BRADENTON BEACH – Sunshine Law lawsuit defendants John Metz and Tjet Martin have agreed to pay the city of Bradenton Beach $350,000 as partial reimbursement for the attorney’s fees the city has incurred.
According to City Treasurer Shayne Thompson, the city has spent $572,321 to date on the civil lawsuit the city filed against Metz, Martin and four other former city advisory board members in 2017.
The lawsuit sought a judge’s ruling as to whether the six defendants violated the Florida Sunshine Law, which pertains to open government meetings and requires the discussion of official public business to be conducted in properly noticed public meetings.
When the Sunshine Law violations occurred, Reed Mapes, Metz, Patty Shay and Bill Vincent served as Planning and Zoning Board members. Martin and Rose Vincent served as Scenic WAVES Committee members.
In July of 2019, the city prevailed in the four-day trial which resulted in 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas ruling that all six defendants repeatedly violated the Sunshine Law during their non-city-affiliated Concerned Neighbors of Bradenton Beach meetings in 2017.
Metz, Mapes, Martin, Rose Vincent and Bill Vincent then appealed that ruling, with Metz and his attorneys leading that process. As of Monday, those appeals remained pending in the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland. Shay did not appeal Nicholas’ 2019 ruling.
On Oct. 28, Nicholas issued a written order regarding the amount of attorney’s fees to be recovered by the city and which defendants shared responsibility for that payment.
“It is ordered and adjudged that the plaintiffs (the city) shall have and recover from the remaining defendants John Metz, Reed Mapes and Tjet Martin attorney’s fees in the amount of $369,498,” Nicholas stated in his order.
“It is hereby ordered and adjudged that the attorney’s fee award, as applied to defendants Patricia Shay, William Vincent and Rose Vincent is stricken,” Nicholas stated in his order.
Nicholas struck Shay and the Vincents’ financial liabilities after he learned earlier this year that they signed settlement agreements with the city shortly before the 2019 trial began. The commission then rejected those signed settlement agreements because Mapes, Martin and Metz did not express a similar willingness to settle.
Settlement offer accepted
The settlement agreement proposed by Metz and Martin was presented to the city commission during a shade meeting that took place Thursday evening, Nov. 5, inside the commission chambers.
Metz and his wife, Alice, attended the public portions of the shade meeting that preceded and followed the private discussion that included only City Attorney Ricinda Perry, the five city commission members and the court reporter/stenographer who will later produce a verbatim transcript of the private discussion that is protected by attorney-client privilege until the case is over. Martin did not attend the shade meeting.
During the public opening of the shade meeting, Perry said, “There has been some development in the case and I would like an opportunity to discuss those developments and seek the advice of the city commission.”
The public and Deputy Clerk Christine Watson were then asked to leave the room. Perry and the commission spent approximately 50 minutes engaged in private discussion before the public was allowed back inside city hall, now joined by lawsuit co-plaintiff Jack Clarke and his wife, Karen.
“I would like a motion to accept the settlement offer from John Metz and Tjet Martin in the amount of $350,000, and to direct the city attorney to prepare the necessary settlement document discussions with the appropriate counsel, and to prepare them for execution by the city,” Perry told the commission.
Commissioner Ralph Cole made the requested motion that passed by a 5-0 vote.
Perry then sought a second motion directing her to prepare a settlement offer to present to Mapes and to finalize settlement offers with Shay and the Vincents.
Perry did not disclose any additional details on the settlement offer made by Metz and Martin or the settlement offers pertaining to Mapes, Shay and the Vincents.
During public comment, Perry was asked what impact the settlement agreements would have on the appeals.
“It will have an impact on an appeal, but I cannot disclose what the impact will be,” Perry said.
As he left the commission chambers, Metz declined comment on the settlement offer.
When contacted Sunday, Perry said she was still unable to disclose any additional information regarding the settlement offers and the appeals process.
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