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L. Closed Session BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUl\1MARY * TIM:E CERTAIN 2:00 P.M. >': Meeting Date: 12/19/07 - MAR Division: County Attorney Bulk Item: Yes No~ Department: County Attorney Staff Contact Person: Bob Shillinger AGENDA ITEM WORDING: An Attorney-Client Closed Session of the Board of County Commissioners in the matter of Salvatore Zavvulla v. Monroe County. ITEM BACKGROUND: Sa! Zappulla has filed a Petition with the Monroe County Career Service Council challenging his dismissal from his position from county service. Legal staff desires direction from the Board. Per F. S. 286.011(8), the subject matter of the meeting shall be confined to settlement negotiations or strategy sessions related to litigation expenditures. Present at the meeting will be the Commissioners, County Attorney Suzanne Hutton, Chief Assistant Bob Shillinger, special litigation counsel Mike Casey and Kevin Vance of the law firm Epstein, Becker & Green, P.A. and a certified Court Reporter. BOCC approved the scheduling of this Closed Session at their regularly scheduled meeting held 11/14/07 (Item R-IO). PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: 11/14/07 BOCC approved Closed Session for 12/19/07 in Marathon at 2:00 p.m. CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: N/A ./' STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: N/A TOTAL COST: BUDGETED: Yes No COST TO COUNTY: SOURCE OF FUNDS: REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes No X AMOUNTPERMONTH_ Year APPROVED BY: County Atty ----X- OMBlPurchasing _ Risk Management _ DOCUMENTATION: Included Not Required _ DISPOSITION: Revised 2/05 AGENDA ITEM # Mayor's Script For the day of Closed Session The following should be read at the appropriate point during the day of the closed session. 1. Prior to going into closed session. A closed attorney-client session pursuant to Section 286.011(8), Florida Statutes, will now be held. It is estimated that this meeting will take approximately thirty (30) minutes. The persons attending the meeting will be; the County Commissioners, County Attorney Suzanne Hutton, Chief Assistant County Attorney Robert B. Shillinger, the County's special litigation counsel Mike Casey and Kevin Vance of the law firm Epstein, Becker & Green, P.A.; and a certified court reporter. Since the law prohibits any other person from being present at the closed session, the commissioners, the attorneys for the County and the court reporter will now remain in this meeting room, and all other persons are required to leave the room. When the closed session is over, we will re-convene and re-open the public meeting. This public meeting is now closed. 2. At the beginning of the closed session. I now call this closed session to order. For the record, this meeting is being held upon the request of the County Attorney Suzanne A. Hutton, who announced at a prior public meeting held on November 14, 2007 that she needed advice concerning the pending matter, Salvatore Zappulla v. Monroe County. At that meeting, the Board approved holding today's closed session, and public notice was given at the November 14, 2007 BOCC Meeting and through publication of the agenda for the December 19, 2007 BOCC Regular Meeting. For the record, and the benefit of the court reporter, each of us will state our name and position starting with the commission. (After all have identified themselves) - Thank you. Just as a reminder, we will only be discussing settlement negotiations and strategy relating to litigation expenditures. We cannot take any decisive action at this meeting. We can only provide information and direction to the attorneys. Any decisions this Board makes concerning this case must be done in a meeting open to the public. Let's start our discussion with the County Attorney. 3. At the end of the closed session, prior to going into open session. This closed session is now terminated and we will not reconvene in the public meeting. 4. After the public session has been re-opened. The attorney-client session has been terminated, and we are now re-opening this public meeting. