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Venice on the web
A semi-regular column
FAA
Shade Meeting Transcripts
It starts out slow and reads like a low-budget
John Grisham novel, but this summer's must read book is not a novel at all --
it's the transcripts of what should have been a rather mundane set of closed
meetings. Intrigue, mystery, betrayal and an incredibly surprising twist ending
-- it's all here
-- compiled and annotated by John Patten, 06/14/04
--
jpatten@veniceflorida.com
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of the transcripts on this page require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 5
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Putting the transcripts into context
The city's handling of the FAA Notice of Investigation
is an expensive lesson in how not to run a government. Originally accused by the FAA
of diversion of revenue by negotiating a lease that was incredibly favorable
to the Venice Golf Association, the city manager responded by hiding the paperwork
from the city's own attorney and turned it over to local powerbroker E.G. "Dan"
Boone instead. From there, things became worse before they became better.
It doesn't help that the whole set of events played out
on these pages was a created disaster, molded and designed by Dan Boone and
then-City Manager George Hunt. Hunt handed over to Boone the power to draft
the lease between the Venice Golf Association and the city, a bizarre
situation in which the attorney for the tenant was allowed full power to set
the terms and responsibilities of the city while the city's own attorney,
Bob Anderson, was effectively kept out of the loop.
Hunt's reasoning to the public was that this would save
the taxpayer a lot of money in legal fees. Mayor Calamaras defended the
situation, stating that it would all be OK as the city would have the city
attorney review the document for corrections and final approval. Problem:
ultimately, that never happened -- the document ended up going straight from
Boone to Hunt to council for quick approval with nobody ever asking the city
attorney for his opinion until long after this was a done deal.
It was the ultimate inside deal, with Dan Boone proving
once again that he could get virtually anything he wanted from his
bought-and-paid for stacked council. The contract did not have the several
standard airport lease clauses, including one that required that it be in
conformity with airport and FAA rules and regulations, a key contractual
omission that would later give the city attorney nightmares.
A curious new clause was inserted and is valid to this
day: that of right of last refusal for purchase. What this means is that if
for some reason the airport were to move or close down, the Venice Golf
Association would have the right to purchase all land it is leasing
(including a choice tract along Harbor Drive directly across the street from
the Gulf of Mexico), and it would have the right to put in a final top bid
on any competitive offers, a key contractual insertion that causes former
Councilman David Farley to suffer from severe drooling to this day.
Meanwhile, Roy Stout and Herb Levine of the Venice
Taxpayers League smelled a rat. They contacted the FAA office in Orlando and
laid out their suspicions and fears. This ultimately led to an FAA review of
the lease and resulted in the FAA accusing the city of diversion of revenue
in a formal Notice of Investigation.
Once again, Hunt and Boone did a quick dodge of the city
attorney -- Hunt handed over the documents from the FAA to Boone while never
informing Anderson or council that the documents existed. Hunt would later
state that it was an oversight, that he didn't recognize it as a legal
document, an outright lie as Hunt's own letters to Boone subsequently
showed. Boone formulated and fired off a response to the FAA that basically
told the Federal agency to put it between two pieces of bread and munch on
it. Boone provided a copy of his response to Hunt, but neither Boone or Hunt cc'd the city attorney with any of this documentation.
By the time Anderson discovered what was going on and
subsequently received copies of the FAA documents to review them, the time
had nearly run out for the city to submit a written response as required by
the FAA. Anderson quickly received approval from council to act on the
city's behalf on the matter and immediately filed a request for a time
extension, unsure if the FAA would grant such an extension.
That pretty much brings you up to speed up to the time of
the first transcript (below). As the story opens in the first transcript,
the FAA has just granted the city an extension in time to respond to the
Notice of Investigation, and Anderson is in the process of asking for a
second extension so that he can bring another attorney on board.
