HomeMy Public PortalAbout2008-02-19 AttorneyClient Session CASE 03-21932CA231
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VIL LA GE OF BAL HARBOUR
ATTORNEY/CL IENT SESS I ON
BAL HARBOUR VILLAGE HALL
655 96 t h STREET
BAL HARBOUR, FL OR IDA 33 1 54
TUESDAY , FEBRUARY 1 9, 2008
8:0 4 a.m . -9 :00 a .m .
1 9 Tak en before Mar y G. Stephenson , FPR , No t ary
20 P ub l ic f or the State of Flor i da
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TAYL OR REESE AND ASSOCIATE S, I NC .
(305) 444-7331
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APPEARANC ES :
COUNCILM EMBER S :
HOWARD J . BERL I N , MAYOR
JEAN ROSENFIELD , ASSISTANT MAYOR
JOE L S. JACOBI
MARTIN PA CK ER
JAIM E M. SANZ
VI L LAGE MA NAGER :
AL FRED J. TREPPEDA
VI LLAGE ATTORNEY :
WE I SS SEROTA HELFMAN
PASTORIZA COLE & BONISKE, P .A .
BY : RICHARD WE ISS , ES Q.
MIC HAEL POPOK , ESQ .
15 VILLAGE CLERK :
16 ELLISA HORVATH, CMC
(PRESENT ONLY DURING PUB L IC PORTION)
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TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOCIATES , I NC .
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1 T hereu p on , the fol l ow i ng proceedings were had:
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MAYOR BERLIN : I 'm call i ng t h is public
meet ing to order .
Cal l the rol l.
MS. HORV ATH : Mayor Berlin .
MAYOR BERL I N : Pre sent .
MS . HORVATH : Assistant Mayor Rosenfie l d.
ASSIST ANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : Present .
MS. HORVATH : Counc ilman Jacobi .
CO UNC IL MAN JACOB I : Here .
MS . HORVA T H: Co u ncilma n Pa cker .
COU NCILMAN PACKER: Here .
MS . HO RVA TH: Counci lm an Sanz .
COU NCILMAN SANZ : P r esent .
MAYOR BE RL IN: The time is now 8 :04 a .m .
We are abou t to have an attorney/clien t sess i on in
accordance w i th F lorida Stat u t e 2 86 .01 1 r egard in g
the l it iga ti on styled Babak Ra h eb ve r sus Vi ll age
of Bal Ha r bour , case number 03 -21932 CA 23 ,
Circui t Cou rt of t h e 1 1 th Jud i c i a l Di strict i n and
for Miam i-D ade County , F l orida .
T he session is es t ima t ed to l as t one ho u r
and t he fo l low i ng p eop l e wil l be in attendance at
this meeti ng : Myse l f , Mayor Howard Berlin,
Assistant Mayo r Jean Rosenfield , Counc i lman Joe l
TA YL OR REE SE AND ASSOC I ATE S , I NC.
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Jacobi , Councilman Ma r t in Pac ker , Councilman Jai me
Sanz, V il lage Manag e r Alfred Tr epp eda , Vi l lage
Attorneys Ri ch ar d We i ss a n d Michae l Popok .
These proceedin gs will b e recorded by a
ce rti f i ed cou r t r e p orter a nd, a t t he conclusion o f
a ll litiga t ion d iscussed , the transcrip t wi ll be
mad e par t of t he pub l ic r e cord .
Al l those indi viduals who I hav e not name d
s h a ll lea ve the roo m at this ti me .
(I ndividuals not named left t he room.)
MR. WEISS : Good morn in g. We are here t o
give you a brie f in g about the case that h as been
fil ed, as yo u k n ow, against the v i l l age by Babak
Raheb de aling w i th th e security dis t r i ct and in
particular the assessment.
By way of background an d just to re mind
you , t h is i s bei n g record e d b y a court repo rte r .
When the litigation is concluded, her transcript
will be mad e p ub l ic .
No rma ll y i n ou r execu t ive sessions, I wou l d
be somewhat more o pe n with you regar di ng strategy
in the case and o t h er things and t ha t is because
no r mally when someone sues us for an accident or
someth ing like that , that i s the e nd o f the
l itigation . There n ever can be any more
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l itigation abo ut anybody fa l ling on th e sidewalk .
I n t h i s part i cular case, there is a
poten t ial that someone could sue in the fu t ure
based upon t he same theo r ies. So, therefore,
rather than go i ng thro ugh in a l ot of deta il ,
stra t egies about th e case and so forth and so on,
we will j ust say t his about t he case , and with
that preface, that we thin k we probably would win
th i s case .
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Ho wever, we fee l that the risks of losing
this case, which would not allow us to collect t he
assessments for the security distr i ct are
t remendous.
th i s case
Th e r efore, if we were to totally lo se
if you remember, this assessment was
actually , this meth odo l ogy used was really
deve l oped by A l an Gold, who is now a fe deral
j udge . Th i s was years and years ago . I thin k you
al l know th e histo ry of this. I n your
orientation , I spent time with each of you talking
abo u t all or some of this.
Anyway, i t was de veloped by Alan Gold as a
way to h e lp the residents in t he res i den t ia l a re a
come up w i th their securi t y guard and pay for a
security guard serv i ce .
Without t his special assessment th er e is no
TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOCIATE S , INC.
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way f or them to force peop l e to pay for the
security guard serv i ce .
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So in this particular case , even though we
feel t hat we would probably win if we continued to
li tiga te, t h e downside risk , which wou l d be there
wou ld be no way to pay f or security in the
residential area, is very, very substantial .
Sc in t his par tic u l ar case, we ha v e met
wi t h Mr , Gabak. I s his f irst name Raheb or is his
firs t na~e Ba bak?
111istAY0 1i. BERLIN : Baba k.
MR., WEISS : Is that h is first name or
second name?
COONCI L MAN JACOBI : Second name.
MR . WEISS: Mr. Babak . We have a
sett l emen t t ha t we are going to recommend to yo u.
The purpose of t his meet i ng is to go through in
detail the settlemen t and to get yo ur fee ling s on
i t .
We h ave not comm it ted to the settlement,
bu t to get your feelings on i t a n d t hen for you to
give us some instruc t ions to go sett l e t he case .
Assuming they ag r ee to the settlement,
which they have te n t ative l y , I don 't have a ny th ing
i n writing from t h em, then in the council meeting
TA YL OR REE S E AND ASSOC IATES, I NC .
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the settlement would be approved.
MAYOR BERLIN : You have to go through the
entire thing .
MR . WEISS : I wi ll .
MA YOR BERL I N : At t he public meeting?
MR. WEISS : It will be in the consent
agenda .
COUNCILMAN JACOB I : I f you se t tle, how can
you stop t he leak in the future?
MR. WEISS : You can 't .
COUNC I LMAN JACOBI : So i t's a lose l ose for
us .
MR. WEISS: The thing is this , I honestly
feel that most of the peop l e living in t he
security distr i ct realize the benef i ts of hav i ng
th at secur i ty dis t r i ct. They r ealize t h at the
price of the ir property , t he value of their
property is significantly enhanced by having the
ga t e ou t side, and t h e co n verse is tr u e , too, which
is if there was no gate and no security guard , the
va l ue of their properties wou l d really be
diminished signi fi cantly.
