Additional comments - setting it straight
On July 27, 2006, the City Commission approved the Business Terms with the Greater Bay Group LLC for the beach redevelopment project. On October 23, 2006 at the recommendation of legal counsel and in accordance with the approved business terms, City staff and outside counsel from Boose, Casey Ciklin (Boose was dropped from the name of the firm after he went to prison involved in the Masilotti scandal) negotiated the three agreements. Paul Boyer was the City Manager at the time and Anne Costello was our Finance Director. I have previously written about what happened to them. The majority commission of Lowe, Burns and Vespo were the only votes behind Greater Bay.
Retha Lowe initialed the Contract and the Agreements were signed on November 21, 2006. At that point we were under Contract and the city, according to the Contract, was obligated to contribute $1,200,000 to the project, and funds from PB County and the FRDAP. Casey, Ciklin, is the very same firm where Brian Joselyn is a member, the attorney the city hired to get us OUT of the agreements, an obviously curious choice.
Both attorneys below were paid by the City to represent
our interests and were present for the negotiations. Scott Maxwell was not there. While talking to Maxwell on the evening of December 10th, he insisted that no outside counsel helped negotiate anything relative to the contracts with Greater Bay Group LLC. In fact, most of his statements were highly charged with direct intimidation based on political innuendo. Maxwell is misrepresenting the facts to support his erroneous statements. Maxwell is grandstanding and making a political demand, insisting that all the facts come out in this case. It is too bad he didn't take a stand BEFORE the settlement and now wants to believe in mock juries where our attorney Joselyn represented Greater Bay, the guys who sued us. Education is a good thing, especially for Commissioners. Peter Timm does know what he's talking about.
He is Florida Bar Board Certified in Construction Law, and has been certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Circuit mediator. Mr. Alexander attended Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland.
He was present for the Contract negotiations with Greater Bay.
Mr. Crane holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He is an approved title agent for Attorneys' Title.
He was present for the Contract negotiations with Greater Bay.
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
31 comments:
You can keep on trying to revise and spin all you want but when the information on the case is made public, all the facts are going to show you and your friends are responsible for costing the poor taxpayers of this city $2.4 million.
Thanks a lot.
Spin? You can't help stupid. You got facts? Let's hear about them now, not some trumped up political workshop where the public can't even speak. What a freaking joke.
Facts:
Vespo brings in Greater Bay represented by Joe Toner and introduces these beach "saviors" to significant Lake Worth residents to get their support.
Vespo, Lowe, and Burns go for their story and vote them in.
Boose, Casey, Ciklin attend negotiations and write up a contract which thus far is of questionable legality, in spite of Joslyn and Joralemon's attempt to get the case against it dismissed.
The court knew how to read the Charter and the contracts.
Absent the three above actions, Greater Bay would never have gotten to first base at our beach.
So if you want to cast blame, begin at the beginning.
I like the last sentence but this is not really about poor memories but lies from some in this community with Scott perpetuating the lies. If you tell a lie often enough you can end up believing it yourself. There are some bad apples here and I'm all for throwing them out with the rest of the waste come next election as they don't listen, don't want to listen nor do they want to learn. It's all about power and they are doing everything for it...selling their souls to the devil.
I'm sorry Lynn, but I don't get your point. We know many people don't like the contract with GB. We know the contract had lease lengths that were one day less than the maximum allowed without going to referendum. We know that someone may have been a good con-artist and that our staff did not do research on this guy.
We know that people including Larry and Chris clouded the title with lawsuits that allowed the con man to stall and delay until he was finally kicked off the job.
We know we were given legal advice that we could terminate the contract and it would be defensible. We even heard the words "slam dunk" being used to describe our chances of winning said lawsuit.
Now comes the issue of how people who did not want the project to go forth may have acted in bad faith after the approval to cause circumstances that would give three separate mock juries of "reasonable people" enough information that would sink us legally and financially.
While the use of the same attorney who drew up the contract to defend it is curious, no one said so at the time because it was considered a good idea at the time.
We are all Monday morning quarterbacking this issue.
I personally didn't get too involved with supporting the redevelopment of the beach with my main concern being that the resident who live in Lake Worth should maintain preferential parking privileges if they so desire since we bear the brunt of maintenance for the long haul.
If we had mowed down the building and put up a picnic pavilion it would have suited me fine.
So just add the $2.4 million to the initial cost plus the cost over-runs, acknowledge we sold the beach to the county for 30 pieces of silver and call it a day.
When it comes to this deal.....WE SUCK.
I am glad you said "may have acted in bad faith" because they did NOT.
Who is Larry and Chris?
