HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 28 1989 Airport Lawyer's Phone Calls Raise Ire of City Councilmen6A, Friday, July 28, 1989, Vero Beach, Fla., Press -Journal
Airport Lawyer's Phone Calls
Raise Ire Of City Councilmen
By P IRICIA DiLALLA
Sebastian Bureau Chief
An effort by Sebastian City Council to save on legal
expenses by restricting who the airport attorney
could talk to was cut short when City Manager Robb
McClary said he did not want to have responsibility
over the attorney.
And in a related matter, Councilman Frank Ober -
beck at Wednesday's,council meeting repeated his re-
quest that city employees, including the city manager
and city planner, who do work on the airport should
keep track of their time so it can be billed to the air-
port enterprise fund.
In reviewing the latest bill from attorney Eliot Cut-
ler's firm, Councilman Robert McCollum raised ques-
tions about the need'for the city to pay for some of the
telephone conversations Cutler had with the attorney
for the Citizens Airport Watch.
If there is any further business that CAW attorney
John Evans feels he has to conduct, it should be done
through the city manager's office, said McCollum.
McCollum made a motion that Cutler be told he could
not charge the city for long distance telephone calls to.
private citizens, including members of the CAW and
Evans, unless approved by McClary.
Since Cutler's firm was hired in April, the city has
received bills for legal fees and expenses totaling
$104,144. For the June bill, long distance telephone
charges amounted to $801 and Cutler charged for
time he spent talking to people concerning the air-
port.
During the billing period, Cutler talked with Evans
eight times. Some of those calls may have related to
the standstill agreement the city entered into with the
Federal Aviation Administration, McClary said.
Cutler might have wanted. to make sure the CAW
would not contest the agreement, he said.
Before the council could vote on the motion, McC-
lary objected to council giving him authority over the
airport attorney.
"If you're going to have special legal counsel,"
McClary said, "you need him to retain some dis-
cretion in representing you.
"I don't want to be responsible and don't feel I can
legally be responsible for running Cutler's clock. I
cannot make a judgment whether he should be nego-
tiating with Evans of the CAW or the lawyer for the
(Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association).
"If Cutler said he has to talk to the CAW or AO -
PA ... who am I to tell him no," McClary said.
After McCollum withdrgw his motion, McClary said
he would informally tell Cutler he should not be
taking phone calls indiscriminately from individuals
unless it relates directly to his work on the airport.
Oberbeck noted that McClary, the city planner and
the city attorney were spending a lot of time on the
airport issue and repeated his request that they keep
track of their hours.
Oberbeck later said that it wasn't his intention to
deplete the enterprise fund.
"Everyone on the council except me and the mayor
were very adamant about the fact that ad valorem
taxes would not be used," Oberbeck said.
"We are using ad valorem taxes to pay the salaries
of the city manager and planner and other staff in
City Hall. I don't feel that the taxpayers should subsi-
dize the wishes of a vew people in this community
who are misled and misguided."
McClary, who said he was unaware of Oberbeck's
earlier request, said the staff would keep track of
their hours.