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS County of Monroe Mayor Michelle Coldiron,District 2 �o� Mayor Pro Teen David Rice,District TheFlorida Keys ay 4 Craig Cates,District 1 l Eddie Martinez,District 3 Vacant,District 5 Robert B.Shillinger,County Attorney— Pedro J.Mercado,Assistant County Attorney** Office of the County Attorney Cynthia L.Hall,Assistant County Attorney** 1111 12th Street,Suite 408 Christine Limbert-Barrows,Assistant County Attorney** Key west,FL 33040 Derek V.Howard,Assistant County Attorney** (305)292-3470—Phone Peter H.Morris,Assistant County Attorney** (305)292-3516—Fax Patricia Gables,Assistant County Attorney Paunece Scull,Assistant County Attorney Joseph X.DiNovo,Assistant County Attorney** James Molenaar,Assistant County Attorney **Board Certified in City,County&Local Govt.Law January 17, 2024 Kevin Madok, CPA Clerk of Court, 16'Judicial Circuit Monroe County Courthouse 500 Whitehead Street Key West, FL 33040 In Re: Zapulla v. Monroe County—Career Service Appeal Dear Mr.Madok: Please find in this email attachment scans of transcripts of two closed attorney/client sessions before the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners,regarding the above-referenced matter. The closed session transcripts are dated 12-19-2007 and 03-19-2008,respectively, and the litigation regarding this matter is concluded. Under F.S. 286.011(8), the transcripts may be made part of the public record once the litigation has ended. Thank you for your assistance with this matter.Please contact me should you have any questions. Sincerely Digitally signed by Cynthia L.Nall ` DN:cn-Cynthia Lliall,o-Monroe p County UOCC,ou,email-hall- � cynthia[monmecounry-tl.gov, c-t1S D11e:IN-1.1615:41:57 0500' Cynthia L. Hall Senior Assistant Monroe County Attorney Attachments: Scans of 12-19-2007 and 03-19-2008 Closed Session Transcripts 1 1 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY 2 ATTORNEY-CLIENT CLOSED SESSION WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007 „ 3 w 4 Re : Salvatore Zappulla v. Monroe County 5 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS : 6 Charles "Sonny" McCoy, Mayor 7 Dixie M . Spehar, County Commissioner Mario DiGennaro, County Commissioner 8 George Neugent, County Commissioner Sylvia J. Murphy, County Commissioner 9 10 STAFF: 11 Suzanne Hutton County Attorney Robert B . Shillinger, Chief Assistant County Attorney 12 13 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 14 15 Proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners 16 of Monroe County Attorney-Client Closed Session, at the 17 Marathon Government Center, 2798 Overseas Highway, 18 Marathon, Monroe County, Florida, on the 19th day of 19 December 2007 , commencing at approximately 4 : 17 p .m. and 20 concluding at approximately 4 : 36 p .m. , as reported by Susan 21 L . McTaggart, Court Reporter and Notary Public, State of 22 Florida at Large . 23 o/I j 24 25 All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 2 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 016 2 MAYOR McCOY : A closed attorney-client session 3 pursuant to Section 286 Florida Statutes will now be 4 held . It is estimated that this meeting will take 5 approximately 30 minutes . The persons attending the 6 meeting will be the County Commissioners , County 7 Attorney Suzanne Hutton, Chief Assistant County 8 Attorney Robert B . Shillinger, and a certified court 9 reporter . All others will be asked to leave . 10 Since the law prohibits any persons from being 11 present at the closed session, the Commissioners , 12 the attorneys for the County, and the court reporter 13 will now remain in this meeting room, and all other 14 persons are required to leave the room. When the 15 closed session is over we will reconvene and reopen 16 the public meeting . This public meeting is now 17 closed . 18 MR . SHILLINGER : Let the record reflect that 19 they left . 20 MAYOR McCOY : I now call this closed session to 21 order . For the record, this meeting is being held 22 upon the request of the County Attorney, Suzanne A . 23 Hutton, who announced at a prior public meeting held 24 on November 14 , 2007 , that she needed advice 25 concerning the pending matter, Salvatore Zappulla v . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 3 1 Monroe County . At that meeting the Board approved 2 holding today ' s closed session and a public notice 3 was given at the November 14 , 2007 BOCC meeting and 4 to a publication of the agenda for the December 19 , 5 2007 BOCC regular meeting . 6 For the record and the benefit of the court 7 reporter, each of us will state our names and 8 positions , starting with the Commission . 9 Ms . Murphy? 10 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : Sylvia Murphy, 11 Commissioner, District 5 . 12 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : George Neugent , District 13 2 . 14 MAYOR McCOY : Charles McCoy, District 3 . 15 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : Mario DiGennaro, 16 District 4 . 17 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : Dixie Spehar, District 5 . 18 MS . HUTTON : Suzanne Hutton, County Attorney . 19 MR . SHILLINGER : Bob Shillinger, Assistant 20 County Attorney . 