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HomeMy Public PortalAboutPRR 16-2261From: Chris O'Hare[mailto:chrisohareaulfstream(&gmail.coml Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 12:47 PM To: bthrasher@gulf-stream.org; RTavlor0gulf-stream.ora; IevittColwilldan.com Alexander, Larry B. Subject: This is a request to inspect public records - Lee Evitt communications This message originated from outside your organization Dear Custodian of Records for the Town of Gulf Stream, I request to inspect certain public records for the purpose of informing myself of the historic and current workings of the Town of Gulf Stream and its associated entities, vendors, consultants, advisers, contractors and agents. The records I wish to Inspect may be material to current, anticipated or presently unforeseen legal action. In addition, inspection of these records is essential to my ability to make informed comments In an upcoming public hearing. The production of any and all responsive records is therefore urgent and must be acted upon in compliance with Florida Statutes and established case law as soon as possible. Before making this public record request, I first searched online and in the public records portion of your agency's website hoping I could locate the public records I seek without having to write you directly. Unfortunately I cannot find the records I request to Inspect. Therefore I am writing you now and requesting you make every effort as required by law to produce these public records without delay. I believe the records I seek to inspect may be in your custody AND/OR in the custody of an entity currently or formerly under contract with your agency. As a courtesy to you and your contractor and to assist In expediting my inspection of records responsive to this request I am notifying the contractor of this request by copy of this email. Do not assume my act of copying the contractor with this request relieves you of any of your duties under Florida Statute. I ask that you contact those entities yourself, Inform them of their obligations under Florida Statute and produce any responsive records In their custody as soon as possible. I make this request pursuant to Article 1, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution and Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes. I hereby reserve all rights granted to me under the Florida Constitution and Florida Statutes. I ask that you take the following action: • Read this entire request carefully and respond accordingly. • If you are not the custodian of the public records described herein please determine who that person is and notify me immediately in order that I may make this request to the appropriate person without delay. • Reference Florida Statutes and appropriate case law when responding to this record request. • Do NOT produce any records other than records responsive to this request. • Identify by name the person or persons responding to this request. • Respond to this public record request in a singular manner and do not combine this request with any other public record requests when responding to this request. • Once you have determined that you do or don't have any records In your custody responsive to this request, immediately act to obtain any responsive records that may be in the custody of your contractor(s). " Provide only those records for inspection that do not require extensive use of information technologies or extensive staff time or both in excess of 15 minutes. I request to inspect any record of communication between the Town of Gulf Stream* and Mr. Lee Evitt, of Willdan Financial Services, in any way regarding the Utility Undergrounding Project. Do not include any records which are located within the contents of the minutes of the Town's public meetings currently published online on the Town's web site. The records I request to inspect include, but may not be limited to, entails, letters, text, voicemail and any other form of written or electronic communication other than public meeting minutes published online. *The phrase "Town of Gulf Stream" when used herein refers to the Town in its entirety Including all employees, appointees, officials, assignees, counsel and consultants including Town Manager, Town Clerk, Town Police Chief, Town Commissioners, Town Mayor, Town Departments, Town Police Officers, Town Employees, Town Engineer, the law firm (Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A.) that claims to be the Town Attorney including all attorney, partner and employee members of that firm; the Town Counsel of Sweetapple, Broeker & Varkus including all attorney, partner and employee members of that firm, the Town Counsel of Richman Greer, P.A. including all attorney, partner and employee members of that firm and any other entity associated with the Town. I ask you to take note of �119.07(1)(c) Florida Statues and your affirmative obligation to (1) promptly acknowledge receipt of this public records request and (2) make a good faith effort which "includes making reasonable efforts to determine from other officers or employees within the agency whether such a record exists and, if so, the location at which the record can be accessed." I am, therefore, requesting that you