Manatee County will not reimburse legal fees for Commissioner Robin DiSabatino

After more than two hours of discussion, Manatee County Commission elected Tuesday to not reimburse Commissioner Robin DiSabatino for legal fees incurred during a public records lawsuit.

DiSabatino asked her fellow commissioners to not follow the County Attorney’s Office recommendation and instead reimburse her for more than $30,000 in private attorney fees, including the $6,500 she paid to settle the case. DiSabatino was sued for an alleged violation of the Public Records Act in 2013 by Michael Barfield, a paralegal with Citizens for Sunshine.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” DiSabatino said. “This dragged out three years because, according to our attorney, he thinks I’m guilty. ... There is a real bad disconnect between the County Attorney’s Office and myself and again, you all could be in this situation tomorrow or maybe by next week.”

The lawsuit was filed against Manatee County and DiSabatino individually, but the county was eventually dismissed from the case, according to a memo from the County Attorney’s Office, which recommended the commission not reimburse DiSabatino for the fees.

“My preference would be to advise the board that Commissioner DiSabatino is entitled to reimbursement of her attorney’s fees and that such is an appropriate expenditure of county monies,” County Attorney Mickey Palmer said. “Such advice would spare this board and Commissioner DiSabatino of the unsettling posture in which you find yourselves today. The issue before the board involves an interpretation of Florida law. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Manatee County also gave a copy of DiSabatino’s personal computer hard drive to Barfield, Palmer confirmed Tuesday.

Ralf Brookes, DiSabatino’s attorney, maintains the county has an obligation to reimburse DiSabatino. Since the commission didn’t approve DiSabatino’s request, they “will be going to the court with all of our claims,” Brookes said.

“They have an obligation to reimburse Robin DiSabatino for her attorney fees in this case,” Brookes said. “All the public records were provided. ... It’s because of the county’s advice that Robin is in this situation today. If it all would have been handled appropriately in the first place, none of this would have happened. Now it’s turned into quite a mess.”

Commission Chairwoman Vanessa Baugh said she feels for DiSabatino.

“I think she has been abused in many ways,” Baugh said. “This thing should have been settled a long time ago and it wasn’t. ... We are all human. We all make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes and she has had to pay the price.”

The commission can’t change the law from the dais, Commissioner Betsy Benac said.

“I don’t feel comfortable changing the law,” she said. “I think it is horrific that she has to pay this bill. I think there were mistakes made along the way. To put the citizens of Manatee County on the hook for this bill to me will be creating a legal precedent that I don’t want to create.”

The commission also:

Authorized a $28,885.63 refund to the city of Bradenton for the county portion of property taxes paid on the Pirate City property.

Approved a settlement agreement with URS Corporation Southern in the amount of $2.153 million for a failed construction project at Lake Manatee Dam.

Discontinued the planning commissioner stipend.

Claire Aronson: 941-745-7024, @Claire_Aronson

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Manatee County will not reimburse legal fees for Commissioner Robin DiSabatino."