Although it is a pure judgment and your
j udgmen t i s as good as or bette r than mine abou t
the mentality in the resident i al area because I go
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in t here twice a y ear to loo k at t h e beautifu l
f l owers or i f there i s a p roblem , but I do fee l
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t hat we have won . I don't f eel l ike a pers o n tha t
the typ ical r esident t ha t is inside ther e would
like t o disrup t t h e system .
their benefit .
I don 't think it 's to
COUNCILMAN JACOBI : But we h av e a lot of
atypica l res i de nts.
MR. WEISS : That is why when I lay out what
the settlemen t is , it 's not a substantia l
financial , we are not t alk i ng abou t a lo t o f mo ne y
here . Wha t we are talk i ng about i s i s there a way
to get --again , I have been here 2 5 yea rs . Th i s
i s the first time that this l a ws u i t , which , you
k now, we h ave been concerned a b out , has b een
filed. If you go ano th e r fiv e or 10 or 15 years ,
u l t imat ely , if th ere is a prob l em , there is a
problem , bu t this sort of g e ts r id of this
par t ic ul ar case , Joel , and --
COUNCI L MAN JACOBI : How about admission of
guilt , tho ug h? I me an
MR. WEISS : Just the o pposit e. J ust the
opposite. Actual l y , as pa rt of the set t lement,
Mr . Babak is go i ng to basical l y acknowledge t he
validity o f the way t h at we have done the
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assessmen t .
MA YOR BERL IN: By the way --I 'm sorry to
interrupt you , but he's our neighbor . It 's Babak
Raheb . His last name is Raheb .
MR . WEISS : I thought you told me it was
Babak.
MAYOR BERLIN: No, that wasn 't me speak i ng .
That was somebody else.
Ra heb is hi s la s t name .
His name is Babak Raheb.
MR. WEISS :
to ge t it r i ght .
That is why I asked. I wanted
Mr . Raheb is going to acknowledge t he
val id ity of, you know , the spec ial assessment and
we will pu t in wha tev er language we can to deal
with that issue .
The fact that we hav e settled with him , you
will see the way th a t we have st r uctured it ,
it 's I think somebody co uld say, we l l, we
settled because you wanted to get rid of t he case .
Well, t hat is true , but he 's agreeing here , he
will agree i t 's val i d and also has ag reed, will
agree to assis t us i n remedying the budgeting
issue t hat came up at the l ast counci l meeting
dealing w i th th e in surance .
So that is sort o f where the case is .
TAYLOR RE ESE AND ASSOCIAT ES , I NC .
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want to give you a littl e more. We are be i ng
defended in this case by the insuranc e company and
the insu ran ce company has pai d for all. Other
than t he fac t that t he tru t h is the insurance
company doesn 't really un d e rstand munic i pa l law
t he way that we do . So , basical l y, what has been
happening, in great part , David Wo l p i n has bee n
writing a lot of the pleadings in this cas e and
helping t he m beca u se they just don 't qui t e get i t.
They don't j ust do this . They are more --t he y
de al with other t ypes of cases.
ASSIS TA NT MAYOR ROSENF IE LD : Were other
cities involved in t heir private districts? Is
North Miami invol ved?
MR. WEISS : Let me jus t say the r easo n this
is unus ual . The reason t his is unusual is because
the streets are private. Tha t is t he reason th is
is different . In other words , i f you take --
let 's say --I forgot what those islands are .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : What about
Keystone?
MR. WEISS: Tho se are a l l pub l ic streets .
So what they have do n e is estab l ished a specia l
assessment district throug h t he coun ty . The other
thi n g t hey did i s they established th at through a
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c ou nty process , not through a ci t y process .
was d if ferent , and the way it was set up was
So i t
diffe r ent . T hose are t h e two main differ e nces .
COUNC I LMAN JACOBI : You can 't stop them
fro m coming in .
MR. WEISS : T hey are not rea l secu ri ty
d i s t ric t s . Th i s i s a real security --i n othe r
words , if you go t o S u nset One or any of these
islands , t he r e is a guar d ga t e there , b u t it 's not
rea l l y a guard gate . You can go i n .
ASSISTANT MA YOR ROSEN FI ELD : They can 't
s t op me fro m goin g in .
MR . WEISS : They can 't stop you f rom go i ng
in . T hi s one i s private p r ope r ty , and th at is why
it 's different, and i t was a l so don e mechan i ca l ly .
COUNCI L MAN PA CKE R: However, i t is pr i vate
pr oper t y , yet our p o l ic e depa rt ment goes in t here
a nd can g i v e t i c k ets . Our g arbage men go in the re
an d do t h e garbage . The mail can go in there .
Now , is that w it h the express pe r mission o f
t he gr o up ?
MR . WEISS : Yes . T h ere i s an agree men t
wh i ch I haven 't looked at i n a l o n g ti me , but
th ere is an agreeme n t be t ween the c i v i c
assoc i at i on and t h e vill a ge --Al , correct me if
TAY LOR REESE AND ASSOCIATE S , I NC .
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I 'm wrong --but au t horizing the pol i ce and --
MR . TR EPPEDA : Yes, there is .
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Is the police
depar t ment compensated for going i n t o t his
distr i ct?
MR . TREPPEDA: Jus t t he r egular taxes .
MR . WE I SS : Jus t by reg u lar taxes.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I n o t her wo rd s, they
don't have the i r own securi t y car running
aro u nd --
MR. WE I SS : I nside?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: --ins i de?
MR . TREPPEDA: No . Just like they patrol
others as a zo ne . I t counts as a zone for t h e
police departmen t to pa t rol just like they do on
Collins Avenue.
COUNCILMAN PACKE R : Even though i t's
pr i vate?
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MR . TREPP ED A: J ust like they do i n the Bal
Harbour Shops.
MR. WEISS : No, I wi ll te l l you that --no ,
I don't wan t to go in t o it, but you and I have
discussed as part o f your o r ientat i o n my though t s
about t h i s .
I do th in k , for the record, that the
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ac ti vities that the village i s conducting in there
are defensib l e and we could discuss that at
another time , but I do t hin k they are defensible .
I don 't th ink i t 's as black and wh i te as l ike the
po l ice can pat rol in your condo.
COUNCIL MAN PA CKER : They do not.
MR . WEISS: I know t h at , bu t i t 's not
totally nar row and I can discuss this.
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : All they do is
dr iv e around the dr iveways.
COUNCILMAN SA NZ : They go on the p rope rty.
ASS I S TA NT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: They go on the
property and drive around.
MR. WEISS : In your condos?
COUNCILMAN SANZ : I n all the condos .
MR. WE I SS: They come on your pri vate
proper ty ?
MR . TR EPPEDA: The y do in every bui ld ing.
MR . WEISS: Any t hi n g else or shou l d I keep
go ing ?
So the insurance company i s d efe nd i ng this
case. They hav e done okay. Orig in al ly , they had
authori ze d t heir lawyer to of fe r $25,000 t o
Mr . Raheb to set t le t he case. I have real ly not
gotten to the bo ttom of wha t happene d. Mayb e a
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change in t h e i n surance adjusters , maybe a change
in who knows what , but t hey have signi f icant l y
wit hdrawn fro m t hat position, and t hey have taken
t hat money off the tab l e, alt h ough this
sett l ement , you will see , t he way that they have
done i t i s not really con t ingent upon them .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : When they
offered the 25, did they actua l l y offer i t to him?
