HomeMy Public PortalAboutPRR 16-2297From: Chris O'Hare [mailto:chrisoharegulfstream@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2016 8:30 AM
To: Bill Thrasher <bthrasher@gulf-stream.org>; Rita Taylor <RTaylor@gulf-stream.org>;
JOConnor@jonesfoster.com
Subject: Public Record Request - Thomas Baird legal work - 9-25-13
Dear Custodian of Records,
I request to inspect certain public records related to the Town of Gulf Stream* Florida.
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 associated
with, or under contract with, your agency. As a courtesy to you and that entity,
namely Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. and to assist in expediting my access to
inspect records responsive to this request I am notifying Jones Foster Johnston &
Stubbs P.A.of this request by copy of this email. Do not assume my act of
copying Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A.with this request relieves you of any of
your duties under Florida Statute. I ask that you contact Jones Foster Johnston &
Stubbs P.A.yourself, inform them of their obligations under Florida Statute and produce
any responsive records in their custody as soon as possible.
While I am not obligated to explain why I want to inspect these records, I tell you it is 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 also be material to current, anticipated or
presently unforeseen legal action. In addition, inspection of these records may be
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.
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 if that person is not the Custodian of
Records for your agency as required by 119.07(1)(b).
• 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) or other parties.
• 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.
As background to this request I call your attention to the minutes of the Town of
Gulf Stream Commission meeting of September 25, 2013 (a copy of which may be
inspected on your web site). Specifically the portion of the meeting where Mr.
Thomas Baird of the law firm of Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. addresses
the commission and explains his role of providing legal work to the Town related
to a settlement and development agreement.
I request to inspect the public record of the Town asking anyone at Jones Foster
Johnston & Stubbs P.A. for this legal work to be performed and the public record
of the Town informing anyone at Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. of the
extent of the legal work anticipated to be performed in this matter.
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)(e) of the Florida Statutes and state in writing and with particularity the
basis for your conclusions as required by §119.07(1)(f) 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)(f), 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.
If you do not understand any part of this request or if you need clarification about this request,
notify me as soon as possible so I may further describe or clarify this request.
*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 and
subject to public records law.
All responses to this public records request should be made in writing to the following
email address:
chrisoharegulfstream@gmaii.com
TOWN OF GULF STREAM
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
Delivered via e-mail
August 23, 2016
Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstreamagmail.coml
Re: GS 92297 (Thomas Baird legal work -9-25-13)
As background to this request 1 call your attention to the minutes of the Town of Gulf Stream
Commission meeting of September 25, 2013 (a copy of which may be inspected on your web
site). Specifically the portion of the meeting where Mr. Thomas Baird of the law firm of Jones
Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. addresses the commission and explains his role ofproviding
legal work to the Town related to a settlement and development agreement. 1 request to
inspect the public record of the Town asking anyone at Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. for
this legal work to be performed and the public record of the Town informing anyone at Jones
Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. of the extent of the legal work anticipated to be performed in this
matter.
Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstreamAgmail.coml,
The Town of Gulf Stream has received your public records request dated August 20, 2016. The
original public record request can be found at the following link:
htto://www2.gulf-stream.ora/weblink/0/doc/99707/Pagel.asox
Please be advised that the Town of Gulf Stream is currently working on a large number of
incoming public records requests. The Town will use its very best efforts to respond to you in a
reasonable amount of time with the appropriate response or an estimated cost to respond.
Sincerely,
Rene6 Rowan Basel
As requested by Rita Taylor
Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records
TOWN OF GULF STREAM
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
Delivered via e-mail
August 23, 2016
Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisohareeulfstream(7a,gmail.coml
Re: GS #2297 (Thomas Baird legal work — 9-25-13)
As background to this request I call your attention to the minutes of the Town of Cralf Stream
Commission meeting of September 25, 2013 (a copy of which may be inspected on your web
site). Specifically the portion of the meeting where Mr. Thomas Baird of the law firm of Jones
Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. addresses the commission and explains his role ofproviding
legal work to the Town related to a settlement and development agreement. I request to
inspect the public record of the Town asking anyone at Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. for
this legal work to be performed and the public record of the Town informing anyone at Jones
Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. of the extent of the legal work anticipated to be performed in this
matter.
Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisohareeulfstream(),gmail.coml,
The Town of Gulf Stream has received your public records request dated August 20, 2016. The
original public record request can be found at the following link:
http://www2.gulf-stream.org/weblink/O/doc/99707/Pagel.aspx
Please be advised that there are no such records applicable to this date. If there is another date
you are referring to, please advise. If we do not hear back from you within 30 days of this letter,
we will consider this request closed.
