Item I1* 1:30 P.M. CLOSED SESSION *
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: 5/20/15 — KL
Bulk Item: Yes _ No XX
Division: _County Attorney
Staff Contact: Chris Ambrosio, 292-3470
AGENDA ITEM WORDING: An Attorney -Client Closed Session in the matter of Blake Russell
Hill v. Monroe County, Case No. CA-K-15-278.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
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 Administrator Roman Gastesi, County
Attorney Bob Shillinger, Assistant County Attorneys Chris Ambrosio and Steve Williams and a
certified court reporter.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
4/15/15 (N-1) BOCC scheduled Closed Session for 5/20/15 at 1:30 p.m. in Key Largo, FL
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
N/A
TOTAL COST: Court Reporter costs INDIRECT COST: BUDGETED: Yes No
DIFFERENTIAL OF LOCAL PREFERENCE:
COST TO COUNTY: Court Reporter costs SOURCE OF FUNDS:
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes — No xx AMOUNT PER MONTH Year
APPROVED BY: County Atty X OMB/Purchasing Risk Management
DOCUMENTATION: Included Not Required X
DISPOSITION• AGENDA ITEM #
Revised 7Y09
County of Monroe
The Florida Keys
Robert B. Shillinger, County Attorney**
Pedro J. Mercado, Assistant County Attorney **
Cynthia L. Hall, Assistant County Attorney **
Christine Limbert-Barrows, Assistant County Attorney **
Derek V. Howard, Assistant County Attorney**
Steven T. Williams, Assistant County Attorney**
Peter H. Morris, Assistant County Attorney
Patricia Eables, Assistant County Attorney
Chris Ambrosio, Assistant County Attorney
** Board Certified in City, County & Local Govt. Law
June 6, 2017
Kevin Madok, Clerk of the Circuit Court
Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, State of Florida
Monroe County Courthouse
500 Whitehead Street
Key West, FL 33040
BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS
Mayor George Neugent, District 2
Mayor Pro Tern David Rice, District 4
Danny L. Kolhage, District 1
Heather Carruthers, District 3
Sylvia J. Murphy, District 5
Office of the County Attorney
1111 121h Street, Suite 408
Key West, FL 33040
(305) 292-3470 — Phone
(305) 292-3516 — Fax
In Re: Blake Russell Hill v. Monroe County, Case No.: CA-K-15-278
Dear Mr. Madok:
Please find enclosed herewith the transcript of the May 29, 2015 closed attorney/client
session of the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners regarding the above -
referenced matter. Under F.S. 286.011(8), the transcript may be part of the public record
because the litigation has concluded.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter. Please contact me should you have any
questions.
Sincerely,
obert . Shill' ger
Monroe County Attorney
Enclosure
CONFIDENTIAL
A
MEETING OF THE
MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ATTORNEY -CLIENT CLOSED SESSION
RE: BLAKE RUSSELL HILL V.
MONROE COUNTY, CASE NO. CA-K-15-278
OR
GI
NAL
HELD AT THE
I COMMISSION CHAMBERS
102050 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY
KEY LARGO, FLORIDA 33037
MAY 29, 2015
2:20 P.M. - 2:38 P.M.
Commissioners Present:
COMMISSIONER SYLVIA MURPHY
COMMISSIONER HEATHER CARRUTHERS
MAYOR DANNY KOHLAGE
COMMISSIONER DAVID RICE
COMMISSIONER GEORGE NUGENT
COUNTY ATTORNEY BOB SHILLINGER, ESQ.
ASSISTANT COUNTY ATTORNEY STEVE WILLIAMS, ESQ.
and ASSISTANT COUNTY ATTORNEY CHRIS AMBROSIO, ESQ.
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ROMAN GASTESI
I
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MAYOR KOHLAGE: The closed session is now being
closed.
MR. SHILLINGER: For the record, this meeting is
being held at my request, who announced at a prior
meeting on April 15th, 2015, that I needed your advice
in the matter of Blake Russell Hill versus Monroe
County, Case Number CA-K15-278. At the meeting, the
Board approved holding today's closed session and
public notice was given through public announcement of
the meeting at that date on April 15th, 2015, BOCC
meeting and through publication of today's agenda.
For the record, and the benefit of the court
reporter, each of us will state our name and position
starting with the commissioners.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Sylvia Murphy, District
Five, County Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: Heather Carruthers,
District Three, County Commissioner.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Dan Kolhage, County Commissioner,
District One.
COMMISSIONER RICE: Dave Rice, County
Commissioner, District Four.
COMMISSIONER NUGENT: George Nugent, County
Commissioner, District Two.
MR. GASTESI: Roman Gastesi, County
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Administrator.
MR. SHILLINGER: Bob Shillinger, County Attorney.
MR. WILLIAMS: Steve Williams, Assistant County
Attorney.
MR. AMBROSIO: Chris Ambrosio, Assistant County
Attorney.
THE COURT: All right. And madam court reporter.
Just as a reminder, we'll only be discussing
settlement negotiations and strategy relating to
litigation expenditures. You can't 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 that's open to the public.
And I'll start our discussion. This is a quiet
title action involving a road, ironically, Ed Swift
Road, which is no longer in the room. The gentleman
who lives at the far end of the street, the one
farthest away from US 1, has filed this suit.
Essentially, it's almost a road abandonment.
He's seeking a road abandonment. But, for some
reasons Mr. Ambrosio will explain, he just --
Mr. Blake Russell Hill decided to file this quiet
title action. We're looking to get some direction on
how vigorously you want us to defend it, or seek a
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resolution through a settlement negotiation. On this,
I'll turn it over to Chris.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: What's quiet title?
MR. SHILLINGER: Quiet title is when you have a
dispute as to ownership over something. You get a
court to declare who owns the --
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Oh.
