Thursday, March 02, 2023

SUNSHINE VIOLATION? SECRET NEGOTIATIONS ON COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR HUNTER SINCLAIR CONRAD's CONTRACT RENEWAL!


From left, state Sen. Travis J. Hutson, Christian Whitehurst and St. Johns County Clerk of Court and Comptroller Brandon Patty gather Tuesday night to watch the primary election results come in. Whitehurst defeated incumbent Jimmy Johns in the County Commission District 1 race. Hutson and Patty were unopposed in the primary.







Clean Up City of St. Augustine, Florida: David Migut bio from City of ...



This is a stench in the nostrils of the State of Florida and the United States of America. I spoke out against this "negotiation" at Commission meeting February 7, 2023. Now we've learned negotiations will take place in secret, violating prior practice and precedent here, and our Florida Sunshine law.  

Here's my February 8, 2023 complaint to our St. Johns County Inspector General, Hon. Nilsa Arissa:



----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: fwa@stjohnsclerk.com <fwa@stjohnsclerk.com>; inspector_general@stjohnsclerk.com <inspector_general@stjohnsclerk.com>; nilsa.arissa@sjcfl.us <nilsa.arissa@stjohnsclerk.com>
Cc: Commissioner Henry Dean <bcc5hdean@sjcfl.us>; Commissioner Sarah Arnold <bcc2sarnold@sjcfl.us>; Commissioner Krista Joseph <bcc4kjoseph@sjcfl.us>; Commissioner Roy Alaimo <bcc3ralaimo@sjcfl.us>; bcc1cwhitehurst@sjcfl.us <bcc1cwhitehurst@sjcfl.us>; hconrad@sjcfl.us <hconrad@sjcfl.us>; Joy Andrews <jqandrews@sjcfl.us>; John Dunbar <jdunbar@gannett.com>; jdunn@sjcfl.us <jdunn@sjcfl.us>; Bradley Bulthuis <bbulthuis@sjcfl.us>; Brad Bradley <bbradley@sjcfl.us>; Lorena Inclan <linclan@sjcfl.us>; Christine Valliere <cvalliere@sjcfl.us>; Betty Dixon <bdixon@sjcfl.us>; Lex Taylor III <ltaylor@sjcfl.us>; kwest@sjcfl.us <kwest@sjcfl.us>; sheriff@sjso.org <sheriff@sjso.org>; Saint Johns County Development Review Division <taxcollector@sjctax.us>; voakes@votesjc.com <voakes@votesjc.com>; Jalisa Ferguson <jferguson@sjcfl.us>; rmauch@sjcfl.us <rmauch@sjcfl.us>; mroberson@sjcfl.us <mroberson@sjcfl.us>; jbrewer@sjcfl.us <jbrewer@sjcfl.us>; Joseph Cone <jcone@sjcfl.us>; Mackenzie Smith <mtsmith@sjcfl.us>; John Regan <jregan@citystaug.com>; Isabelle Lopez <ilopez@citystaug.com>; Comm George <comugeorge@cityofsab.org>; Comm Rumrell <comdrumrell@cityofsab.org>; Roxanne Horvath <rhorvath@citystaug.com>; Nancy Sikes-Kline <nsikeskline@citystaug.com>; bblonder@citystaug.com <bblonder@citystaug.com>; Comm Samora <comdsamora@cityofsab.org>; Beth Sweeny <combsweeny@cityofsab.org>; cgarris@citystaug.com <cgarris@citystaug.com>; jspringfield@citystaug.com <jspringfield@citystaug.com>; David Birchim <dbirchim@citystaug.com>; Amy Skinner <askinner@citystaug.com>; Max Royle <mroyle@cityofsab.org>; Darlene Galambos <dgalambos@citystaug.com>; St Augustine Residents Count <saresidentscount@gmail.com>; St. Augustine Historical Society <admin@members.staughs.com>; Compassionate St. Augustine <compassionatestaugustine@gmail.com>; Anne Schindler <aschindler@firstcoastnews.com>; elections@wjxt.com <elections@wjxt.com>; Folio Weekly 2.0 <folioweekly@eblastengine.com>; john@folioweekly.com <john@folioweekly.com>; Melissa Ross <mross@wjct.org>; dmcgowan@wjct.org <dmcgowan@wjct.org>; localnews@wjct.org <localnews@wjct.org>; "jacksonville@fbi.gov" <jacksonville@fbi.gov>; corruption@usdoj.gov <corruption@usdoj.gov>; merrick.garland@usdoj.gov <merrick.garland@usdoj.gov>; vanita.gupta@usdoj.gov <vanita.gupta@usdoj.gov>; lisa.monaco@usdoj.gov <lisa.monaco@usdoj.gov>; chris@handlaw.com <chris@handlaw.com>; jmp@floridajustice.com <jmp@floridajustice.com>; waltbog@nytimes.com <waltbog@nytimes.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 07:29:35 PM EST
Subject: Investigation of Possible Sunshine Violations -- Negotiation Meeting(s) Between County Commission Chair and County Admiistrator

