - 6 of this Agenda Packet to this email for your reference. I obtained this copy from your agency's
website. You will note that these two pages are a draft of the minutes of the May 13, 2016 meeting.
The draft minutes record the following passage during discussion of Agenda Item VIII.
Reports: Town Manager Thrasher reminded that at the beginning everyone was told there would
be no additional assessment so this will be from the General Fund. I request to inspect the minutes
of any public meeting that contain the recorded comments of any Town official, staff or consultant
that conveyed to aty Town residents that there would be no additional assessments as referenced
by Mr. Thrasher during the May 13, 2016 meeting.
Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstream(a),email.coml,
The Town of Gulf Stream has received your original record requests dated June 9, 2016. Your
original public records request can be found at the following link: htto://www2.aulf-
stream.ora/weblink/0/doc/92127/Pagel.asax. Please refer to the referenced number above with
any future correspondence.
Pursuant to the public records laws, the duty of the Town of Gulf Stream is to provide access to or
copies of public records at a reasonable time in reasonable conditions. The Town of Gulf Stream
is not required to give out information from these records nor give information about these records.
All videos of meetings can be found by going to the following link:
hos://www.youtube.con/chatmeYUCyJTien2HMOSbss-CYOozdQ/feed?view as=vublic. All
minutes of the Town can be found by going to www.gulf-stream.ore, click on "Find a Town
Record", click on "Town Clerk", click on "Minutes". There you will find all minutes of the Town.
We consider this request closed.
Respectfully,
Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records
TOWN OF GULF STREAM
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
Delivered via e-mail
October 27, 2016
Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstream(7a.gmail.coml
Re: GS #2361 (Follow up to GS #2233 ('Thrasher statement - no additional assessments))
Any public record in the custody of the Town of Gulf Stream of any communication from anyone
to "everyone"* (or anyone) that "there would be no additional assessment" as stated by Mr.
Thrasher during the May 13, 2016 meeting.
* The word "everyone" used herein is intended to have the same meaning as intended by Mr.
Thrasher when he used the word while making his statement which was recorded in the minutes
of the May 13, 2016 Commission Meeting as follows: "Town Manager Thrasher reminded that at
the beginning everyone was told there would be no additional assessment so this will be from the
General Fund. "
Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstream(a.gmail.com]:
The Town of Gulf Stream has received your public records requests dated October 23, 2016. The
original public records request can be found at the following link:
httv://www2.gulf-stream.org/weblink/O/doc/103242/Pagel.gVx
Please be advised that the Town of Gulf Stream is currently working on a large number of
incoming public records requests. The Town will use its very best efforts to respond to you in a
reasonable amount of time with the appropriate response or an estimated cost to respond.
Sincerely, D e
Rip -d ROW" $a�tte
As requested by Rita Taylor
Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records
TOWN OF GULF STREAM
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
December 28, 2016
Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisohareeulfstreamegmail.coml
Re: GS #2361 (Follow up to GS #2233 (Thrasher statement — no additional assessments)
Any public record in the custody of the Town of Gulf Stream of any communication from
anyone to "everyone"* (or anyone) that "there would be no additional assessment" as stated by
Mr. Thrasher during the May 13, 2016 meeting.
* The word "everyone" used herein is intended to have the same meaning as intended by Mr.
Thrasher when he used the word while making his statement which was recorded in the minutes
of the May 13, 2016 Commission Meeting as follows: "Town Manager Thrasher reminded that
at the beginning everyone was told there would be no additional assessment so this will be from
the General Fund."
Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisohareeulfstreamna,email.coml:
The Town of Gulf Stream has received your public records request dated October 23, 2016. You
should be able to view your original request and response at the following link:
h!W://www2.gulf-stream.org/weblink/O/doc/103242/Pagel.aspx
We consider this request closed.
Sincerely,
RbIld Raw"
As requested by Rita Taylor
Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records
March 20, 2016
Dear Gulf Stream Residents,
I want to update you on the status of the undergrounding project.
In 2010, Gulf Stream hired Willdan Financial Services to evaluate the cost of removing
overhead utility lines for underground installation. By April, 2011, Willdan Financial completed
its study and recommended a budget of $5,497,742.00, which amount has been fully funded for
the project. Willdan noted that construction costs were low due to the economic downturn, and
believed its numbers would hold for the three to four years estimated to finish the
undergrounding improvement.
The Town finished its advance work in mid -2011, which included public meetings, a
straw poll of its residents and required court validation. The project was then divided into two
phases: Phase 1 for the South end of town up to Gulfview Drive; and Phase 2 for Gulfview Dr.
up to the North end of town.
Phase 1 began in August 2011, but FPL, the main utility, created a significant delay in the
actual undergrounding work, as it did not provide the plans needed for contractors to bid the
construction work until January 30, 2013. Once started, however, the Phase 1 work proceeded
well and is nearly complete. Phase 1 will also finish slightly below budget.
In view of the difficulties with FPL on Phase 1, Gulf Stream's engineer filed a complaint
with the Florida Public Service Commission in March 2013, voicing the Town's concern about
increased construction costs should Phase 2 of its project be similarly drawn out. FPL responded
by promising Phase 2 plans and a binding cost estimate within 6 months after receiving Gulf
Stream's utility survey drawings. Instead, PFL took 16 months, not delivering the needed
drawings until late August 2015. By this time, most contractors were already over -booked with
work created during the economic recovery that Florida has experienced over the last several
years. This work includes All Aboard Florida and some very large projects in Collier County,
Jupiter and Hollywood. Gulf Stream's Phase 2 project is comparatively small, and we received
only two bids, both of which were high. Willco Electrical was the low bidder at $2,874,569.00,
which is $954,431.76 over the Phase 2 budget.
The Town engineer believes options exist to reduce the cost of Phase 2, but due to
Florida's "Cone of Silence" laws, he cannot negotiate with the bidders until the Commission
awards the project, albeit while withholding authority to proceed pending price adjustments.
Therefore, the Town has scheduled a Special Meeting for Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 3:30 pm
to review the bids and decide whether to make an award.
Let me assure you that the Commission will thoroughly evaluate the Phase 2 costs and
timeline of events, and we will make a decision that reflects the best interests of the residents.
Also, and perhaps most importantly, please know that the Town has funds available to cover the
Phase 2 cost increase so there is no need for a change in taxes or for an assessment.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we move to complete this
undergrounding project.
Very truly yours,
Scott W. Morgan