MR . WEISS : Yes .
ASS I STA NT MAYOR ROSENFIE L D : And he turned
it down?
MR . WEISS : Yes , because he spent ,
accord i ng t o him --what was t he number t ha t h e
has u sed at least $100,000 , 50 , now it 's
$1 00 ,000 on atto r ney's fees .
MAYOR BERL I N : Repea t that.
MR . WE I SS : How much d i d h e spend on
attorney 's fees? He gave it to us .
MAYOR BER LI N : I think he 's over a hundred .
MR . WEISS : He s p ent over a $100 ,000 on
l ega l f ees , and even though --by the way, I th i nk
t hat Mr. Raheb wan t s to se t t l e this case . I th i nk
he h as a very d i fferent relations hi p with the
village t h an he had at th e ti me he fi l ed t his
case , n ot near l y as contentious , much more
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constructive in terms of wha t he did with
Surfside, and I have to tell you a lot of that has
to do with the mayo r and the way he has been
treated at the mee t i ngs and al l those things .
I don 't know that he is really happy t o be
involved in th i s lit iga t ion . He is l ooking for a
way out of the l iti gat io n, sort of to be made
whole, and to move on with his life .
You wi ll see the settlemen t is quite unique
wh a t we have come up with . You may not like it ,
but you wil l have to agree that it is uniq ue.
Le t me go th r o ugh the settlement unless you
have any more quest ions . We had a meeting with
hi m. The mayor attended , and we all sat around
and this is sort of what we came up with as
something that he would be satisfied with.
Keep in mind t hat when we walked into the
meeting , he was looking for hundreds of thousands
of dollars based, again, just on reimbu rs ement for
the money he spent on t his case.
COUNC I LMAN JACOBI : Wha t happened a t
mediation?
MR . WEISS : The media tion was horrible
because, n u mber one , the first time , the insurance
compan y t he first time of f ered him $2500.
TAYLOR REESE AND ASSO CIATES , INC .
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i nsurance company was very, very --has not been a
good partner in this, and the second time they
offered nothing, and i t was just --it was not a
good --nothing really came out of it . We did our
own sort of private mediation . T he mayor was very
help f ul , and we had a meetin g with him , and I was
there . Were you there , Michae l ?
MR. POPOK: No .
MR. WE I SS: I was there and h i s l awyer was
there and in that kin d of setting, we d i d much
better .
CO UNCILMAN JACOBI: Is our insurance
company going to drop us?
MR. WEISS : We don't use them any more.
COUNCILMAN JACOBI: That is an answe r.
MR . WEISS: This is what we are
recommending, and, again , i t's your dec isio n and,
believe me , if you don't like it, then we w ill t ry
something else, but this is what we are
recommend ing.
His fi r st real issue is the Kent Security
contract. He doesn't like Kent Securi t y, and the
first point of the sett le ment agreement is that we
would rebid the Kent Securi ty contract . Award the
n ew co nt ract based upon the competitive process.
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It is understood that while price is an issue,
i t's no t the only is sue, and i t would b e
considered by the vil lage. So, basically, the
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village would go t hrough a compet i t i ve proce ss ,
which it would be our discretion as to wh o you
choose, but it wo ul d be an open and compet itive
process where other co mpanies can come in because
they ha ve given h im a hard time.
the details .
I don 't know a l l
COUNCI LMAN PACKER: I b elieve t h ere i s some
so r t of confl i ct of inter est there because someone
in there owns Kent S ec ur it y.
MR. WEISS: He has a whole oth e r --yes.
Th is would be an ope n process just l ike we
se le c t anything . So we wo ul d go thr ough a bidding
p roc ess. T hat was the first p oint.
T he second p o i nt would be that
basical ly , what we d id is we came up w ith a number
o f $50 ,0 00.
se ttl ement.
That is the bottom line of thi s
What we d i d is we divided i t
basically into two parts.
The first pa rt would be $26,000 from the
vi l la g e us i ng securi t y dis t rict funds. There i s
mo ney, extra money in the s ec uri t y distr i ct .
this money i s not coming f r om ta xpayer money .
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It 's coming ---
COlJNC I Ltf!tNr .ACOB I : F irom the i r own money?
MR . WE ISS : --from their own mo ney . There
is extra mo n ey in the security district, about
$26 ,000.
I don 't know how that money sort of built
up in there. How did that
MR. T REPPEDA: Lega l fees were budge t ed
every year.
MR. WE I SS : That we didn 't spend .
COUNCI LMA N PACKER: I have a question then.
Has the so-called --because from what I am t rying
to determine , th e re is not really an organ i zation
going on in there now . Have they been approached
that if it is the ir money, have they been
approached with a f i gure like this , that we a r e
go i ng to take their money and give it also to
Raheb?
MR . WEISS: I hav e not talked with them.
have not talked t o them.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : I think that the re
could be a very b ig backlash from them.
MR. WEISS : I t h in k it's possible that you
are righ t, bu t I think i t's possible --
I
COUNCILMAN PACKER : I know if I wou l d be in
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the organiza t ion t here and I would h ear so me th ing
like tha t
MR. WEISS : The reason I disagree wi t h you
is becau s e I fee l l ike i f I'm threatened wi t h
losing my e n t ire gate and my en tire abi l i ty t o
collect mone y, that if t here is 200 res i d e n ts --
is it 200 or 300?
CO UNC I LMAN PAC KER : 261 I t h ink i t i s.
MR . WEISS : My ma t h is not very good , but
for a couple of hundred bucks , if I could get rid
of this lawsu i t which threatens my who l e ability
to hav e my g uard ga t e, I would be o k ay with it .
You know , as pa rt of this , one of t he
t hings yo u could as k u s to do is to go speak to
Stuart Sobel and see what he t hinks abo u t it .
COU NC I LMAN PAC KE R : I certainly would be
MR . WEISS: I could go over this with him
without div ulg i ng any a t tor ney client privi l ege .
Certa i n l y , t he lawsuit is a matter of pub l ic
reco rd and I could discuss i t with him.
Sobel .
COUNC I LMAN J ACO BI: I ag r ee with you .
MAY OR BER LIN: What di d y ou agree with?
COUNCILMAN PACKER : Ta l k i ng to Stuart
MR . WE I SS : Abou t how the c i vic associatio n
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would feel abo ut tak i ng t his money out of their
money t ha t th ey hav e be e n assessed and us ing i t .
Co u nc i l man Pac ker suggested we h a ve a conversat i on
wi t h Stuar t So bel about this.
COUNC I LMA N PACKER : Tha t i s th e first p art .
Wha t is the rest o f it?
MR . WE I S S : The res t o f it i s , again , I am
not p ulling punches here . Basically , it was a way
t o get to the $50 ,0 00 . Tha t is what the t hing
was. Basically, wha t we did was b ecause he has
done some wor k over t he years for t he v i l la ge an d
what we agre e d to do, what we propos e d to do is
pay h im basically $2,000 a mon th as a consu l ting
contrac t.
COUNCI LMAN PACK ER : Wai t , wa it, wait .
has done work for t he vil l age?
