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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 09-06-1994 Special Workshop• • CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORKSHOP MEETING September 6, 1994 A Special Workshop Meeting of the Cape Canaveral City Council was held on September 6, 1994, at the City Hall Annex, 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The meeting was called to order at 5:40 P.M. by Mayor Pro Tem Porter. ROLL CALL: Mayor Joy Salamone Absent Mayor Pro Tem John Porter Present Councilmember Arthur Berger Present Councilmember Leo Nicholas Present Councilmember Rocky Randels Present City Manager Bennett Boucher Present City Clerk Faith Miller Present BUSINESS: 1. Interview of applicants for City Attorney position. Kohn Bennett of Amari. Theraic & Eisenmenger. P.A. Mr. Richard Amari of Amari, Theraic & Eisenmenger, P.A., explained his firm's proposal to have Mr. Kohn Bennett appointed as the City Attorney for the City of Cape Canaveral. He explained that he was presently the City Attorney for the City of Cocoa. Mr. Amari reported that if his firm was selected, the City would become the priority client of Mr. Bennett. He summarized the size of the firm, the qualifications and backgrounds of each of the firm's attorneys. Mr. Bennett advised that he had served as Assistant City Attorney for the City of Cape Canaveral from 1986 to 1991. Mr. Randels commented that his concern with utilizing a large firm was that he wanted to feel comfortable that the City would indeed be a priority client. Mr. Bennett responded affirmatively that the City would be a very high priority client and that he would be accessible to allocate his time to the City. Mr. Randels mentioned that the City workload as far as legal matters were concerned had significantly increased in the past few years. He stated that he had used the firm for advise on the ethics matter and Mr. Amari stated that Mr. Randels' use of the firm in the past would not be a conflict of interest. Mr. Berger questioned what "other expenses" would be incurred with respect to legal services. Mr. Amari stated that his firm did not bill for long distance telephone charges, duplicating expenses, or fax charges. Mr. Berger questioned what the City had paid for legal services in the past several years to both of the subject firms. Mr. Nicholas questioned why Jim Woodman had not been included when Mr. Amari was listing the qualifications of the firm's attorneys. Mr. Amari stated that Mr. Woodman was no longer with the firm and Mr. David Kampf would also be leaving the firm shortly. Mr. Nicholas questioned if Mr. Bennett would be handling all of the City meetings. Mr. Bennett stated that previously the firm had used two (2) individuals to cover all of the City meetings and he felt that they may also use a two (2) person system if selected as the City Attorney with Mr. Anthony Garganese as the Assistant City Attorney to attend Planning & Zoning Board meetings and other such meetings. Mr. Nicholas stated that Mr. Bennett had worked on the City's • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Special Workshop Meeting September 6, 1994 Page 2 Comprehensive Plan process in the past. John Kancilia of Landman. O'Brien. Riemenschneider & Kancilia. Mr. Kancilia introduced his partner, Michael Riemenschneider, to the Council. He explained that Mr. Riemenschneider was an experienced litigator especially in municipal matters and that he was the litigator for the City of Melbourne in the so- called "Well cases" which were a series of the most complex litigation within Brevard County in recent years. Mr. Kancilia stated that Council may have some concern regarding that Mr. Kancilia was no longer affiliated with the law firm of Reinman, Harrell, Graham, Mitchell & Wattwood. He assured Council that the level of expertise and support that he would be able to give to the City if permitted to continue as the City Attorney would continue and Mr. Riemenschneider would be able to provide any litigation support that was necessary. Mr. Kancilia commented that Mr. Riemenschneider had experience as a Code Enforcement Board prosecutor and that he had litigated a number of planning and zoning matters. Mr. Kancilia stated that if his firm was selected he would continue to be responsible for municipal legal affairs as well as his other duties. He described the experience and expertise of each of the other attorneys within the firm of Landman, O'Brien, Riemenschneider & Kancilia. Mr. Kancilia stated that if selected, his firm would propose to continue to utilize the services of Kevin Markey for selected assignments with the Code Enforcement Board, Planning & Zoning Board, and the Board of Adjustment in order to cover some of the many monthly Board meetings held within the City. Mr. Randels stated that the amount of legal work over the past several years had increased dramatically and he wanted it to be clear that the City would be the number one priority client with whichever law firm was selected. Mr. Kancilia stated that the previous contract with Reinman, Harrell had designated the City as a priority client and he had given the City the service it was entitled to under the contract and he would continue the undertaking that the City would be a priority client. He stated that since March 1992, a total of 105 ordinances had been drafted. On a yearly average basis, there was an increase of approximately 50% in the number of ordinances prepared each year from the number prepared in the late 1980's. Mr. Randels questioned if the proposed fee structure was adequate. Mr. Kancilia stated that he was comfortable with the hourly rate of $75.00, but he was not comfortable with the "fixed fee" type of monthly retainer amount which covered certain services without limit to the amount of hours expended. He stated that under the retainer agreement, the attorney could only bill a maximum number of hours; if the number of hours billed out at $75.00 an hour did not bill to $2,200 then the City was entitled to a refund. Mr. Kancilia stated that while he was at Reinman, Harrell the average hourly rate under the monthly retainer provisions was $56.00 an hour. He stated that the hourly rate was not a concern to his current firm, but that he was concerned with the number of hours billed on the retainer account. In general, the amount of work billed under the retainer did equate to less than $75.00 an hour. Mr. Kancilia stated that Kevin Markey had agreed to continue to bill at the $75.00 an hour rate for • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Special Workshop Meeting September 6, 1994 Page 3 his attendance at City Board meetings and related work. Mr. Randels commented that a larger firm with 25 -30 attorneys would have other attorneys within in the firm that may have dealt with similar legal issues in the past and thus save the attorney some research time. He questioned if Mr. Riemenschneider had experience dealing with labor law issues. Mr. Riemensclmeider stated that he had handled grievance issues separate from his municipal work. He stated that his municipal work had mainly been focused on litigation in the circuit or federal courts associated with zoning or construction issues. He had worked in age discrimination law, sexual harassment, and other labor issues. Mr. Kancilia stated that he had represented the interests of the Melbourne Police Department and did a number of police officer grievances with the City of Melbourne through the administrative process. There was further discussion regarding the role of Mr. Markey as a subcontractor through Landman, O'Brien for coverage of other City Board meetings. Mr. Kancilia advised that as the LPA became more involved in the revisions to the Comprehensive Plan that he would be the attorney to provide the necessary legal support. Mr. Porter questioned where Mr. Kancilia felt his firm would progress to in five years. Mr. Kancilia stated that the four (4) partners were committed to the quality practice of law and he did not want to expand the law firm at the expense of quality. If the opportunity presented itself to grow then the firm would grow consistent with the quality objective. Mr. Porter questioned what type of practice the firm would focus on. Mr. Riemenschneider stated that he would like to continue a strong municipal practice, but that the field was highly competitive. He advised that he had been the Assistant City Attorney for Leesburg and he assumed that 30 -40% of his practice would continue to be municipal, with the remainder devoted to general civil litigation. Mr. Kancilia stated that overall the firm would tend to do less municipal work because they would not be representing the City of Melbourne, but he expected the firm to be called upon to assist in certain municipal matters. Mayor Pro Tem Porter stated that a decision regarding the City Attorney selection would be reached at a subsequent Council meeting in the near future. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:32 p.m. Faith G. Miller, CMC /AAE City Clerk