HomeMy Public PortalAbout2009-05-19 AttorneyClient Session CASE 07-12570CA081
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VILLAGt OF BAL HARBOUR
ATTORNEY/CLIENT SESSION
BAL HARBOUR VILLAGE HALL
655 96th STREET
BAL HARBOUR, FLORIDA 33154
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009
8:00 a.m. -9:05 a.m.
21 Taken before Mary G. Stephenson, FPR, Notary
22 Public for the State of Florida
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TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOCIATES, INC.
(305) 444-7331
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1 APPEARANCES:
2 COUNCILMEMBERS:
3 JEAN ROSENFitLD, MAYOR
JONI D. BLACHAR, ASSISTANT MAYOR
4 PATRICJA COHEN
MARTIN PACKER
5 JAIME M. SANZ
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VILLAGE MANAGER:
ALFRED J. TREPPEDA
VILLAGE ATTORNEY:
WEISS SEROTA HELFMAN
PASTORIZA COLE & BONISKE, P.A.
BY: RICHARD WEISS, ESQ.
MICHAEL POPOK, ESQ.
15 VILLAGE CLERK:
16 ELLISA HORVATH, CMC
(PRESENT ONLY DURING PUBLIC PORTION)
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TAYLOR REESE AND ASSOCIATES, INC.
(305) 444-7331
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1 Thereupon, the following proceedings were had:
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MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm calling this meeting to order.
May I have the roll, please.
MS. HORVATH: Mayor Rosenfield.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Present.
MS. P.ORVATH: Assistant Mayor Blachar.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Present.
MS. HORVATH: Councilwoman Cohen.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Present.
MS. HORVATH: Councilman Packer.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Here.
MS. HORVATH: Councilman Sanz.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: Here.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: The time is now 8:00
a.m., and we are about to have an attorney/client
session in accordance with Florida Statute 286.011
regarding the litigatioL styled Lynne Bloch-Mullen
versus Joel Jacobi, Bal Harbour Village, and the
Miami-Dade Canvassing Board, Dade County Circuit
Court case number 07-12570 CA 08.
The session is estimated to last one hour
and the following pecple will be in attendance at
the meeting: The following vllloge councilmembers
and me, Assistant Mayor Joni D. Blachar,
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Councilwoman Patricia Cohen, Councilman Martin
Packer and Councilman Jaime Sanz, Village Attorney
Richard J. Weiss, Michael Popok, and Village
Manager Alfred J. Treppeda.
The proceedings will be recorded by a
certified court reporter, and at the conclusion of
all litigation discussed, the transcript will be
made part of the public record.
All those individu~ls who I have not named
should leave the room at this time.
(Thereupon, Ellisa Horvath left the room.)
MR. WEISS: We hoped not to have another
executive session on this matter, but as attorneys
we are obligated when we get a counter-proposal to
present it to you.
As you remember, the lost time we discussed
the appeal issue on the Lynne Bloch-Mullen
lawsuit, council instructed us to do this. We
told you that we had the opportunity to file a
motion, what is called a ffiotion to tax costs,
which we can recover certain court reporter fees
and other things. It ended up being about $4,000.
They, of course, have the right to appeal the
decisions of the court. What the council
instructed us to do was to contact them and say,
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listen, we don't really want tc fight about this
any more. We are done. We want to be finished.
If you agree --and this is very, very common.
you agree not to flle your appeal, we will agree
If
not to file our motion to tax costs, and that was
sort of where we were.
So we made that offer orally and in writing
to Mr. Hearon, who is the attorney for Ms. Lynne
Bloch-Mullen, and then we got that long letter
back, which each of you have a copy of, basically
raising a bunch of other issues, and basically
making us the counter-proposal, which included
releases, which, you know, further complicated the
matter. I don't want to go through the letter
because you have been through it.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Excuse me.
MR. WEISS: Yes.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: I read the letter, and
I don't know if there is something I need to
understand in it, but what I understood is they
were implying that we were not releasing them from
perhaps taking action in the future.
to clarify what we are talking about.
I mean, just
MR. WEISS: We are not in any way releasing
them and theoretically under what had been
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proposed, had the village wanted to turn around
ttere had been some talk in the village about
going after these people for slander, whicc are
oral statements that have been made. There was
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some talk about going against Ms. Bloch-Mullen for
the article in the newspaper dealing with the fact
that the council was corrupt and all of that.
settling the case the way that --not settling
By
by agreeing basically for each party to just sort
of walk away from the thing.
Those issues were, to be fair, still sort
of outstanding. I believe from speaking with
individual councilmembers that nobody has any
interest on the council in pursuing any of those
matters and are happy just to have this done.
The issue that was raised in Mr. Hearon's
letter --by settling it the way that we had
proposed, she was not precluded from doing
anything and we were not.
Now, we know because we are in these
meetings that we don 1 t really intend to do
anything. So that was the one issue.
Yes.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Why then was it not
specifically expressed in an agreement because
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there is no formal or informal request that we go
after I mean, there is no hidden agendas. Then
why wasn't there an agreement right then and
there?
MR. WEISS: The way that these cases are
generally settled at the time that we were at --
in other words, this is not really a formal --
when you sort of settle a lawsuit if this had been
settled snme long time ago, there is a mutual
exchange of releases where people are suing each
other for damages and so forth, but many times in
these kind of cases when we are basically agreeing
not to go after her for costs and they are
agreelng not to do the appeal, releases, which is
what you are talking about, are not involved.
These c~ses are often settled on that basis.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN; So it's strictly what
we are talking about.
MR. WEISS: It's strictly what you are
talking about. What they have done is they are
concerned about these sort of other issues being
around. There is nothing wrong with putting those
kind of releases in a settlement. Nothing at all
wrong with it. People do it. We can certainly do
it if that is what ycu tell us to do, but at this
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point in the litigation the reaso~ that it wasn't
raised is, number one, we knew that it wasn't an
issue for us. There was no intention of this
council on making this litigation go on and
protracting it and spending more money. So the
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idea that we might go after her for something was
not in anybody's rni~d, but it's obviously in their
minds.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Can we now just
agree to the release and be done with it?
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: No, I don't agree.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: No.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: If they would drop the
appeal and give them this thing and say, look,
it's all done --
MR. WEISS: There is another issue.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: What is the other
issue?
MR. WEISS: The other issue is that there
is the issue of the statements made against Chief
Hunker, and there are statements made in court
filings by the pla~ntiffs that, objectively
speaking, impugn Tom Hunker's reputation for
honesty.
One thing that we did and under the court
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rules, we wrote them at the council's direction,
and we said these statements are inaccurate,
please withdraw them. There is a procedure and
they could have just filed something with the
ccurt withdrawing that pleading, and that would
have been the end of the Tom Hunker. I have
spoken with Tom Hunker, and that would have been
the end. They have refused to do that.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: They have?