MR . WE I SS : Raheb .
Who
COUNC IL MAN PACKER : What kind of wor k has
h e d o ne?
MR. WE I SS : He h a s do n e significant work as
a p rivate ci tiz en straight eni ng out pr ob le ms w i t h
S u rfs ide for t he vil l age .
COUNCILMAN JACOBI: So if we g i ve h im t h at
mo n ey , he g ets t axed on it and we ge t to write
of f?
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MR . WEISS: It is a very good point , bu t
t he vi l lage doesn 't pay taxe s .
COUNC I LMA N PACK ER : Has there been any sort
of a public record t hat he has been authorized to
do work for the v illa ge?
MR . WEISS : Oh, yes. Oh , yes .
COUN C IL MAN SANZ : From way back .
COUNCILMAN PACKER : Before my time .
COUNCI L MAN SANZ : Before o u r ti me .
MR. WEISS : It was a l l very p ub li c .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: We as k ed him
to see about t he c l os i ng of t he st r eets when they
were closing the st r ee t s.
MAYOR BER LIN : He helped us wi t h the
Surfside closings.
CO UNC I L MAN JAC OBI :
lights .
T hat and the street
ASSIS TA NT MAYOR ROSE N F IELD : He real ly and
tru l y took over that positio n .
MR . WEISS : He d i d a good job .
COU NCILMAN PA CK E R : Why wasn 't he paid at
th e time?
MR . WEISS : He was do i ng i t as a volunteer.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : If h e did i t as a
vo lun teer, wh y would then we go out on a limb now
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and offer i t to him as payment for what he did as
a volunteer?
MR . WEISS : I 'll tell you I was very open
with you about the reason for it, which is t he r e
was a $50,000 number , and t hi s is the way we got
to the $50,000 number , so
COUNCILMAN JACOBI : It is better to
mit iga te it o ut· than i t is to t ake i t d i rect l y
f rom the t axpayer . This way we can just i fy i t .
MR . WE I SS : So what the l a n guage says is
that , bas i cal l y , he 's going to be helping the
v i llage wit h plann in g i ssues and other issues of
concern to t he village, cou l d be the b ea chwalk,
could be the par ki ng lot, but he has been ve r y
the thou ght was that th e mon ey is not being
wasted . He has been very effective .
ef f ective in working wit h Surfside .
He was very
Th at was just
a way to get the nu mber on i t .
fr ont w i t h you guys.
I 'l l be ve r y up
MR. POPOK:
MR . WE I SS :
Get some thing of value .
I nstead of just giving him
another $25,000 , we gave him $24 ,000 , we gave it
to him in value . That was the second point or the
thi r d po in t .
ASS I STAN T MAYOR ROSE NF IE LD : Le t me ask the
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question . If we do not se tt le a t this poin t , the
suit g oes on and on ?
MR . WEISS : Yes , it does .
COUNC IL MAN PACKER : How far can i t go on ?
I mea n , if t he j udge r ul es for the v i l l age , he can
appea l ?
MR . WE I SS : If the judge rules for the
village , he can appeal.
against the village --
COUNC ILM AN PACKER :
If the judge ru l es
We can appea l .
MR . WEISS : --we can appeal .
COUNCIL MAN PACKER : Why rush to a
se tt lement?
MR . WEISS : Why rush to a settlement?
COUNCILMAN P ACKER : Yes .
MR . WE I SS: The li t igat ion has been going
on f or years .
CO UNC IL MAN PACKER : It 's not costing us any
more , is it?
MR . WEISS : Wel l , the problem is the
insurance company --we are insu r ed for da mages by
the i nsu ran ce company --
COUNC I LMAN PACKER : All right .
MR . WE ISS: --to some e x tent . The
insurance company h as filed with t he co u rt ,
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intervened in the litigation because the insurance
company when th ey ori g inally --do you know what a
reservation of rights is?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: No.
MR. WEI SS: Reservation of r ights is t he
duty to defend on be h a l f of the insurance company
is greater tha n t h e duty to pay. So if they have
an issue as to whether i t's actual ly covered under
the policy, they defend the case, but they have a
right to bill us bac k if it turns out there is,
let 's say, no damages . So they fi led with t he
cou r t a mo tion to i ntervene in t he litigat ion.
MR. POPOK : Also I ha v e co rr espo nde nce with
them. They have a very aggressive posit i on.
MR . WEISS: T h at is why Michael is here who
i s head of our l itigat i on.
MR . POPO K: T hey have t aken a ve r y
aggressive p os i tion . I f this is not a covered
c l ai m, they wi ll sue t he village bac k to recover
any payments in th e case .
COU NCILMA N PACKER : I s th at why you dropped
them?
MR . WE I SS : Al, why did we actual l y end up
changing?
MR . TREPPEDA: J ust for a better pr ice with
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on the t able righ t now?
MR . WEI SS : At t he moment , I have not even
,i
responded t o , 7500 . They had 2500 . T hey went
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bac k to --they had 25 ,00 0 . The ad j uster changed .
They went back to 2500 . Th en they went to 5 ,0 00 .
Las t time I spoke to the guy, he was at $7,5 0 0,
and I told h im --again , t he case , wh a te ver we get
for t he guy , and I did --la st t i me I spoke with
Mr . Raheb 's lawyer , he was appreciative that we
had eve n got t en anyt h ing because they really
d idn 't e xpec t anything. So I thi nk even the
$7 ,500 , t h e case wi ll get se tt led because this is
not continge nt upo n money from th e in suran ce
company , bu t when I spoke to Mr . Accetta , who is
his attorney , on F rida y and told h i m we had go t ten
them up to $7 ,500 , they were very please d with
that because t hey didn't really expec t any mo ney
fro m t hem .
COUN CI LM AN PACKER : So it 's 50 plus th e
7500 , approximate ly .
MR . WEISS : I am going to do wh at I can to
get more because we are u nder an obligation to get
more .
COUNCILMAN JACOB I : Is it 50 mon ey that
MR. WEISS : No , plus , because he wanted
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more and t his was a way to say , listen, we'll tr y,
but we are not ob l i g ated to spend a n y real money
to tr y t o get thi s . We are not obligated to --
MR . POPOK : To li t igat e.
MR. WEISS : to litigate over or go to
arbitration , none of that. So whatever I get , I
get , and he has agreed to be satisfied w i th that .
ASSISTA NT MA YOR ROSENF IE LD : L et me ask o n e
question. T he rebid di ng on the gate , if Kent
comes i n t he lowes t, he's agreeable to accepting
Kent?
MR . WEISS: He is agreeable to an open
process . I don 't thi nk he would li k e it i f Kent
gets it , but he has a gr eed , basica ll y , t hat the
vi l lage holds an open process with price being one
consideration .
ASSISTANT MA YOR ROSENFIE L D : What
considerat i on is he l oo k ing fo r ?
MR . WEISS : He is not looking for any, but
we want to leave it open because the village may
look for qua li ty , re l i a bility, insurance
requi reme nts , all those things th at co me into i t .
He wants an o p en process because I thi nk what
Councilman Packer sa id is r ight . There i s this
feeling that there is li ke a back room deal on
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t his Kent Security inf lu ence th at he wants to get
r id of .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : We can't deny
somebody just because they live in the district.
