HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 28 1989 The airport bucks stop with the City Council editorial�1'
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The airport bucks stop
with the City Council
When the Sebastian City Council issued a blank check, drawn on
the airport enterprise fund, to the Washington, D.C., law firm of
Cutler & Stanfield for its services, we doubt any of the councilmen
realized how large that check would be.
That's the trouble with blank checks.
Of course, Eliot Cutler had told the council he estimated his firm's
services would cost the city between $25,000 and $50,000 to draft
the ordinances.
The bill for legal services and related expenses to date is almost
four times the low estimate and nearly double the maximum.
So far, the city's airport enterprise fund has paid $92,251 for those
services and another $14,001 for studies that Cutler said were
needed to draft the ordinance mandated by the voters on March 14.
Cutler also told the City Council, when he was hired, he estimated
the studies would cost about $10,000.
We were surprised, at the time, the council placed no limits on the
fees Cutler's firm might charge.
Apart from Mayor Richard Votapka and Councilman Frank Ober -
beck, the councilmen have had no objection to the charges, as they
have come in.
Cutler now says his firm's services for the next 12 months, barring
litigation, should only cost the city about $20,000.
That figure is based on the assumption that, in about 12 months
time, the city and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will
begin serious negotiations about the future of the airport, based
upon the study that will be conducted in the interim.
Frankly, we place little confidence in Cutler's estimate.
Since the ordinance he was hired to draft has been written, the
agreement he negotiated with the FAA has been agreed to and the
estimate excludes the cost of litigation, we wonder what his firm will
do to earn even that paltry sum.
The City Council should, at least, take Cutler at his word and hold
him to his estimate.
To date, the only. city official who has made any serious effort to
control Cutler's bill has been City Manager Robb McClary.
Were it not for his efforts, the total would be $9,000 higher than it
is now.
However, according to Sebastian's City Charter, the attorneys do
not work for McClary, they work for the City Council.
It is up to the City Council to place some checks on the high-priced
attorneys it hired.
Cutler & Stanfield's blank check should be rescinded immedi-
ately, and the City Council should begin exercising its responsibility
to control those expenses.
Of course, we have been reminded repeatedly the money to pay
for all of this comes from the airport enterprise fund, which appar-
ently contains a species of. currency that is not to be equated with
real money.
We can only note, once again, the airport enterprise fund, like the
airport itself, is a resource of the city, and the City Council has a
responsibility to administer those monies wisely.
When this fiasco has played itself out and all of the bills finally have
come due, it will be up to the voters of Sebastian to judge how well
members of the City Council have acquitted themselves in exercis-
ing that responsibility.
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