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HomeMy WebLinkAbout_1998 11 02 City Commission Special Minutes SPECIAL MEETING CITY COMMISSION NOVEMBER 2, 1998 The Special Meeting of the City Commission was called to order by Deputy Mayor Cindy Gennell at 6:35 p.m. ROLL CALL: Mayor Paul P. Partyka, absent Deputy Mayor Cindy Gennell, present City Manager Ronald W. McLemore, present Attorney Bob Guthrie, present COMMISSIONERS: Robert S. Miller, present Michael S. Blake, present Ed Martinez, present David McLeod, present Attorney Guthrie announced that the Commission will discuss the pending case styled Florida Country Clubs, Inc. etal v. Bricklemyer, Smolker, etal and The City of Winter Springs. Case No. 97-2862-CIV-TO-24 (B). Attorney Guthrie announced that he will not be attending this session as his partner was a party to this case. Deputy Mayor Gennell recessed the Special meeting at 6:38 p.m. Deputy Mayor Gennell reconvened the Special Meeting at 7:10 p.m. Special Attorney Blackwell recommended the Commission approve the terms of the mediated settlement agreement, which was reached last Tuesday. The mediated settlement agreement will result in the dismissal of the Federal Lawsuit presently pending in the Tampa division for the middle district of Florida, it will result in dismissals with prejudice and judgements in favor of the lawyers in the case, a dismissal with prejudice as to the City in the case, a dismissal with prejudice of any claims made or which could have been made and this relates to everyone including the City, all our elected and appointed officials, our attorneys, our agents, and the same can be said for such entities as the Tuscawilla Homeowners Association, any mandatory or voluntary homeowner associations, any subsidiary homeowner associations. In terms of it's fiscal impact to the City of Winter Springs, the recommendation is that we (City) buy back from F.C.C. or the appropriate entity owned by Mr. Mikes - 57 E.R.C.'s for which the City will pay the sum $127,500, Mr. Mikes will return them all to the City; Mr. Mikes presently owns five lots in Arrowhead Unit II that are developable and Mr. Mikes will buy back five of those E.R.C's. In addition, the City would agree to assign whatever claim it might have, if any, against the Carlton Fields Law Firm as a result of it's conflict in the underlying G.A.T.X. litigation, which was pending approximately a year ago in State Court in Hillsborough County, that primarily the terms that relate to the City, but the matter has been settled with a financial sum. It is subject to the approval of this Commission, as well as approval by the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust, and stated that is his recommendation. Special Meeting City Commission November 2. 1998 97-98-48 Page 2 Commissioner Blake said he believes it is well within the interest of the City and all the citizens of Winter Springs that the Commission goes forward on this settlement as it was negotiated. Motion was made by Commissioner Blake that the Commission accepts the settlement as conveyed to the Commission by Special Council in this matter. Seconded by Commissioner McLeod. Discussion. Commissioner Blake said to clarify in the points that Special Council just made, on the E.R.C.'s - Attorney Blackwell said that the City will be paying for and said those E.R.C.'s are re- marketable by the City at full retail value. Attorney Blackwell stated correct. Attorney Blackwell said for the record that he does not believe that this mediated settlement could have been reached without the assistance of the City Manager and Frank Kruppenbacher. Commissioner Gennell said when Attorney Blackwell was quoting the information about the releases, the case in Hillsborough was referenced, do these releases encompass the potential for filing any of these kind of cases in any other County. Attorney Blackwell said as it relates to anything having to do with the City of Winter Springs and any of the property ever owned by Mr. Mikes, within the City of Winter Springs, which literally included approximately 250 acres, it will dismiss for all time any and all claims made or any and all claims which could have been made resulting out of such property ownership by Mr. Mikes. It will be broadly drafted and Mr. Mikes agreed that it should be broadly drafted and said we have gone as far as literally as to have released all of the members of the Tuscawilla Homeowners Association and said Mr. Mikes was very conciliatory in that regard as we got to that point in the negotiations. Attorney Blaclkwell said this is intended to basically end it and said there are a lot of other minor terms to the settlement agreement such as relating to public records request and other sorts of things and said what he feels was most important to the Commission was if there would be any fiscal impact and stated that ultimately there should be no fiscal impact from this decision, if it's approved. Commissioner Gennell asked if this would preclude the legal filing of any other complaint related to this issue in any place in the State. Attorney Blackwell said yes. Vote: Commissioner Miller: aye; Commissioner Blake: aye; Commissioner Martinez: aye; Commissioner McLeod: aye. Motion passes. Attorney Blackwell thanked the Commission for being helpful to him during the entire process of this litigation and stated he will back to the Commission, assuming this issue settles to deal with the other issue, which has been discussed as a part of other special sessions that were discussed at a previous time. Attorney Guthrie announced the Special Session regarding the pending case styled: Seminole County, City of Oviedo, McKinley's Mill Homeowners etal. v. City of Winter Springs, DCA and Battle Ridge DOAH Case No.'s 98-3788GM, 98-3789GM and 98- 3790GM and announced those attending the Closed Executive Session. Deputy Mayor Gennell recessed the Special Meeting at 7:20 p.m. Special Meeting City Commission November 2.1998 97-98-48 Page 3 Deputy Mayor Gennell reconvened the Special Meeting at 9:35 p.m. Attorney Guthrie recommended that the document entitled "Recommendations, Stipulations and Settlement Agreement" that was attached to the 10-27-98 draft agreement that he prepared be incorporated into the stipulation and submitted to the parties and it would amend certain paragraphs and said he will add an additional amendment to the new paragraph 9, that deals with the joint planning agreement and requires Winter Springs and Oviedo to enter into their annexation agreement before they enter into a joint planning agreement with the County and said he is recommending that paragraph number 13, in the proposed stipulation be deleted. Motion was by Commissioner Blake approve the Attorney's recommendation. Seconded by Commissioner McLeod. Discussion. Vote: Commissioner Blake: aye; Commissioner Martinez: aye; Commissioner McLeod: aye; Commissioner Miller: aye. Motion passes. The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Margo M. Pierce, CMC City Clerk APPROVED: PAULP. PARTYKA, MAYOR