MR. WEISS: They have refused to do that.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Did you ask them
to do that now?
·COUNCILMAN PACKER: In writing?
MR. WEISS: Under the procedure that is
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required by the court --Michael, correct me if
I'm wrong, but under the procedure that is
required by the court, before you can file a
motion for sanctions under Rule 57.105, there is a
procedure where we have to give them 30 days?
MR. POPOK: 21.
MR. WEISS: 21 days to withdraw, and we
gave them a formal letter from the council at the
direction of the cou~cil saying we intend to file
this motion, please withdraw those pleadings, they
are not true.
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MR. POPOK: I raised it again with them.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Before the council?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: We did that in a legal
meeting. Not the last one, the one before.
MR. WEISS: There was an issuA. I raised
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the issue with you, and I believe you were there,
w~ich is that Tom Hunker was very, very offended
by the statements that were made regarding his
reputation, and just to put it in a little
perspective for you, police offlcers --for JS,
for somebody to say Richard Weiss i~ a louse,
believe me, it bothers me or it's dishonest. I
mean, I would do something about it, but police
officers are frequently called to testify on
matters in court, and when a defense attorney or a
plaintiff's attorney or a state attorney deals
with police officers, one of the things they try
to do is they try to undercut t~e testimony that
the police officer is giving by showing that the
police officer is not a credible witness, and
statements like this are particularly sensitive to
police officers because if Tom Hunker would get
called to the stand on a big case, if somebody did
a careful job investigating, and I know that Joni
was a state attorney, they would bring this up and
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say, well, weren't there pleadings filed in this
case
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Absolutely.
MR. WEISS: --that said you lied about
this and lied about that. So it's particularly
sensitive.
Anyway, Tom asked us to pursue this, and
the council in a limited way, didn't authorize us
to file suit, but authorized us to take the first
steps to basically put them on ~otice and try to
get Lynne Bloch-Mullen to withdraw those
statements.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: And they refused?
MR. WEISS: And they refused.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: How long ago was
it that they refused that?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: This was two meetings
ago, r.ot the last meeting when you all were here.
It was the meeting before.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: I wasn't present.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: If we ask them
for a release now on both sides, can we ask for it
now?
MR. POPOK: Let me address it.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Will you address
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it?
MR. POPOK: The 21 days is long past. It's
three weeks ago, but I had another conversation
with Mr. Hearon before he wrote his letter in
which he tried to bargain to get these additional
items released. At that time, I informed him,
because he raised the Chief Hunker issue by
saying, we want the 57.105, the motion for
sanctions withdrawn. I said, look, I can't speak
for the council, but my gut feeling is that if you
just withdraw that document, which is what we
asked you to do earlier, that issue will be easily
resolved.
His response to me was, quote, if we were
going to do that, we were going to do that 21 days
ago, and we are not doing it if we felt that had
merit. That was the end of that conversation.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: So it's not a
conciliatory attitude?
MR. POPOK: No.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: This letter, I was so
willing to go with the other and say let's be done
with it, but this letter has really blown me
apart. The two ladies were not on the council,
but when they say in this letter, "We all know
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that the village 1 s failure to investigate
Mr. Jacobi's true residency," we were never asked,
we never knew about it. All I knew was there was
an election, and they immediately filed the suit.
They never once came to thP. council.
said to the council, maybe there is an
They never
irregularity in one of the councilmember 1 s
residency, would you investigate. We were never
asked to investigate, and yet they accuse us.
This is a very accusatory statement, very
accusatory statement. 11 We all know that the
village's failure to investigate Mr. Jacobi." We
didn't have a chance to inve~tigate. They filed
the lawsuit. They did.
It was in an envelope. It was in an
envelope in your packet, in a separate envelope.
The other thing that I am concerned about
is they still say, they still feel strongly about
abrogating the charter. In this statement here,
"As you know, we feel strongly the village's right
to fill a vacancy only applies," and then they
have a caveat of what they think we have a right
to do.
So they are not finished. This is how they
want to be perceived by the public, and to be very
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honest about it, I heard so many things out in the
public.
I mean, what you were talking about before.
Somebody in the audience may have come up here and
said, let's sue her. There is nothing in the
minutes that says that this council said we were
going to go after the 200,000.
MR. WEISS: The only thing that you will
find in the minutes was a discussion by Councilman
Berlin asking us to l~ok into it. I haven't
reviewed the minutes, but I think to be accurate,
I think that there was a discussion, do we have
rights, you know, and he raised a whole bunch of
questions about it, can we go after her, was it a
frivolous case, all of those things.
I think to be fair, we were asked to look
into it. I spoke with everybody afterwards, and
nobody wanted to pursue it. So I didn't spend a
lot of time and effort but it was put out there.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: But it never came up in
any future council meeting. There was never a
discussion. There was never a vote on it. There
was never anything, but until they retract this
statement, I mean, that the village failed. We
never had an opportunity. We were never asked to
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investigate. We were never told. I didn't know
anything. They even knew it before the election
and never said anything. At least, that is what I
heard. That may be hearsay.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: The thing that bothers me
is they continue to uttack us.
tr,inq.
It is a constant
MAYOH HCSENFIELD: T~teqrity.
COJ~CILMAN SANZ: T~tegri~y thaL t~e
co 'J n c i l , 2 v e ::-: t he :-J c w c o u :: c i ::.. a : r e a. d y t :---1 e y
startec.. It is wo,d o: mo~1th 2.t1.d everybody
'J e r c e i v e d u s n ow , yo L k ::-1 ow , we l L , w h y th e y a .r e
corL..:.p::. We have le clarify t~is because it is
really ~ar7ishing evc~yb8dy's reputatio~.
~t•s very difficult
for me to show here, guys.
talk about 1-t.
I am not allowed to
MR. WEISS: You can talk about anything you
want as long as it has to do with the lawsuit.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: The thing is this: 1
think as far as this council goes, we would like
to get this thing over and done with. I believe
that is the fair statement. Is there any way that
Mr. Popok can go back to these people? I realize
the letter, the mayor doesn't like the words,
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whatever it is. They are not that great, but
whatever they wrote, can we go back to them and
say, look, we want this closed? In plain English,
withdraw your statements, withdraw your appeal,
and let's finish it, done, once more.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: We did de that.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: We did it once.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: We did it twice.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I think we should do it
agair.. In plain English, speak to them and say,
look, there is no hidden agenda here. We are not
looking for blood. Drop your case. There has
been a summary judgment that we were right in
appointing Councilman Sanz.
with.
It's over and done
Maybe they think there is a hidden agenda.