Dear Inspector General Arissa: 
1. Sadly, our St. Johns County Commission Chairman CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST is holding private, secret one-on-one "negotiation" meetings with County Administrator HUNTER SINCLAIR CONRAD to "negotiate" terms of a proposed two-year contract renewal. The contract does not expire until December 31, 2023.  What's the hurry?  Why the secrecy?
2. On February 7, 2023, Commission authorized WHITEHURST to negotiate the contract proposal.  
3. But St. Johns County Attorney DAVID MIGUT now belatedly contends this negotiation is not covered by Sunshine Law, contrary to past precedent and practice here.  
4. For MIGUT's own contract, and for CONRAD's contract, County Commission previously followed legal advice by the prior County Attorney to hold the negotiations in public, based on Sunshine law.
5. Yet MIGUT refused to respect that precedent and practice here and ignored the weight of legal authority set forth in the Florida Attorney General's Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual.  Why?   (He cited an obscure case not in the Manual and refused to provide a copy). 
6.MIGUT ignored my request to request an opinion from our State Attorney General).
7. Please investigate the close relationship between WHITEHURST and CONRAD, including WHITEHURST's January 2020 public comment opposing a national search for a new County Administrator, saying if an  outsider were hired, they might not know difference between Hastings and Ponte Vedra. 
8. Please investigate CONRAD's controversial hiring in 2019-2020 in the midst of a criminal case where he was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in 2019, without disclosing it to Commissioners, the people and news media.
9. Please investigate Commission hiring CONRAD without allowing anyone else to apply, in 2019, 2020 and now in 2023.  
10. Please investigate CONRAD's lack of several of the qualifications required by County ordinance,
11. Please investigate CONRAD's being hired without a background investigation.
12. Please investigate CONRAD's relationship with developers, and with others who contributed to his 2016 campaign for Clerk of Courts and Comptroller.
13. Please investigate CONRAD's demand for premature evaluation and renewal of his contract. What is the urgency?
14. Does CONRAD fear the outcome of pending SJC Inspector General investigations?  
15. There was no response to this question when I raised it at the February 7, 2023 BoCC meeting in connection with the issue being raised during Commissioner comments.  
16. Why are citizens and the press being excluded from attending this important negotiation, contrary to the precedent established with the negotiations with current County Attorney MIGUT and current County Administrator CONRAD?  CONRAD has an obsession with secrecy, stating to me in County budget hearings in 2020 and 2021: "I don't have to answer your questions. I work for the Board of County Commissioners!" 
17. We have a Right to Know.  It's our government. See, e.g., Bob Graham & Chris Hand, America; The Owner's Manual -- Making Government Work for You (2009)).
18. See also Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution, adopted by vote of 3.8 million people in 1992 (83% of the vote). 
19. As James Madison wrote in 1822 that "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
20. Please interview Messrs. MIGUT, CONRAD and WHITEHURST tomorrow, to preserve evidence and deter lawbreaking.
21. Please obtain all documents, e-mails, drafts, or paper or electronic records.
22. Please issue a report and kindly make it public, preferably before Commission considers any contract renewal for CONRAD.
23. By copy of this e-mail, I request that Respondents MIGUT, CONRAD and WHITEHURST voluntarily cease and desist from further secrecy and premature efforts to extend CONRAD's contract, subject to possible criminal, civil and administrative investigations by the FBI, FDLE and other law enforcement.
Thank you for all that you do.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours, 
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998 

On Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 12:04:47 PM EST, Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com> wrote:


Please send me a copy of the decisions you cite. 

With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
www.edslavin.com
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com


On Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 11:32:19 AM EST, David Migut <dmigut@sjcfl.us> wrote:


Mr. Slavin,

 

As you inquired about whether any negotiations between Chairman Whitehurst and County Administrator Conrad regarding the County Administrator’s contract have to be held in the sunshine, please see the attached case, directly on point.  In The Bradenton Times, Inc. v. Manatee County, Twelfth Judicial Circuit Case No. 2013-2597, the Court ruled that meetings between the Chairman of the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners and the Manatee County Administrator to negotiate the administrator’s contract, which arose as a result of Board motion authorizing such meetings, did not trigger the requirements of the Sunshine Law.   Upon appeal, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed this ruling.  136 So. 3d 598 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014).

  

Accordingly, any negotiations between Chairman Whitehurst and County Administrator Conrad are not required to take place in the sunshine.  Of course, any proposal will be brought back before the Board for action in a publicly-noticed sunshine compliant Board meeting.

