I would have loved to have seen Larry Karns job description. We never got to see that. If we had, retaining him in the City’s employ might have been at least somewhat justified to some miniscule degree. The reason I say this, last night the President of Mango Groves Neighborhood Association spoke on behalf of Larry Karns. One of his neighbors did the same as did the Vice Chair if P&Z. When Mr. Calhoun sat down I passed him a note that said, “His job is to keep them (the Commission) from making the mistake.” Mr. Calhoun replied, “No he is not.” This is where the basic premise of what a city attorney should or should not be doing for us comes into play.
To say that his job is to defend the City Commission after they make a big boo boo is ridiculous. We have an attorney sitting on the dais to help the Commission and the City, not allow them to stray, not let them to vote on something illegal, not allow them to proceed down a path that might get them into trouble, not allow them to vote on contracts not in our best interest and all the things that lawyers do. He just plain never read contracts, a basic of the job. I certainly would not want to hire a lawyer that did not advise me. What would I need him for? To hire him after the fact to litigate? After I got into trouble? To continue to hear the same old tired excuse, that some department heads just follow the Commission, is the reason why we are in the shape we are in today. We pay these people good salaries for their expertise, not to follow the Commission and hope Commissioners don't get into legal nightmares or making decisions detrimental to the citizens of our city. Mr. Karns, as perceived by the public, did not do even the basics of his job.
Also, if Mr. Karns had been animated to the point of just explaining at every meeting what and everything he was working on for the City, his accomplishments, if you will without revealing confidentiality, perhaps we would have had a better understanding of what he actually did do for us. He never marketed himself at all. All that the public saw were the horrible contracts we got into, the abhorrent action of suing your own citizens, etc. and Mr. Karns staying silent. All that the people saw was him impeding our Constitutional rights.
The CRA attorney is always advising that Board. The CRA Commission is always referring to its attorney for a legal opinion. Mr. Tolces always knows the answer. Mr. Karns never seems to have an answer.
I feel sorry for Larry Karns. I really do. I have been in his shoes. Most all of us have been there. We have either been laid off in a job, fired, defeated at the polls, whatever. Some of my friends tried to guess what the vote would be. I predicted that it would be a unanimous consensus to terminate him. So much for my pulse on our Commission. As it turns out, it was the 3 to 2 political vote and Mr. Karns has no one to blame but himself.
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