I don't know because last time Rudolph gets up and
he starts flailing around and saying, you know, he
wants his $190,000. We should go after her. This
may be hanging over. People may think about it.
I don't know, but I think as far as ladies and
gentlemen on this council, we have no hidden
agendas. We are not out for blood. Tell them
just to drop the case, drop the thing against --
if it was done in error, if it was just sometimes
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people say something, and they don't really mean
it, whatever it was done --I don't know if it was
an actual was it an actual court file?
MR. WEISS:
MR. POPOK:
MR. WEISS:
was by intention.
It was an actual court filing.
It was not in error.
This was not in error. This
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Intentional.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Then they should be
told they ~ust withdraw it.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: They were told.
MR. WEISS: Councilman Packer is suggesting
a comprehensive settlement proposal that deals
with these different elements that we should
present to them. That is what he said.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Correct.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: If he wants that, I want
this statement that we failed --
MR. WEISS: Well, not to add fuel to the
fire, because, certainly, I don't want to do that,
but I will tell you that I think the nature of
that letter has cranked this --we were trying to
put this thing to be conciliatory and to be done
with this.
COUNCILMAN PACK8R: Give them one more
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chance.
MR. WEISS: The problem is this letter, if
you feel strongly about it, has added another
element to it.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: That is
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ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I have a question
for you. Who is paying this gentleman?
MR. WEISS: We really don't know, but I'll
tell you that they started out with a very good
law firm, Kendall Coffey's firm, and this guy,
William Hearon came in sort of at the tail end of
the case, and they filed a notice of appeal.
Jerry Richman signed tr.e notice of appeal.
Actually, he represented the village many, many
years ago dealing with one of the developments or
something like that.
MR. TREPPEDA: Amphitheater.
MR. WEISS: Oh, with the amphitheater
maybe.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Oh, yes.
MR. WEISS: Jerry Richman, he's a very fine
appellate attorney. He can't be cheap. I don't
know whether he collects a certain fee to just
file a notice of appeal to see if he can or
whether they intend to pursue it. I don't know.
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ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I think it's a
great idea to propose it to them like that one
last time, but we have to have a backup already in
place.
MR. WEISS: Then we are done.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: We are done.
MR. WEISS: We filed our notice of appeal.
We had to. Excuse me. We filed our motion to tax
costs. They filed their notice of appeal because
the days were running.
record.
We wanted to preserve our
I think the way I hear the elements are,
number one, they don't pursue their appeal, number
one. Number two, they retract the statements
against Tom Hunker.
You guys have to decide what to do about
the letter, and on our side, we agree not to file
a ~otion to tax costs, and we agree that we are
not going to pursue the plaintiff.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: There is no hidden
agenda here.
MR. WEISS: I can't say tha~. We are going
to give her a release for any actions that she
took in conjunction with this lawsuit.
MR. POPOK: They want it for their
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attorney, Dina, as well.
MR. WEISS: Oh, they want a release for
Dina as well?
MR. POPOK: Right.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: They want a
release for Dina? What does that mean?
MR. POPOK: To be clear, they want a
release for liability for anything that happened
in litigation for both the plaintiff and, quote,
her counsel.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: What does that mean?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Dina acted as her
counsel.
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COUNCILMAN PACKER: What does that mean? I
don't understand.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Did she do
something that we should be upset about?
MR. POPOK: This is their exposure.
MR. WEISS: Under 57.105, if the attorney,
right?
MR. POPOK: Well, there is two thir.gs. I'm
reeding to you. There 1 s two things, I think, they
are concerned about. One is the 57.105 motion for
sar.ct i ons related to Chief Hunker. However, she
is not really on the record for that. It would be
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Kendall Coffey's firm, Bill Hearon and Lynne
Bloch-Muller.
MR. WEISS: Attorneys have personal
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liability.
court
If an attorney files a document in the
MR. POPOK: Without merit.
MR. WEISS: without merit, the attorneys
are liable for what, Michael?
MR. POPOK:
MR. WEISS:
Part of the attorney's fees.
Part of the attorney's fees.
So they don't want us pursuing that motion against
the lawyer.
MR. POPOK: In addition, I think they are
concerned about any other private lawsuit that
could be brought against Lynne and/or Dina and/or
anybody else.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: This issue with
the chief of police, I wasn't familiar with it, so
I don't know anything about the current issue.
They filed a motion against him and this is
on his record. What is his next step? Can he
appeal?
now
MR. WEISS: There is no appeal.
MR. POPOK: Sue for defamation.
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MR. WEISS: He can file a suit for
defamation because they said that he was, you
know
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ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Can you tell them
as part of that --you have to ask the chief if
that is okay
defamation?
MR. POPOK:
MR. WEISS:
that he will not sue for
Is he okay with that?
I think that the chief is --I
have heard that the chief would be okay if they
withdraw it. If they withdraw it from the court
file, I think the chief would be okay.
MR. TREPPEDA: I agree with that.
MR. WEISS: I don't think he 1 s looking for
a big fight. I think he is doinq what any person
would do. He is protecting his reputation.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Because if they
don't, I think that motion needs to be filed for
the chief, a suit for defamation.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: CLln I just get --I
don 1 t get the technicality because I don't have
any background in law.
How would they withdraw? They can just go
to the court and say withdraw, they withdraw what
they said? What they said was false.
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MR. WEISS: They would file a motion with
the court to withdraw a particular pleading and
tr.e judge would grant it.
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COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: So it gets erased like
from the record? And he is clear? Like it was
never mentioned?
MR. WEISS: Exactly.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I think that is what we
should do is have a --I think if you would
approach their attorney, tell them the way we
fee 1. We want it settled. We want them to back
off, and there are no hidden agendas that we are
going after them after the thing is all settled.
We want to have them withdraw the complaint
against the chief. Was there anything else?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: No. Because I am still
adamant about this.
MR. WEISS: The elements are, just to
review, one, that they would withdraw their
appeal, two, that they would file a motion in
court withdrawing their statements about the
chief.
Then on our side, we would withdraw our
motion ~o tax costs. We would, based upon tr.at
withdrawal, not file the 57.105 motion, and we
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would release them and basically say we are not
suing anybody for anything about this.
The issue that Jean is bringing up is what
we do about these continuous statements in the
letter if you want to do anything about those
statements.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I don't know if anybody
wants to.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: And the public.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: How about just
not t~lk about it anymore?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: This is a private
letter.
MR. WEISS: It's not a private letter.
It's public.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: It's public?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Nothing they do is
private.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: As soon as they can
get people from the Miami Herald, they talk.