MR. WEISS: No . He understands th at. I
think he expects i t will be an open process and if
we end up wi t h Wackenhut , we do .
with Kent Security, that is --
If we end up
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Those are the
two?
MR . WEISS: No . The re 1 s millions of
others , dozens o f them.
ASSIS T ANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : We would
advertise i t as open bidding.
MR . WEISS: Yes . We wi ll advertise it .
you guys use Demand Star?
MR . TREPPEDA: No .
MR. WEISS : There i s ways you advert i se.
Do
ASSIS T A NT MAYO R ROS ENFIELD: I just want to
ma k e s u re .
COUNC I LMAN SANZ : Do we have a con tr act
wi t h Kent?
MR. TREPP E DA : Yes, we have a contrac t
currently.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : How l ong i s
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that fo r ?
MR . TREPPEDA : I would have to look at it
to see how much more t imewise .
MR. WE I SS: We wou l d reb i d. Before we
could cancel we would j u st probably rebid .
The nex t item is the sett l emen t by the
village is contingent u pon the insurance company
dropping its claim aga i nst us for the legal fees
t hat we talked about . I have spoken with t h e
ins u rance company and they are agreeable to that,
to drop p ing their claim against the v ill age .
As part of the settleme n t agreemen t,
p l aintiff wi l l --oh , on the cont r act. And this
is sort of whe r e it's headed o n these things.
What he 's l ook i ng fo r i s he gets h i s contract and
for the vi ll age to say --he neve r r eally received
any recognit i on from the village in terms of the
wor k he did at Surfside .
the mayor wil l, the day --
He is looking for when
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROS E NF I ELD : We have . We
h ave given him acc l a mations over and over again.
MR . WEISS : Wel l , this is t h e way he fee l s.
To me, with what was at stake here , t hese are very
minima l kind o f --you k n ow , when we approve this
contract t hat day, the mayor will say some nice
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th ings about, give him a plaque and that is it .
ASS I S TANT MAYOR ROSENFIE L D: We have done
that many times.
MR . WEISS: He will dismiss his litigation
with prejud i ce , will acknowledge the va l idity o f
t he security distric t , the securi t y assessments
and the validi ty of t he general ope r ation of the
security prog ram , wh i ch is sign if ican t in terms of
the poin t you raised, Joel .
He wil l a l so ass i st in efforts t o remedy
the budgeting i ss ue that came up la st week with
the in sura nce .
He has some lie ns on his property that were
p ending pr i or to Oc t ober 1 s t , 2007 and those ge t
released.
COUNCIL MAN JACOBI : How much?
MR . WE I SS : How much are t h ose, A l ?
MR . TRE PPE DA: I h ave f or the year 1 0 ,500 .
CO UNC IL MAN PACKER : Why should th ey be
r eleased? It 's another $10 ,000 .
MR . WEISS: It is part of the settleme nt .
Again, t his is wha t is in front of you .
CO UNC I LMAN JACOBI: Who put that? Did you
discuss t h at?
MR. WEISS : He asked for it . That is what
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he asked for .
ASSISTAN T MAYO R ROSENFIELD: Who put t h e
liens on the prope rty?
MR . WEISS: We did .
What is it for ?
MR . TRE PPEDA: For not paying security .
MR. WE I SS: What h e d id was whi le the
laws u i t i s pending, he said , I'm not paying my
secur it y assessments . These are all security
assessments h e has not paid .
CO UN CI LMAN PACKER: Well , as long as he 's
settling, he s ho uld pay back wha t he did n't pay .
ASSIS TA NT MAYOR ROSE NFI ELD : Will he now
pay fo r i t ?
MR . WEISS: He will pay in th e fu ture .
COUNC ILMA N JACOBI : Put th at i n wr iti ng .
MR. WEIS S : We could put t hat back, b ut
he's going to pay the assessments going forward.
COU NC ILMA N PA CKER : I thin k he s h ould pay
from the t i me the suit was started as long as --
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSENFIEL D : T his has b een
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goi n g on for how many years are we t alk i ng about?
MR . WEISS : Four yea rs .
ASSIS T ANT MA YOR ROS E NFI EL D: How much does
this amount t o?
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MR. WEISS: $10 ,000 .
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Another $10,000 .
MR. WE I SS: And then mutual releases by the
parties.
So I have to t e l l you that this is I
want to make it very clear to you that, you know,
this is not my decision t o make. What I wanted to
do is br i ng to you some t hing which, you know, I 'm
ob l igated as a lawyer when we try to negotiate
something l ike this t o br i ng i t to yo u .
If you don't li ke it , then jus t te l l us no
and we wil l continue l itigating the case. There
is no, you know, my ego no t invo l ved in t hi s . I
will walk out of here either way . It doesn't
matter . I f you don 't l ike the sett l eme nt , tel l me
you don 't like the settlemen t . I 'm f i ne with it.
We will j ust go on and litigate th e case.
I mean did I forget something?
MAYOR BERLIN : Yes . In i t em number three,
the consul ting contract . Just you would add that
it 's going to be draf t ed in accordance with
ordinary customary --
MR. WE I SS: I think we have it here .
we ha ve it . I t wi l l contain term i nat i on and
normal stuff in t he contract that we have.
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Aga in , I wanted to ma k e it c l ear, specially
for you , Counci lman Packer, this is not --I 'm
recommending i t because I t hink i t's a good dea l
to get out of litigation, but if you don't l ike
it , you don 't like it . Tha t is fine .
COUNCI LMAN JACOBI : The red flag that is
going u p as soon as we give him a consulting
contract, every bo dy tha t i s
MR. POPOK: The settleme nt agreement is a
public document .
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I thin k i t 's --let me
ask you some thi n g. T he way the struct u re of the
$910 is for everyone in the securi t y distr i c t ,
that was arrived at --
MR . WEISS: What is it? 9 1 0, Al ?
MR. T R EPPE DA : 910 curren t ly.
MR. WE I SS : Per year .
MR . TREPPEDA : For every single fa mi ly
home .
COUNC IL MAN PACKER: For a s i ngle fam il y
h ome .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Per year?
MR . T REPPEDA: Yes, per year .
COUNCILMAN PACKER : Let me ask you
some thing. I t hink that is a very, very unfair
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way to do it . No w, that was done by t he vil l age
or done b y their associat ion?
MR . WE I SS : I t was recommended by their
association and t h en implemen t ed by th e vi llage .
COUNCILMA N PA CKER: Because I feel i t
should be attached or so rt o f f ol lowin g the way
Mi a mi-Dad e County assesses each particular
p r operty. We are assessed o n the oth er side o f
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the street that way. I can't see why --in other
words, i f a house is si x mil li on dollars,
eight mi l lion do ll ars, whatever i t is , I feel tha t
this $910 is totally u nfair . You are go i ng to
hear a l ot. I may be going out on a l imb , but f or
a house tha t i s two m i l lio n dollars and a house
th at is eight mi llion do ll a r s , I think there is no
eq uity there, an d I thi nk if it 's possible af ter
this settlement, it shou l d be --
MR . WEISS: We don 't need to do that . The
village i s in fu l l contro l of the assessment
method for the sec u r ity d i s t rict . If , as part of
the next budgeting process , you , as a counci l ,
want to cons i der changing the assessment from a
fixed fee , wh i ch was sort of based on what you
wou ld do at a condo , I don't know.
he re .