notify every Individual and entity in possession of records that may be responsive to this public records request, including Individuals and entities under contract with your agency, to preserve and produce all responsive records on an Immediate basis. If you contend that any of the records I am seeking, or any portion thereof, are exempt from inspection or disclosure please cite the specific exemption as required by �119.07(1 Xe) of the Florida Statutes and state in writing and with particularity the basis for your conclusions as required by �119.07(1 Xf) of the Florida Statutes. Produce for my inspection all responsive records and ONLY redact that portion of the record that you consider exempt. To be clear, if you consider an entire record to be exempt, produce that record in its entirety with all portions redacted that you consider exempt. I specifically ask you to do this in order that I may inspect fully redacted records for the purpose of challenging a particular redaction or establishing a reference for a future request of a record that Is only temporarily exempt, as in the case of a public record that was prepared by an agency attorney exclusively for litigation and is only exempt from disclosure until the conclusion of the litigation. If the public records being sought are maintained by your agency or contactors for your agency, in an electronic format please produce the records In the original electronic format in which they were created or received. See �119.01(2)(0, Florida Statutes. Again I ask that you provide only those records for inspection that do not require extensive use of information technologies or extensive staff time or both in excess of 15 minutes. Take note of §119.07(4)(a)3.(d) Florida Statues and if you anticipate that any records exist, the production for inspection of which will require extensive use of information technologies or extensive staff time or both in excess of 15 minutes, then please provide those records that can be produced within the first 15 minutes and advise me of the cost you anticipate to be incurred by your agency for the remaining records prior to incurring this cost. Please do not incur any costs on my behalf without first obtaining my written authorization to proceed. If you produce only a portion of all existing responsive records, please tell me that your response includes only a portion of all existing records responsive to this request. If you anticipate the need to incur any costs that I would be statutorily required to pay in order to inspect these public records which would exceed $1.00 please notify me in advance of your incurring that cost with a written estimate of the total cost. Please be sure to itemize any estimates so as to indicate the total number of pages and/or records, as well as to distinguish the cost of labor and materials. Again, please do not incur any costs on my behalf without first obtaining my written authorization to proceed. The term public records, as used herein, has the same meaning and scope as the definition of Public records adopted by the Florida Legislature as Statutes Chapter 119. A record that does not exist because of its disposition requires the creation of a disposition record. In all instances where you determine a record does not exist please determine if the record once existed and in its replacement provide the disposition record for my inspection. All responses to this public records request should be made in writing to the following email address: chrisoharegulfstream@gmall.com Lee, This looks good to me with the change you made pursuant to Mark's suggestion in his email of August 17. 1 will have to rely on Mark for the legality of the prepayment issue and the refund, but if he is fine with it legally then I have no objection to your proposal that the property owners who prepay their assessments enjoy whatever proportional project budget reduction rebate may apply in the same manner as those paying by installments. John C. Randolph Attorney Direct: 561-650-0458 Fax: 561-650-0465 4randol oh(a)iones-foster.com Jones, Foster, Johnston & Stubbs, P.A. Attorneys & Counselors 505 South Flagler Drive, Suite 1100, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 Telephone: 561-659-3000 Website U.S. Treasury Regulation Circular 230 requires us to advise you that written communications issued by us are not intended to be and cannot be relied upon to avoid penalties that may be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Incoming emails are filtered which may delay receipt. This email is personal to the named recipient(s) and may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you received this in error. If so, any review, dissemination, or copying of this email is prohibited. Please immediately notify us by email and delete the original message. From: Lee Evett rmailto:levettOwilldan.