Sincerely,
Renee Rowan Basel
As requested by Rita Taylor
Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records
Renee Basel
From: Chris O'Hare<chrisoharegulfstream@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 7:42 AM
To: Bill Thrasher, Rita Taylor, Renee Basel
Subject: Re: GS #2297 (Thomas Baird legal work - 9-25-13)
Dear Custodian of Records,
I am writing you in regard to my request to inspect public records which I made to you on August 20, 2016.
You have labeled that particular request GS #2297 (Thomas Baird legal work — 9-25-13).
I wrote you again on August 24 to correct your apparent misunderstanding of my request (copied below). I have
not yet heard back from you.
It is now over 60 days since I first made this request. May I hear from you soon?
Sincerely,
Chris O'Hare
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Chris O'Hare <chrisoharegulfstream(a),mail.com> wrote:
Dear Ms. Rowan Basel,
Thank you for your prompt reply on behalf of the Custodian of Records to my request to inspect certain public
records. I requested to inspect:
The public record of the Town asking anyone at Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. for this legal
work to be performed and the public record of the Town informing anyone at Jones Foster Johnston
& Stubbs P.A. of the extent of the legal work anticipated to be performed in this matter.
To clarify which records I am requesting to inspect I provided background information to this request:
As background to this request I call your attention to the minutes of the Town of Guff Stream
Commission meeting of September 25, 2013 (a copy of which may be inspected on your web site).
Specifically the portion of the meeting where Mr. Thomas Baird of the law firm of Jones Foster
Johnston & Stubbs P.A. addresses the commission and explains his role of providing legal work to the
Town related to settlement and development agreement.
You responded:
Please be advised that there are no such records applicable to this date. If there is another date you
are referring to, please advise.
I respectfully ask that you read my request again more closely. I am not asking for records specific to any date.
I am asking to inspect public records related to the Town asking for this legal work provided by Mr. Baird to
be performed and informing of the extent of that legal work. The date of the meeting is immaterial to the
request. It merely serves to identify the Town meeting when the legal work was publicly revealed.
May I hear from you soon?
Sincerely,
Chris O'Hare
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 8:47 AM, Renee Basel <RBaselCaeulf-stream.ore> wrote:
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the
intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail
and destroy all copies of the original message. Florida has a very broad public records law. Written
communications regarding Town of Gulf Stream business are public records available to the public
upon request. Your e-mail communications are therefore subject to public disclosure. Under Florida
law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to
a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone
or in writing.
TOWN OF GULF STREAM
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
Delivered via e-mail
December 9, 2016
Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisohareeulfstream(cDgmail.coml
Re: GS #2297 ('Phomas Baird legal work — 9-25-13)
As background to this request I call your attention to the minutes of the Town of Gulf Stream
Commission meeting of September 25, 2013 (a copy of which may be inspected on your web
site). Specifically the portion of the meeting where Mr. Thomas Baird of the law firm of Jones
Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. addresses the commission and explains his role ofproviding
legal work to the Town related to a settlement and development agreement. I request to
inspect the public record of the Town asking anyone at Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. for
this legal work to be performed and the public record of the Town informing anyone at Jones
Foster Johnston & Stubbs P.A. of the extent of the legal work anticipated to be performed in this
matter.
Dear Chris O'Hare [mail to: chrisoharegulfstreainagmail.coml:
The Town of Gulf Stream has received your public records request dated August 20, 2016. The
original public records requests can be found at the following links:
http://www2.gulf-stream.org/weblink/O/doc/99707/Pagel.asl)x
We responded on August 23 "Please be advised that there are no such records applicable to this
date. If there is another date you are referring to, please advise." You then e-mailed on November
22, 2016 with "I respectfully ask that you read my request again more closely. I am not asking for
records specific to any date. I am asking to inspect public records related to the Town asking for
this legal work provided by Mr. Baird to be performed and informing of the extent of that legal
work. The date of the meeting is immaterial to the request. It merely serves to identify the Town
meeting when the legal work was publicly revealed."
After further inquiry, the Town has determined that any communications regarding this subject
were communicated verbally. Therefore, please be advised that the Town has determined there
are no records responsive to your request. We consider this request closed.
Sincerely,
IZ4-d )ZOW44- 9491
As requested by Rita Taylor
Town Clerk, Custodian of the Records