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MAYOR ROSENFIELD: They would put it in the
Herald.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Of ccurse.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I was in a meeting of
mayors on Friday. None of the mayors in
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Miami-Dade understand that this was a two part
system. They believe, as does most of the public,
that we were defending Joel Jacobi. We did not
defend Joel Jacobi. The only part of the suit
that we were involved in was the abrogation of the
city charter. Lynne Bloch-Mullen wanted to
abrogate the city charter.
One judge said in a summary decision, am I
correct, that no way. That is it. Absolutely no
way.
Yet they continue to accuse us, and this is
public all the time. I really, I almost feel at
this point that they admit that the only part that
the city played in this was defense of the
charter. We didn't play any other part in it.
We couldn't investigate Joel because they
already had the lawsuit. It was already before
the courts, which it would have gone anyway if we
had done an investigation. It would have gone to
the courts anyway. It's part of the charter.
The point is
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Mayor, I don't
understand what you are try~nq to do.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I think you do
understand.
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COUNCILMAN PACKER: No, I don't.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I want a statement.
want this statement withdrawn. I want a
statement
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Then add that.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Clarified.
I
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: that they understand
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that the only role that the council played in this
was defense of the charter.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: If that is what you
want, can you add that to this negotiation thing?
This is another stick that is thrown in on the
road to recovery. Let's put it that way.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Then we sound like we
are throwing sticks here.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: No, no, no. I say this
letter is ar.other stick that was thrown in on the
road to recovery. I would like to see the thing
closed, finished, and done with.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: We said this at the
last, the last legal meeting, we said, every
single one of us said, let's make this offer,
let's get it over with, we don't want any more
part of it. We all sald that.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I understand that.
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However, where they said that they were afraid of
something that was going to come out, we will make
it absolutely clear that there are no you don't
want to use the word hidden agendas, but this is
the way it is. I think that is the way it should
be done. If you want to bring this letter in and
have a retraction of it, whatever.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: How about like
when you have a regular lawsuit with regular
people, you can't discuss anything, any more
issues? How about putting that in there, that
there is no more discussion on this?
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Opening up again.
MR. WEISS: We can do that.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: They keep accusing us.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: There is no more
discussion on the issue.
MR. WEISS: The problem is that both
parties are going to be prohibited from talking.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Right.
MR. WEISS: So when the mayor qoes to a
meeting and they say, why did you defend Joel
Jacobi, she is not going to be able to talk about
it.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: That is fine.
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Let's be done it and get it over.
going to snowball.
It is just
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COUNCILMAN PACKER: We are trying to finish
it out, smooth it uver, and let's get cooperation
and finished and done with, rather than endless
over und over again. Each time, something else
peps up.
MR. WEISS: The problem with a statement
like that I think it's a bad idea. I think the
problem with a statement like that is that all you
are doing is binding on their side the people that
are involved in the lawsuit.
MR. POPOK: Right.
MR. WEISS: The coalition is not a part of
your lawsuit. So that all the other members of
the coalition that come here can talk badly about
the council and say they caused a lawsuit, and
you, council, can't talk about it.
is not such a good idea.
I think that
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Rigtt, it's not a good
idea.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Sorry. I was
trying to sweep it under the rug. It's so silly.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: It's so silly, but our
attitude here I seem to sense is conciliatory.
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Unfortunately, there are many people who are not.
So even though we are trying everything
desperately to get this over with, they are not.
They just want the new chapter of how they can
attack the --
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I was so sure after we
walked out last time that it was done and over
with.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Let me ask this. I
have another question.
Is there any way, maybe totally out of
order, we are discussing this amongst ourselves
here now, are we allowed to have these people here
at a meeting?
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: It's a very good idea.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: And have Lynne with her
attorney here?
MR. WEISS: You have to have --but it's a
public meeting. The public is here and the press
is here and everybody else.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: In other words, okay,
it would be a public meeting, but if it would be a
public --how about could it be called a workshop?
MR. WEISS: You can call it a birthday
party, but it's still a public meeting and the
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public is allowed.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Why can't we have
their attorneys over ttere?
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Why do we need
them here? We have attorneys to represent us and
they have attorneys to represent them.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Correct.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: We don't need to
look at her in the face.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: I know what he's
trying to say. If we give him that respect, if we
say to them, okay, let's deal on a human level,
come on, what do you want? I think he is right.
I think that it might just listen, we are in a
landlock. Let's try something new. Let 1 s give
them that respect that they want that --you know.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: What does the
city attorney say about that?
COUNC[LMAN SANZ: Think a minute. It could
be also show time with the TV cameras, the
newspaper --wait, wait. Can I finish?
It could be a show time. It has happened
many times.
If I wanted to be in show business, I would
have been in show business. You can't control
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them.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Just them and their
attorneys.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: He says it has to
be a public meeting.
this.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: It's a public meeting.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Public meeting.
MR. WEISS: It can't be something like
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN;
MAYOR ROSENFIELD:
There is no way.
Let's just make the
offers that we talked about and see what happens.
MR. WEISS: What we are going to do to be
clear about this is to I think, Michael, we
should put this in writing to them. Put it in
writing. What Michael tried to do, which is the
way if you are moving in a conciliatory way, call
them up and say, let's be done with this, and this
i s w r: a. t t he c o ·.1 r. c -i 1 d ~ d , iJ. r_ d r~ i c h a c l g 2. v e -c h cm c1
deacil~ne bcca.Lse we were: try.i.nq to avoid sper:d~ng
the mo n e y to file th e oot~or. to tax costs.
M l C I"'. a e ~ p L:. s ~ e ci : t: C :n . We got 7h~s leLLer back,
'1ever expect ed 0:1 ~his ::::'linq. I really
didn't.
MR. POPOK: I called first, then a letter.
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MR. WEISS: Called first, sent a letter.
I think you should write them a letter back
and say these are the terms, because I think it's
very important that you as the council be fully
aware of what we are communicating to them.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Yes, that is very
important.
MR. WEISS: So that when we write this
letter, it's going to say exactly what you have
discussed here.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Will we see it first?
MR. WEISS: Yes, you can see it first.
MR. POPOK: A draft.
MR. WEISS: We will send you
COUNCILMAN PACKER: A draft?
MR. POPOK: I'm not comfortable in having a
draft circulating.
MR. WEISS: Listen, we are pretty good at
this. We will write a good letter.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I hope.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: To make sure that what
the council wants to do, we would like to see it
over and done with to at least allow to tell ttern
we have no hidden agendas, please. We want to
close this case. Withdraw your charges against
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the chief. This particular letter totally was out
of order, and let's put a final close to it and
that is it, and if they persist, then that is
another story.
MR. WEISS: The other thing we could do is
you wanted to appoint a member of the council to
work on the tone of the letter as Michael dr~fts
the letter, you could oo that.
draft the letter.
