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HomeMy Public PortalAboutPRR 14-1419From: John Breuer [mailto:johnbreuerarchitect @gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 10:07 PM To: Bill Thrasher Subject: 9 -16 -14 1 want a public record - morgan Itr to res. PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST Pursuant to Article 1, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution and Chapter 119.07 of the Florida Statutes I wish to make a public records request of your agency for the following records: The three most recent letters written by Scott Morgan to any Town Resident. 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. Take note of §119.07(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 in possession of records that may be responsive to this public records request to preserve all such records on an immediate basis. If any records are readily available, please produce those records first without waiting for all responsive records to be available. Produce the less readily available records as soon as they are available. If your agency maintains the record being sought 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. If you anticipate the production of any of these public records to exceed $1.00 please notify me in advance of their production 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. If any records may be produced for less than $1.00, please produce those records first while waiting to obtain authorization from me to produce more costly records. Do not incur any costs that you expect me to pay which are greater than $1.00 until first obtaining my authorization to do so. All responses to this public records request should be made in writing to the following email address: iohnbreuerarchitect(5omail.com TOWN OF GULF STREAM PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA Delivered via e-mail October 7, 2014 John Breuer [mail to: johnbreuerarchitect @gmail.com] Re: GS #1419 (morgan ltr to res.) The three most recent letters written by Scott Morgan to any Town Resident. Dear John Breuer [mail to: iohnbreuemrchitect (a,email.coml, The Town of Gulf Stream received your public records request on September 16, 2014. If your request was received in writing, then the request can be found at the following link: http: / /www2.gulf- stream. ore/ WebLink8 /0 /doc /21026/Pagel.asyx. If your request was verbal, then the description of your public records request is set forth in the italics above. In future correspondence, please refer to this public records request by the above referenced number. 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 further respond to your public records request in a reasonable amount of time. Sincerely, Town Clerk TOWN OF GULF STREAM PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA COMMISSIONERS SCOTT MORGAN, Mayor ROBERT W. GANGER, Vice -Mayor JOAN N. ORTHWEIN THOMAS M. STANLEY DONNA S. WHITE June 2, 2014 Dear Gulf Stream Town Residents, Telephone (561)276 -5116 Fax (561)737 -0188 Town Manager WILLIAM H. THRASHER Town Clerk RITA L. TAYLOR I want to thank all of you for your support during the election and for your continued support of the new Commission as it moves forward to address Town matters. There are a number of important developments in the Town that affect all residents, and for that reason, I am writing this letter to keep you abreast of these current events. The underground electrical wiring project is proceeding well with conduit being laid in the Town district and along the Southern portion of A1A. This is called the First Stage of the project. The First Stage is expected to be completed by the end of August. The second and final stage is on target for completion by December 2015. Funding for the underground wiring is complete and, if the rest of the job goes as expected, we believe that there will be some amount of funding overage for remittance back to the residents. The Ad Hoc Committee appointed to review our Code and Design Manual recently submitted its report. The Committee made a number of recommendations but essentially concluded that most Town residents like our current Code as written and do not want to see any significant changes to it. The full report is being placed on -line so you will be able to review it on our Town website. Town Hall is being made more accessible for persons with disabilities. There is now a unisex bathroom that can accommodate a wheel chair. In addition, the Commission has allocated funds to build a ramp at the rear of the building for wheelchair use. One of the more pressing issues involves the Town's finances. Historically, Gulf Stream functioned well utilizing only the revenue from its property taxes. Over time, the Town built up a reserve of funds that could be used for capital improvements or for emergency spending, like storm damage or water line repairs. Current thinking is that a reasonable General Fund Reserve for a town of our size should be around $1 million to $1.5 million, and that is a level that Gulf Stream has typically maintained. Recently, Gulf Stream's General Fund Reserves have dropped to around $675,000.00. Legal fees and costs have risen dramatically due to our defending over 20 lawsuits filed by two residents, Mr. O'Boyle and Mr. O'Hare. These lawsuits are primarily Public Records actions and 100 SEA ROAD, GULF STREAM, FLORIDA 33483 relate to over 800 public records requests filed by these two residents or by other individuals and organizations with whom they appear to be connected. The records requests involve many thousands of documents and, in my opinion, have little purpose other than to harass and financially damage our Town. In addition to paying legal fees for litigation work, the Town has sought legal advice to help it respond to some other unusual situations, including matters relating to O'Boyle and O'Hare. To put the legal fees in perspective, Gulf Stream typically budgets around $15,000.00 annually for legal services. In the first 6 months of this year, we have already spent over $160,000.00. Those dollars have to come from somewhere - -by reducing budgeted allocations for other services, or tax increases, or from the Town's reserves. In addition, as you may know, our Town office staff consists of only four full time employees. Recently, our Administrative Assistant, who, among all of her other duties, was tasked with the primary responsibility of responding to these Public Records requests, submitted her resignation, citing the heavy pressure of the work involved in responding to the overwhelming nature of these requests. Also, our Town Clerk, who worked with the Administrative Assistant in responding to these Requests, has found it necessary to come into the office every weekend just to catch up on the regular Town business. These are dedicated Town employees, who do not deserve to work under this type of pressure. In response to this continuing problem, the Commission is stepping up its defense of the O'Boyle and O'Hare litigation. Special counsel has been hired to assist our other attorneys in this regard. The Commission believes strongly that a firm stance is necessary to limit the detrimental effects that these lawsuits are having on staff morale and Town reserves. This approach does cost money, however, and this is your money, so we have an obligation to keep you informed. Ending on a more positive note, we encourage Gulf Stream residents to participate in our monthly Commission meetings. Each regular meeting has a Public Comment period, where anyone can speak on agenda items. We welcome your input, plus we think you will find the meetings informative and interesting. Along that line, the Town's website now contains a link to Minutes from past Commission and ARPB meetings. If you are unable to attend a meeting, access to these Minutes will keep you informed of developments. Finally, the other Commissioners and I look forward to working with you in the upcoming year. Should you ever have a question or concern, please feel free to call me at home or on my cell phone. Best regards, Z j o Gt/ / tt W. Morgan hm: 243 -1432 cell: 573 -6006 TOWN OF GULF STREAM PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA Delivered via e-mail May 5, 2015 John Breuer [mail to: johnbreuerarchitect @gmail.com], Re: GS #1419 (morgan Itr to res.) The three most recent letters written by Scott Morgan to any Town Resident. Dear John Breuer [mail to: iohnbreuerarchitect (a),gmail.coml, The Town of Gulf Stream received your public records requests on September 16, 2014. You should be able to view your original requests at the following httv://www2.gulf- stream. org/ WebLink8 /0 /doc /21026/Pagel.asox. In future correspondence, please refer to this public records request by the above referenced numbers. The only responsive document can be found at the same above link. We consider this matter closed. Sincerely, Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records