Miscellaneous Correspondence a.
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- C -^°— BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
—1 MAYOR, Wilhelmina Harvey, District 1 •
U N TY o M 0 N R 0 E - fi g Mayor Pro Tem, Jack London, District 2
• r .; . '.' 7 7,; w — Douglas Jones, District 3
KEY WEST FLORIDA 33040 Y, �•� �� : wj s ' A. Earl Cheal, District 4
(305) 294 -4641 • I r Ml John Stormont, District 5
.lid. 49_
July 9, 1991
Mr. Steve Pfeiffer
General Counsel
Fla. Dept. of Community Affairs
2740 Centerview Drive ,,
Tallahassee, FL 32399
RE: Settlement Agreements ,
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Dear Mr. Pfeiffer:
I am writing regarding a rather "Catch -22" situation in which my
staff has found themselves with regard to the execution of Set -
tlement Agreements between Monroe County, the Department, and
third parties.
In the past, DCA has refused to sign prior to the execution of
settlement agreements by Monroe County. On two occasions, this
office requested that the Monroe County Clerk's office have
these agreements executed by the Mayor prior to execution by
DCA. On both occasions, verbal assurances were given by DCA
staff that Monroe County would receive a fully executed original
without delay. In neither case did DCA staff provide an original
to us. After an inordinate amount of time expended by this of-
fice in'trying to track the paper trail and retrieve an original
for the Clerk's files, we did receive one of them several weeks
later. The second, which was approved by the Monroe County Board
of County Commissioners on March 12, 1991, has still not been
received. Sherry Spiers informed this office on July 8 that it
is forthcoming.
We anticipate the same situation with future settlements. At
this point, I am reluctant to request first execution from the
County Clerk's office once again due to our previous experience
with these matters, as outlined above. On June 26, 1991, the
Board of County Commissioners approved a settlement agreement
between the County, the Department, and Earl and Mary Dawson.
This agreement has been forwarded to the attention of Kathryn
Funchess for first execution by the Department.
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I would request your assistance in ensuring that the Dawson
agreement and any future such agreements are handled promptly by
the Department. As of this writing, the posture of Monroe County
is to obtain DCA execution prior to processing by the County
Clerk's office. You have my personal assurance that two origi-
nals will be forwarded immediately to DCA upon final execution
(one for DCA file and one to be forwarded to the applicant).
Please advise me of your comments regarding these situations and
our preferred resolution of the problem.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Herman
Director of Growth Management
RLH:aa
cc: Jim Quinn, ACSC Adminstrator, DCA
Sherry Spiers, Assistant General Counsel, DCA
Lorenzo Aghemo, Monroe County Planning Director
Rosalie Connolly, Monroe County Deputy Clerk
%1E s „
r_�AF
STATE OF FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
2 7 4 0 C E N T E R V I E W D R I V E • TALLAHASSEE, F L O R I D A 3 2 3 9 9
LAWTON CHILES WILLIAM E. SADOWSKI
Governor Secretary
July 26, 1991
Robert L. Herman
Director of Growth Management
Monroe County Growth Management Division
Public Service Building, Wing III
5100 Junior College Road, West
Stock Island
Key West, FL 33040
Re: Settlement Agreements
Dear Mr. Herman:
I have received your letter of July 9, 1991.
As you know, until recently Monroe County has not generally
participated in settlement agreements in permit appeal cases and
therefore has not required that original documents be provided for
the County's files. Photocopies were furnished to the County, and
as far as we knew that was acceptable. When the County decided to
begin participating in settlement agreements, we were not advised
that a different procedure would be necessary.
I understand that within the past few months, your staff
advised DCA legal staff for the first time that Mrs. Rosalie
Connolly, Monroe County's Deputy Clerk, requires a document with
original signatures and all appropriate attachments for the
County's official records. The Department is more than willing to
cooperate with Monroe County. My staff will be contacting Mrs.
Connolly to make certain her requirements are met with regard to
all settlement agreements entered into in the future.
While we are prepared to meet the County's recordkeeping
needs, we are not prepared to sign settlement agreements before
execution by the Board of County Commissioners. In implementing
its various responsibilities, this agency enters into a great many
agreements and other contracts. We are better able to track them
when the Department is the last signatory. Therefore, in Monroe
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT • HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT • RESOURCE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
Robert L. Herman
July 25, 1991
Page 2
County permit appeal cases, we will continue to have agreements
signed by the property owner and forward them to you for execution
by the Board. Once signed by the Board and returned to us, we will
furnish Mrs. Connolly a copy with original signatures and all
appropriate attachments. Your office will be furnished a photocopy
unless you require a document with original signatures also
We have received the Dawson settlement agreement which was
furnished to you for signature and which you returned to us
unexecuted. In order to avoid further delay to the Dawsons in
resolving this case, this agreement will be the one exception to
our procedures. The agreement will be presented to Secretary
Sadowski for signature and then returned to you for execution by
the Board of County Commissioners.
Ms. Spiers in my office has confirmed with your assistant,
Angela Adams, that the County has received appropriate copies of
all settlement agreements entered into to date. I do not
anticipate difficulties in the future similar to those you outlined
in your July 9, 1991, letter.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to
contact me.
Very truly yours,
IIPP"
..mum. en fe'ffer
General Counsel
GSP /ss
cc: Jim Quinn, ACSC Administrator, DCA
Lorenzo Aghemo, Monroe County Planning Director
Rosalie Connolly, Monroe County Deputy.Clerk
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