No one is Monday morning quarterbacking. I attended all of the meetings that the public could attend. If any people are doing the quarterbacking it is those who did not attend these important meetings and now are trying to throw blame on all the wrong people.
Casey C iklin are the culprits.
you wrote that long epistle anony and you don't get the point? Really?That is the fundamental problem in this city.We are ruled by bullies and fabricators and clueless people who don't have our back.
Larry = Lawrence and Chris = McVoy
You don't have to post this.
Laurence does not, nor has he ever, gone by the name of "Larry."
Christopher McVoy had no responsibility regarding the lawsuit. It was the city and its outside counsel (Casey, Ciklin), that filed a law suit against the PAC. They also were involved as the city's outside counsel in the McNamara/McCauley lawsuit.
Can we EVER GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT or are they going to continue to be invented as we proceed??
We need to kick that dishonest $hit Maxwell out of office.
The writer of this post fails to understand that the contract was not the issue in this case. The issue is simple. Once we as a city sign a contract with someone what actions by city commissioners who voted against that contract or are against the contract are considered bad faith. The actions of citizens protesting the contract after it's signed have no affect on the case. The actions of McVoy and Mr. MacNamara clouded the title to the property and gave GB the time they needed to delay performance. The actions of Cara Jednnings and Mulvehill and I believe Golden hurt us because they were never told by our city attorney what they could legally do and not do. A good lawyer keeps his client from getting into these types of messes before they happen. If the commissioners ignored legal advice than they are at fault. Hopefully all this will come out soon.
With the interrogatories and depositions being made public immediately after the payment to Greater Bay, many of the myths and foolish comments will be dispelled.
Of special interest with be the statements made under oath by Larry Karns, Cara Jennings and Suzanne Mulvehill.
The writer of WHAT post? Are you talking about my blog on Casey, Ciklin?
Bad faith for being against something? GB failed to perform. It was all GB's fault. They never once came up with even a site plan. PATHETIC.
Jennings and Mulvehill were told BY OUR ATTORNEY that they could vote GB out. They did and thank God. It was this commission that gave them $1.6 million and allowed Joselyn to drive up legal fees. And by the way, we have not paid Casey, Ciklin $800,000 unless you want to consider all the legal advice they gave to us and to Greater Bay in helping to draw up the three Greater Bay contracts combined with Jocelyn's fees. The entire thing was a farce from start to finish with Willard now sitting at his breakfast nook drinking Mimosas toasting all the suckers in Lake Worth. Only in America. Only in Lake Worth. Merry X'mas.
Actually, it was the GB Site Plan submission to PBC that saved our $5,000,000 Grant. Also, GB brought up the soon to expire Grant expiration that led to the pool repairs.
You better read ALL the Karns testimony before you start making statements that will be used in every future Jennings, Mulvehill, et al political campaign.
Now do you want to talk about the Insurance of $1,300,000 for each Commissioner that our Lawyers suggested be applied to the Settlement, but was received with hysterical rantings by Mulvehill when it was suggested that the Insurance Co might object paying, claiming fraudulent dealings and not acting in good faith.
All of this will be revealed, because it will be a matter of Public Record.
ACTUALLY, anonymous--that is NOT the case at all. The city encouraged, cajoled and finally begged, over years, that Greater Bay submit a site plan--they never submitted anything but some drawings of what the project would look like.
Next, it was NOT a GRANT. it was money we got from a Recreational Bond that PB County voters approved in 2004. What saved this money was the submission of the site plan that is now in effect and the one pushed by Jennings.
The pool Grant (and this was a Grant) was in the agreement. Everyone should have known about this grant and its expiration date. Cory O'Gorman who held hands with Peter Willard throughout the process should have known. He was our paid consultant. Our staff should have known. Our lawyers should have known. It was there for all of us to read. I read it. Willard did bring it up at a public meeting when he wanted to repair our pool.
Don't know anything about insurance, anonymous, but you sound like someone who knows something about it there but then it might just be 2nd hand information that is circulating around this city with some commissioners believing anything.
So, this is public record. It is funny and curious to me how it is all dropped in order to manipulate an outcome by some or those sitting there in glee that GB was awarded $1.6 million for never performing. .
Lynn, you can be as selective in your own memory as you want and you can put your own spin on the actions of your friends and political associates. That is your right. But don't tell us that we are responding with glee because you and your sometimes political allies have been found culpable.
We all have to pay this bill. Some more than others.
Any attempt to expose the root causes and people that resulted in us paying this settlement---so the same people can't influence future decisions with their failed agenda and poor judgement--is a worthwhile exercise.
