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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.