HomeMy Public PortalAbout2009-03-17 AttorneyClient Session CASE 07-12570CA15 29 pages (2)1
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VILLAGE OF BAL HARBOUR
ATTORNEY/CL I ENT SESS I ON
BAL HARBOUR VI LLAGE HAL L
65 5 96th STREET
BAL HARBOUR , F LORIDA 33 15 4
T UESDAY, MARCH 17 , 2009
6 :45 p .m. -7:10 p.m.
22 T aken befo r e Ma r y G . Stephenson , FPR, Notary
2 3 Public for the State of F lor i da
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TAYLOR REES E AND ASSOCIATES, INC .
(305) 44 4-7331
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2 APPEARANCES :
3 COUNCILMEMBERS:
4 JEAN ROSENFI E LD , ASSISTAN T MAYOR
MAR TI N PACKER
5 J A I ME M. SANZ
JOE L S . JACOBI (PR E S E NT ON L Y DUR I NG
6 PUBLIC PORTION)
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8 V I LLAGE MANAGER:
9 ALFRED J. TREPP E DA
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1 1 VILLAGE AT TORNEY :
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WEISS S E ROTA HE LFMAN
PASTORI ZA COL E & BON I SKE , P.A.
BY : R IC HARD WE I SS , ESQ .
MIC HAEL POPOK, ESQ .
V IL LAGE CLERK:
EL LI SA HORVATH, CMC
(P RESEN T ONLY DUR I NG PUBLIC POR T ION)
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1 There upon , the following proceedings were had:
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ASSIS TA NT MAYOR ROSEN FIELD: Good evening ,
ladies and gen~lemen .
meeting to order.
I am calling thi s pub li c
By the way, happy St. Pat rick's day to all
of you .
May I have a roll call , p l ease.
MS . HORVATH: Assistant Mayor Ros~nfield .
ASSISTAN T MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Present .
MS . HORVAT H : Council man Jacobi.
COUNCI L MAN J ACOBI: Here.
MS. HORVATH: Councilman Packer .
COUNC ILMA N PACKER: Here .
MS . HORVATH : Mayor Berlin and Councilman
San z a r e absent.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSEN FIELD : I t is now
6 :45 p.m. and we are about to have an
attorney/client session in accordance with Florida
Statute 286.011 regarding the li t igation styled
Ly n n Bloch-Mullen versus Joel Jacobi , Bal Harbour
Village and t he Miami-Dade Canvassing Board , Dade
Coun ty Circuit Court , case number 07-12570 CA 15 .
This session is estimated t o last to one
hour and the fol l owing peop le will be in
attendance at this meeting: Mr . Sanz has jo ined
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us , Jaime Sanz, Ma r tin Packer, Jean Rosenfield ,
the attorneys, Village At torneys Richard J. Weiss ,
Michael J. Popok, and Village Manage r Alfred J .
Treppeda .
These proceedings will be reco r ded by a
certified cou r t reporter and, at t he co n clusion of
the li ti gation discussed , the transcript will be
made part of the public recor d .
All those individuals who I have no t named ,
at this t ime , should leave the room .
MR. POPOK: Vice Mayor , could I just have
you read the case number again? We might have had
it incorrect on the spreadsheet .
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSEN FI ELD:
number is 07-12570 CA 15 .
The case
MR. POPOK : No , 08 . It switched .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSE N FIE L D : So it 's 08
now?
MR . POPOK : We have had a number of judges .
So it 's 08 now. I think it's now 08 . It 's our
fourth judge .
(Thereupon , Ms. Horvath and Councilma n
Jacobi left the room.)
MR . POPOK : Good evening, l et 's talk about
t he Bloch-Mu l l en case . F irst I want to give you a
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br ie f update on where i t is in the status of the
case and the trial, what has been acc omplished
since t he last time we met , and th en I will ask
for some direction related to a coup le of is sues.