The transcripts themselves tell the rest of the story.
| The
full shade meeting transcripts, available for quick download, five transcripts in total
Chapter 1:
"We've got Bill Gates' cousin"
Meeting 1 -
January 17, 2003
62 pages
SUMMARY:
 |
Farley goes way off topic, tries to move the airport to allow for development,
has a secret investor that he's been secretly talking to, refers to him
as "Bill Gates' cousin;" |
|
Moore calls
for a citizen review board; |
|
Farley continues to try to talk council into
considering moving the airport; |
|
Anderson finally tells Farley that moving the
airport has nothing to do with the issue at hand; |
|
Anderson goes over legal strategy,
asks council for permission to retain outside council, tells council to be very cagey with
the public. |
Chapter 2:
Dan Boone sticks his beak in
Meeting 2 - February 11, 2003
51 pages
SUMMARY:
| Anderson has retained Thomas Devine
as outside counsel, was successful in obtaining an extension in time to
respond to the FAA's Notice of Investigation, is now seeking a second
extension to fully prepare an appropriate response; |
| Anderson breaks down the FAA's case; |
| Dan Boone intervenes, catches city
off guard by sending a letter to the FAA telling them that the city is
right, the FAA is wrong and there's nothing the FAA can do about it; |
| Anderson describes Boone's letter as
"inflammatory," expresses reservations about Boone "sitting on my side of
the table;" |
| Farley reveals his secret investor
as Stan Thomas, owner of the Taylor Ranch tract, Thomas wants the airport
land for "some kind of development or something;" |
| Farley and Hunt agree to pursue
Thomas' offer; |
| Moore asks if anyone knows who the
officers and directors of the VGA are; |
| Anderson reveals that he has a list
of VGA shareholders that was given to him by a source who Anderson will
not name; |
| Hunt discusses Carl Roman
(misspelled as Rolman in the transcript), who Hunt
accuses of ripping off the VGA; |
| Moore advocates convincing Dan Boone
to tone down his rhetoric, refers to Boone as "inflammatory." |
|
THE PLAYERS
as they were in 2003
click on any photo for a larger version |
E.G. Dan Boone, attorney
for the VGA
(with son and fellow attorney, Jeff Boone)
The whole VGA/FAA mess was created by Boone -- he was allowed by Hunt
to get highly creative in his drafting of the VGA's lease |
former
City Manager George Hunt
A would-be puppetmaster with tangled strings, Hunt became an
advocate for the VGA at the city's expense, behaving as though he had
a personal vested interest in the golf course; Hunt resigned in early
2004 |
Mayor Dean Calamaras
(at left, with George Hunt)
Calamaras was initially supportive of Boone's drafting of the VGA
lease, a decision that he obviously lived to regret
|
Vice-Mayor Rick Tacy
Tacy was largely silent through the shade meetings, however his blurt
near the conclusion of the 5th meeting ended up being one of the most memorable
and defining moments |
City Attorney Bob Anderson
Anderson was often kept out of the loop until it was nearly too late,
then took the heat for not acting fast enough |
former Councilman Burt Brown
Not one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, Brown apparently spent most of the proceedings trying not to fall asleep;
Brown resigned in late 2003 for health reasons
(photo: Venice Gondolier Sun) |
former
Councilwoman Virginia Warren
A harsh, staunch and sometimes vicious defender of Boone and Hunt; Warren
passed away in late 2003 after a long battle with cancer |
former
Councilman David Farley
An investor in local development, Farley epitomizes self-interested
politicians -- his main concern during these meetings was moving the
airport on behalf of a fat-cat developer; Farley's term ran out in
November 2003 |
Councilman Jim Myers
(holding microphone)
Another pol who, like Warren, blindly defended Hunt, the Boones and
the VGA until it became politically unpopular |
Councilman John Moore
A symbol for local due process, Moore strangely went along with
council's plan to keep the public out of the loop |
|
Chapter 3:
"You're
dealing with a mask"
Meeting 3 - April 8, 2003
63 pages
SUMMARY: |
| Anderson states that the FAA is now
willing to meet with Venice officials and that a Venice delegation will be
headed to Washington on April 23 -- Hunt will not be a part of that
delegation; |
| Anderson will meet with Dan Boone
and representatives of the VGA on April 9 to try to convince the VGA to
agree to a modification of their rent agreement in order to help appease
the FAA; |
| Hunt accuses the FAA of being
myopic, of not seeing the bigger picture, which includes tearing down the
Island Wastewater Plant and the start of a business park on airport land; |
| Council tries to talk Hunt into
going to Washington -- whether he's to be an asset in the negotiations or
a sacrificial lamb is open to interpretation; Hunt strongly declines, then
agrees to rethink his refusal to go (ultimately, Hunt ends up not going); |
| Legal expenses to date in this
fiasco total $35,000 so far; |
| Anderson is taking the position that
