HomeMy WebLinkAbout08 18 1989 Airport legal costs approach $110,000August 18, 1989 (LISPS 1506)
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Airport legal costs
approach $110 000
McClary puts attorneys on standby
By George Ricker ,
Fees paid to the city of Sebastian's
legal experts on aviation matters now
total almost $110,000.
From April 20 to July 31, Cutler &
Stanfield has billed the city a total of
$109,617 for legal fees, related
expenses and two studies authorized
when the firm was hired by the
Sebastian City Council.
The most recent invoice, covering
charges for work done in July, also is
the smallest the city has received
since the firm was hired.
It totals $3,365 and includes
charges of $2,725 for 15 hours of
legal work by attorneys with the firm
and $640 for associated expenses.
That brings the total paid to the
Washington, D.C., law firm for legal
services and expenses to $95,616.
Another $14,001 was paid for a
noise study and an economic study
done on Sebastian Municipal Airport
in connection with the preparation of
an ordinance required by the passage
of a charter amendment approved by
Sebastian voters on March 14, which
imposed noise restrictions and
operation fees at the airport.
In addition to charges for work
done drafting the ordinance, Cutler
& Stanfield's fees also include
charges for negotiations it conducted
with the Federal Aviation
Aministration (FAA) on behalf of the
city and charges for assistance in
preparing a scope of services for a
planning study called for in the
agreement reached between the city
and the FAA.
The standstill agreement, which
was adopted by the Sebastian City
Council on June 12, provided that the
city would delay final action on the
ordinance and would maintain the
status quo at the airport.
In exchange for that concession,
the FAA agreed to provide 90
percent of the funding for a.planning
study at the airport. Excluded from
that amount was the $27,000 the
FAA had already paid toward
completion of the airport master plan
the previous year.
It is hoped the planning study,
when completed, will form the basis
for a new agreement between the city
and the FAA regarding the airport. If
such an agreement is reached, both
sides conceded it will be necessary to
present a new charter amendment to
the voters.
On July 31, Sebastian City
Manager Robb McClary drafted a
memorandum to the law firm
advising Eliot Cutler, one of the
senior partners in the firm, that he and
his associates should consider
themselves on standby unless the cite
requested further work from them.
McClary said,in view of the
agreement, the situation had become
an administrative issue rather than a
legal one.
"Therefore, we consider you to be
in a standby position unless other
legal issues arise," he wrote Cutler.
That memo followed a City
Council meeting in which some
members of the council had
expressed concern over the rising
cost of the law firm's services, and
Steve Johnson, co-owner of
Sebastian Aero Services, a fixed -
base operator at the airport, had said
the interests of airport operators and
users were being ignored.
Johson noted Cutler had been
representing Citizen's Airport
Watch .(CAW) before he was hired
by the city and had drafted the charter
amendment calling for the ordinance
he had subsequently been hired to
write.
Cutler's numerous- phone
conversations with the CAW's
attorney John Evans, phone calls
which had been billed to the city,
suggested the opponents of the
airport had input into the planning
process, Johnson charged, yet no one
had contacted him or any other
operator or user at the airport to deal
with their concerns.
As far as he was concerned, Cutler
was an adversary, Johnson said.
The city manager said Cutler had
advised him the law firm's charges
should not exceed $20,000 over the
next twelve months or until the
planning study was completed,
unless litigation required the services
of the firm's attorneys.
While the legal fees have been
mounting, Burt Snell of Sebastian
has filed petitions in the 19th Circuit
Court seeking a writ of mandamus to
require the City Council to adopt the
ordinance in accordance with the
wishes of the voters, as expressed on
March 14, and a temporary
injunction to prevent the city from
using the airport enterprise fund to
pay the law firm's fees.
The enterprise fund, which
receives its revenues from leases and
other income generated at the airport,
has been used to pay the fees charged
by Cutler & Stanfield to date.
Whether or not that practice will be
allowed to continue may be decided
by Circuit Court Judge Paul B.
Kanarek when he hears the case next
Monday.