City Commission Report 8-16-2011

CITY ATTORNEY HIRE:
NORM FUGATE EDGES OUT HOLLY BLUMENTHAL

In the only disputed action taken by the City Commission at its regularly scheduled meeting August 16, Commissioner Scott Dennison`s motion to offer the city attorney position to Norm Fugate, effective October 1, passed by a 3-2 vote.

Arguing against the motion to hire Mr. Fugate, Commissioner Sue Colson noted that she supported the candidacy of Holly Blumenthal, an associate of Cedar Key`s former city attorney David Coffey. Ms. Blumenthal has served as city attorney since Mr. Coffey`s resignation several months ago.

Commissioner Colson reported she had received negative feedback regarding Mr. Fugate`s experience - seen as a plus by some - as city attorney for the neighboring cities of Chiefland, Inglis, and Williston. (See Cedar Key News, August 4, 2011, "City Attorney Candidates Grilled," for descriptions of the three applicants for the position.)

Once the city attorney item was resolved, the commissioners worked their way through the evening`s agenda with unanimity.

The Police Department cat, Butch, along with perhaps a dozen members of the public (one of whom had a proposal on the agenda) sat through the meeting, which ran slightly over one hour.

Regular city commission watchers - who generally number about a dozen, including the press, except in times of controversy - know to look a few days before each city meeting for that upcoming meeting`s agenda posted on the bulletin board outside of City Hall.

Typically, one or more items on the agenda will be rendered in capital letters. These capitalized sections contain the title of a proposed new or changed city law. In the course of the meeting, these titles will be read aloud to the commissioners and the public by the city attorney. Following any discussion on the proposed ordinance, generally including the city attorney`s explanation of each proposal`s legal necessity, a roll call vote of the commissioners is required.

The agenda for August 16 included four such ordinances, the first three of which (in layman`s lingo) amended sections of existing city ordinances relating (1) to the discharge and possession of firearms within the city, (2) to the city`s ability to regulate firearms during a state of local emergency, and (3) repealing the city`s present prohibition against the use of firearms to spear fish within the city limits. City Attorney Blumenthal explained that the changes were necessary to conform city regulations to new state law.

If nothing else, the reading of the proposed ordinances provided Commissioner Colson a laugh line in a subsequent discussion during Police Chief Virgil Sandlin`s report on the city`s failed efforts to enforce its marina launch fee against scofflaws who don`t pay tickets issued by the Cedar Key Police Department. `Well,` quipped Commissioner Colson. "If we pass Ordinance No. 478, then we can shoot them with a spear gun."