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F ir st of all , as the counci l knows from our
circulating to t he vi l lage manager , our summary
judgment asking f or a ruling that as a matte~ o f
law the charter for the v i llage cons i s te n t with
Flor ida s t a tu te and l aw allows for the appo intme nt
of a replacement should Councilperson Jac obi be
removed by the court was u phe ld on summa ry
judgment . The judge rule d th a t we were correc t
under the l aw and if at th e end of the day he is
remov ed at a tria l because he didn't satisfy t he
r es i dence requ irement , tha t the council would have
the power to fill the vacancy as opposed to
seating Ms . Lynn B l oc h-M ullen who is th e
challenger .
Th e lit tle bit of the delay that we had is
b ecau se we a re on our fifth judge . We are on our
th ird judge in t he la st two mo nths. The fir s t
j udge t hat rul ed in our favor, Geri Beth Cohen
rotated o ff i nto juvenile before she cou ld enter
t he order . We then had ano th e r judge , J udge Reyes
fo r a mon th . There was a motion to disqua li fy him
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that was raised by p lain ti ff based on some prior
contact that the judge had wi t h t he village. The
judge after hearing argument, rec used himself . He
also didn 't sign the order . We then got a third
judge who was around for such a sho rt period of
t ime that I never made an appearance . I 'm not
even sure who it was, but t he re was a motion
brought by the defense, Mr . Geller, on behalf of
Mr . Jacobi that he had had some sort of d ea lings
with the judge wh en she was running for o f fice and
t h at she should be r ecused , and she g ran ted that,
which rotated to our last and final judge, Judge
Cardonne Ely, who we had a sta t us conference in
front of and she is trying the case . In fact, it
starts tomorrow . So to morrow and Thursday will be
e i gh t hours worth of tr i al time t hat she has set
aside four hours each day to try th e i ssue of
res idence as it re l ates to Councilperson Jacobi .
There is an open issue, however. Even
t hou gh she has seen the transcr ipt from the
hearing with Geri Beth Cohen that ruled in our
fa~o r, even t hough she signed the order granting
our motion for summa r y judgment, during a number
of conference ca l ls tha t we have had with her, she
left open at leas t a sliver of oppor tunity that
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she may reconsider some of the i ssues that were
raised on the mot ion for summary judgment at the
end of the trial .
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The opponents have used that to try to
reopen all of the issues in t he case and are
trying to continue to put o n evidence at the tria l
concerning what this council did or did not do to
investigate the residency issue, whether it had an
ob li ga t ion to do so under the char te r, issues l ike
how individual membe rs of the counci l got on in
their posit ion , whether they were elected or
appo i nted, and al l these other issu es which we
have already gotten one ruling from one judge tha t
i t i s wholly irrelevant and t hat they are not
going to hear testimony.
I be lie ve that we are going to get this
judge to say the same thing tomorrow at 1 :30 at a
hea r ing before the trial, but until I have t hat
ruling , the judge has suggested that --at leas t
left open the option that she may allow some of
this evidence in .
Normally, I would say we don 't need t o go
to t his trial because our issues have a lr eady been
reso l ved in summary judgment , but because the
judge has left open the option that at t he end of
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the trial after hea ri ng r ecord ev i dence that I
wou l dn 't b e prese nt to hea r or to object to , she
may make a different r u l ing , I am going to make a
recommendation to t hi s council that we be present
so t hat we know what record i s being de v e _l oped and
where i t i s d i fferent than the issues tha t we laid
o u t a nd the court ha s ruled , t hat the village have
a voice and contro l .
That is the f irst issue t hat is bef o r e you .
COUNCILMAN PACKER : I have one q uestion .
Can one j ud g e at this level overrule anot he r judge
at th e same level? T his is not an a p pe al judg e .
MR . POPOK: No , and it 's a good quest i on .
