These are the latest issues before the University Park Recreation District (“RD”) for the week of August 4, 2019.
Officers at RD Meetings
The RD has decided it is best to have a Manatee County Sheriff’s Officer at the meetings. The additional cost would be approximately $3,000 to $4,000. These costs will be added to the budget for 2019-2020. However, there will be no increase in total expenditures since we have sufficient capacity in the budget.
Water Rights
Water Rights issues are being resolved. A 10-year extension has been granted for Lake K by SWFWMD.
The Proposed Bond Anticipation Note (“BAN”)
An engagement agreement for the BAN from Roosevelt and Cross, Inc. (“RC”) will be presented at the August 13, 2019 Board of Supervisors Meeting. The only cost to the RD from RC under the agreement would be $5,000 if the BAN is not sold. RC’s fee for a successful BAN sale would be 2% of the value of the BAN payable from the proceeds of the BAN
The “concerned citizens” sent an email to RC informing them of the Garrett litigation hoping to dissuade RC from proceeding. The RD had discussed this previously with RC, and RC has determined that it is “not an issue”.
Public Records Requests
Legal Counsel for Mr. Garrett issued a public records request to the District and District Counsel for all public records regarding the RD. This includes emails, correspondence and other documents from September 2018. The volume of records is in excess of 10,000 items to be forwarded to the attorney’s office. Legal costs continue for both the RD, the HOA and SAEVN.
Statute 418
The time period for filing additional claims under Chapter 418, Florida Statutes, (the Recreation District Laws) has expired. No additional claims can be filed related to the formation and validity of the District.
“Concerned Citizens” E Mails
The RD Board has decided that the RD is no longer engaging in answering ongoing emails with the “concerned citizens”. The “concerned citizens” emails are typically nothing more than spurious claims that have been repeatedly rebutted by the RD. The “concerned citizens” emails create confusion in the community, therefore, we ask that you communicate directly with the RD Board with your concerns, questions or comments.
Litigation
Our RD Counsel, Mr. Barnebey, informs us that Mr. Garrett has finally proposed a single-term for a settlement agreement. This is important because for many months, he was stating that he had a number of requirements in order to settle any litigation with the District. While his settlement term is different from the terms contained in correspondence from Mr. Garrett’s attorney, the Board now has enough specific information to consider his offer as the only item to consider. Because of the requirements of the Florida Sunshine Law, all settlement offers must be considered at a public meeting which requires at least 7 days public notice. In this case, the first Board meeting that could meet the requirements is the meeting on August 13, 2019 and the Board will be meeting to discuss the settlement in an attorney-client session on this date. The Board did offer a settlement agreement to Mr. Garrett several months ago, which was not accepted by Mr. Garrett. The Board has always been willing to consider a settlement proposal, but Mr. Garrett for many months refused to state with any specificity in a detailed proposal what would be acceptable terms.
Subscribing to the Newsletter
We now have over 600 subscribers to the newsletter. Subscribing is easily done through the website. If you should have trouble subscribing, please email uprdmessage@universityparkrd.com.
To subscribe to the UPRD newsletter CLICK HERE
Upcoming Meetings
Workshop September 6 8:00 AM Card Room
Regular Meeting September 13 1:00 PM Lakeside Room
Workshop September 24 10:00 AM Card Room