Otherwise, we just
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I ttink you can draft a
letter yourself.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I think you can
draft it.
MR. WEISS: I agree with Michael.
MR. POPOK: I would like to go over the
points. I have been taking notes, but I want to
go over the points.
Let me just mention one thing going to the
Chief Hur.ker point, which is, I think, something
that we can do as a council that doesn't
necessarily involve Chief Hunker. On the
Bloch-Muller. side, ttey would drop their appeal.
They would file a motion to withdraw, and do
whatever is necessary to have that document that
was filed against Chief Hunker, which was a motion
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to disqualify the judge, that is where it came up,
have that removed from the record.
On our side, we would withdraw or not
pursue our motion to tax costs, which we filed.
We would agree not to pursue the ffiOtion for
sanctions related to the Chief Hunker issue.
We would, I guess, release all those
parties in the other side and their related
entities. So Bloch-Mullen and the attorneys.
would agree to release them. I guess we would
want a release back, would we not?
MR. WEISS: Sure.
We
MR. POPOK: We want a release back, and on
Chief Hunker, what they want, what I understand
they want is an agreement from the council not to
prosecute any type of claim like for defamation on
behalf of Chief Hunker. They don't think we
represent Chief Hunker and we can give a release
on his behalf. What they are looking for is that
we don't support and pay for him if he wants to
prosecute something against them.
MR. WEISS: T~ere is o~e more element,
which is that the statements in the letter, that
we want a statement from them acknowledging the
fact --this is qoing to be very tough to get, by
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the way, very tough, but acknowledging the fact
that the council's role in the litigation was
limited to the issue of the charter.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Okay.
MR. WEISS: And that once the issue of the
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charter was determined by the judge, the village
stepped away from the litigation, and didn't have
anything to do with it.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Did not take an active
role.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I think you need
to put in the letter, actually quote some of the
letter that they sent you saying these statements
are the ones that we are referring to, statements
of these kind.
MR. WEISS: Right.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: From what we
understand, from what you said about the chief, he
will not pursue anything.
MR. WEISS~ I c~n•t bind him.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: You can't speak for
him.
MR. WEISS: All they are asking for --
let's not put into play more than they are asking.
All they are asking for is that the council is not
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going to support or fund any litigation by the
chief against them as a result of these
statements.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: What about in the
future?
MR. WEISS: On those statements, based on
those statemer.ts, we are not going to.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Richard, from what I
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understand, what you said a few minutes ago, that
the chief would be very well satisfied if this is
withdrawn and there will not be any
MR. WEISS: I think the chief is being very
reasonable. I don't think he's dissatisfied about
any of this. I know him well enough to know that
if it was up to him, and, honestly, if it was up
to some people in our firm that, you know, are
really offended, they will go and tear somebody's
throat over this.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I don't know what
happened. Can you tell me what she said?
MR. WEISS: What happened was there was
a --Mictael, why don 1 t you go through it in some
detail.
MR. POPOK: We were on our third judge.
Some judges left on maternity leave, and then a
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judge recused herself. We were on our third
judge, Judge Reyes. Judge Reyes disclosed at the
start, this is before trial, that he didn't see it
as a conflict, but he wanted to be fair and
disclose, as the judge should do, that he had some
sort of connection with the village. He had a
nephew that had worked or a godson that had worked
in the police department at some point, and that
he knew Chief Hunker from his days when the judge
was a state attorney and Chief Hunker was on the
task force, and that kind of thing, but also made
it clear that he felt he could make an impartial
decision. This wusn't part of it.
They immediately filed a motion to
disqualify the judge. In those papers, they not
only attacked the judge, and they really did
attack the judge, claiming that he misrepresented
his true connection with the village, that this
godsoL issue was even greater than he had
disclosed, te couldn't possibly be impartial.
On the second hand, they attacked the chief
by saying his credibility, based on testimony that
he gave about his connection with Joel Jacobi, and
somethi~g to do with an exotic dancing club,
indicated that the chief is uncredible.
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be trusted as a witness, and they connected it to
the judge by saying, since you are partial, judge,
to tr.e village, and you are going to have this
uncredible witness in front of you, the chief, you
are going to over --
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: They have r.utzpah
these people.
MR. POPOK: You are going to give too much
credence to his testimony.
MR. WEISS:
MR. POPOK:
You see why they want releases.
By the way, they could have
gotten rid of the judge with a one page comment
about the judge's relationship. They did not have
to go to the Chief Hunker issue. They chose to do
that.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR:
of the judge?
MR. POPOK: Yes.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR;
Did they get rid
Oh, okay.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: I'm sure the judge
didn't resist that, either.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: The judge
probably isn't very happy either.
MR. POPOK: No, but he recused himself,
which judges are to do to avoid the appearance of
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impropriety.
MR. WEISS: The good news is that attorneys
go back before those judges again.
small world.
It's a very
MR. POPOK: We defend the judge.
MR. WEISS: That is where it came.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: That is horrible.
I didn't know all tr.at. It's horrible.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: It concerns me because
they have tarnished his reputation --
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: They should kiss
us for giving them this offer, really.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: --in the village with
some of the residents.
MR. WEISS: They won't.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: They will tarnish it
because it's being talked by many people around,
and the word got out. He has been tarnished. We
have been tarnished because I have people that
come in and say, you ~now, it 1 s not --
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I think we are
being very generous in offering this to them. We
feel we are generous and if they don't want it,
then that is it.
MR. WEISS: The question is this --first
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of all, understand that we are from the village's
point of view --
COUNCILMAN PACKER: It's going to cost us
money.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I know.
MR. WEISS: From the village's point of
view in terms of the litigution, we won. We won.
It 1 s not like we have lost, and we are trying to
minimize our damages here. We won our case, and
they nailed us about $4,000 in costs, which we
will win. Maybe we will get 3,000 or 3500 or
something like that.
All this is about from the village's side
in terms of monetary stuff is if they file an
appeal, then there, you know, we will have a bill
for an appellate proceedi~g, but have to come up
with the money to write a brief. It's not cheap.
it.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: And we have to defend
MR. WEISS:
MR. POPOK:
And we have to defend it.
With one brief.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: The thing is that
letter that you are going to write, I think it
should be presented to them, and in the sense that
both sides, I believe, want to close it, I believe
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so. They may, you know, took an aggressive stand
with this. I don't knnw what the attorney is --
but that is what I would do.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Her letter says, I hope
that we can reach a settlement on the issues
remaining fro~ my election contest against Joel
Jacobi, but, unfortunately, this has not happened.
So I think that Lynne Bl~ch-Mullen is not
going to be happy with the offer. I don't know.
MR. WEISS: I will tell you just as --I
mean, I don't really know how involved Lynne
Bloch-Mullen is in all this. I honestly don't
know.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I understand what you
are saying.
