reimbursement - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T15:00:04Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/reimbursementLantana: Town agrees to reimburse former mayor for legal feeshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/lantana-town-agrees-to-reimburse-former-mayor-for-legal-fees2021-04-28T16:02:10.000Z2021-04-28T16:02:10.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Mary Thurwachter</strong><br /> <br />After an hourlong discussion with robust input from residents, the Lantana Town Council unanimously agreed on April 12 to reimburse former Mayor Dave Stewart for legal expenses he incurred defending an ethics charge.<br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8862445488,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8862445488,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" width="103" alt="8862445488?profile=RESIZE_180x180" /></a>The charge stemmed from a sexual harassment allegation made by Catherine Phillips Padilla, who accused the former mayor of asking for sex in exchange for his approving speed bumps on her street six years ago. Stewart was exonerated by the Florida Commission on Ethics in 2019.<br />Stewart’s legal expenses included $41,699 for attorney’s costs and $5,302 for private investigation charges, for a total of about $47,000.<br /> Finance director Stephen Kaplan said attorneys from the town’s insurance pool (Public Risk Management) said that Stewart’s court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees are to be reimbursed under Section 111.07 of the state law. Investigative fees, on the other hand, are at the council’s choice.<br /> Most residents who spoke on the matter favored paying Stewart for both attorney and investigative costs.<br /> “I do believe the investigative fees are a part of the lawsuit,” said Hypoluxo Island resident Media Beverly. “The attorney’s fees and the costs should be reimbursed. The investigative fees are clearly part of that. And, because Mr. Stewart as mayor was exonerated during the ethics proceedings, I believe there should be full reimbursement for both.”<br /> Another island resident, retired lawyer Erica Wold, agreed. “There’s clearly precedent for this. And basically, legal representation is very impossible without incurring the costs of an investigation. You have to put this in perspective. Stewart was mayor for over 20 years. He took us from debt to $9 million in reserves. He had an average salary of $500 a month, which for over 20 years, is about $6,000 a year. That’s about $120,000.<br /> “Now he just incurred $47,000 in connection with being a mayor. Over 20 years and this complaint comes and he was clearly cleared of it. Frankly, common decency dictates that you reimburse him.”<br /> Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm said the private investigator was needed and should be paid by the town.<br /> “This all happened because Dave Stewart was mayor and somebody decided they didn’t want him to be mayor anymore,” Arm said. “It could happen to any one of you. And as people have said, you’ve got to make sure that the town has his back. He did a great job.” <br /> Hypoluxo Island resident Bob Fritts said that failure to approve the legal expenses would discourage people from running for political office. “If the town doesn’t have your back when you’re exonerated, who is going to want to take the chance again?” Fritts asked council members. “In today’s political environment, this could be one of you six months from now.”<br /> Two residents asked that the council delay action on paying the expenses because they wanted more detailed explanation of the attorney fees.<br /> Jennifer Wink, who said she represented the residents of James Place at 1206 S. Lake Drive, wanted more transparency in the attorney fees. “They would like to know if it could be tabled and they can do more research, because while this may have been going on for a long time, many people were unaware that this was an option.” <br /> But the Town Council said it was ready to act and followed the advice of Town Attorney Max Lohman. <br /> “But for former Mayor Stewart’s position as being mayor, such a complaint could not have been levied against him and the costs were necessary and incurred in the course of the defense of the matter,” Lohman said. “For that reason, I offered you the opinion that, while I believe it is still up to your discretion, I encourage you to reimburse the costs.<br /> “I believe there is very solid case law that supports the claim for reimbursement of those fees. It would seem manifestly unjust to require the mayor to litigate the town to recoup fees that he only incurred because he was the mayor. The investigative costs were part of that.”<br /> As to what Wink referred to as “a vagueness” in attorney fee charges provided in the agenda packet, Lohman said that a detailed synopsis under the circumstances would be voluminous.<br /> “When you have a case that goes on this long, the bills end up being quite detailed and long and so he did a synopsis,” Lohman said of Stewart’s attorney. “Knowing it was going to be submitted for an agenda item, I suspect that one of the reasons the attorney just did the synopsis was not only to keep the amount of paperwork brief, but also when you do billing and you are representing a private client, those bills are attorney-client privilege due to the content of the bills. It is not uncommon for an attorney to redact portions of the bills quite extensively.”<br /> Lohman added: “For the amount of time this case went on and the amount of hourly rate that was being charged, $40,000 is not a lot of money.”</p></div>Boca Raton: $4 million reimbursement a welcome surprisehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-4-million-reimbursement-a-welcome-surprise2014-09-03T14:47:24.000Z2014-09-03T14:47:24.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Cheryl Blackerby</strong><br /><br /> The city of Boca Raton got a big surprise July 28 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — a check for $4 million for reimbursement of the 2010 beach dredging project at the city’s north beach.<br /> “We had been hoping for it. We put in a request for reimbursement,” said Jennifer Bistyga, Boca Raton engineer and coastal program manager.<br /> The money was for the work required for the 2010 beach project, regular beach maintenance done about every 10 years, not storm damage. <br /> “Back in 2010 after the beach project was completed, we submitted our reimbursement request, and an outside auditing firm was hired to go over all of our invoices,” she said.<br /> The reimbursement was actually for work done from 2003 to 2010 — the engineering, design and permitting needed in addition to the dredging. “There were a lot of invoices,” she said. “The agreement for reimbursement was that it would be paid upon completion.”<br /> The money will be passed along to the Boca Raton Beach and Park District, which had agreed to cover the $4 million beach renourishment bill and had already paid $2 million. The district also had approved another $2 million for reimbursement to the city in the 2014-15 budget. <br /> Mike Woika, Boca Raton assistant city manager, told district commissioners about the Army Corps windfall at the district’s Aug. 4 meeting. <br /> Commissioners were relieved to hear that the city doesn’t expect the $2 million reimbursement in the district budget. After the city has reconciled its statements, Woika said, the district will receive about $1.5 million refund from the district’s initial $2 million payment.<br /> Learning that the district wouldn’t have to pay the $2 million in the proposed budget, Commissioner Earl Starkoff suggested a budget revision of an increase in the cash balance brought forward by $2 million to $17,994,200 and an increase in the capital reserves by $2 million to $3,845,000. The revisions would increase the total appropriated expenditure and reserves to $41 million. <br /> “It is probably the most delightful gift that has fallen into our laps in a long time,” said Commissioner Bob Rollins as he thanked Woika for the presentation.<br /> Meanwhile, another beach renourishment project on Boca’s north beach, needed after Hurricane Sandy, will resume in November. The project, paid for by the Army Corps and the city, was delayed and eventually stopped by strong winds and rains in the spring. The work, about 50 percent of the project, is expected to take about six weeks.<br /> That project, too, cost $4 million — the Army Corps paid 58.8 percent and the city 41.2 percent, said Bistyga. <br /> The north beach renourishment project was one of three U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach projects after Sandy, which also included Ocean Ridge and Delray Beach. A south Boca Raton beach renourishment project was not an Army Corps project but the city used the same contractor to save money, said Bistyga.<br /><br /></p></div>