Manatee puts an end to public records lawsuit. Here’s what the dispute cost taxpayers.
A drawn-out public records lawsuit is over after the Manatee County Commission voted Tuesday to cover the final legal fees related to the case.
Sarasota-based paralegal Michael Barfield sued several commissioners in December, alleging they had taken too long to respond to a request for public documents related to the firing of former County Administrator Cheri Coryea.
Commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to pay Commissioner Vanessa Baugh’s $68,000 costs, which covers the settlement, the court fees and the cost of hiring a private attorney. The board previously voted in May to cover the $55,900 in costs incurred by Commissioners James Satcher and Kevin Van Ostenbridge.
Barfield and Baugh reached a $4,319 settlement agreement in June, according to court documents.
All told, Barfield’s lawsuit cost the county $124,900.
“Commissioners, thank you for your support on this issue,” Baugh told her colleagues after Tuesday’s vote. “I have been ridiculed. I have been called a criminal by someone on this board more than once. None of it has been true. There was never any Sunshine violation. We all went through this for nothing. I just want to say I’m glad it’s all over and done.”
County Attorney Bill Clague recommended the county cover Baugh’s costs. He said the county has an obligation to pay those fees in order to prevent a “chilling effect” around the job of a county commissioner.
“The idea is that if officials are afraid that they will be forced to pay legal expenses personally for doing their jobs, they will be afraid to do their jobs,” Clague said during a public meeting May 11.
Barfield said the board’s attempt to fire Coryea, led by newly elected commissioners, raised alarms. He alleged that Commissioners Satcher, Van Ostenbridge, Baugh and George Kruse had broken Florida’s Sunshine Law by communicating outside of a public meeting.
“It’s a shame that he created so much disruption in this county,” Van Ostenbridge said.
A public record request soon followed the board’s Nov. 19 vote, which occurred two days after the new commissioners were sworn in. Barfield said that commissioners took too long to send their records, but those named in the lawsuit argued that they needed more time to review the request and respond.
“It shouldn’t cost taxpayers anything. Good governance was missing here,” Barfield said in an interview Tuesday with the Bradenton Herald. “The commissioners knew of their obligations under the public records act and they simply failed to comply.”
The records that commissioners provided eventually led to an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Text messages and phone logs revealed communication between commissioners in the days leading up to the Nov. 19 vote, but none of those records confirmed that anyone broke the law.
In March, the agency concluded a preliminary investigation that found “no information to substantiate that a criminal violation occurred.”
