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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01 27 1989 Charter's Legality To Be DeterminedCharter's Legality To Be Determined By PATRICIA DiLALLA Sebastian Bureau Chief As part of their defense in the airport lawsuit, Sebastian city councilmen claim that the airport charter amendments' and proposed ordinance implementing them are in violation of the U.S. and state constitutions and federal law. The five council mem- bers, who are being sued by Burt Snell to force them to implement the charter amendments, are asking 19th Circuit Court Judge Paul Kana- Ka rek for a declaratory judgment on the issue of legality. If forced to adopt an ordinance, council would be in violation of federal and state constitutions and law, the restrictions and con- ditions of the quitclaim deed transferring the airport from the federal government to the city of Sebastian and the standstill agreement with the Federal Avi- ation Administration, state docu- ments filed with the court Monday. Adopting the ordinance would result in "... burden- some litigations, the loss of the airport property, a waste of judicial economy and a needless expenditure of public funds," states a summary of the councilmen's response prepared by their spe- cial lawsuit attorney, Nicholas Tsamoutales. narek The council also is asking Kanarek to dis- miss Snell's lawsuit based on his lack of standing and because writs of mandamus can only re- quire performance of ministerial duties, not legislative ones. One member, of the City Coun- cil opposes Tsamoutales' strate- gy in asking for a declaratory judgment. Please See CHARTER/2A Charter From Pg. ,A "I disagree with it 100 percent," said Vice Mayor Robert McCarthy. "I am not for that defense and I will tell Tsamoutales, as I did when I had that private meeting with him." McCarthy, a strong supporter of the charter amendments, said he never agreed with the legal opin- ions expressed by four attorneys and cited by Tsamoutales in his re- sponse. "They are only opinions; they are not constitutional lawyers," McCarthy said. Tsamoutales did not return sev- eral telephone calls Monday. In a counterclaim to the lawsuit, Tsamoutales cited legal opinions rendered by City Attorney Charles Nash, the city's airport attorney, the chief counsel to the FAA and an attorney hired by the fixed based operators at the airport. "All the opinions essentially con- cluded that the proposed charter amendments were subject to chal- lenge on numerous legal grounds and could result in reversion of the airport property to the (federal government)," states the coun- terclaim prepared by Tsamoutales. Councilmen Robert McCollum and Lloyd Rondeau, who were both elected in March on pro -refer- endum platforms, said at the time the airport referendum was voted on they believed it was legal. McCollum said he had questions about the referendum, but was told it was legal by attorneys. Although reluctant to name those attorneys, McCollum admitted one of them was John Evans, attorney for the Citizens Airport Watch. The CAW success- fully mounted a petition drive to have the referendum put on the March election ballot. Asked about the apparent turn- around in his position, Rondeau said "I wish I could give you an answer." Rondeau said he voted against the standstill agreement with the FAA because he was in favor of passing the ordinance. "That is whate the people wanted and that is what they voted for," he said. Councilman Frank Oberbeck, who opposed the airport charter amendments and voted against the standstill agreement, said he had been seeking a declaratory judgment since he was elected in March. "I never felt it was legal or con- stitutional. I thought it was a vio- lation of our. -deed," Oberbeck said. McCarthy said he objected to the city asking for a declaratory judgment. That was something that should have been requested by Snell or someone else, he said. On June 28, council unanimously voted to reject a motion to have the city attorney seek a declaratory judgment from a court on the le- gality issue. Although council was required to adopt an ordinance implementing a referendum on airport charter amendments, passed by voters in March, it instead approved a standstill agreement with the FAA. Under the terms of the standstill agreement, the city would not adopt the airport ordinance and the FAA, which objected to certain provisions of the amendment, would not sue to reclaim the air- port. Both sides agreed to wait until a comprehensive airport study was completed before taking any further action.