if the current VGA lease puts FAA grant assurances at risk (worth $12.4
million over the next four years), then the lease can be voided, that
there is a provision in the lease that says that everybody has to abide by
airport rules and regs; |
| Anderson counts on the fact that the
VGA is owned and run by prominent citizens who will not want negative
publicity -- the plan is now to agree with the FAA to raise the rental
fees and then somehow force the VGA into agreeing to the increase; |
| Hunt spits out some astronomical
figures as to the value of the VGA's irrigation system that was provided
by the city; |
| Farley speculates about how much VGA
stock is owned by Dan Boone, that Boone might not own stock outright but
in a trust to shield ownership; Calamaras quickly changes the subject; |
| Anderson states that the magic
number that will make the FAA happy is $216,000 a year in rent -- getting
the VGA to agree will be the tricky part; |
| Farley states that the VGA is not
worried about bad publicity as nobody knows who really owns the VGA --
"You're dealing with a mask." |
Chapter 4:
"Warm and fuzzy" and the fake gag order
Meeting 4 - May 13, 2003
26 pages
SUMMARY:
| Anderson summarizes the meeting with
the FAA in Washington, is ecstatic -- the FAA agreed to a rental rate of
$180,000 a year, which is considerably lower than the $216,000 that the
city was to originally pitch; this raises the VGA's rent by $20,000 a year
from their contractually agreed upon amount of $160,000; still unresolved
is whether or not the new rate is retroactive to the signing of the
current lease in 1999; |
| Anderson describes the atmosphere as
"warm and fuzzy;" |
| The FAA has placed a stipulation on
the agreement that they be the only ones to comment on how the $180,000
figure was arrived at; |
| The remaining issue at this point in
time is whether or not the $20,000 increase in rent can be legally passed
on to the VGA or whether the city (read: taxpayer) is on the hook for the
additional $20,000 annually; |
| Farley complains about "adversarial
people loading them [the FAA] up with misinformation;" Anderson responds
by stating that when in front of the FAA in Washington, Venice divorced
itself from the VGA and Dan Boone: "...the correspondence that they [the
FAA] received from Dan Boone was incendiary and we needed to make sure
that they weren't lumping us together because they're not real happy with
the tone of the correspondence they've been receiving from the VGA and Mr.
Boone;" Calamaras quotes the FAA as describing the Boone letters as
"belligerent;" |
| Farley, apparently looking for
ammunition, asks if the FAA discussed letters from the Venice Taxpayers
League or former council member Cheryl Battey, is told no; |
| Calamaras states that the VGA had
taken a stance that if the FAA wanted more money, it was going to be a
city problem and not a VGA problem -- "...they [the VGA] said no, you've
got a problem with the FAA, it's your problem, not ours, we've got a
lease;" Calamaras states that if the VGA holds that tone, there's only two
options: file a lawsuit against the VGA or the city (read: taxpayer)
agrees to pay the difference to the airport fund; |
| Hunt offers a third option -- the
city pays the $20,000 and the VGA gives up a bit of land back to the city
for use for additional parking for the dog park; Anderson warns against
it: "That $20,000 has to come from a source independent of the airport or
else the FAA will say this is just a shell game;" |
| Calamaras advocates making the VGA
eat the $20,000 in increased rent; Tacy agrees and instructs Hunt to be
firm in talking with the VGA; |
| Anderson warns that there might be
"...no legal mechanism to extract the increased rent from the VGA,"
meaning that the city might well have to subsidize the rent increase from
"...let's say, the utility department:" |
| Council and Hunt agree to keep the
news from the public, as, according to Hunt, "...part of the reason we're
sitting here and part of the problem is all of the letter writing and
telephone call campaign from the nay-sayers who spent hundreds of hours
polluting the waters in [the Orlando FAA office], and we don't want them
to have access to this information and try to undermine the deal before
it's even completed;" |
| In spite of the fact that there is
no gag order, mayor and council agree to create a fictional gag order from
the FAA if the public or press asks about any settlement -- Farley states
that "...they're going to be persistent, they're going to ask you why, and
you understand that there's a gag order from the FAA until the [official
city] press release;" Anderson reminds council that "there's technically
no gag order and the FAA doesn't really have the authority to impose
that;" |
| Outside legal fees (not including
Anderson's bill) are now at around $60,000 and the meter is still running;
Anderson has submitted invoices for his own services to the tune of around
$38,000. |
NOTE: At the conclusion of this
particular shade meeting, council filed back into council chambers looking
as though they had just returned from a funeral, an odd account of which
can be found here.