T he reason that she has the ability unde r t he l aw
is that a summary judgment, speci ally on re me dy is
someth i ng that ca n be reconsidered be fore t he
trial is over . If we h ad t he same judge w it h t he
transcript , and I thin k we circula t ed the
transcript because i t 's part of t he or de r pr ior to
that , t he prior judge who ordered t h at the summary
judgme n t wou l d be granted was very c l ear and
adamant. T here was no doubt . She ma de a number
of commen t s . She was no t equ ivocal at a l l , that
all of those issues are irrelevan t. She doesn't
wan t to hear about what you gu ys di d o r didn't do
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concerning the residency issue, investigate or not
investigate. She doesn't want to hear how
Councilman Packer got on the council, none of
these iss ues . She jus t wants to focus on was he
or was he not a residen t of Bal Harbour.
This judge, I believe is going to
u ltimately come to the same conclusion, but
because she has been a li ttle bit murky in some of
the comments t ha t she has made, the other side has
used it . She gave them a fingernail and they have
taken t he whole hand, a nd they are continuing.
I 'l l give an example. I wanted to
stipulate to most everything that the v i llage
clerk would testify to because they have her
listed as a witness. I said, well , if it's
unobjec tionable fac ts , why do we need to put the
clerk on. Show me your list of st i pulated facts ,
and I mig h t be able to agree to i t . Eight out of
15 or eight ou t of twelve of th em I can agree to ,
but four of them are, please stipu l ate that the
village council didn't do anything to investigate
residency , tha t p eople on this council were
appointed or they didn 't have to stand fo r
election against a challenger. I mean , these are
to t ally irrelevant to the iss ue of whether
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Councilperson Jacobi was or was not a resident.
So we are still argu i ng over it .
COUNC IL MAN PACKER : I have a question .
Basically, what you j ust said , it 's not the duty
of the council to do due di l igence when someone
app l ies for running f o r office .
MR. POPOK: That is not the plaintiff's
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a r gument . The plai n tiff 's argument is tha t t here
is charter provision that yo u are the keeper of
the election and you have the ob liga t i on .
CO UNCILMAN P ACKER : Not our clerk? Ou r
cle r k takes care o f that .
MR. POPOK : Wel l , he has gone further .
They a r e arguing that under certain sections of
the c h arter , which Richard cou l d probably lay his
hands on, he has read the m to mean that this
counci l had an aff i r mative obligation once the
issue i s raised , whether it was raised by a
l awsuit or o t he r wise , t o investigate and hold a
hear ing or a trial to determine the residency
issue . We don 't ag r ee w i th that , but that is
some t h in g they ha v e t r i ed to inject in the case.
ASS ISTANT MAYOR ROSE NFIE L D : Is the r e
precedent for t hat?
MR . POPOK : I t hi n k t hey a r e
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misinterpreting the charter. Based on the
language of our charter, I don 't think they are
going to succeed in that , but i t 's still i n the
case and they are raising i t .
COUNC I LMAN PACKER : But that is afte r the
fac t . That i s n ot before the fact. I n other
words, when a person app l i es to run for office,
they submit residency require ment s to t he cle rk,
not to the co u ncil .
MR . POPOK: They submit an a ffi dav i t of
residency.
COUNC ILMAN PACKER : Correct . The counci l,
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of course, i s no t apprised of that . That is j ust
the clerk . Right?
MR . POPOK : Correct .
COUNCILMAN SANZ : Ri g h t.
COUNC I LMA N PACKER: So, therefore , why
would the council be in v olved as far as doing any
i nvestiga t ion?
MR . WEISS : Not be f ore.
CO UNCILMAN PACKER : No t be f ore?
MR . WE I SS: Under t he charte r, the counc il
is the judge of its own qua lifi cat i ons wh en
somebody i s on the co u nc i l.
COUNC I LMAN PA C KER : And someth i ng is
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brought up .
MR . WE I SS : And some t h i ng is brought it .
