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Century To Consider Hiring Attorney For Task Force Members Charged With Sunshine Law Violation
August 23, 2016
The Century Town Council has scheduled a special meeting to discuss the legal representation of four volunteer task force members charged last week with noncriminal violations of the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law.
Alfonzie Cottrell, Helen Mincy, Sylvia Godwin, and Robert Mitchell were charged by the State Attorney’s Office with having a public meeting that was not properly advertised. On July 26, a meeting was advertised to begin at 4:00 p.m. The meeting was actually held at 2:00 p.m. preventing the public from attending.
This case is set for arraignment on September 7. At that hearing, the four will have a chance to enter a plea or move forward with a trial in front of a judge, most likely in one to three weeks after the arraignment. They face a maximum penalty of a $500 fine, according to State Attorney Bill Eddins.
At 4 p.m. Friday, the town council will hold a special meeting to discuss retaining an attorney to represent the four individuals that were charged. Also at the meeting , the council will discuss the appointment of a Citizens Advisory Task Force to review two proposed grant applications.
The State Attorney’s Office investigation began after a July 27 article on NorthEscambia.com “Century Holds Meeting In Apparent Violation Of State Sunshine Law“. NorthEscambia.com arrived the previous day for the 4 p.m. meeting to find the front doors of the Century Hall locked and the parking lot empty. We later learned that the meeting had been held at 2 p.m. The town provided a public notice on Wednesday, July 27 and re-held the meeting on Thursday, July 28.
A letter from Eddins to Century Mayor Freddie McCall essentially placed blame for the law violation on the Town of Century for not providing the adequate Sunshine Law training,
Pictured top: CATF members Helen Mincy, Robert Mitchell and Sylvia Godwin during a CATF meeting on Thursday, July 28. Alfonzie Cottrell was not present at the July 28 meeting. Pictured inset and below: The Century Town Hall was locked and the parking lot empty at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July, the time of a publicly noticed town task force meeting.
Comments
29 Responses to “Century To Consider Hiring Attorney For Task Force Members Charged With Sunshine Law Violation”
I respect anyone that wants to be involved in helping their community whether it be by election or volunteer. That said the Sunshine Law is not some secret or obscure law. It has been discussed in the news, in the paper, and on this site. If you want the responsibility then you also have an obligation to know what laws or ordinances affect the position that you are filling. These people were wrong and it is not fair to expect the city to pay their fines or legal fees. It would have been simple to reschedule the meeting and make sure the public was notified. Perhaps they should reconsider their volunteer status if they do not want to find out their other obligations in regard tot he position they are filling.
To the defenders of these law breakers; Please take note that the town clerk of Century, and the Hired Consultant were both at this out of the sunshine meeting, and both of them should be well aware of the law. Who knows what was discussed at this out of the sunshine meeting because it was OUT OF THE SUNSHINE. If we let the committees that advise government have secret meetings without repercussions, what’s next? Do we let the Century Town Council have secret meetings? The law is very clear, and for it to be effective it has to be enforced at every level of government.
Making the comparison that “Hillary got away with it” makes no sense. If Hillary had been called to task early in her career, she probably wouldn’t be where she is today.
these people just got together a little early. For the sake of common sense, tell them they could get in trouble for this kind of thing and go forth and do some real work. It is not shaken the foundation of our country. There are folks in high places doing much worse with no consequences. If it continues, then do something about it. But go on to something important. Forget it!!!
Gene, just like you said, do not discuss anything outside the meeting. Well they didn’t.
From being another Volunteer Committee Member myself … I was given the Sunshine Law book, all necessary materials to know what the Law says…. SIMPLE, Do NOT discuss with other members outside of said meeting! SIMPLE…. if a child misbehaves and you bail said child out – they WILL misbehave again!!! JUST SAYING!!! they will never learn said lesson.
These ladies must have been planning an evil scheme to conquer the world. Why else would so much attention be given to such a minor thing. It was not a closed door meeting the doors were not locked. They were trying not to hide anything. They are not “PUBLIC OFFICIALS.” AND THEY WERE NOT DRIVING A CAR.
per the older article link above, “Debbie Nickles, Century’s town planner, said the meeting had been held at 2 p.m. Tuesday. She said letters mailed to the four citizens on the task force had advised them to arrive for a meeting at 2 p.m. She said the discrepancy between meeting time in the letters and the legal public notices was discussed, and the meeting was held despite the improper public notice.
Nickles said she was present at the meeting, along with town consultant Robin Phillips and CATF members Sylvia Godwin, Helen Mincy, Robert Mitchell and Alfonzie Cottrell.”
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They all knew about the violation. Nickles and Phillips should have been well aware that the law said to postpone or reschedule the meeting.
And whoever decided to go ahead with the meeting anyways should be the ones charged.
In Florida, transparency is not up to the whim or grace of public officials. Instead, it is an enforceable right.
— Attorney General Pam Bondi
http://www.myflsunshine.com/
Above is what our Attorney General, and the law say about it. Also there is a web address with all the info about the law that Freddie and crew could have gotten to with a few clicks on their lap top. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law.
Yes. Looking at how Century conducts business certainly astounds me. Chris for living blissfully.
@chris, really? You surely can’t be that thick. First off there are laws in place with your analogy, if the car is owned by you yes you are at fault and should be fined. Guess what? If the car is owned by someone else guess who’s fault it is if they knowingly let you drive or you volunteer to drive? It is the owner of the cars fault and they would be fined. In this case this committee was put in place by the town/city so it is not the volunteers fault for not knowing, it is the town/city’s fault for letting them drive the car, er, hold the meeting at an unannounced time. The level of ignorance in some people is astounding.