21 And the court reporter is here , as well . 22 MAYOR McCOY : Thank you . 23 Just as a reminder, we will be only discussing 24 settlement negotiations and strategy relating to 25 litigation expenditures . We cannot take any All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 4 1 decisive action at this meeting . We can only 2 provide information and direction to the attorneys . 3 Any decisions this Board makes concerning this case 4 must be done in a meeting open to the public . 5 Let ' s start with the County Attorney . 6 MS . HUTTON : I 'm going to let Mr . Shillinger 7 take the lead on this discussion . 8 MR . SHILLINGER : Good afternoon, Commissioners . 9 We are here today to talk about the Sal Zappulla 10 case . He filed a petition challenging his dismissal 11 with the Career Service Commission, or Council, 12 which is a statutorily created civil service board 01111 13 for Monroe County . It ' s been in existence since 14 1969 , so it qualifies under the closed session 15 exemption of the Florida Sunshine Law . 16 The two issues we ' re here on generally 17 speaking, and I ' ll get into the details , but to give 18 you a preview of the coming attractions , the first 19 question is , are we interested in settlement, and if 20 so, the parameters of that , or do we want to fight 21 this thing out to the end . The second issue, which 22 is related, is do we want to defend this in-house or 23 do we want to use outside counsel . Obviously that 24 relates to litigation expenditures . 25 On the settle versus fight issue, some All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 5 1 background . Mr . Zappulla was fired for cause by Mr . 2 Willi for the , primarily the reason is for 3 misconduct due to his disruptive behavior, abusive 4 comments , conducts , there was some insubordination, 5 as well , and there were some competency issues 6 raised, as well . But the primary thrust was the 7 misconduct, the behavioral aspects . 8 For your background for this , you are aware the 9 Career Service Council is a five-person panel , all 10 laypersons . They ' re appointed by four public 11 entities . You have a member who ' s appointed by the 12 Aqueduct, by the Keys Energy Service, by the 13 Mosquito Control District , and by the County 14 Commission, and then those four people appoint the 15 fifth person . So none of these persons can work for 16 any of the entities right now . So it is a 17 five-person panel of people from the community . As 18 such, it ' s kind of an unpredictable board . You 19 don ' t know how they ' re going to go . In the past the 20 track record has been to reinstate people . But 21 different people, you know, turnover with the board, 22 you don ' t know what ' s going to go there . So it is 23 kind of unpredictable . What they ' re going to be 24 asked to do is determine whether there was adequate 25 cause or not, and if they determine that there was All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 6 1 not adequate cause to fire Mr . Zappulla they can 2 order that he be reinstated and the County would 3 have to put him back in his position . They can 4 order back wages and attorney ' s fees . So those are 5 some of the parameters . Either side that ' s not 6 happy with the outcome of that proceeding could take 7 a further appeal to the court . So the Career 8 Service is most probably not going to be the last 9 word on this unless we reach some sort of 10 resolution . 11 In order for you to evaluate the case you 12 should be aware that in our judgment there is pretty 13 good documentary evidence of his abusive conduct . 14 There ' s some e-mails outlining his unprofessional 15 comments about fellow staff members , about his 16 superiors . So there is good documentary evidence . 17 It ' s not just based on people ' s word testimony that 18 can, you know, change over time as memories fade, et 19 cetera, et cetera . 20 The downside of that documentary evidence is if 21 I were to present Sal ' s case his argument ' s going to 22 be he was just frustrated that the County 23 Administrator wasn ' t heeding his call . You know, he 24 was pointing out things to him and their personal 25 relationship soured and he kept trying to point All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 1 things out and these e-mails were a product of the 2 soured relationship . So Tom' s , Mr . Willi ' s 3 performance and the fact that he was recently let go 4 by the County will play a large role in their 5 presentation . I can guarantee it . You can see that 6 one coming from a mile away . 