 

Thanks,

 

David Migut

County Attorney

St. Johns County

500 San Sebastian View

St. Augustine, Florida 32084

(904) 209-0805 phone

(904) 209-0806 fax

dmigut@sjcfl.us

 

signature_38035206

 

From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 8, 2023 10:47 AM
To: Commissioner Christian Whitehurst <bcc1cwhitehurst@sjcfl.us>; David Migut <dmigut@sjcfl.us>; Hunter Conrad <hconrad@sjcfl.us>
Cc: Commissioner Henry Dean <bcc5hdean@sjcfl.us>; Commissioner Sarah Arnold <bcc2sarnold@sjcfl.us>; Commissioner Krista Joseph <bcc4kjoseph@sjcfl.us>; Commissioner Roy Alaimo <bcc3ralaimo@sjcfl.us>; Executive Investigations Complaints <executiveinvestigationscomplaints@fdle.state.fl.us>; R.J. Larizza <larizzar@sao7.org>; Bryan Shorstein <shorsteinb@sao7.org>; pat.gleason@myfloridalegal.com; Nicholas Weilhammer <nicholas.weilhammer@myfloridalegal.com>; waltbog@nytimes.com
Subject: Sunshine Notice and Negotiation Meeting(s) Between County Commission Chair and County Admiistrator

 

Dear Messrs. Migut, Whitehurst and Conrad:

1. On February 7, 2023, our St. Johns County Commission delegated to the County Commission Chair Christian Whitehurst a meeting to negotiate a proposed renewal of the employment contract with the current County Administrator, Mr. HUNTER SINCLAIR CONRAD.  No date and time was set for the meeting.  This meeting must be open to the public and recorded, as were prior meetings to interview and negotiate contracts with our County Attorney and County Administrator.

2. Longtime County Attorney Patrick Francis McCormack advised BoCC that when a Commissioner interviews or negotiates with the County Administrator on his contract, it is a Sunshine meeting.

3.  The meeting between the County Commission Chair and current Administrator on proposed renewal of the Administrator's contract is a Sunshine meeting under Florida law.  

4. Please comply with the Sunshine law from this day forward, as I requested of Mr. Migut after the end of yesterday's (February 7, 2023) BoCC meeting, where this contract renewal notion was not on the agenda and voted without adequate public notice.

5. Please cease and desist from any more Sunshine lawbreaking, from this day forward.

Thank you

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

(904) 377-4998

 

Florida Attorney General Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual at 10-11:

 

d. Delegation of authority to individual to act on behalf of the board

“The Sunshine Law does not provide for any ‘government by delegation’ exception; a public body cannot escape the application of the Sunshine Law by undertaking to delegate the conduct of public business through an alter ego.” IDS Properties, Inc. v. Town of Palm Beach, 279 So. 2d 353, 359 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973), certified question answered sub nom., Town of Palm Beach v. Gradison, 296 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 1974). See also News-Press Publishing Company, Inc. v. Carlson, 410 So. 2d 546, 547-548 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982) (when public officials delegate de facto authority to act on their behalf in the formulation, preparation, and promulgation of plans on which foreseeable action will be taken by those public officials, those delegated that authority stand in the shoes of such public officials insofar as the Sunshine Law is concerned).

..., the Attorney General’s Office has advised that a single member of a board who has been delegated the authority to negotiate the terms of a lease on behalf of the board “is subject to the Sunshine Law and, therefore, cannot negotiate for such a lease in secret.” AGO 74-294. Accord AGO 84-54. Similarly, when an individual member of a public board, or a board member and the executive director of the board, conducts a hearing or investigatory proceeding on behalf of the entire board, the hearing or proceeding must be held in the sunshine. AGOs 75-41 and 74-84. And see AGO 10-15 (special magistrate subject to the Sunshine Law when exercising the delegated decision-making authority of the value adjustment board).  

Moreover, the Attorney General’s Office has advised that a single member of a board who has been delegated the authority to negotiate the terms of a lease on behalf of the board “is subject to the Sunshine Law and, therefore, cannot negotiate for such a lease in secret.” AGO 74-294. Accord AGO 84-54. Similarly, when an individual member of a public board, or a board member and the executive director of the board, conducts a hearing or investigatory proceeding on behalf of the entire board, the hearing or proceeding must be held in the sunshine. AGOs 75-41 and 74-84. And see AGO 10-15 (special magistrate subject to the Sunshine Law when exercising the delegated decision-making authority of the value adjustment board).  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Also, Trump is spending the money that these idiots sent him for whatever he pleases. Twas an epic grift, snake oil graft, and bamboozle.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-campaign-self-dealing_n_63e42fd1e4b07f036b9a5944

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to the days when someone would just go ahead and own up and admit that they made a mistake for Christ sakes???

Anonymous said...

Florida is a corrupt police state. There are no separation of powers. They all operate on the same social darwinist, far right ideology therefore the legislator, governor, and yoyo on the bench feeding the corrupt concentration camps are basically the same individual. Same thing with the county commission. All these yoyos are the same cracker.