Chapter 5:
A gentleman's agreement once the dog goes to sleep
Meeting 5 - May 27, 2003
23 pages
SUMMARY:
| Anderson advises council that the
city is in a weak legal position to force the VGA to pay the increase in
rent; the reason is unspoken by Anderson but silently understood by all
present -- that Hunt and the Boones drew up the current lease without
input from Anderson and that Hunt and the Boones left out the standard
airport lease clause that requires the lease to be in conformity with
FAA's rules and regulations; |
| Anderson states that if a lawsuit
was to go forward, it is a surety that all council members would be
deposed and that Anderson and Boone would likely be precluded from being
able to act as attorneys as they too would likely be deposed; |
| Not mentioned (by Anderson or anyone
else) is the possible use of the ultimate legal nuclear bomb -- that if
the case heads for court, the city would have the right to subpoena the
VGA for its list of owners and stockholders, something that the VGA has in
the past shown a fierce resistance to; |
| Nevertheless, Anderson doesn't want
the VGA to know that the city would rather not go to court over the rent
increase, that Anderson still wants to use the possibility of court action
as a sword over the heads of the VGA; |
| After exhausting all possible legal
theories that would allow the city to challenge the lease, Anderson states
"Maybe it's just that the City of Venice made a bad deal and we have to
live with the results, if the rent is $160,000, the rent is $160,000.
...there's nothing in the lease which specifically says this lease is
subject to FAA confirmance." |
| Warren states that she'd rather have
the taxpayers pay the $20,000 than go through the embarrassment of a
lawsuit; |
| Tacy advocates giving the VGA a
reduction in electricity rates and work out some kind of deal to use
some of the land for parking to offset the blow of a $20,000 increase --
in other words, the taxpayer will still eat some of the loss; Calamaras
concurs; |
| Anderson goes for a more subtle [and
dangerously deceptive sounding] approach -- agree publicly with the VGA
for the rent increase to $180,000, but then have "...a gentleman's
agreement that as soon as that dog [the FAA, the press, the public] goes to sleep we then have
this deal where we're going to start metering South Brohard, the dog park,
and take that expense away from the VGA, [and then] rent a certain portion
of their leasehold for parking at the paw park... [the VGA] gets some good
publicity out of it, the deal goes down and it's resolved. Then once the
dust settles and we get through the headlines, then we implement the
metering and a new lease with them... for the paw park parking." |
| Tacy is happy: "The metering could
be done without even really getting into the press." |
| Anderson advocates letting Calamaras
and Hunt work out the details with the VGA, as he is now to the VGA what
Hunt is to the FAA -- a hated entity or, as Anderson puts it, "a lightning
rod." |
All transcripts were scanned from hard
copies using optical character recognition software. The scans were then
carefully reviewed for accuracy to ensure that the electronic versions online
here are as close to true copies as physically possible. Pagination is retained
from the original documents. Page layouts are somewhat altered due to the change
in font style from hard copy to electronic copy. All spelling, punctuation, etc.
is retained from the original hard copies, no corrections have been made.
|
John
Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative
Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also
be incredibly rude at times.
|
