Joint Meeting with the Dukes County Commissioners &
Dukes County Advisory Board on Expenditures
Minutes
Monday, November24th, 2014
5:15 p.m.
Dukes County Administration Building
9 Airport Road, Edgartown, MA
County Advisory Board (CAB): Arthur Smadback (Edgartown – 36.48%), Skipper Manter (West Tisbury – 13.15%), Walter Vail (Oak Bluffs – 14.20%), Bill Rossi (Chilmark – 16.81%) , *Melinda Loberg (Tisbury –14.10%),
*Arrives late
Dukes County Commissioners (DCC): Lenny Jason – Chair, Leon Brathwaite – Vice Chair, Christine Todd, John Alley and Tom Hallahan, *David Holway
*Participated via telephone conference call.
County Staff Present: Martina Thornton – County Manager, Connie Andrade- Administrative Assistant to County Manager,Noreen Mavro Flanders – County Treasurer and Carol Grant – Parking Clerk
Others:
Michael Goldsmith – County Counsel, Sean Flynn – MV Airport Manager, Rich Michelson – Airport Commissioner.
Lenny called the DCC meeting was called to order at 5:15PM.
Art called the CAB meeting was called to order at 5:16PM.
- Airport vs. County Legal Expenses – Michael Goldsmith:
Michael Goldsmith said he was asked his opinion about no more funds being appropriated for legal expenses, does that make sense? He reviewed the documents and there is a complaint that the County has not responded to, which is the second amended complaint. Michael said it makes sense and it is good business and good government to respond to the complaint and not leave the County to be in default. A discussion was held. Michael gave a brief history of the complaints filed to date. The complaint the County has not responded to is regarding the increased the number of Airport Commissioners from seven to nine. The CAB said they do not want to spend any more money on the outside attorney the County has hired. Michael had concerns about changing counsel mid-stream and that would mean he would have to appear in the case. He recommended the County Manager work with the current counsel to see what we need to do to respond to the complaint. It would basically be the same document as the last response. Michael said the County Manager had told him that there have been overtures to talk to the Airport Counsel and that would be something that should be followed up. The CAB asked if Michael could participate in that meeting. Michael said yes.
*Melinda Loberg arrives at 5:22PM
Michael recommended filing a response that would neither admit nor deny the allegations. He said it would not take a lot of time to do this document. When a case is left open, the Airport could ask for other things like a discovery or markup dispositions.Bill asked if there was a ballpark amount of money this would cost. Lenny said that if we had $3,000.00 we could eliminate the risk by not answering. Skipper said this procedure is not closure, so the legal expenses will continue to be incurred. He would like to close the suit out permanently. Michael said a case is over when either the parties resolve the case or someone wins. Skipper recommended defaulting. Counsel said that by defaulting the County would lose the case and the Airport could include other types of orders that would then become a final judgment.Martina said she thinks that with the $3K she can accomplish both responding to the court and having a sit down with the Airport’s attorneys.
Leon/David made a motion to ask the CAB to allow the County to move $3,000.00 into the legal line from the courthouse line where we have $10,000.00 for the handicapped bathrooms. So voted. Leon yes, Christine yes, Lenny yes, David yes, John no, Tom abstains. Motion carries.
Tom said he is against using the funds allotted for the handicapped bathrooms, he would feel more comfortable taking the funds from our unreserved funds balance.
Skipper/Walter made a motion to allow the transfer of $3,000.00 from the courthouse capital improvement line to the legal expense line of the County Commissioners with the purpose of bringing closure to the litigation with the Airport with no more expenditures.So voted. Edgartown – yes, Tisbury – yes, West Tisbury – yes, Oak Bluffs – yes, Chilmark yes. Motion carries.
Lenny asked Michael if the County defaults could the County be liable for damages.Michael said at this point they have not asked for attorney’s fees but they could although it is not probable.
Fuel Assistance:
Martina said that there’s a program for fuel assistance for people under 60 years old that the South Shore Community Action Committee is in charge of. During the summer, they ran an ad that paid $12.50 but no one was interested. Martina asked the CAB to appropriate $866.00 to supplement the pay for a part-time person, (four hours per week) to help people apply for fuel assistance. The person will work on Friday’s from 12:00pm to 4:00pm in the conference room located downstairs at the County Administration building. Martina asked to take the funds from the courthouse capital line that has the funds set aside for the handicapped bathrooms. A discussion followed. Skipper asked if the $866 would be in addition to the funds from South Shore, Martina said yes so the hourly rate would be $22.50 per hour. John said that since this was not listed on the agenda as a separate item that no vote can be taken, it would be an open meeting law violation. Attorney Goldsmith said since one person has objections that the DCC should forego the vote and do it at a later meeting.
Leon/Christine made a motion to adjourn. So voted. Leon yes, Christine yes, Lenny yes, David yes, John no, Tom abstains. Motion carries. Motion carries.
Skipper/Walter made a motion to adjourn. So voted. Edgartown – yes, Tisbury – yes, West Tisbury – yes, Oak Bluffs – yes, Chilmark yes. Motion carries. All in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at5:58p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by:
JOSEPH E. SOLLITTO, JR., Clerk of Courts
Documents presented at the meeting and part of the Official Records:
- Agenda
DCC/CAB Joint Meeting Approved by CAB on 05/13/15 Page 1 of 2