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 20111:24 PM To: mark raymond; Bill Thrasher; Rita Taylor; Randolph, John C. Cc: Susan Schoettle-Gumm; Habib Isaac Subject: RE: Pre -Payment Letter Good Point. I have attached an amended Draft and highlighted the changes made Lee R Evett Vice President Southeast Operations Willdan Financial Services 7380 Sand Lake Road, Suite 500 Orlando. FL 32819 T. 407.352.3958 C 407.739.9190 F. 888 326 6864 IevettOw'11dan.com From: mark raymond rmailto: mark. ravmond(o)mraymondlaw.coml Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 1:07 PM To: Lee Evett; 'Bill Thrasher'; 'Rita Taylor'; 'Skip Randolph' Cc: 'Susan Schoettle-Gumm'; Habib Isaac Subject: RE: Pre -Payment Letter You might want to say that in the notice if you are going to say anything about refunds so the town doesn't get in the middle of a contest between two homeowners. Mark E. Raymond 4360 Northlake Boulevard Suite 204 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 Tel.: 561-775-8440 Fax: 561-775-W2 Cell: 561-758-0930 Email: mark.ravmond(@=avmondlaw.com From: Lee Evett rmailto:levettOwilldan.coml Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 12:43 PM To: mark raymond; Bill Thrasher; Rita Taylor; Skip Randolph Cc: Susan Schoettle-Gumm; Habib Isaac Subject: RE: Pre -Payment Letter Mark, as you know assessments run with the property. The Town's position is that a rebate would also run with the property. If a property was sold after the pre -payment but before the rebate and arrangements/adjustments were not made in the purchasing transaction to account for the Rebate, if any, then the new owner will get a pleasant surprise. Lee R Evett Vice President Southeast Operations Willdan Financial Services 7380 Sand Lake Road, Suite 500 Orlando, FL 32819 T. 407.352.3958 C 407.739.9190 F. 888.326.6864 levett@willdan.com From: mark raymond rmailto:mark.ra mina nmravmondlaw.coml Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 12:37 PM To: Lee Evett; 'Bill Thrasher; 'Rita Taylor; 'Skip Randolph' Cc: 'Susan Schoettle-Gumma Habib Isaac Subject: RE: Pre -Payment Letter What if someone sells the property? Mark E. Raymond 4360 Northlake Boulevard Suite 204 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 Tel.: 561-775-8440 Fax: 561-775-8442 Cell: 561-758-0930 Email: mark.ravmondQDmravmondlaw.com From: Lee Evett fmailto:levett(a,willdan.coml Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 12:30 PM To: mark raymond; Bill Thrasher; Rita Taylor; Skip Randolph Cc: Susan Schoettle-Gumm; Habib Isaac Subject: RE: Pre -Payment Letter Mark, I appreciate your suggestion and have conferred with the Town. It is our recommendation that property owners who pre -pay their assessments enjoy whatever proportional project budget reduction rebate may apply in the same manner as those paying by installments. Lee Lee R Evett Vice President Southeast Operations Willdan Financial Services 7380 Sand Lake Road, Suite 500 Orlando, FL 32819 T.407.352.3958 C407.739.9190 F. 888.326.6864 levettna.willdan.com From: mark raymond fmailto:mark.ravmond(@,,mravmondlaw.coml Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 20112:50 PM To: Lee Evett; 'Bill Thrasher; 'Rita Taylor; 'Skip Randolph' Cc: 'Susan Schoettle-Gumm'; Habib Isaac Subject: RE: Pre -Payment Letter I suggest including a statement that if someone prepays there will be no refund even if the project cost is less than the aggregate assessment against all assessed property. Mark E. Raymond 4360 North]ake Boulevard Suite 204 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 Tel.: 561-775-8440 Fax: 561-775-8442 Cell: 561-758-0930 Email: mark.ravmondna,mraymondlaw.com From: Lee Evett fmailto:levettewilldan.coml Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 20119:38 AM To: Bill Thrasher; Rita Taylor; Skip Randolph; Mark Raymond Cc: Susan Schoettle-Gumm; Habib Isaac Subject: Pre -Payment Letter Attached for your review and comment is the Draft Pre -Payment Letter. Once we receive your suggestions and comments, we will begin the printing, merging and mailing process. Lee R Evett Vice President Southeast Operations Willdan Financial Services 7380 Sand Lake Road, Suite 500 Orlando, FL 32819 T. 407.352.3958 C 407.739.9190 F. 888.326.6864 levettt7a,willdan.com NOTICE OF ABILITY TO PREPAY AND PRE -PAYMENT DEADLINE FOR UTILITY UNDERGROUNDING ASSESSMENT Town of Gulf Stream, Florida August _ 2011 Property Appraiser's Parcel No. «APN» Property Address: aSitus_Numben> uSitus_Strect» «name» «mail_address» umail_city», (mail state» «mail_zip» Total Assessment Amount: Prepayment —Amount -2) (No Partial Payments) This amount represents the Underground Utility Assessment that has been placed on your property, less capitalized interest and financing costs (See— Pavment Option No. 1. below.) Total Enclosed: X Please cut along this line and return the top to the Town of Gulf Stream with your payment and retain the bottom portion for your records Town of Gulf Stream Underground Utility Assessment Appraisers Parcel No. aAPN» Property Address: «Situs_Numben> aSitus_Streew NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT: Total Assessment Amount: Prepayment Amount _» This amount represents the Underground Utility Assessment that has been placed on your property, less capitalized interest and financing costs. (See - Payment Option No. 1, below.) On June 30, 2011, the Town of Gulf Stream approved the levy of an assessment to pay for the undergrounding of overhead utilities within the Town. The assessment to pay for these improvements has been recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Town of Gulf Stream. The Property Appraiser's Parcel Number representing your property and the Total Assessment amount for that parcel is shown above. The assessment may be paid in full on or before November 1, 2011, see below, or may be paid in up to twenty annual installments on your annual property tax bill. On or before November 1. 