PANAMA CITY — City commissioners delayed a decision on a proposed $300,000 retainer for Panama City’s legal counsel following tense discussion during Tuesday’s meeting.
In a 4-1 vote, commissioners tabled a decision on whether to keep City Attorney Nevin Zimmerman at a $250 hourly pay rate, accept a retainer proposal of $300,000 per year or agree on a figure closer to the $185,000 average earned annually by the city’s previous legal counsel as Commissioner John Kady proposed.
Kady argued the city’s legal needs could be addressed for $15,000 a month or less.
Kady initially raised concerns of increasing legal fees after the city received a bill from Burke & Blue, Zimmerman’s legal firm, in October for $32,667. During the meeting Kady presented commissioners with a breakdown of city attorney services over the past five years, accounting for meeting preparation time, the drafting of laws and contracts on the city’s part which came out to $167,000 a year — or about $14,000 a month.
After the meeting, Zimmerman declined to offer the News Herald the least amount he would be willing to accept. However, in his opinion, there was no doubt he had been asked to do more work since joining the city in April than his predecessor for what he described as an “innovative commission.”
“I have done the work and I haven’t done more work than I needed to do,” Zimmerman said. “It’s not like I’m out there dreaming up work to do.”
Mayor Greg Brudnicki gave Zimmerman credit, in part, for negotiating an agreement with medical software company iSirona to remain downtown, rectifying marina ownership issues, revising a merchant license tax and resolving other issues.
“It’s real hard for me to take a six-month window and say, ‘here’s everything that was done in that time frame and I paid too damn much for it,’” he said.
Brudnicki suggested the commission compromise at $20,000 a month for one year to gauge Zimmerman’s performance while allowing city officials “to be able to communicate with the city attorney at any time on an issue.”
“And it needs to be looked at on the front end, not on the rear end,” Brudnicki said. “… They need to be able to have access … and discuss the issue with the person that I, and all of us, are going to hold responsible.”
Kady reminded commissioners outside legal issues — like land use litigation, employment law, tax issues and criminal forfeitures — would not be covered by Zimmerman’s retainer. With those services combined with the proposed retainer, legal services to the city could cost more than $475,000 a year. Total legal-service costs averaged about $335,000 for 2011 and 2012 in the city.
Bay County’s proposed legal budget for 2014 is about $840,000 and Panama City Beach expects about $535,000 in legal services.
“Even though that’s a city of 14,000 or so folks, they have a lot of development going on because they cater to a market of 250,000 people any given summer weekend,” Kady said. “They also have a CRA of $21 million, which accounts for $85,000 of that.”
Lynn Haven expects about $105,000 in legal services, which is similar in size and proximity to Panama City. But, Kady said, Titusville was more closely related to the city’s operations and expects about $418,000 for total legal services.
Kady argued catching issues on the front end was the responsibility of the city manager’s office.
“Having looked at these numbers, we should offer $15,000 to Burke & Blue,” Kady said. “If they don’t accept it, then we recomplete. … We can get the legal services we need for $15,000 a month.”
Commissioners tabled discussions for more time to digest the information compiled by Kady until their Feb. 25 meeting. Commissioner Billy Rader held the dissenting vote, pushing for an agreement of $240,000 but had no traction with the remaining commissioners.
“I thought I clearly showed we should be at $15,000 for general (legal) services,” Kady said. “I provided enough information to help [commissioners] make a decision to save the residents some money.”
— Commissioners also approved a development agreement with the Buccaneer Restaurant and $34,999 for architectural and roof consulting services on the Police Department’s main station.