Marlon Bolton Calls City Attorney “My Attorney” at Gala Event, Says He “Keeps Me Out of Trouble”

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Marlon Bolton Calls City Attorney "My Attorney" at Gala Event, Says He "Keeps Me Out of Trouble"

Tamarac Commissioner Marlon Bolton referred to City Attorney Hans Ottinot as “my attorney” at Bolton’s “Key To the Region” gala event held in Fort Lauderdale Friday.

“My attorney is here, Hans Ottinot, come on give him a round of applause,” Bolton told the crowd gathered at Fort Lauderdale Marriott North, according to video obtained by RedBroward.

“Amazing guy, keeps me out of trouble,” Bolton said at the event, which he helped found to honor Jamaican figures of excellence.

The video of the gala has since been taken down from the event’s YouTube channel.

It was not immediately clear whether Ottinot has represented Bolton personally in any legal matters.

Ottinot is Tamarac’s city attorney and is paid with taxpayer funds to represent the city’s interests rather than individual elected officials.

Ottinot did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

Both Bolton and Ottinot have been trailed by controversy in recent years.

Ottinot, formerly the city attorney for North Miami Beach, resigned from that job in March 2023 after it became clear he would likely be fired in connection with a wide-ranging legal dispute involving questions over the mayor’s residency.

Ottinot had advised three city leaders in Nort Miami Beach to skip city commission meetings for months as a lawsuit involving the residency issue played out. Their absences brought parts of the city government to a halt.

Ottinot has done multiple stints as Tamarac’s city attorney in recent years, winning the job in 2022 and again in 2023 after his departure from North Miami Beach.

From January to May 2021, Ottinot served Tamarac as city attorney and billed taxpayers $195,000 for three months of legal work. He was fired that May and replaced by John Herin of Fox Rothschild.

In December 2022, Bolton moved to fire Herin and reinstate Ottinot. The motion passed with support from then-newly elected Commissioners Morey Wright and Kicia Daniel.

Bolton did not provide any official backup information for his item in meeting materials ahead of Ottinot’s hiring.

“This law firm is what the city needs to move forward,” Bolton said at the time, adding that he did not provide any backup information because “the city knows who Ottinot Law is.”

At the same meeting, Bolton suggested the city appoint then Assistant City Manager Levent Sucuoglu once the incumbent city manager’s contract expired. Sucuoglu took over the job in March 2023.

Residents critical of Bolton and Ottinot have raised questions in recent months over their work on the controversial Shaker Village Clubhouse deal and a policy change that puts Tamarac taxpayers on the hook for up to $10,000 in legal expenses incurred by city officials who prevail in ethics cases brought against them.

Bolton, a Shaker village resident, has vowed not to accept any benefit from the clubhouse deal. Ottinot has pushed for the deal to move forward, repeatedly arguing over the matter with Tamarac Mayor Michelle Gomez at commission meetings.

At an April meeting, Ottinot said he and the city manager brought the legal fee reimbursement policy forward as “a matter of good policy.” Under questioning, he declined to say whether the policy would cover any pending legal costs for commission members.

The push for the new policy came shortly after the Florida Commission on Ethics ruled for Bolton in an ethics case, finding no probable cause to believe he abused his office to obtain a disproportionate benefit or misused his position in connection with the Shaker Village Clubhouse deal.

The language in the city’s new reimbursement policy suggests it is applicable for covering up to $10,000 in legal fees incurred by Bolton in the ethics case.

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Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.