Tamarac will cover up to $10,000 in legal expenses incurred by city officials who prevail in ethics cases brought against them.
The new policy, approved by three city commissioners Wednesday, would apply to cases in which the commissioners, mayor, or city department heads are formally accused of ethics violations but not found to have violated ethics laws. Ethics complaints made against local municipal officials are investigated by either the Broward Office of the Inspector General [OIG] or the Florida Commission on Ethics.
According to city records, the policy will cover legal fee reimbursements “only when a determination has been made that the City Official has not violated ethics standards, where there is [a] finding of no probable cause to substantiate an alleged complaint, violation, or charge and/or where an alleged complaint, violation, or charge is dismissed, or the investigation is closed with no adjudication.” The alleged conduct must also fall within the scope of the officials’ work on the city’s behalf.
Under the new policy, the city manager – with the city attorney’s consent – can approve applicable legal reimbursements without the commission’s approval. Expense reimbursements exceeding $10,000 will still require commission approval.
Mayor Michelle Gomez and Commissioner Elvin Villalobos cast the lone votes against the reimbursement policy, which covers applicable legal fees for ethics cases resolved within 60 days of Wednesday.
That means the policy could be used to reimburse any applicable legal expenses Commissioner Marlon Bolton may have incurred in a recent state ethics investigation stemming from the controversial Shaker Village Clubhouse deal.
During a closed March 8th meeting, the Florida Commission on Ethics said it found no probable cause to believe Bolton violated the constitutional amendment prohibiting abuse of his office to obtain a disproportionate benefit, misused his position, or voted on matters that “would have inured to his or another’s special private gain or loss by voting for the City’s purchase of 2.53 acres of property from Shaker Village,” the commission wrote in a March 13 press release.
“Mr. Bolton resides in Shaker Village, and the church where he holds the position of Senior Pastor is also located there,” the release states.
Bolton was represented by attorney Ronald G. Meyer in the state ethics case.
Under questioning at Wednesday’s meeting, Tamarac City Attorney Hans Ottinot said he and the city manager brought the fee reimbursement policy forward as “a matter of good policy.” He declined to say whether it would cover any pending legal costs for commission members.
“Obviously, we had some issues recently with [the] investigation,” Ottinot said without offering specifics.
“We had an OIG interview that we had to attend a couple of weeks ago,” he added.
The Broward OIG has demanded records from the city about the Shaker Village deal but has not publicly announced any findings. The OIG’s probe is separate from the completed state ethics commission case involving Bolton.
When Villalobos asked Ottinot whether there were any ethics complaints against any commission members that would be covered by the reimbursement policy, Ottinot said: “You would have to ask the member.”
Villalobos also asked each commissioner and the mayor whether they have any legal representation for ethics complaints. All the members, including Villalobos, said they did not.
“I do not have pending ethics complaints against me, not that I know of,” Bolton said.
Ottinot said the reimbursement policy is consistent with Florida law and with standards laid out in a legal opinion by Florida’s attorney general.
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