7 The insubordination aspect, he went outside of 8 the chain of command . His spin on this is going to 9 be , hey, I was merely trying to point out to Tom' s 10 superiors there were problems . You know, he was a 11 whistle-blower . You can see that that ' s where 12 they ' re going to go . So it ' s going to be a rehash 13 and a replay of the events that have played out for %'�j;; 14 the last couple of months here and this is going to 15 be part of the nature and dynamic of the hearing . 16 And we don ' t know how this five-person panel is 17 going to react to it . We can get an idea, but we 18 don ' t know for sure . 19 So with that in mind, we have been approached 20 with a settlement offer . They have proposed two 21 things , coming from Sal . Obviously one option -- 22 there ' s two options , basically, for a settlement . 23 One is to give him his old job back . The other is 24 to pay him some sort of money, monetary fee , to make 25 it go away . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 8 1 Now, I can tell you that the reinstatement 076;51 2 option is , I can tell you in the strongest terms , is 3 strongly disfavored by County staff . I think the 4 acting administrator now as well as the budget 5 person who ' s acting has advised that this will cause 6 a tremendous amount of disruption and so they are 7 strongly, strongly recommending against that . Legal 8 staff joins in that . 9 Yes , sir? 10 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : I can also verify 11 that, that we had a conversation and she said it 12 would be catastrophic if Sal came back . It would 13 disrupt all of the morale that we have or a lot of 14 the morale we have right now . I spoke with her and 15 told her that I would bring that up here . So I 16 don ' t think that -- 17 THE COURT REPORTER : I 'm sorry? 18 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : Oh, excuse me . 19 So I don ' t think that should come into 20 question . 21 MR . SHILLINGER: I just wanted to at least lay 22 it out, you know, and I just wanted to point out 23 that we would probably have a very empty Budget and 24 Finance office . 25 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : That ' s in the All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 9 1 settlement . I ' ve witnessed something that was just 2 totally beyond my comprehension in the Marty Arnold 3 case where the Career Service Board says you give 4 him his job back and his back pay . 5 MR . SHILLINGER : Absolutely . They have that 6 right to put that in . So if we choose to fight 7 that , you have to understand, that is a potential , 8 that they could put him back in . 9 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR: I have a question . 10 Career Service has the four and then they appoint 11 the fifth . That fifth position, the last I ' ve 12 heard, was still vacant . 13 MR . SHILLINGER : Yes . There ' s one applicant . 14 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : There ' s one applicant? 15 MR . SHILLINGER : There ' s one applicant 16 currently . It ' s Mimi Grant, otherwise known as Mimi 17 McCoy . Which seems like, judging from the look on 18 your face, is a shock, Mayor . 19 MAYOR McCOY : I was not aware of it . 20 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR: But doesn ' t this create, 21 almost , conflict in a -- 22 MR . SHILLINGER : There is a potential , if there 23 are no more applicants there is a potential for that 24 process to drag on while they look for yet another 25 person . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 10 1 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : There were other 2 applicants . There were three . 3 MR . SHILLINGER : Well , your information is 4 more, is different than mine . 5 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : No . One of them was 6 mine . 7 MR . SHILLINGER : Well , when was this ? 8 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : Mimi was the fifth 9 person . 10 MR . SHILLINGER : Commissioner Murphy, there ' s , 11 each constituent board gets to appoint somebody . 12 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : Go ahead . I 'm sorry . 13 MR . SHILLINGER : So perhaps those people might 14 want to express , you know, an interest there . That 15 was a possibility . But in terms of what the Career 16 Service Board has now, they have one pending 17 application for their one vacancy, and that does 18 create a potential problem for that board, which is 19 going to drag this process out even longer . 20 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : I , I would like to say 21 although Commissioner DiGennaro mentioned the acting 22 administrator and the current budget office, this 23 goes way beyond that . 24 MR . SHILLINGER: Oh, absolutely . 