2011, you may choose to pay all of your Total Assessment (no partial payments) without incurring the first year capitalized interest, financing costs, annual interest, or annual administration and collection costs. Please make your check payable to the "Town of Gulf Stream" and put "Undergrounding Project" and the Property Appraiser's Parcel Number referenced above on your check. Send your payment (along with the top part of this notice) to: Town of Gulf Stream, Rita Taylor, Town Clerk 100 Sea Road, Gulf Stream, FL 33483 See Other Side for Additional Information Please note there are two (2) possible methods of payment for this special assessment: ■ Payment Option No. 1 (PREPAYMENT) — Pay the Assessment in full on or before November 1, 2011 and remove the entire lien from your property: If you pay the Full Assessment, shown above, on or before November 1, 2011, the entire Total Assessment lien will be removed from your property. By paying prior to November 1, 2011, you will avoid paying first year capitalized interest, financing costs, annual interest and future annual administration and collection costs. No partial payments will be accepted. Please note that the full assessment is based on best practice estimates of all costs required to construct the Project. If the actual, final cost is less that the estimated cost by a material factor, an adjustment to the assessment will be made and a rebate, if any, will be paid to the owner of record as of the date of the approval of the rebate by the Town Commission. ■ Payment Option No. 2 (ANNUAL INSTALLMENTS) — Pay the Assessment in annual installments on your property tax bill. These annual assessments will include capitalized interest, financing costs and annual interest costs for the debt incurred by the Town for the Utility Undergrounding Project as well as annual administration and collection costs. If you do not pre -pay your Full Assessment on or before November 1, 2011, the Total Assessment lien will remain on your property and be payable only in up to twenty (20) annual installments, including first year capitalized interest, financing costs, and annual interest and annual administration and collection costs as a non -ad valorem assessment on your Property Tax Bill issued by the Palm Beach County Tax Collector. The annual installments will include the principle amount of the installment plus an interest rate of not to exceed 10% and annual administration and collection costs not to exceed 5%. Please note that the full assessment is based on best practice estimates of all costs required to construct the Project. If the actual, final cost is less that the estimated cost, an adjustment will be made in future installments. If you have any questions, please call Rita Taylor, Town Clerk (561)-276-5116. You may also e-mail your questions to RTaylor@gulf-stream.org. Dated as of William Thrasher Town Manager Town of Gulf Stream See Other Side for Additional Information From: Alexander, Larry B. Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 1:13 PM To: Matias, Sally Subject: FW: This is a request to inspect public records - Lee Evitt communications JONES FOSTER -- JGHNSIUV&SUfaaS, CA, Valerie J. Krieg Secretary- to I..arry B. Alexander and ].an k 11. (lien' \Icvander,jr. Telephone: 561.650.0494 1 7 -ax: 561.650.5300 1 vluieggonesfoster. com Jones, Foster, Johnston & Stubbs, P.A. Flagler Center Tower, 505 South Flagler Drive, Suite 1100, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 561-659-3000 1 untnv.ionesfoster.com Incoming emails are filtered which matdelay- receipt. 'Ibis email is personal to the named recipient(s) and may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you received this in error. If so, any review, dissemination, or copying of this email is prohibited. Please immediately notify us by email and delete the original message. From: Chris O'Hare[mailto:chrisoharegulfstream(clgmail.coml Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 12:47 PM To: bthrasher(cboulf-stream.org RTaylor(laulf-stream.org levitt(c)willdan.com; Alexander, Larry B. Subject: This is a request to inspect public records - Lee Evitt communications This message originated from outside your organization Dear Custodian of Records for the Town of Gulf Stream, I request to inspect certain public records for the purpose of informing myself of the historic and current workings of the Town of Gulf Stream and its associated entities, vendors, consultants, advisers, contractors and agents. The records I wish to inspect may be material to current, anticipated or presently unforeseen legal action. In addition, inspection of these records is essential to my ability to make informed comments in an upcoming public hearing. The production of any and all responsive records is therefore urgent and must be acted upon in compliance with Florida Statutes and established case law as soon as possible. Before making this public record request, I first searched online