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ASSIS T ANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : We do by
square footage when we do assessments .
based on square footage.
I t is
COUNC ILMAN PACKER: That i s an assessmen t .
I'm tal k ing about taxes .
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD: Thi s i s an
assessment. T his is an assessment .
MR . WEISS: The point I was making is if
you want to change this as part of the next
budgeting process , the council is free to change
the method . We don't need pe rmi ss ion from
anybody . It 's part to the council 's resolution
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and ord in ances and we can just change it. If you
want to go to an assessment method, if you want to
go to a
MAYOR BER L IN : Just to help the
conversation, and t hi s is not t o argue one way or
the o ther , but the concept has been debated
extensively i n the past .
MR . WEISS: I hav e heard it for 25 years.
MAYO R BER LIN: There have been people on
bo t h sides of the issue. J ust because the other
side o f i t has not been exp re ssed, and I am not
advocat in g one way or the o t her, but the arguments
that I have heard to t he contrary is tha t the
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essential service that is being rendered, which is
a secu rity gate, is ef fe ctively equal for all
people . The size o f your house doesn 't rea ll y
tr ans l a t e. The r e is peop l e who live in 1 0,000
square foot ho use s, a coup l e of two people, and
there is a fa mil y of six that li ves in a tree and
uses the gate more. People have debated it, and
the same thing for people who live in the
apartmen t s. E veryone is using the gate rel ative l y
the same and that is where the argument is on t he
other s i de say i ng it would be an unfair tax on a
larger p i ece of property.
MR. WEISS: My partner Michael advised me
t hat the assessment method is r ea ll y beyond the
scope of t he liti gation.
So I wanted to get your question out and
also get h is answer out, but it is really beyond
the scope . But I wanted to tel l you that if yo u
want t o change it, we can hav e t hat conversation .
You can do it as par t o f your budgeting in
October .
ASSIS TAN T MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Just as a
point of information, the assessment me thod as far
as t he condo side is always in t he documen t s .
or i ginal documen ts state how that would be
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assessed , and that has nothing t o do
MR . WEISS: I know that , l et 's say, in
Weston where everybody l i ves behind a gate, i t's a
cost per house. Everybody pays exactly the same,
whi ch is very similar, bu t , li sten , tha t is up to
you and it's not part o f t he l i tigat i on .
So, lis ten , the bottom l i ne of this is that
there is a risk here that the security , the whole
secu ri ty assess me n t process , t he abili ty t o
collec t money cou ld brea k dow n. I am not te lling
you that I don 't have any concern about tha t at
all. I do have a co n cern abo ut it because the way
i t was set up was somewhat unique . This is not a
slam dun k, don 't worry abo u t it type of a case .
I 'm also telling you for the record that I
do th i nk that u ltimately we win this litigation .
I feel that there is a likelihood that if we win
the litigation, we could have a fig ht wi t h the
insurance company over the amo u nt of money they
h ave spent defending us i n this case , and we can
end up with a b ill from the i nsura n ce company
depending upon what hap p ens .
another factor to consider.
So th a t is sort o f
I a l so wil l te l l you that I th i nk t h e b i ll
from t he insurance company is going to be we l l in
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excess of the money t ha t is in th is settlement ,
which goes back to the point that the insurance
company has rea l ly put us in a very uncomfortab l e
circumstance , but it 's no t al l that unusua l .
ASSISTAN T MA YOR ROSENFIELD: How did we
arrive at t he $26,000 number?
MR. WEISS: We came up with $50,000, which
was the s ta rting number. We came up with a $2,000
a month consu lt ing contract.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: No, but how
did you decide that only 26 ,000 would come from
the security district?
MR. WEISS: We didn't really talk about --
certainly, I don 't think that Mr . Raheb has any
p r ob lem where a ll of it comes from. We d i dn 't
really t a lk about that so much . You could
determ ine as a council that it is all going to
come fr om the security district .
COUNCILMAN PAC KER : Let it come from the
security d i strict . I t pertains to th em . Do they
h ave that kind of money?
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I don't know
what kind of money they have .
MR. WEISS : What do t hey have, Al?
MR. TREPPEDA : The f u n d balance , I wou ld
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ha ve t o check what is t he fund balance . There is
usua ll y a fund balance as we ll as what is budge t ed
in the cu r rent year.
MAYOR BERLIN : He re is wha t I 'm think in g
of. Again, so it 's very clear for the record, I
am a resident of the security district .
can asc rib e whatever bias they wish t o my
So people
comments , but there were discuss ion s du r ing this
p r ocess that the defendant in this case is the
ci t y, no t the members o f th e security dist rict .
The security dis t rict , as an entity , is not a
de f endant . Th e c i ty is the defendant. So i t 's
t he city 's li abi l ity. City.
So a part of the concept, I be li e ve, in
fashioning a set tl ement was to look to d if feren t
pools of assets to sort of spread ou t the resul t
and it is in my mind that it sou n ds fair , but that
is j ust my --
MR. WEISS : You k now, as you raise that
point, one point I f or g o t to mention . There i s a
poss i b ilit y . I t h ink it 's remo t e . T here i s a
possibili t y that if this thing ge t s throw n out,
that t h e court orders the vi llage t o give bac k all
t his money, years and years and years of money .
It is ve r y re mote, but it i s possible that if the
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court says that the whole security assessment
process was done improper l y, and that whatever
Alan Go l d set up was not lega l , the court could go
back two, three, f our yea r s back and say, give
back al l th e money that you col l ected.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : There is no statute of
limitations?
MR. WEISS : That is why I said two, thr ee,
four years because there would be possible
applicable sta tut e of l imitations .
MR . POPO K : It could be . I mean , there was
a constitutional challenge in Miam i for the
assessment b y t he C ity of Miami for parking. It
was, I th in k, four yea rs. The Ci t y of Miami had
to pay back four years of fees charged t o
nonresidents.
MR . WEISS: That is out t her e. I don 't
want to rais e t oo strongly because I don 't t hin k
i t's a huge possibili t y, but it 's out ther e.
ou t th ere .
It 's
COUNC IL MAN PACK E R : My own --as the vice
ma j or sa id , th is whole t h ing reall y resu l ts ,
basical l y, and I know th e mayor said they are not
pa rty to the suit, the d istrict , but, basically,
i t is b l ack and whi t e. It is the secu r i t y
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district 's .
I personally think i t 's the security
district 's responsibi li ty to take care of the ir
4 1
own gate. That is m y own personal viewpo i n t, t hat
t h e city should have no --the village shou ld have
no mi x. They should collect t h eir own money .
They should pay eve r ything , and that is it .
This was a legal , I would say --should I
say mumbo jumbo , whatever was done years ago .
I f they have more money in their k itt y , and
then they came asking f o r $7 ,200-something a t the
l ast mee t ing .
MR . WEISS : Insurance.
COUNC IL MAN PAC KE R : For ins u rance . T hey
co u l dn 't use tha t money or appropr i ate it?
MR . WE ISS : No. The issue is , aga i n ,
beyond this, b ut it's a security d i str i ct and they
were l ooking t o what , $7 ,200 for
MR . TREPPEDA : To lease the property.