What it says i s we have the power to subpoena
witnesses and require pr oduc ti on of records , but
t h e decis ion o f the council sha ll in a n y case be
sub j ect to review by the co u rts .
COUNCI LMAN PACKER: That has never come
before t he co u nc il to do anything?
COUNCILMA N SANZ : No.
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MR . WE I SS : Because basical l y what happened
was th a t the la wsuit was f i l ed . Their lawye r
never came to the counc il and sa i d to the counc i l ,
you should r emove Mr . Jacobi . This is be f o r e the
l aws ui t was filed . Tha t never happened. That
never ha p pened , and by t h e t i me i t ca me to t he
counc i l , t h e lawsu i t h ad al r eady been fi l ed . So
the counc il at that t i me said , since it 's sub j ect
to rev i ew by t he co u rts anyway, l et it be dea l t
wi th by the courts .
By t h e way , the comment I was go i ng to ma k e
is that t here has been a l ot of t alk. There is an
a r tic l e in the paper about what this li tiga ti on is
cos t ing . We are ve r y consc i o u s o f i t. Bu t when
yo u hear what Mic h ae l i s ta lki ng abou t , t he judge ,
another judge , a motion f or disqualifica ti on by
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one side, a motion for disqual i fication by the
other side, keep try i ng t o ra i se these issues that
have bee n resolved, all that costs money . A l l o f
i t cos t s money , and t he truth is that where we
thought we were in th e case , Michael and I talked
about this , we were done spending money , done
because we had a ruling as to what the council
t o l d us to deal w it h, which was the re medy, how
the appoint ment gets filled , and we were done.
weren 't going to attend the trial because, yo u
We
know, Joel 's issue is not our iss u e , and we never
have l i tigated t h at issue .
T he problem is tha t because of t his
swapping over of j udges and all of that, and that
is the issue that Michael has raised, the judge
has sort of l eft ope n th is little c r ack that some
of these is sues that we are int erested in could
get reraised again .
COUNCILMAN PACK E R : In other words , they
are say i ng t hat --in other words , t his tria l i s
going to take place , you say , for the next two
days .
MR . WEISS : We ll , it 's n o t going t o be
completed in two days. I t is goi n g to s ta rt for
two days and t hen it 's set days in April , right?
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MR. PO P OK : Yes . It 's going to p i ck up
again on April 1 3th .
MR . WE I SS : This is goi n g to be a l ong
f ight.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : I though you said it
would take e i ght hours a n d th at is i t .
MR . WE I SS : No . She has given us eight
hours , but it probably won 't get done .
CO UNC I LMAN SANZ : The first time.
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSEN F IELD : She is no t
going to make any decis i ons .
COUNC I LMAN PACKER: I t would not be any
decision?
MR . WEISS : No , no.
COUNCILMAN PACKE R : Cou l d t he decision
possibly say that s h e could t h row it back to us at
the counci l ?
MR. POPO K: No .
MR . WE I SS : No . P robably not . Very
un l i kely . No , but --and we thought this issue
was resolved by the first j udge, and we were happy
and done . T he only t hing tha t we are co n cerned
abou t is that our ins t r u ctions from the counci l
were preserve the right of the council to make the
appo in tment under the cha r ter, and what we are
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concerned about is because of th e way that this
judg e h a d --some comme n ts tha t t his j udge has
made t hat t here is a s l im c h ance --righ t ,
Mic ha e l ?
MR. POPOK : R igh t .
MR . WE I SS : --t hat s h e could loo k at our
summary j udg men t again .
C OUNC I LMAN PA CKER : And sh e could orde r
what she wants to order .
MR. WEISS : She could orde r what she wa nt s
to orde r .
MR . POPOK: She co u l d vacate t h e original
orde r .
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MR . WE I SS : We think t hat i s u nlike l y, but
t h e conce rn i s because she has done t hi s, that we
are r ecomme n ding tha t we attend t he trial because
all sorts of stuff could be bro ug ht u p tha t would
hurt our issue .
