05/04/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 5/4/2004 measures that the Mayor is doing now wanting to know who his accusers are and finding out what was behind all this. At a previous Council meeting, he objected to Council going into executive session to discuss the lawsuit, yet today there was a little discussion on the floor about the lawsuit. He is confused as to motives. He suggested that Council hire outside counsel to represent the city in this issue and it no longer be a party to this because he doesn't think the Law Director needs to be put in this conflicting situation of having to represent the city and also represent the Mayor. With regard to Ordinance 2004-61 which authorizes the use of on-line auctions for city property, he wondered if anyone had checked into the cost. There is a manpower issue with regazd to the time and cost it takes to package and ship items. Law Director Dubelko noted that a legal opinion he issued quite some time ago stated that the Mayor in his official capacity can see those records. He is a little uncomfortable in defending the lawsuit, but does not feel it rises to a conflict issue. The Mayor has chosen to bring it essentially in his individual capacity, and he has a duty then to defend the city and defend city officials. It was a conflict when he was initially named as a defendant, but he has been dismissed out which leaves him free to defend the Safety Director, the Clerk of Council, the Chief of Police and the city in the action. That is his job under the Charter. With regard to discussing the litigation, he does not discuss litigation strategy at public meetings. He takes Council into executive session for that purpose. That is clearly legal, and it is also clearly the appropriate thing to do when the city is being sued and he is trying to protect the city in that type of approach. But he does feel an obligation to publicly report what is on the public record. He reports what he filed and what the other side has filed and explains the court filings to the extent that it helps the Council and members of the public to understand the different filings going back and forth. Councilman Gareau said it goes without saying that Mr. Dubelko's ethics aze above question. His integrity and his ethics aze beyond reproach. It's not Mr. Dubelko's position to recommend to his clients that he believes there is a conflict, it's up to the clients to suggest to him whether or not they believe that conflict is such as must be abated by hiring outside counsel. Council has discussed that and is fully awaze of any possible conflict and what the consequences could be, and City Council elected to proceed accordingly. Paul Barker, 23629 Carnage Lane. As a member of the Landmarks Commission he noted that two months ago a representative from the Historical Society had talked to the commission regarding the Barton/Bradley Church that Mr. Ivfiller had commented on. The Historical Society is thinking about acquiring the church and moving it down in the valley. They will not take the entire building-only the original portion of the church. This will take quite a bit of money to move, but they are serious about moving the church. Councilman Gareau noted that it is difficult to find preservation funds for churches as there is no scarcity of churches to be preserved 11 r