MR . WEISS : To l ease t h e prope r ty , yes.
COUNC I LMAN PACKER :
budgeted in the i r kitty?
Did they have money
MR. T RE PPE DA : The r e i s a continge n cy ju st
f o r u nforeseen th i ngs tha t may come up .
CO UNC IL MAN PAC KER : Where i s this 26 ,00 0
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coming fr o m? They have monies put aside?
MR. TREPPEDA : T he balance of legal f ees
th a t were budgeted ove r the years .
MR. WEISS : The y don 't have any money.
COU NC IL MAN PACKER: Oh , they don 't have a ny
mo ney.
MR. WE I SS: Aga in , just to re v ie w th e way
t his works is th at t he v i llage collects , asse sses .
The vi l lage collects the money and the vi ll age has
th e money. It doesn't go to t he civic
associa t i o n . It 's in the ban k accou nts of the
village and the village then writes a check to
Kent Sec u ri ty and writes a check for the
e l ec tri ci ty for t he g uardhouse , I 'm assum i ng , and
it writes t he check to l andscape t he are a around
the gua rd house . So the c i vic association , this
money does not go the civic associa ti on .
v il l age ha s the money .
T he
COUNC IL MAN PACKER : But d i vided it down
betw ee n the 26,000 and 24 ,000
MR . WEI SS: But t he vill ag e has sepa r ate
accounts. So t he 26 ,000 would co me fro m the
separate securi ty dis tr ict account.
COUNC IL MAN PACKER: Sec u rity dist r i ct
accou nt .
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MR . WEISS : A n d the 24,000 was contemplated
wou l d come f r o m t he genera l fund .
COUNC I L MAN PACKER : Is t here mo re money in
that security district accoun t ? T h at is what you
sa i d you would have t o look up?
MR . T RE P P E DA : Yes.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : That account , whic h
basical l y i t comes from t he security dis t r ic t , I
would think they shou l d bear most of t h e
r espons i b ili ty .
MR . WEISS : O t her counci l persons?
ASS I S T AN T MAYO R ROSENFI E LD : This appears
to be pr obab l y the best we are go ing to get .
COUNCILMAN JACOB I: Ma k e sure you put if we
agree to it, yo u shou l d pu t language in t here from
now f o r ward he has t o pay his assessments .
MR . WE I SS : I made a note of th at.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSE NFIELD : Now forwa r d or
backwa r ds?
CO UNC I L MAN JACOB I : I t would have t o be
from the date of settlement f orward .
MR . P OP OK : Which would be cons i s t en t with
the co n t i nued assessments .
MR . WE ISS : Correc t.
COUN C I LMA N SANZ : I th i n k we s h ould ju st
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put a stop to it , just end i t now, because since I
came in, this has been going on. I mean , we are
in our third year now and that means --I don 't
know if it was two years prior to t h is and it 's
been ongoing so i t gets bigger and bigger with
l awyer's fees and everything. By the time we
settle with him , we are going to lose more money.
COUNCILMAN JACOBI: How much per ye ar do we
collect from Mr . Raheb for assessment?
MR . WEISS : 910.
COUNCILMAN JACO B I : How much does i t add up
fr om the time it started?
MR. WEISS: Al, do you know?
MR . TREPPEDA: What was the question?
MR. WEISS : What is i t? You are asking how
much t he liens are , Joe l?
MR. TREPPEDA: This is years ago, not just
the t hree year period . The l awsuit has been three
years, b ut he hasn 't been paying for years.
COUNCILMAN JACOBI: How l ong has he been in
the community for?
COU NCILMAN PACKER : I t 's almost five.
MR. POPOK: I t's an '03 case , which m eans
i t was filed in '03 .
COUNCI LMA N PACKER : $4,500.
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ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : He stopped
paying before that .
MR . TREPPEDA : Righ t.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : What did the
city do during the time he didn't pay?
MR . WE I SS: We liened his property .
ASS I S TANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Is tha t the
only l ien we h ave ever done in that security
distr i ct?
MR . T REPPEDA: No, there are mo re.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: For
nonpayment?
COUNCILMAN PACKER : So, i n other words, if
45
there are other peop l e who have l i ens against
them , that is go ing t o set a preceden t that t he re
are l iens against other people 's prop e rty i n
there. You d i d i t for him , do i t for us and then
we will start to pay.
ASSIS T ANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : How many are
there?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Are we prepared to do
that?
MR . TREPPEDA: There aren't many l iens.
ASSISTANT MAYO R ROSENF I ELD : Is it two or
is it ten?
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MR . TREPPEDA: I t 's probab l y, I would just
guess, maybe f i ve at the most .
ASS I STAN T MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : How long have
those liens been?
MR . T R EPPEDA : It 's be e n for yea r s .
ASSIS TAN T MA YOR ROSENF I ELD : P eople have
li ved there f or five , ten years --
MR . WE I SS : We coll e ct t he money when t hey
sell the house , then we get our money .
MR . TRE P PEDA : Correct .
MR . WEISS : T he other th i ng you can do is
46
i f you are concerned about the precedent, you
could take t he a mount of these liens , i ncrease the
$26 ,000 by the amount of the liens a n d have him
pay eve r ything off . I don 't know how much --what
did you say , it 's 1 0 ,000?
MR. T REPPEDA : 10 ,500 is the last number we
have .
MR . WE IS S : If you were concerned about t h e
p r ecedent and try to settle t he th i ng and not
deal, basic a l l y , you have him paid more and then
pay the lien .
COUNCI L MAN JACOB I: T ha t is a good
so l ution .
COUNCILMAN PACKER : Is there any way that
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we can maybe re quire t h e association maybe t o bac k
off th is whole --once this is done --
MR . WEISS : Yes .
COUN CI LMAN PACK ER : --have t h e assoc iatio n
monitor their own affairs and l et 's ge t th e
vil l age out of i t .
MR . WEISS : We ll , we ca n have a l ong
co n ve r satio n abou t i t, and I think, honestly, th a t
if you spo k e to everybody there , they would l ove
to . The p r ob l em is that when you set up a condo
l ike you have , i n t he condo documents and th ere
are s tate statues that dea l wi th this , t he condo
associatio n has the ability to l i en condos and to
assess peop le . Beca u se they were se t up --
original l y , t his was like a northern vacat i on
co mmun i ty . I t was not set up as a vil l age to
begin w i th , and tha t area was not set up as a
condo associa t ion . I t 's just a c ivi c assoc i ation .
The prob l em t hat they have i s t h ey don 't ha v e any
abili t y to assess their people and force them to
p ay, and that i s wh y t his whole th in g came abou t .
We t alked about that , remember , in t he
orientation . T ha t is why t h is came about .
So the prob l em is that they wou l d be I
think nobody would be ha ppi er than t hem to be r id
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of us . The problem is th at they have peop le t h a t
a r e not paying. They have no ability to co l lect
t hat money, and, so, the refo re , less p eop le would
probably pay because it's just a bil l from the
civic . It used t o be a vo l untary association, a nd
as own ers changed, t hey all came down here, a
group of them together, and created this vil l age .
They were a l l f riends . They were al l very wea l thy
indus tr i a li sts from up nor t h . It was no problem .