25 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : Way beyond . Every County All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 11 1 employee who ' s ever had any dealings with him do not 2 want him back . 3 MR . SHILLINGER : Right . So that is , I mean, 4 that ' s one aspect of it . So obviously it ' s not well 5 supported, but I have to lay that option out . 6 The other option is a monetary settlement . Sal 7 offered a year ' s salary . He would like to settle 8 this . He would be willing to talk a year ' s salary, 9 which is roughly a hundred thousand dollars . 10 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : Plus benefits ? 11 MR . SHILLINGER : One year ' s salary . 12 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : Wage and salary, or just 13 on the surface? 14 MR . SHILLINGER : On the surface . A hundred 15 thousand dollars was the number that was thrown at 16 me . His salary was about 97 , 98 , so . 17 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : To fight this , what ' s 18 our estimated costs in attorney ' s fees , court costs , 19 and so on and so forth? 20 MR . SHILLINGER : Well , that goes to the second 21 issue . If we defend it in-house our cash outlay is 22 going to be very low . But it ' s going to be staff 23 time and it ' s going to be taking away from 24 everything else . You ' re talking about 75 to a %, 25 hundred hours ' worth of staff time . If you ' re going All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 12 1 to, we ' ve gotten an estimate from the firm that 2 Mr . Willi had used to conduct a predetermination o„err 3 hearing, and their estimate is between 25 and 4 $35 , 000 . 5 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : I have a question . 6 MR . SHILLINGER : Yes ? 7 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : You were involved in 8 this . Does that preclude either of you two in 9 representing us ? 10 MR . SHILLINGER : No . I don ' t see any conflict 11 for me, necessarily . I was not a witness to any of 12 the issues . 13 MS . HUTTON : I mean, I ' ve had one conversation 14 with Sal that I don ' t think it ' s going to, I don ' t 15 think he would call me as a witness on the 16 conversations I had with him, and he probably 17 wouldn ' t want to call me as a witness . 18 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : The 25 to $35 , 000 , 19 does that just take us up to the board -- 20 MR . SHILLINGER : Yes . 21 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : -- or does that take 22 us up through depositions afterwards and court cases 23 and so on and so forth? 24 MR . SHILLINGER : That ' s just taking it to the 25 board . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 13 1 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : It ' s just taking it to 2 the board? 3 MR . SHILLINGER : Yeah . 4 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : Just so we clarify it, 5 because I couldn ' t imagine it going through 6 litigation at 25 to 35 , 000 more unless you added 7 some zeroes onto it . 8 MR . SHILLINGER : Right . 9 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : Am I right or wrong? 10 MR . SHILLINGER : And that ' s basing it on the 11 estimate of a three-day hearing and prep time and 12 figuring that there ' s going to be several trips back 13 and forth, preparation, plus with this board, it ' s , 14 again, it ' s citizens that are meeting . They may not 15 be able to meet three consecutive days or four 16 consecutive days or two consecutive days . They may 17 have to meet once a week for a month to get this 18 done . 19 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : Do you think it would 20 be a good idea to go back to Sal and say, okay, 21 listen, a hundred thousand ' s outrageous , but we 22 calculate it ' s going to cost us 25 , 000 to 30 , 000 and 23 we go somewhere to start off on that figure just to 24 wash it away? 25 MR . SHILLINGER : We started with that process . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 14 1 When Tom was here we talked about it and we tendered 2 the limits of Tom ' s authority to settle something, 3 which was 25 , 000 . And that was projected . So 4 that ' s why we ' re back here in front of the Board . 5 Because if they had bought it for under 25 , 000 it 6 wouldn ' t have even had to come in front of you . 7 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : What do you recommend 8 as an amount? 9 MR . SHILLINGER : I 'm thinking that we ' re 10 looking -- I 'm not going to start off on this level , 11 but I ' d like some direction going up and that 65 is 12 the upper end . Maybe , maybe as high as 70 . I think 13 30 is the nuisance value, and we start with that . 14 You know, we offered 25 , they rejected it , we go to 15 30 . 