MR. WEISS: I don't know whether this thing
has so taken a life of its own and whether she is
really --the other thing just for somebody to do
is I don't know if anybody has a relationship with
her. We c~n•t talk to her directly, but she is
pursuing
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Can anybody on the
council speak to her?
MR. WEISS: Yes. You have to be careful
what you say to her, but if somebody has a real
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relationship with her, I honestly really do
believe that that letter has escalated this as
opposed to trying to move together. The letter
42
was not helpful. We really were trying to settle
this case and be done with it,
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Why would she
send a letter if she had counsel? This makes no
sense to me why we would get a letter.
COUNCILMAN PACKER:
the attorney.
This could be pushed by
MR. WEISS: The letter is signed by Bill
Hearon, isn't it?
MR. POPOK: I think they are talking about
the Bloch-Mullen letter.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: The letter she
sent. Why would she send a letter?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: This was just a cover
letter.
MR. POPOK:
MR. WEISS:
MR. POPOK:
I didn't see the cover letter.
We didn't see the cover letter.
If someone is going to reach
out to Lynne, though, I would like it to be after
we get the letter out.
MR. WEISS: Let's get our letter out.
MR. POPOK: We will qet the letter out by
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tomorrow and then we will let the people know and
then they can --
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Do you tr.ink maybe she
is getting bad advice?
MR. WEISS: No. I think that, honestly, ir:
my opinion, I think that this thing has taken a
life of its own, and that whatever, however it's
being done, I don't think Lynne Bloch-Mullen is
saying, you ~now, I'm really concerned about that
57.105 motion. I think that it 1 s all sort of --
do ycu agree? It has taken a life of its own.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I think when the
attorney says if we wanted to appeal the 57
whatever, we would have done it withi~ 21 days.
MR. WEISS:
talking.
That is not Lynne Bloch-Mullen
COUNCILMAN PACKER: She is getting advise.
The thing is, you brought up so~ething before
about the attorney. What is her name?
MR. WEISS: Dina.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: How is she entering
into this thing all of a sudden?
MR. WEISS: She is their lawyer.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: She is co-counsel.
MR. WEISS: No, no. She goes to court on
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behalf of Lynne Bloch-Mullen.
lawyer.
She is their
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Can we speak to her if
someone here after your letter --
MR. WEISS: No, you should not speak to
her.
44
COUNCILMAN PACKER: We cannot speak to her?
MR. WEISS: No. She is counsel of record
in their case.
MR. POPOK: That would be a bar violation.
MR. WEISS: Under the bar rules, she is not
allowed to speak to you about this case.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Okay. In other words,
if someone here on the council --it 1 s up to the
council to appoint somebody.
MR. WEISS: I take it back. I think that
we should write the letter. What is said is so
easy. This is all attorney/client privilege until
the litigation is settled. I don 1 t think you need
to speak to her. Let Michael do it.
We have the ability. We are not I think
that you see by the way that we are --we are
certainly not trying to escalate this thing.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: No, definitely not.
MR. WEISS: We want this case --I'm
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talking about not only the council, but also our
firm. We are trying to get this done and we
thought it was done.
Michael is not going in there and stirring
up the waters. He is trying to calm it down.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD:
said we wanted to do.
COUNCILMAN PACKER:
speaking to anybody.
I think that is what we
Do that, and no
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: No.
MR. WEISS: Unfortunately, this is not
going to be the end of this.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: You don't think so?
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: No.
45
MR. WEISS: No, this is not going to be the
end of this. My prediction is that they are going
to refuse to withdraw the statements. They are
going to refuse to withdraw the statements in the
letter.
MR. POPOK: And the statement we want them
to make.
MR. WEISS: They are net going to make the
statement we want them to make regarding the fact
that the council was involved in this only beccuse
of the charter. They are not going to do that.
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Let's play a little what if and maybe we
can avoid another 8:00 o'clock meeting.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Having said that, you
don't think this is the end of this episode.
MR. WEISS: I think we are going to write
them a beautiful letter in a very conciliatory
way. I think they are going to say no.
Now what? Okay. Are all these elements
critical to tr.is settlement?
COUNCILMAN SANZ: Yes.
MR. WEISS: In other words, if they write
46
back and they say, we are not signing this stuff,
do you want us to have another executive session
or are we done?
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I think we are
done. What else are we going to do?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Let me ask, it may be a
very foolish question to ask.
MR. WEISS: There are no foolish questions.
This is very complicated.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: The appeal is against
the summary judqment, the ability of the council
to appoir:t?
MR. WEISS: Remember, the only issue left
in this lawsuit --
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COUNCILMAN PACKER: Is the appointment.
MR. WEISS: The issue of Joel Jacobi is no
longer in this lawsuit.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: That is out.
MR. WEISS: So there is no nuance here of
saying, oh, it was about Joel Jacobi.
This appeal is taken directly against the
village. In other words, the only issue on appeal
is the issue of the village charter. There is no
other Joel Jacobi residency, exotic dancer. That
is all gone. Seriously, this is a direct appeal,
this way, against the village. That is what this
is.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Okay. So if they
appeal, it is based on just that issue, and they
lose. At that point, can we then go after them
for attorney 1 s fees?
MR. WEISS: No, no. Only on the Tom
Hunker. Only if it's privileged.
MR. POPOK:
the appeal.
We can file a 57.105 against
MR. WEISS: Unless something is frivolous,
frivolous, and that is a very high standard.
can only get attorney's fees by statute or
You
contract in Florida. That was question 6A in the
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bar exam. That is a big question in Florida.
rt•~ always on the bar exam.
Anyway, it's very difficult. The only
thing we could get is we can get costs on appeal,
not attorney's fees on appeal, but we can get
costs on appeal, which are what, Michael?
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Let me ask you.
What is your opinion? What do you think we should
do?
MR. FOPOK: Minor.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: We are going to
write a letter and then what if they said no, what
would you do? You are the legal minds.
MR. WEISS: From a legal point of view,
there is a whole other issue here, which I missed
until this morning when Jean spoke with ~e, which
is this whole --because I'm not in the village.
I do read the Neighbors section, but this whole
issue, which I can't really give you advice on, is
this whole issue that Jaime and all of you have
been talking this morning, which is the perception
of the village and the village council and all of
that.
I will tell you that I don't think Tom
Hunker is wrong, and I would do the same thing.
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think that was very, very --it was not necessary,
and I think it was intentionally --well, I don't
know. I think it was not necessary in order to
get rid of the judge.
On the issue of the statements and all of
those kind of things, the truth is the village is
not going to be in any better or worse shape.