ASSIS TA NT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : Our issue was
s imply that we de f ended the c harte r and t he
council's ri ght to make t he appointmen t .
MR . WE I SS: Also , the se comments tha t
peop l e a r e making like peop le ar e say ing l ike the
village d i dn't need to be involved and b la h, b l a h ,
blah, a l l those k inds o f thin gs, t hi s is a pe rf ect
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circumstance where if the plaintiff were
intereste d in limit i ng t he expense by the vi ll age ,
they could j ust say , we are done wit h that issue,
b u t they are not . They are continuing t o pus h
that issue; so that continues to draw t h e village
back in to the litigation .
COUNCI L MAN PACKER: Then you h ave to
appear.
MR . WE I SS : We ha ve to appear .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : You have to
appear .
COUNC ILMAN PACKER: Is t ha t what this
par ticu l ar i ssue is?
MR . WEI SS: T hat is the first issue we
have.
MR . POP OK : I was giving you an upda t e and
asking f or di r ection .
ASSISTANT MAYO R ROSENFIELD : I am strong l y
in favor of you appea ri ng.
COUNCI LMAN PACKER : Yo u have to appear .
What is next?
MR . POPOK : The next issue is the chi e f .
In the course of the rotat ing judges , what the
plainti ff used as grounds to disqualify J udge
R eyes , who was two judges ago , was a filing t hat
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they made in cou rt supported by an aff i dav i t in
wh i ch
MR. WE I SS: Who was the affidavit signed
by, Michae l ?
MR. POPOK : Hold on . I have i t .
I th i nk i t was s i gned by Bloch-Mu l le n . I
h ave i t here. Veri fi ed motion to disqualify the
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tr ial cour t judge was sig n ed by the pla i ntif f .
Yes, the affidavit o f Lynn Bloch -Mullen was filed
in conjunction with that.
P art of it is an attack on the c r edibility
of C h ief Hunker, basica lly ca lli ng him a liar .
MR. WEI SS : Read some of it.
MR . POPOK: J udge Reyes had disc l osed that
he ha d an interaction or contact wi th Chief
Hunker, tha t his nephew had worked a t the village
under Ch i e f Hunker at some point, that h e knew
Chief Hunker from when the j udge was a p r osecutor
and Chief Hunker was a police officer. They
suggested that , oh, the judge wi ll be biased and
won't list e n. Wh en Chief Hunke r is attacked on
the stand for his cred i b i lity i t wi ll be a
problem .
What they said specif i cally about him
give me one second. Apparently t he j u dge 's godson
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Alex A l varez is currently a pol i ce officer at the
vi l lage?
MR. TREPPEDA : Yes .
MR . POPOK: Which he disclosed . The judge
disc l osed all th i s.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSEN FIELD : And t hen the
ju dge recused himself.
MR ·. PO P OK: Yes . Bu t they went out of
the ir way to rea ll y attack the chief.
find th e places.
Let me just
MR. WE I SS: While Michael is doing t hat ,
th e chief saw this stuff and within the context of
the litigation, wha t we are asking for you to
advise us on is whether you want to authorize us
within the context of the litigation to do what we
have to do to clear the chief's name.
MR. POPOK : Let me read what was written
and then we w i ll talk about what is being
considered or could b e considered.
This is from th eir mo t ion, from the
plaintiff's perspective, Chief Hunker 's veracity
is questionab l e. Severa l examples which fo l low
raise questions concerning Chief Hunker 's
c r edibility, wh ich wou ld be proble matic with a
court that places e mph as i s on his credibil i ty .
