Monday night's St. Augustine Beach Ciy Commission meeting, board members of the St. Johns Cultural Cuncil weiting for hours on an agenda item that accused them of "default" on the lease of the former St. Augustine Beach Ciy Hall, an historic coquina-faced hotel built by the WPA.
Rather than provide Due Process notice and an opportunity to be heard, City Manager MAX ROYLE merely called them and told them they "were on the agenda."
ROYLE did not call their attention to the PowerPoint.
ROYLTE did not send them a letter.
How rude.
How ineffectual.
City Attorney DOUGLAS NELSON BURNETT was absent and his associate, JAMES GEORGE WHITEHOUSE, was not prepared to argue the matter, which was outlined in a PowerPoint presentation on the City's website.
Meanwhile, Sheriff DAVID B. SHOAR's erstwhile fundraiser, local hate site operator MICHAEL GOLD, f/k/a "MICHAEL TOBIN," the public relations chair for the St. Augustine Republican Cub, ran a demagogic item in his histrionic HISTORIC CITY NEWS, trumpeting the agenda item on the Cultural Council, which has invested some $800,000 in a building they don't own.
Libel, slander, defamation, Lashon hara -- it happened because the City of St. Augustine Beach allowed egos and conflcts of interest to make accusations.
City Mayor Andrea Samuels rightly apologized.
Kudos!
Too few government officials have the class to do so.
We need more substances and less flummery, dupery and nincompoopery.
A longtime supporter of SHERIFF DAVID B. SHOAR, lawyer
DOUGLAS NELSON BURNETT and his St. JOHNS LAW GROUP are an embarassment -- they represent 7-ELEVEN, other developers and two governments (the Airport Authority and St. Augustine Beach). The son of the former Commanding General of the Florida National Guard, St. Augustine Beach Ciy Attorney DOUGLAS NELSON BURNETT has evidently bitten off more than he can chew. BURNETT's ST. JOHNS LAW GROUP law firm needs to resign the job of St. Augustine Beach City Attorney, and St. Augustine Beach needs to post the position in the Florida Bar Journal, opening it to any licensed Florida attorneys to apply.
No need to hire a lawyer wo also represents developers.
No need to limit such jobs to St. Johns County residents who have political connections -- it's our money.
SAB should hire a competent counsel who can give independent legal advice.
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