It 1 s a pure political issue. So that really
depends upon how strongly you feel about was has
been said, and the dialo~ue that is going on both
in the press, and around the swimming pools about
this.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: So speaking to that,
and you will stop me when I am not allowed to.
MR. WEISS:
all privileged.
You are fine. This is
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Speaking to that, I
think we are at a landlock here. This is going to
resolve, get settled, however it does. Right now
it seems to be a little bit in the dark as to what
will ensue. I think it's important that we put
into place --how do you say --a tactic or
MR. WEISS: Strategy.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Yes, strategy. Thank
you. That will expose, that will invite people to
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our meetings because what is happening is mostly
we are at Mr. --that young reporter's mercy,
whatever he 1 s putting out there, and, you know, we
need to get more citizens here to see for
themselves what is going on.
I suggest that we bring up in the meeting
ttat is coming up now that we do have the meetings
at night because many people have told me they
want to attend, so they can see for themselves
what is going on.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: That is a separate
issue.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: No, I know.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Our next two meetings
are at night after today and we will decide.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Or.ly certain pecple
are attending this at 9:00 o'clock.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Let me make something
very clear to you.
Excuse me.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Go ahead.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I thought we were
different until I met with the mayors the other
day. The City of Aventura, which is what, four
times, I know, much bigger, no one attends the
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meetings. Susan Gottlieb said to me at the end of
the meeting when she says is there discussion from
the floor, it is zero.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: That is their problem.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Years ago it was
here also when I used to come years and years ago.
MR. WEISS: In the last 20 years 1 it has
been very few people.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I have to say we have
more people for the size of our village, we have
tremendous.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: We have very
interesting people.
MR. WEISS: I yo to the City of Aventura
from time to time. The size of their room, it's a
concert h~ll. It really looks worse.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I appreciate what you
are saying.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: I'm only thinking
ahead.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I was pretty strong when
I first started speaking. It is a political
issue. There is no question, and I don't think
it's going to die. I think that people are
preparing for an election in a year, and when is
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your term up, a year and 11 months, a year and
11 months.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Right.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: They are gearing up for
that election now, and they are not going to let
this issue die.
COUNC~LMAN PACKER~ I'm not gearing up for
anything.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Not you, sir. I'm
talking about out there. There are those.
52
That is why I don't think they are going to
let this issue die.
I just want to clarify. I need the public
to understand that we only defended the charter,
and if we can't defend --it's the same as if we
were the Florida legislature. The Florida
legislators have an obligation to defend the state
constitution.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I was going to
say, can you please write a letter to the village
and letting them know wtat has transpired? Why
don 1 t we do that?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: He were talking about
having a newsletter.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: You can't call
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the Herald. The guy is iust one sided.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Not only from the
Neighbors section. We can call the regular Herald
and have a real story wrltten.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR:
stould be a letter --
I think that it
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Excuse me. Excuse me.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Yes.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: From I understand, over
the past five years, ttere was a quarterly report
put out by our village. It tasn 1 t been done for
the past two years except for the last one that
came out.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: That is not true.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: This is true.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: No.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: It is true.
MR. TREPPEDA: It was to be done quarterly.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: It wasn't quarterly.
There was not put out basically for a full year.
Let's put it that way, and I think I'm right when
I say that.
MR. TREPPEDA: I don 1 t think we ever missed
a hurricane edition yet.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Whatever it was.
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believe now we have the village of Surfside right
next to us, once a week, I believe once a week we
get the gazette.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: No, no.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Or once a month.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Who wants to hear
from us once a month? People will throw it out.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: The thing is if
something like that needs to have some public
knowledge cf what goes on at the council, we can
have a monthly newsletter. It doesn't have to be
political. It should not be political, just
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Reporting it.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: --a report from the
council.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I think that is an
excellent suggestion, but I think it needs to come
up in a regular meeting.
MR. WEISS: You guys are beyond
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: We are way beyond what
we are here for.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: We are trying to avoid
the situation in the future.
MR. WEISS: You guys are beyond the
executive session, and because it's early in the
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morning, I drifted a little bit, but you can't
talk about that.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: I just suggested
a letter because I think in regards to this
issue
MR. WEISS: In regards to the settlement.
55
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: The settlement, a
letter should go out on letterhead that is
professional sayinq that we have not spent your
money frivolously.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN:
MAYOR ROSENFIELD:
to conclude this meeting.
time of the next meeting.
Correct.
Can I, please? We need
We are right upon the
Unless someone wants to speak --miss, you
cannot come in.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I would like to say one
thing, Ms. Mayor, Madam Mayor.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Yes. Okay.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I don't know. That is
up to you, Richard, this is an executive session.
MR. WEISS: It is.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I don't think it's
possible or it should be t~at the news comes out
from this executive session to the public.
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COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: No.
MR. WEISS: No.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Of course not. He
said we are not allowed to talk.
MR. WEISS: In other words, once the letter
is written by Michael, you know, but I thitk that
the purpose, the idea of the letter has nothing to
do with the executive session. It would just be
this is what the village did and so forth.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Can we bring that up
now at the council meeting?
MR. WEISS: No. At the council meeting,
you can have a discussion at the end of the
meeting as to whether you want to do that.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Is there any other
discussion related to the issue a~ hand?
MR. WEISS: I think because this so
important, Michael, you have this down carefully,
right?
MR. POPOK: Yes.
MR. WEISS: Is everybody clear on what is
going to happen?
MR. POPOK: I am going to draft it. for
Richard to review and then we are going to send it
out.
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COUNCILMAN PACKER: I just want to go over
the points.
MR. WEISS: Right, and then, mayor, I
think, you should have a little. vote on this.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I'm going to.
MR. WEISS: These are the points.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: A, B, C, D.
MR. POPOK: Okay. From the Bloch-Mullen
side, they agree to drop their appeal.
They will file whatever appropriate motions
there are to withdraw, seal or whatever the right
way to do it is with the filing against Chief
Hunker.
They will issue a statement, some sort of
statement in which they acknowledge that the
village's only role in the lawsuit --
MR. WEISS~
MR. POPOK:
Written statement.
Written statement, was
defending the charter and not defendlng the
residency of Mr. Jacobi.
side.
That is the Bloch-Mullen
Anything else on the Bloch-Mullen side?
Okay. On the village side, we will drop
our motion to tax costs, which has already been
filed. We will agree not to prosecute and
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continue to go after them on the 57.105 motion for
sanctions related to the Chief Hunker filing.
We will give a release --
MR. WEISS: They should give us a release,
too.
MR. POPOK: I think we should share
releases. It should be general releases.
I would like this council to authorize
Alfred to sign it.
MR. WEISS: The mayor will sign it.
MR. POPOK: You want tr.e mayor to sign it?