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C h ief Hunke r was asked if h e knew Bernard
Jenn i ngs, a businessman and a campaign manager of
Jacobi 's 2007 election ca mpaign. He tes t i f ied
that he had heard his name twice , once in
connection with a request that had come f r om
Mr . Jennings for a contribution for a charity for
underprivi l eged kids, and the other in connect i on
with obscene phone calls that the p l a i ntiff was
rece i ving after this case was filed f r om phones
located a t businesses owned by Mr . Jennings. And
they quote Chief Hunker 's depos i tion . When asked
if he made recommendations t o t he village council
t o fund t h e request, Chief Hunker said n o .
However, he did . This is their position . A copy
of Chief Hunker 's July 16th , 2007 memorandum t o
the village manager in whi ch he requested that t h e
council au t horize t h e expenditure is attached.
C h ief Hunker also denied --shal l I go on?
MR . WEISS: Yes .
MR . POPOK : Chief Hu nker also denied
receiv in g passes fro m Jacobi to the adult
entertainmen t es t ab l ishment known So l id Gold.
Captain Jay Smi t h con t rad i cted Chief Bunker's
testimony , as he reca l led Chief Hunker te l ling him
that he had received passes from J acob i so the
TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOCIATES , INC .
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chief's friends wou l d not have to pay to get into
Solid Gold.
ASS I S TA NT MAYOR ROSENFIE L D: Okay.
MR. POPOK: The p la inti ff also has concerns
as to why no crimina l act i on was taken even though
the Bal Harbour Police Department was ab l e to
trace t he cal l to Mr. J ennings ' businesses .
MR . WE I SS : The reaso n I wanted you to hear
some of this is, again, you wonde r how li tiga tion
gets so expens i ve and gets so wrapped up . This is
what the p l aintif f s are fi li ng.
are fili ng .
T his i s what they
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Can I j ust
respond for t he r ecord on one thing?
That who l e thing where he asks for mo n ey ,
tha t was Mr . Jennings . They wanted money for
North Miami Senior Hi g h for a wall to commemorate
somet h ing, and I am t he one on this council who
said I d id not believe tha t we should g i ve t he
money to Nor t h Miami Senior High as our students
don't a tt end North Mi ami Senior Hi gh and tha t any
money t hat the police forfeiture funds spent
should be to aid students in need . We all voted
on that and we turned down the money .
in uniso n , we al l turne d i t down.
TAYLOR REE S E AND ASSOCIATES, INC .
(305) 4 4 4 -733 1
The counci l
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Chie f Hunker did no t say anything . He
d idn 't come back and say , well, it 's po li ce funds
and this i s what we want t o do. None of t hat was
said . So , I mean , yo u know , he did ask.
MR . WEISS : The issue is Ch ie f Hunker
COONC IL MA N PACKER : Th i s is very
convoluted.
MR . WEISS : Chief Hunker is v e ry , very
personal l y o f fended by t hi s ki nd of --
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFI EL D : Wha t does he
wa n t us to do?
MR . WEISS : He wants us to f i le whateve r we
have to f ile e i t her within this case or the
context of anot h er case with the court to remove
t h i s from the record or to --
COONC I LMA N SANZ : Clear his name?
MR. WEISS : --clear his name .
ASSISTANT MA YOR ROSENFIELD : Can 't his
attorney r eport that , not us?
MR. WE I SS: Yes . He can f i l e his own
l awsu i t .
ASSISTAN T MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : What I
t h ink --again, my op i nion . I think what we ought
t o do this time is that we confirm and tha t we
uphold Ch i ef Hunker , t ha t he has performed with
TAY L OR REESE AND ASSOC I ATES , I NC .
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whatever. He has performed very, very well for
this city , Bal Har b our . We appreciate what he has
done for us and we will continue to support him as
the chief of police .
COUNCILMAN SANZ: Yes .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD : I would like
to have that statement from the council .
want to get into any more litigation .
I don't
COUNCILMAN PACK8R : To me , this scenario
t ha t you just read , I would have to go over it
very, very slowly because to me this one paid for
t icke ts, t his one didn 't . I don't know any of
these peop l e or even heard of any of this. T h is
is ve r y convoluted stuff as fa r as I'm concerned .
