Reimbursement of legal fees to commissioner unresolved

Crescent City's attorney has advised the commission, twice now, to agree to reimburse a commissioner for the costs incurred while defending herself from a recall effort. But so far, the question of whether or not elected officials will take his advice to reimburse Commissioner Cynthia Burton's ever-growing legal fees remains up in the air. 

The Fifth District Court of Appeal issued a ruling Monday, negating the results of an election to oust her. But the court hadn't yet ruled last Thursday, when the question about legal fees was posed to the commission.

Efforts to recall Burton from office began last year with a group of people known as Recall Crescent City Florida. The commissioner first requested legal fee reimbursement in February, according to City Manager Charles Rudd. 

Burton's legal price tag at the time was $3,000, according to city documents, but it rose to $18,458 by May 30. 

The city's attorney recommended commissioners approve the reimbursement, but no efforts to make that happen came forward Thursday night. 

“Repercussions could be a potential lawsuit against the city,” Attorney George Young said at the meeting. 

DeVitto’s motion to seek an updated opinion from the city’s legal attorney failed to proceed during the meeting. DeVitto said there already was a memo from the city’s legal council but it has not been updated since before the case moved to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which was at the end of April. 

“I want to be fair but I think the time is not tonight,” she said about the reimbursement decision.

Despite residents' May 30 vote to recall Burton from office, Burton will remain in her seat due to the appeals court ruling. 

The recall group argued in circuit court that Burton “​​committed malfeasance when she took part in this commission meeting because it was accessible online, but physically closed to the public and "behind locked doors." The meeting occurred on Jan. 14, 2021, with Burton, Mayor Michele Myers, DeVitto and Banks present at the meeting. 

However, Myers has not yet been recalled, though recall organizers have mentioned wanting to recall her and Banks. The group has never mentioned that they intend to recall DeVitto despite her also being at the January 2021 meeting. 

The meeting in question was live-streamed on YouTube with members of the public being able to comment in live time, as some viewers did, the meeting recording shows. 

“The problem with that court is they have all the time in the world to make their decision,” Burton said Thursday. “We don’t when that decision is going to be made. It could be tomorrow, or it could be three months from now or six months from now, or it could be really until the end of my term – a year-and-a-half.”

While the appeals court judges did have “all the time in the world,” Chief Judge Brian Lambert issued the ruling four days later in favor of Burton. 

Fifth District Judge Scott Makar agreed with Lambert, adding that the recent recall attempt was flawed procedurally and substantively. 

“It’s worth pointing out that efforts to recall public officials that fail due to procedural infirmities or substantive shortcomings are a drain not only on a community’s psyche, but on its limited financial and governmental resources, including legal fees,” Makar wrote in his opinion. 

“Just as those in public office must safeguard democratic principles and protect the public coffers, those who seek to overturn the regular elective process must strictly comply

with procedural and substantive requirements to avoid unnecessarily wasting the people’s money.”

It remained unclear as of Tuesday if and when the issue would return to the commission for a vote.