Th ey jo i ned the civic associa ti o n . Yo u went o v er
to the club. You drank it up . You had you r boat.
You had you r fun. I t was nothing.
What happe ned was as the neighborhood
started to change and the origin a l r esidents moved
out, some of the people said, why should I be
paying for t his, and so they came t o the vil l age
and asked us because they don 't have any abil i ty
to co l lect , but if t here was a way and we t ried i t
over the years to figure out a way, but I do n 't
know any other way to do i t . They have gone,
apparently , to lawyers and asked them , but because
it wasn't do n e when the original homes were so l d,
the y have no abil i ty to compel a nybody to do this .
I think everybody is on the same page here ,
but nobody , really, has been ab l e to figure ou t a
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way to do it.
Let 's see . I guess, Howard?
MAYOR BERLIN : I want to make sure
everybody has had an oppor t u ni ty.
MR . WE I SS : I was j ust going around.
MAYOR BERLIN: Are you looking fo r me f or
comment?
MR. WEISS : Yes.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : Yes.
MAYOR BERLIN : I par ticip a t ed in these
sett le ment negotiations at the request of the
plaintiff and the c it y , so I am fairly f am i liar
wi t h how we got to where we go t t o .
49
My only --the only thing I would add is in
connec ti on with my law pract i ce , I h ave learned
over the yea r s there i s an old saying about
settlements an d tha t is tha t a good sett l ement
mea ns both parties fee l they didn 't get everyth i ng
the y wan t ed . I think this is, under the
circumstances, I thin k it 's reasonab l e .
MR . WEISS: Okay . What we are doing he re
is l ooking for --we don 't ne ed to vo t e. Is there
some consensus? The things that I h ave add ed are
that he has agreed to pay the amount going
forwa r d, n umbe r one , and, n u mbe r two , is there a
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feeling one way or another a b ou t whether we should
eliminate t he fo r g i ving of the li ens and
increasing the numbe r or whether it's better to
leave the li ens being released , because I don't
t hink i t makes any diffe rence to h im . I 'm not
sure if it makes any di ff erence to the v i llage .
COUNCILMAN JACOB I: Set the pr eceden t .
Make him pay it back .
MR. WEISS: Pay it back. Howard, do you
t hink it makes a d ifference? I don't think it
ma kes any difference to him i f we give him the
additiona l money , he pays the l iens.
Ja i me or Councilman Sanz?
COUNCILMAN SANZ : No .
COUNC ILMA N PACK ER : When you say he pays
his back liens? Does he give it back?
MR . WE ISS : What we do is this --
MR. POPOK : Part of the settlement.
MR. WE I SS : We would inc r ease t he $26,000
by the amount of the liens he owes, and then what
he does, he tur n s back the extra 10 ,500 that we
have given him and pays off all these lie ns and
agrees to pay go in g forward .
COUNCILMAN PACKER: How are you setting
this precedent if someone else pulls this?
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MR . WEISS : Tha t i s the risk, is that
someone else --I don 't know what we ar e givin g
hi m other t han --I mean, I guess , somebody else
who wa n ts to go invest 25 or $50 ,0 00 of thei r own
money can g o sue the v ill a ge t o knock this t h i n g
ou t . I don 't kno w why th ey wo uld do i t , frankly .
I h ave t alk ed to hi m about this . I don 't e v e n
know why he did it , other t han he didn 't l ike --
i t was mo r e --h e 's very much of a
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSE NF I ELD : A ma veric k .
MR . WEISS :
indiv i dua list.
yo u know , like a rugged
He 's fig ht i n g for democracy .
h ad mu ch mor e to do with the way i t was being
admi n i stered , t h e way Kent Secur i ty was be i ng
don e , all of that, th e who l e proce ss.
Th is
MR . P OPOK : I would thi nk it wou l d be more
attractive i f t he vil lage f o l ded a f ter a year of
litigatio n, but it has been five yea r s .
MR. WEI SS : He has lo st money here. He is
no t makin g a ny mo n ey here . He paid $1 00 ,0 00 to
hi s lawyer or more to get bac k 50 , 60 . You kn o w,
thi s cost him mo n e y to do i t , bu t he r eal l y does
want to g et out o f this . I think t h at i s really
why . I mean , again , h e was ask i n g f o r hu n dreds of
t h ousands of dollars in mediation .
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COUNCILMAN PACK E R : If we are caug h t , like
yo u say , be tween our own attorneys , not yo u r fi r m
bu t the --
MR. WEISS : Yes.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: And we are subject
possibly if we conti nu e the lawsu i t a n d do not
sett le , that is the f ee l ing , and you say it 's a
poss i bi li ty that definitely we would win the case ,
bu t there is a l so a possibility of a l o ss , if that
is t he feeling of the co u ncil , then I 'll go along
with it .
MR . WEISS : Okay . T hat is what we are
going to do .
So now bac k t o yo u r script , Howard.
Jus t read the rest , j us t k eep c ontinu in g
on .
At this ti me --
MAYOR BERLIN : I will now r eopen the pub l ic
mee t ing .
MR . WE I SS : I'm opening the doo r .
MAYOR BE RLIN : The attorney/cl i ent session
has now been te r mina t ed and members of the general
pub l ic ar e now invited to return for any furthe r
p r oceedings or matters .
MR . WEISS: Hold on . Let her j u st turn on
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(305) 444-7331
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the tape .
MAYOR BERLIN : I will now reop e n the pub l ic
meeting. T he attorney/cl ient sess i on has now been
te rminated . Members of the ge n era l public a r e now
i nvited to re t urn fo r any furthe r proceed ings or
mat t ers .
MR . WEISS : Okay . Done . 9 :00 a m .
Now y ou can ad j ourn the oth er meeting.
Motion to ad j ourn .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFI EL D : Motion to
ad j ourn .
MAYOR BE RLI N : B efore we adjourn , is this
part of the e x ecutive sess i on?
MR. WEISS : We a r e done .
MAYOR BERLIN : I j us t have a question .
Wh at happens next?
MR . WEISS : I n this case?
MAYOR BERLIN : Yes .
MR. WEISS : I n t his case , what is going t o
happen i s I am going to d ra f t , we are go i ng to
dra ft a settleme nt agreement or maybe I 'l l have
the insurance company do it so that way we are no t
pay i ng for it . We will work on a settlement
agreemen t wi th the i nsurance company if I can get
wh atev e r mo ney I can fro m t he insurance company,
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and then the final agree ment will come back to you
on the consent agenda , probably the nex t meeting.
MAYOR BERL I N: The next meeting .
MR . WEISS: Yes. Okay .
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I have ano th er
question.
MR. WEISS : You want to talk to me
private ly?
MAYOR BERL IN: It is 9 :00 o'clock .
MR . WEISS: We are done. We can't talk any
more in this meeting.
(Thereupon, the proceedings were concluded
at 9:00 a .m.)
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C E R T I F I C A T E
5 I, Mary G. Stephenson, FPR , State of Flor ida at
6 Large, certify t hat I was authorized to and did
7 stenographically repo r t the foregoing p ro ceedings and
8 tha t the t ranscript is a true and comp l ete record of my
9 stenographic notes .
10
1 1 Dated th is 21st day of March, 2008 .
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