Now, what you are requesting and what the
chief is reques t ing what he wants us to do to --
MR . WEISS : He wants us to do whatever we
have to do to get this stuff s t ricken f r om the
record , to file whatever papers we have t o fi l e in
court, to file whatever motions we have to file,
do whatever we have to do to get this stuff off
the public records and out of h i s file.
MR. POPOK: If tha t doesn't happen , I think
he wants to go further.
COUNCILMAN PACK E R : Let me say this t o you.
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Isn 't the object of the chief and h is attorney t o
do what he has to do and if there is something t he
same way as other people who are exposed in th e
council o r peop l e who work for t he village and
s t uff li ke i f someth ing like that comes to the
co n c lu s io n , and then we just approve le gal fees to
be pa id ? Why sho u ld we as the v il lage then start
in? Am I maki ng myse lf c l ear?
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIE L D : I thin k you
are k in d of on t he same kind of t h ought that I am
on t hat we let him t ake --but we a ff irm his
position .
COU NCILMAN PACKER : The re i s no question
about we back the chief ; but I think if i t 's a
personal t h i ng, a perso nal attack, that he and hi s
attorney go a f ter t his , or however th ey want --I
don't k no w . Can yo u give us some advice of how i t
should be done rathe r th an t he counci l and the
v il l age gett ing involved again or more so?
COUNCILMA N SANZ : I have a qu est ion now .
I s th at personal a t tack to him or a pers onal
attack as the chief of police of t h e Village of
Bal Harbour .
MR . POPOK: T o answer cou n ci l person 's
observat i on, the case law that we have l ooked a t,
TAYL OR REESE AN D ASSOCIATES , I NC .
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there are times where key personnel, whether it be
one of the counci l people, the mayor or in this
case the chief of po l ice is attacked in his
official capacity . T he re is case law where some
as a policy decision, tha t is why it 's a policy
decision , have decided that there i s merit in
defending that person in his official capacity .
You don 't want your mayor, your chief to be called
a liar in pub li c docume n ts because of the impact
it would have or the crater you could have in
pub l ic confidence .
If you a re asking me if there ha ve been
communities that have decided to make it a policy
to do something about filings like that, yes , but
i t a l so is a publ ic policy .
ASS I STAN T MAYOR ROS ENFI ELD : What would it
cost us i f we d i d do this? No t t o go on with the
second part , that he wou l d sue, but what does it
cost us to file a mo t ion that this be removed from
the record?
MR . POPOK: I would a 57.105 motion, which
is a letter to the other side tell ing them if you
don 't withdraw the motion, we will seek sanctions
against you within 2 1 days, and if he didn't do
it, I could file a mo t ion and have i t he ard, and,
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you k now , it cou l d be 50 to 75 hours wo r th of time
by the t i me you are done f i ling and draft ing .
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROSENF I EL D: Whic h amoun ts
t o wh a t ?
MR . WE ISS : $10 ,000.
MR . POPOK : T en to $15 ,000 .
COUNC ILMA N PA C KER : As opposed t o t he chief
doing it himse l f , a nd then being reimbursed by the
vil la ge?
MR . WEISS : I am no t sure there is an
ability to get reimbursed for th at kind o f thing.
COUNCI L MAN PACKER : Didn 't we just
MR. WEISS : That dea lt with --
COUNCILMAN PACK ER : T hat dealt on ly with
ethics? Not a ny ot he r?
MR . WE ISS : We can look at i t , b u t I will
te ll you this.
MR. PO POK: If he does i t --
MR . WEISS: If he does i t, t he y are n o t
go in g to be charging h im $200 an hour .
is charg i ng $200 an h our like we a re .
No lawyer
more .
COUNCILMAN SANZ : It 's going to be even
MR . POPOK : Righ t.