and in the public records portion of your agency's website hoping I could locate the public records I seek without having to write you directly. Unfortunately I cannot find the records I request to inspect. Therefore I am writing you now and requesting you make every effort as required by law to produce these public records without delay. I believe the records I seek to inspect may be in your custody AND/OR in the custody of an entity currently or formerly under contract with your agency. As a courtesy to you and your contractor and to assist in expediting my inspection of records responsive to this request I am notifying the contractor of this request by copy of this email. Do not assume my act of copying the contractor with this request relieves you of any of your duties under Florida Statute. I ask that you contact those entities yourself, inform them of their obligations under Florida Statute and produce any responsive records in their custody as soon as possible. From: Randolph, John C. [mailto:JRandolph@jonesfoster.com] Sent: Monday, May 02, 201111:41 AM To:'Lee Evett' <levett@willdan.com>;'Susan Schoettle-Gumm' <spgumm@mailmt.com>;'Habib Isaac' <hisaac@willdan.com>;'Mark Raymond' <mark.raymond@mraymondlaw.com> Subject: RE: Gulf Stream Conference Call -1 PM Today Mr. Randolph is out of the office and not available to participate in the telephone conference call. Sally Sally Matias Secretary to John C. Randolph Direct: 561-650-0458 Fax: 561-650-0465 smatiasCa)iones-foster.com Jones, Foster, Johnston & Stubbs, P.A. Attorneys & Counselors 505 South Flagler Drive, Suite 1100, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 Telephone: 561-659-3000 Website U.S. Treasury Regulation Circular 230 requires us to advise you that written communications issued by us are not intended to be and cannot be relied upon to avoid penalties that may be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Incoming emails are filtered which may delay receipt. This email is personal to the named recipient(s) and may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you received this in error. If so, any review, dissemination, or copying of this email is prohibited. Please immediately notify us by email and delete the original message. From: Lee Evett [mailto:levettewilldan.com] Sent: Monday, May 02, 201111:26 AM To: Susan Schoettle-Gumm; Habib Isaac; Mark Raymond; Randolph, John C. Subject: Gulf Stream Conference Call - 1 PM Today For the 1 PM EDT conference call, please call 888-278-0254, access number 9425034. I will serve as host. Lee R Evett Vice President Southeast Operations Willdan Financial Services 7380 Sand Lake Road, Suite 500 Orlando. FL 32819 T.407.352.3958 C407.739.9190 F. 888 326 6864 Ievett0willdan.com TOWN OF GULF STREAM PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA Delivered via e-mail July 8, 2016 Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstream@gmail.com] Re: GS #2261 (Lee Evitt communications) I request to inspect any record of communication between the Town of Gulf Stream * and Mr. Lee Evitt, of Willdan Financial Services, in any way regarding the Utility Undergrounding Project. Do not include any records which are located within the contents of the minutes of the Town's public meetings currently published online on the Town's web site. The records I request to inspect include, but may not be limited to, emails, letters, text, voicemail and any other form of written or electronic communication other than public meeting minutes published online. Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharesulfstreamna,email.coml, The Town of Gulf Stream received your public records requests on June 14, 2016. You should be able to view your request at the following link htti)://www2.aulf- stream.orR/weblink/0/doc/95380/Pagel.aspx. In future correspondence, please refer to this public records request by the above referenced numbers. You have asked that the Town only provide those records that do not require extensive use of information technologies or extensive staff time or both in excess of 15 minutes and that the Town provide an estimate of the cost that would be required to fulfill the request as permitted by the Public Records Act. To that end, the Town has spent at least 15 minutes on your request and is providing with you with a partial response at the same link above. The Town estimates that to fully respond to your request will require an additional .75 hours of administrative support at $40.51 per hour, the labor cost of the personnel providing the service, per Fla. Stat. § I I9.07(4)(d). If the costs of producing these documents will exceed your deposit, the Town will provide you with an initial production of responsive records and an estimate for the production of any additional responsive records. If the costs of production are less than the deposit, the Town will provide you with the responsive records and a refund. (.75 hours @ 40.51= 30.38) = Deposit Due: $30.38 in cash or check. Upon receipt of your deposit, the Town will use its very best efforts to further respond to your public records request in a reasonable amount of time. If we do not hear back from you within 30 days of this letter, we will consider this closed. Sincerely, Town Clerk