16 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : No matter what you 17 say, it has to come back to us ? 18 MR . SHILLINGER : Yes . Absolutely . It would 19 have to come back to you . 20 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : It still has to come 21 back to us . 22 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : But you want a top 23 dollar? 24 MR . SHILLINGER : I want some indication of what 25 the Board ' s comfortable with . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 15 1 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : You keep on, you keep ®r' 2 on asking us for an indication . Why don ' t you go in 3 there and try to negotiate the best deal you can 4 get? 5 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR: I would like to recommend 6 that we give him a limit at this time of 70 . 7 MR . SHILLINGER : All right . And you want us to 8 defend this in-house . That ' s the other issue , as 9 well . Okay . Any other questions , thoughts ? Okay . 10 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : We cannot, we cannot 11 allow him to come back into these buildings . We ' ll 12 have a mass exodus of staff . And he did not, can we 13 not use the fact that he didn ' t go to the anger 14 management classes? 15 MR . SHILLINGER : We can use everything . He has 16 some incentive to settle, too . He knows he ' s not 17 going to come back and work here . It would not be a 18 happy place to work . And so he ' d be looking for his 19 next job if he were to come back here because 20 everybody would be looking for his first mistake and 21 then take care of it that way . 22 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : Bob, if he goes before 23 the Career Service Board and they say give him his 24 back pay and give him his job back -- 25 MR . SHILLINGER : He ' s back . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 16 1 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : He ' s back . 2 MR . SHILLINGER : As a Career Service employee . 3 COMMISSIONER NEUGENT : And there ' s nothing we 4 can do about it . 5 MR . SHILLINGER : But he also understands he 6 walks into a room where nobody wants him there and 7 everybody ' s going to be watching every number that 8 he crunches , and he also knows that he ' s not going 9 to be employable elsewhere in the public sector or 10 the private sector . 11 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : We could make a 12 recommendation that he could be Commissioner 13 Neugent ' s aide . 14 COMMISSIONER SPEHAR : The settlement will 15 possibly stop all of that . 16 MR . SHILLINGER : Yeah . And that ' s the whole 17 point, is to just move forward and then his 18 reputation isn ' t trashed in a hearing and you don ' t 19 have to go into, you know, how unprofessionally he 20 acted and so if he goes to his next job it hasn ' t 21 been splayed out in the newspapers as to, you know, 22 what kind of employee someone else might be hiring . 23 COMMISSIONER DiGENNARO : Bob, tell me 24 something, would you? If we do this settlement, and ' 25 I don ' t know, probably not , but I ' m going to ask . All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 17 1 Is there any way that if make a settlement agreement 1, 2 we can have a confidentiality agreement? 3 MR . SHILLINGER : No . The Sunshine Law doesn ' t 4 allow it . 5 COMMISSIONER MURPHY : Is the normal 6 severability on the outside normally six months ? I 7 don ' t understand the year ' s pay . 8 MR . SHILLINGER : Florida is a right-to-work 9 state if you work as an at-will employee, so in the 10 private sector you ' re not entitled to anything in 11 terms of a severance package . It ' s part of 12 negotiations if you have a contract . I would say 13 that ' s more , six months is more in line with what 14 prevails out in the private sector . 15 I think I have your direction . 16 MAYOR McCOY : Okay . Then we can adjourn this 17 and -- 18 MR . SHILLINGER : Reconvene the public meeting . 19 Okay . Thank you . 20 (Closed session concluded at 4 : 36 p .m. ) 21 22 23 24 25 All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West 18 1 C E R T I F I C A T E Oil 2 STATE OF FLORIDA ) 3 COUNTY OF MONROE ) 4 I , Susan L . McTaggart, Court Reporter and Notary 5 Public, State of Florida at Large, do hereby certify that I 6 was authorized to and did report by stenotype the 7 proceedings in the above-entitled matter, and that the 8 transcript is a true record of said proceedings . 9 Dated this 13th day of January 2008 . 10 11 vyl Susan L . McTaggart, Court Reporter 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 j All Keys Reporting-Court Reporters-(305)289-1201 Locations in Key Largo,Marathon&Key West