Lynn, take a breath and open your eyes. Cara and Mulvehill's actions before they voted to end the contract with GB were from the beginning designed to stop GB. GB's failure to perform was the result of the fact that they had no duty to do anything until they had an opportunity to get financing. The clouds on the title caused by McVoy and MacNamara gave GB exactly what they needed to continue stalling. McVoy backed by Cara and Golden, tried to stop the zoning change. Cara and Golden tried to stop the zoning change by actively supporting the Super Majority voter ref which would have given them this power. Think about this. The Commission enters into a contract to be partners with GB and as part of that deal the zoning needs to be changed. Now the two losing commissioners back citizens trying to stop the zoning change and they themselves try to stop the deal from going forward. The same two losing commissioners encouraged the lawsuit filed to stop the project. Month after month they work to stop the project while at the same time being a part of the body that signed the deal. That's the legal mess you need to understand. Four mock juries said the actions of the city through these commissioners was a clear breach of contract. Next month we will find out exactly what they did to cause this loss.
Well, I don't know why you are being "selective." I write the facts. It has nothing to do with "my friends" whoever they may be. I am selective when it comes to choosing my friends, however. I don't pal around with or try to influence any commissioner although I would suggest that they do their homework. I write on what I see and what I know. If Vesop, Burns and Lowe had made a correct decision I would have said SO. I say they did not nor did anyone do their D&D when it came to GB that was an inappropriate company to choose to do this job, IMO. My opinion based on everything that happened.
When you come over here and side with GB, then I would say there is something wrong with you. When you come over here and make allegations that are untrue, then there is DEFINITELY something wrong. Get to the real facts, not just those you want to spin for some political reason or one being perpetrated by our attorney who perhaps should have been replaced years ago.
You don't want to expose ROOT CAUSES for if you did, you would start at the very beginning of this farce on LW taxpayers beginning with the insurrection on the dais with Retha Lowe and maybe some of your "friends."
SCOTT MAXWELL'S WORKSHOP ON THIS TO, AS HE SAYS, EXPOSE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE, IS NOTHING MORE THAN EGO-MANIACAL POLITICS. A WORKSHOP CAN BE MANIPULATED TO ANY END HE DESIRES. IT IS A FARCE OF THE WORST KIND. HE IS A POLITICIAN OF THE WORST KIND. HE DOES NOT REPRESENT ALL OF THE PEOPLE--NOT EVEN CLOSE. NOW HE WANTS TO "GET" COMMISSIONERS WHO WERE ELECTED BY LARGE MAJORITIES OF THE PEOPLE AND ANYONE ELSE AGAINST HIS POLITICS. WHAT A GUY. THE PEOPLE (NOT YOUR PEOPLE) WILL SEE THROUGH THE POLITICS OF THIS ACTION AND HE WILL BE MORE CONDEMNED THAN EVER BEFORE.
I know we will all learn what happened at the January meeting?
You will learn what Scott Maxwell wants you to learn.
The meeting will be a waste of time. Those whose heroes are Larry and McVoy and Cara and Mulvehill will not acknowledge any wrong doing, either intentional (Cara tear down government from within) or not (incompetence).
Those who feel it was a bad contract from the beginning will applaud us getting out of it at any cost, including going to court like McVoy voted for to take our chances with getting a $20 million judgement instead of taking our lumps, and settling.
Yes, voting against the settlement was a vote to fight it and lose.
Your opinion, of course. Have you ever even considered that we would have won, mock juries that were stacked with Joselyn arguing for Greater Bay or not? We did do the right thing and I am very sorry that you keep on defending this guy. We can't help that this s&*^ artist decided to sue. A lot of idiots sue at one time or another especially those with 9 pages of judgments against him.
it wont be a waste of time for MAxwell and gang. He will use it to his political advantage by bringing out only things he wants people to hear. Citizens have the right to protest their government and the right to free speech. So do commissioners when 3 bozos did something really dumb.
The lawsuit brought against the City was by MACCAULEY and McNamara.
The fact that MacCauley is never mentioned shows how patently political all the comments and Maxwell's blame game 'workshop'are.
11:39--
If you refer to Laurence McNamara as "Larry" one more time, it will not get posted. Thanks.
Moe & Curly
at 9:02 anony, the only breach of contract was Peter Willard and his greater Bay group for never once performing or submitting anything per the contracts.
Oh, Peter, is that you Or one of your supporters--Scott, Peg, another really sweet person? LOL
I am so sick of all this posturing.
When does the written record come out?
Will the recordings of the closed door Commission meetings with our lawyers be released?
anonymous at 9:02. this is the REAL world. It is not determined by mock juries or some schmuck of a lawyer posturing for the other side or from some commissioner who talks down to the public and doesn't understand one damn thing here.
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