MR . WEISS : Yes . Michael 's nor mal rate is
TAYLOR REESE AN D ASSOCIATES , I NC .
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$600 . Mine is 800.
I mean , t hat is t h e p rivate sec t or rates.
Maybe the guy wil l do it for $4 0 0 , three , but it 's
not going to be $200 .
We are no t l ooking for additiona l wor k ,
be lie ve me . We don 't want any more , and I don 't
know what the ch ie f --I 'm not sure the re i s an
ab ili t y to get rei mbursed .
COUNC ILMAN PACKER : So, in other words, you
are as k ing dir e ction i f you shou l d fi l e this
le tt e r , what you jus t sa id?
MR . POPOK : Yes . I f I should p r epare and
se r ve t hem with a mot i on. It has to b e a motion
a lon g w i th a dem and letter to withdraw what t hey
filed . My gu t i s t he y won 't do it . I can see h ow
they are o n t h e other side. The n I wou ld have to
go further . I would have to have a hea r ing on i t .
COUNCI LM AN PACK ER: Wou ld you com e back
t he n to see if you shou l d go for wa rd first ?
MR . POPOK : I could d o t he firs t part and
not do the second part.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Go for the first part
and t hen if you have to proc ee d further, then we
wil l li sten .
MR . POPO K: We could do th a t .
TAY LOR REESE AN D ASSOCIATES, INC .
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ASS ISTANT MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Can we a l so
issue a s t atement saying that we affirm .
MR . WEISS : I think you can do tha t .
ASSIS T ANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD: How do we do
that?
MR . WEISS : You can either do a --a t one
end, you can have Tom Hunker day and Bal Harbour
do a who l e resol u tion.
CO UNCI L MAN PACKER: No , no, no.
MR. WEISS: You cou l d have someth i ng that
somebody reads .
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROS ENFIELD: A
proclamation?
COUNC I LMAN PACKER: At the --
MR . WEISS : At a counci l meeting .
ASS I STANT MAYOR ROSENF I ELD : At a council
meet i ng and we jus t give him an award , a
proclamat i on that says we apprec i ate a l l he has
done.
MR . WE ISS: We respect his veracity and
truth. Al and Ell i sa can wri t e it u p and we will
look at it .
COUNCILMAN PACKER : There is not problem
with that . Th e on l y thing i s people loo k at that
and say , gee, whe n somebody does that, what are
TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOC I ATES, INC .
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the y doing , trying to get rid of h im .
usually happens before.
T hat
MR. T REPPEDA: You can jus t tell him
yo urse l f how much you appreciate him.
COUNCILMAN PACKER : T h at is true. I
be li eve th at may be the best way to do i t . It
will come out at th e council meetings anyway.
MR. WE IS S: Okay. We w i ll plan on doing
that in the April.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: But you are still going
to go through with our support. The mo tion
does n 't get t here without our support.
ASSISTANT MAYOR ROS ENrIE L D: Yes, we
unan imo usly support our chief.
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COUNCILMAN PACKER: Ou r chief . There is no
problem wi t h that .
MR. WE I SS: We are going to fi l e a mot i on
and go from there.
ASSIS T AN T MAYOR ROSENrIELD : I will now
reopen the public meeting. The attorney/client
session has now been terminated and members of the
genera l public are now invited to return for any
furt h er proceedings or matters.
(Thereupon, the proceedings were adjourned
at 7:10 p .m.)
TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOCIATES, INC.
(305) 444 -7331
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C E R T I F I C A T E
I , Mary G . Stephenson, FPR , Sta t e of Flo r ida at
6 Large , certify that I was aut h orized to and d i d
7 stenog r aphical l y repor t the forego i ng proceedings and
8 that the transcript is a true and complete record of my
9 stenograph i c notes .
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Dated this 20th day o f Apri l , 2009 .
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TAYLO R REESE AND ASSOCIATES , INC .
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