Okay. Wil::_ :::·el ease B ' oc..::1-Xuller:. and her
attor~eys, w~ich is what they have as~ed for.
'i'hey wi ::_J release t:t.c ccunc ~ l :Co.:::.-all :'._ssces that
arose out o~ the Jl~lgat~on
MR. WEISS: Right.
MR. POPOK: --on that challenge.
And we also aqree that we won't support,
fund or otherwise encourage, T guess, a lawsuit on
behalf of the chief for defumation. If he wants
to do his own thing he has his right to do his OWL
thing as a private citizen.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Excuse me. I have a
question.
You said that she would admit that we just
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defended the charter. I guess the statement,
though, was that we failed to investigate Joel
Jacobi. We didn't fail to investigate. We never
had an opportunity. Am I right?
MR. POPOK: The charter gives you the
power.
MR. WEISS: When this first, the first time
that this came to tte council, and I think Ellisa
actually took the minutes on this to make sure
that my recollection is correct. The first time
this came to the council, the lawsuit had already
been filed.
Your charter says that you have the right
to judge the qualification of its members subject
to judicial review. That is basically what your
charter .says. At that time, the council looked at
this thing, and the court was already reviewing
it. So at that point, the council said what is
the purpose of us reviewing this. They had
already taken iurisdiction away from us by filing
this directly with the court.
sequence of events.
That was the
So at that point the council said, you
know, had this come to us before they filed a
lawsuit, just like we did with Patricia, we would
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have dealt with this like we did with Patricia.
We would have had a little hearing.
have been the extent of it.
That would
In this particular case, rather than come
60
to the council first, they filed a lawsuit first.
Once the lawsuit was filed, we sort of felt like
jurisdiction ~ad been taken not legally taken away
from the council, but they picked their forum and
they decided where they wanted this matter to be
decided and the judge was going to decide anyway,
so what was the point of the council deciding.
I don't think it's quite fair to say that
the council couldn't have --what did they say?
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: They said, we all know,
we all know --I like that statement --that the
village's failure to investigate Mr. Jacobi's true
residence and Mr. Jacobi's refusal --the
statement is that we refused.
MR. WEISS: I think that the statement --I
think the council could have, if they wanted ~o,
even after the lawsuit was filed, I think the
council could have done it, but the point is that
it would have been a futile act because the court
was already looking into it.
MR. POPOK: I want to make one comment
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because I talked to the mayor about this earlier.
There is also another observation that I made back
to the council that was a little disingenuous
because they were, we know, seeking not only the
removal of Joel Jacobi, out they were seeking to
have Lynne Bloch-Mullen seated. So even if you
had investigated the residency, you were not,
because of the charter, going to seat Lynne
Bloch-Mullen. So for them to say this whole
lawsuit would be resolved had you just done your
charter investigation, really is not right.
MR. WEISS: Ycu could have investigated
Joel Jacobi, decided he didn't live here,
appointed somebody to fill the seat, and save the
issue about the charter, which still would have
existed and the litigation would still be.
MR. POPOK: Of course.
MR. WEISS: That is a good point, Michael.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I was just taking some
notes here. The only thing, number one and two,
drop the appeal. You didn't say anything about
the letter. You want to put anything about it?
MR. POPOK: I was going to put some tex~ to
our letter.
MR. WEISS: Withdrawing some of the
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statements.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Withdrawing some of the
statements that the mayor doesn't like.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Arn I the only like that
doesn't like it?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: You are trying to --
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Do you like the
statemeLt that we failed? You were on the
council.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: I was on the council.
I said nothing because I understood it was in the
court's hands and we couldn't do anything.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: Okay.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: The way Mr. Popok said
it is a little bit disingenuous is very possible,
but the thing is that you didn't mention that was
going to be in the --
MR. POPOK: I thought that covered with the
other public statement. I'll make sure those
particular issues are addressed.
MR. WEISS: Remember that this settlement,
7ust like the Raheb settlement, will have to be
approvP-d at a public meeting. So whatever they
say as part of this settlement is going to be a
public record. So the settlement agreement itself
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will contain a lot of the statements that you want
it to contain.
MR. POPOK:
MR. WEISS:
We are going to have a recital.
We are going to have a recital
in the settlement agreement.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: We didn't come up
with the what if, though, yet.
MR. WEISS: My question is this: What if
they --there is a huge matrix of thi~gs. I think
that, likely, they will agree to withdraw their
appeal. They will agree to --let 1 s assume that
all they do is agree to withdraw their appeal,
because that is really all they have put on the
table right now, and in exchange for that they
want us to, A, withdraw our motion for sanctions.
They want us to withdraw our motion for costs.
They want us to withdraw our motion for sanctions,
right?
MR. POPOK: At least that.
MR. WEISS: And they want to give us
releases.
MR. POPOK: They want us to release them.
MR. WEISS: Yes. Do you want us to bring
that back to you or is that just a no?
COUNCILMAN PACKER: This is tte second
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chance that we are doing to try and stop it.
I mean, if it's just thrown back and say, no,
So,
sorry
MR. WEISS: I'm trying to anticipate the
likely response. I think the likely response is
we will agree to withdraw our appeal if you
withdraw your motion for sanctions and you give us
full releases.
MR. POPOK: Or they say --
MR. WEISS: Let's say he sticks with his
letter.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD:
the police chief?
They do nothing about
MR. WEISS: They do nothing about the
police chief.
MR. POPOK: But they give us a statement.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I think we have to come
back to session.
MR. WEISS: Al2. right.
MR. POPOK: We have time because the notice
of appeal has already been filed.
MR. WEISS: What we are going to do,
though, when we open up this meeting again, I will
make a request for another executive session, so
we don't have to have the two meetings.
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going to request an executive at the send of this
meeting, so that whenever we want to have it, we
can have it.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Okay. That is good.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I need a motion to --
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Motion to adjourr..
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: No, no, no.
MR. WEISS: To direct us to do this.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Yes.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: All in favor.
COUNCILMAN PACKER: Yes.
ASSISTANT MAYOR BLACHAR: Yes.
COUNCILWOMAN COHEN: Yes.
COUNCILMAN SANZ: Yes.
MAYOR ROSENFIELD: I will now reopen the
public meeting. The attorney/client session has
now been terminated, and members of the general
public are now invited to return for any further
proceedings or other matters.
MR. WEISS: Now, during the public portion
of this meeting, I would like to request another
executive session in this case at a time to be
determined by the clerk.
(Thereupon, the proceedings were concluded
at 9:05 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 Florida at
6 Large, certify that I was authorized to and did
7 stenographically report the foregoing proceedings and
8 that the transcript is a true and complete record of my
9 stenographic notes.
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Dated this 19th day of June, 2009.
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