Why , oh why would they want to waist the little bit of money that they have on something like this?
If I “volunteer” to drive an automobile, with no knowledge of applicable highway laws and cause an accident, according to some of the logic displayed here I am not at fault. After all, I just wanted to drive around.
If they were paid employees that made the decisions, then the sunshine law should apply. But they are just volunteers with no real authority. They cannot be held responsible for holding a meeting that is just to advise, they have no real teeth. They should be given as much benefit of the doubt as Hillary gets. FL state attorney’s office needs to get a life and go after someone that has broken the law. Shame on them for picking on these ladies.
If you choose to serve your community even as a volunteer you should have adequate knowledge of the laws involved and a general understanding of parliamentarian procedures. If you do not know this information it is up to the town counsel to bring you up to speed. If the counsel has no clue they shouldn’t be in office. Finger pointing and blame aside the city should be paying this fine as this committee is an entity of that counsel. People making analogies to speeding tickets etc are way off base. Dollars to doughnuts no one on this counsel had/has the education in these matters to even be volunteers and that is the city’s fault, not these volunteers. Using a better analogy: If you have hot coffee dumped in your lap at McDonald’s would you sue the employee? No. You sue the company. The employee just like these volunteers are protected from being sued individually.
I don’t have any pokers in this fire, as I don’t live in the town of Century, but if I did the first question I would have to ask is what was so secretive that the town council had to advertise the wrong time for the meeting, to keep anyone from showing up and maybe objecting.
I find this situation petty nonsense. I question the judgment of the prosecutor. Sounds like somebody who thinks they are important was inconvenienced by the schedule change. Where is the malicious intent of the committee? No good deed goes unpunished. If they get a Lawyer it should be to file their own action.
Plead, guilty and throw yourselves on the mercy of the Court. It was an error plain and simple! The error was corrected and a lesson was learned. Always conduct ALL Town business in the SUNSHINE!
How stupid some of the remarks are. These few citizens that are on the Citizens Advisory Task Force is just volunteers. My sister is on this and she is like me we don’t know anything about the sunshine law. No one ever told her about it before and after she got on it. If anyone should get in any trouble it should be the ones that were over them that knew about the sunshine law. And YES the Town of Century should pay the fines if there are any. All of this is taking a toll on her and I am sure of the others. She has enough problems and health problems without having to deal with something like this. I pray that any of your family or friends never have to deal with something like this, when she was volunteering her time because she thought she could help her town in some small way. God bless her and the rest for trying to do good and get slapped in the face. I know I sure wouldn’t volunteer now if I was them. Than you fred for your comment.
@Fred, and Bewildered. The Sunshine Law was enacted to steer our governmental bodies away from the smoke filled, back room deals and meetings of old, and has worked to make Fla. Government way more transparent . The Sunshine Law works because politicians and local board members have respect for the consequences of violating it. Try going to the Court House and telling the Judge that you shouldn’t get a speeding ticket because you “didn’t know” the speed limit was 35 mph and see how far that goes. Ignorance of the law has never been a defense for any offence.
I also agree with the writers that ask why this little town and it’s citizens are bearing all the costs associated with being an Incorporated City. Sell the gas, water, and sewer dept’s to pay off the debt, and shut Century down as as City
THEY broke the law….. Hire their own attorneys!. Leave tax dollat of it
My question is whether a volunteer task force could reasonably be expected to know their meetings were subject to the Sunshine Law. I think the State Attorney’s office should reach a deal to drop the charges pending training for this and any other groups doing government or quasi-government business. And, yes, if they were officially acting on behalf of the town, then their legal fees should be covered. Would you volunteer to serve on a board if you knew this might happen to you? I sure wouldn’t.
I think some re-education on what you are supposed to do- can legally do as a representative of the people is in order.
I feel the people have spoken also on who should pay for what on this issue
I get a speeding ticket–and have the gall to ask the township to pay the ticket?
Like I said, they need more education in procedural matters of the job of and what it entails
Respectfully
Is there any part of Century’s government that isn’t inept or incompetent, this board broke the law, take your punishment and be glad the charges are non-criminal, one more reason to dissolve this ridiculous waste of resources. They ought to all be charged with impersonating a local government.
Ridiculous! The State Attorneys office should dismiss the charges. As volunteers this group is powerless and cannot implement anything. Much more corruption goes on in politics behind closed doors on a daily basis and nothing is ever done about it!!! (just keep an eye on the presidential candidates) Its depressing that our judicial system has nothing to do but to waste tax payers’ money to drag this issue before a judge. Molinoman hits the nail on the head: A dog and pony show.
The antics coming out of the Century city hall never cease. This ‘town’ should close the city hall and cease government functions.
So the town must foot the bill for the wrongdoing of the task force volunteers? What sort of precedent does this establish?
Will they find an attorney who will do it for free or less than $500? If not wouldn’t it be cheaper to just accept the NONCRIMINAL charges and the city pay the fine? Way to drag out this dog and pony show and waste the towns money for nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Let’s do the math on this one; Hire a lawyer for $300/$400 an hour for hearings, depositions and a trial, and then probably still have to pay the fines, or just pay the fines for them and save many thousands of lawyer fees. It seems like the $2000 combined fines would be a bargain for a lesson on just what the Sunshine Law Means to public officials. Add it up.
If directly breaking the law they should pay their own bill. Lawyers arent cheap these days. If they are’t guilty then pay their attorney fees.