HomeMy Public PortalAboutFlorida League of Cities Survey on Public RecordsMEMORANDUM
To: Erika Bowen, Florida League of Cities, ebowen(cDflcities.com fax: 850 - 222 -3806
From: William Thrasher, Town Manager, Town of Gulf Stream
Re: Public Records Inquiries
Date: October 22, 2014
Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with information related to the effects of the
public records laws upon our community.
(1) Budgeting.
(a) Legal expenses. The Town of Gulf Stream does not separately budget for public
records requests; however, many of the costs of litigation and compliance
associated with the public records laws fall within the category of legal
expenditures. In 2013, the Town budgeted $114,000, but spent more than
$411,000. The Town then budgeted $440,000 for 2014, but now projects expenses
exceeding $540,000. Our 2014 -2015 budget can be found online at:
http: / /www.gulf- stream. org / images /Fina[budhearing092314.pdf
(b) Information technology expenses. The Town of Gulf Stream is proud to note that
it is especially proactive in posting material online. For example:
• The Town Code for the Town of Gulfstream is accessible through municode.
https: / /www.municode.com /library /fl /gulf stream /codes /code of ordinances
• Agendas, minutes, and even videos of our Town Commission meetings are all
posted online. http: / /www.gulf- stream.om /minutes - agendas.html
• And other online documentation includes searchable folders related to
Architectural Review, the Building Department, Finance, Legal, Public Records
Requests, and a Town Clerk category that includes Agendas Contracts &
Agreements, Elections, Minutes, Notices, Ordinances, and Resolutions. You
can find these online folders by clicking "I want to" ... "Find a town record" using
the menu tabs on our web page http: / /www.gulf- stream.om/
Like the legal compliance and litigation expenses, the online publication process
is also costly, requiring the Town to substantially increase its information
technology expenditures. In 2013, the Town spent $75,000 on a new server that
could handle the large volume of data management being undertaken, plus an
additional $37,000 on installation and software expenses. For approximately the
past 9 months, the Town of Gulf Stream has also spent $19 per hour, on a full -
time basis, for a contractor who has been scanning and uploading documents
online for public access — another $26,000 in taxpayer dollars.
(c) Cumulatively, the Town of Gulf Stream has spent 10 to 15 percent of its entire
annual budget (approximately $3.2 million in 2013 and $3.5 million in 2014)
exclusively on public records related matters. This does not include staffing, further
discussed below.
(2) Estimates
(a) Our Town receives hundreds of public records requests monthly. In the past two
years, we have received nearly 2000 public records requests (many of which can
be traced to two people and their corporations or associates). For example, 2013
and 2014 public records requests can be found at the following address:
http: / /www2. gulf - stream. org /W ebl-ink8 /browse.aspx ?dbid =0
(b) Our Town Hall has 17 -1/2 employees: a Town Hall staff of four, 11 -1/2 policemen,
1 water department employee, and 1 maintenance employee. One Secretary
spends 35 hours per week or more (necessitating overtime) to respond to the
public records requests. Our Town Clerk estimates that she spends approximately
on an average, 75% of her time attending to public records issues. I estimate that
I spend 5 -10 hours each week on public records issues. Our policemen have spent
3 -10 hours each week on public records. And our water department and
maintenance employees have had to respond to public records, too. Collectively,
our Town staff regularly spends 60 to 80 hours per week working on matters
related to the public records laws.
(3) Lawsuits
(a) As noted in (1) above, the Town spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on public
records compliance and litigation. Since October 3, 2013, the Town has received
42 different public records lawsuits, and incurred tens of thousands of dollars in
litigation defense costs. As recently as 2010, our monthly legal bills were well
under $5000, and sometimes even under $1000. In 2013 and 2014, due to the
public records laws, our legal bills routinely exceed $20,000 monthly, and
sometimes much more.
(b) The public records laws also affect the Town's litigation decisions on other issues.
For example, in 2013, the Town of Gulf Stream approved an agreement to pay one
homeowner $180,000 to settle a zoning dispute, to voluntarily dismiss 20 public
records lawsuits, and to withdraw hundreds of public records requests. The dispute
received local newspaper coverage too.
http: / /www. palmbeachpost.com/ news / news /gulf- stream - millionaire- challenging-
state- attorney /nZYBC/
(4) Unusual experiences. In the Town of Gulf Stream, the unusual use of the public
records law has become the norm. Our Town receives public records requests asking
for records that the requester already possesses, simply to force the Town to respond
to the request. We routinely receive requests for records that require us to spend time
and effort to develop estimates for the costs of production, and when we do send the
response, the estimate is never paid. We have had two lawsuits involving depositions,
disputing the cost components of the estimate. One Public Record Production cost
estimate was provided by the Town's contracted Project Engineer's for its current
undergrounding of utility wires. The Town is paying this contractor's attorney fees as
it is believe to be in the Town's best interest to do so. We have been sued for
.'unreasonable delay" after we responded to a public records request in 2 days. Many
requests are made anonymously to shield the requester from exposure. For all these
reasons, at our Town Commission meeting on October 10, 2014, the Town authorized
the retention of special counsel to assist with a potential lawsuit based upon the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. hftp://wvvw.qulf-
stream.org/imagesiTCAG101014.pdf
(5) What you may not be aware of. Public Records Lawsuits are not covered by FMIT
insurance and probably not by any insurance carrier. Unless a lawsuit is asking for
damages, the defendant must pay for its own defense and all associated legal fees
including depositions, review interrogatories and administrative costs. I have
repeatedly been asked by elected and appointed municipal officials, "why is the Town
paying these legal fees, why not let your insurance carrier handle all of this for the
Town ?" For the Town of Gulf Stream the exclusions of public records coverage is
found in sub - sections DD and JJ.
(6) Indifference to the Burden Placed on the Defendant. We all know that we live in
what appears to be a litigious society. What is somewhat unique to towns like Gulf
Stream is that the plaintiffs litigation strategy can simply be "out spend the opponent"
regardless whether you prevail in court. For over 2 years Gulf Stream's Town Hall staff
have been dealing with what I believe to be purposefully applied harassment.
Unfortunately, and only until it happens to your local government or organization, can
you realize that the supreme purpose of government, "serving people ", is forced to
take a "backseat" when there are overwhelming demands placed upon you by
frivolous public records requests and related lawsuits.