Like a Ship Without a Rudder
The City of Key West will be skirting the rocky shoals of litigation and counsel without an attorney until its next commission meeting.
If you watched the mock trial that essentially acquitted and paid off disgraced former City Attorney Ron Ramsingh on Thursday evening, you might have noticed what some could have interpreted as a contentious exchange between Commissioner and local attorney Sam Kaufman and City Manager Brian Barroso.
Kaufman had brought up the fact that now — with Ramsingh terminated without cause and headed towards a $211k payday, that the City didn’t have an attorney to provide legal counsel in what might be construed as tricky legal territory.
It was a subject that the District 2 commissioner had brought up in the first special meeting last Monday night.
When it was apparent that the City was going to take action, Ramsingh delegated his authority via email to a member of his office — neophyte attorney Kendal Harden.
She has been an attorney for a little over six years and with the city for right around a year.
The commission ended up not voting on naming an interim.
Fast-forward to Thursday’s debacle, and at the end, Kaufman brought the issue up once more.
Barroso told Kaufman that Harden had been named interim City Attorney by Ramsingh until the next regular commission meeting and that he would be happy to share the letter with Kaufman.
The only problem was, Barroso was wrong. And he even referred to Ramsingh to back him up on his letter at the second meeting.
Why at this point the City would be relying on the individual they just terminated, is beyond rational thought.
But Ramsingh’s letter, dated April 17th., clearly states that Harden would serve to the conclusion of the special meeting.
As referenced above, Kaufman correctly pointed out the letter from Ramsingh only assigned the duties until the end of Monday’s kangaroo court and that a separate attorney — Catherine Hall, free of Ramsingh’s influence — would handle any labor or contractual disputes during the meeting.
In addition to asking that an interim be appointed, Kaufman also gave direction to Barroso to solicit information from board-certified municipal attorneys like Dirk Smits at the venerable firm of Vernis & Bowling as to what it would take to engage them in the interim, and possibly long term.
Fast forward to Friday, and Commissioner Donie Lee — who could well be implicated in Sunshine Law violations resulting from the indictments of the Bubba Bozo Trio — sent an email to Barroso asking to add naming Harden as the interim to the agenda for the May meeting — almost a week and a half away.
So, why was Commisioner Kaufman wrong and publicly challenged, while Commissioner Lee was right about the same subject 24 hours later?
And why is the City in a rush to appoint a young, inexperienced attorney as the City’s interim, and possibly permanent attorney?
An even better question is — given the current climate — why would she even want that job?
But Barroso responded that he believed it could be added to the commissioner’s preparation and also asked Assistant City Manager Todd Stoughton to source the information that Kaufman had requested for other outside options.
So, if you are planning on filing any litigation with the City of Key West, now might be a good time to do so, as they are without legal counsel until the next regularly scheduled commission meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, May 6 beginning at 9 a.m. with a second session at 5 p.m. at 1300 White Street.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.