MR. SHILLINGER: -- property and quiets the cloud
on the title.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Okay. All right.
MR. AMBROSIO: Right. It currently stands in the
circuit court filed as a Petition for Declaratory
Judgment and Quiet Title. It's not exactly the right
path to follow for this type of situation. The only
reason they did that is because he happens to be
represented by an attorney who believes that he
understands the law as it relates to midpoint
ownership from an abutting lot. Meaning, his attorney
believes that as an abutting lot owner, Mr. Hill
rightfully owns to the center points of the roadway.
And because Mr. Hill owns the lots at the end of
Ed Swift Road, on both sides, his argument is, because
I own the three lots that are on both sides of the end
of the roadway, I own to the middle. So, therefore, I
own everything. And because there is no one else at
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the end of my road, of course, no one else is affected
beyond me.
So that's the path and argument that they're
taking with this petition, in the form of this
litigation.
Prior to filing this litigation Mr. Hill went
through the Petition for Road Abandonment process with
US. It was ultimately denied. His petition was
ultimately denied. And reason being, from the Growth
Management Office was, because the petition lacked
letters from the utility departments that were clear
without any sort of restrictions or exceptions or
additional requirements, as opposed to just a flat, no
objection. Essentially --
MR. SHILLINGER: Just to clarify. It was not
brought to the Board for a denial -- or for a hearing.
It was determined to be incomplete, prior to that
point in the process.
MR. AMBROSIO: That's right. Determined to be
incomplete. And, then, I think what happened was,
Mr. Hill initially made overtures that he was going to
pay the utilities whatever was necessary to comply
with their requirements, or it wasn't going to be too
difficult to comply, but he was going to follow
through, and it seems like he didn't follow through.
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And, then, maybe the file just died and eventually
they closed it because he was no longer making
efforts, or it seemed like he abandoned his effort for
the road abandonment.
Then, eventually, he learned that the road -- the
petition was denied, as Bob said, or the road wasn't
abandoned in his favor. And then they came through
with this litigation. So that's where we are.
Recently, we've had the suggestion from
Mr. Hill's attorney that he would be willing to enter
into a settlement. His concept is, going through this
litigation path is a quicker, more simpler, easier way
for the County, and for Mr. Hill to resolve the issue,
as opposed to potentially, Mr. Hill going through a
road abandonment petition process again.
And, Bob and I -- I believe Bob and I both feel
the normal process would have been what Mr. Hill did,
which was the petition for the road abandonment, and
then it goes through its course there.
However, I think that there is a way to resolve
this in a settlement agreement, in the form of this
litigation. If we don't want to defend vigorously, we
want to hang on to the end of Ed Swift Road, for some
reason, but if you do not mind abandoning it, I think
we can arrange that in a settlement agreement, in
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terms of this litigation, where the County will agree
to abandon the road, but there's going to be a list of
conditions that fall upon Mr. Hill to meet that the
County doesn't have any responsibility to meet. And
that would be, Mr. Hill, of course, would need to get
proper permits to comply with any of the utilities'
requirements. He would have to even bear the burden
of the financial costs of accommodating the utilities,
either through easement or relocating their easement,
or their utilities, whatever -- whichever method he
and the utilities agree to.
He would need to make the proper coordinated
efforts to arrange for a cul-de-sac or a T
turn -around, however the fire marshal would want it to
be. Because, currently, as it stands, there is
neither at the end of Ed Swift Road. So it would,
technically, according to our engineering department,
technically, it could be a benefit for the other
residents on that road. And it could be considered an
improvement on that road if Mr. Hill were to be
required to build a cul-de-sac, as a turn -around,
according to whatever the fire marshal's plan would
call for.
Also included in that settlement, Mr. Hill and
his attorney are going to be required to notify the
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other residents. And I believe, he said 300 feet.
Mr. Greenman, the attorney for Mr. Hill, stated that
he promised the three of us that he would notify all
residents within 300 feet that would be affected by
that area. Am I missing any other conditions?
MR. SHILLINGER: Not that I can think of. So,
the basic issue is, do you want us to, A, just fight
to maintain the end of the road? Do we care?
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Can we just ask questions
first?
MR. SHILLINGER: Yes, yes. And for, B, do we
want to work towards -- see, that's the -- I'm trying
to frame the issue of what we're going to ask you
ultimately, or B, get to the -- work towards a
resolution of the case even through the abandonment
process, if there's a settlement agreement. That's
the outline of what we're asking. Yes, your
questions.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Okay. Beyond this picture,
it looks like beyond that chain -link fence are
mangroves and a basin, a boat basin. Am I correct?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, there's a boat launch, boat
parking.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: A what?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, there's a boat ramp, boat
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launch that's on Mr. Hill's property, on the left
side.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: I see a boat ramp.
COMMISSIONER NUGENT: Where is there a boat ramp?
MR. WILLIAMS: On the left side.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: On the left side.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: Across the road.
COMMISSIONER NUGENT: Might have to point it out
to me, I don't see --
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: His house is the one
with all the solar panels, right?
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Yes.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Right.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: So that lot across the
road is the boat launch?
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: No, the one right -- the
orange. Right --
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: On the side of it.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Heather.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: Yeah. That's a boat
launch? Boat launch into what?
MR. SHILLINGER: All right.
MR. WILLIAMS: He owns both sides of the road.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: So the boat launch is
here?
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MR. WILLIAMS: Yes. Correct.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: This is the boat launch.
MR. WILLIAMS: He owns both sides --
COMMISSIONER NUGENT: But that's his boat ramp.
MR. SHILLINGER: For the benefit of the court
reporter, it would be helpful if we spoke one at time.
MR. WILLIAMS: Madam Court Reporter -- let me get
to the podium. For purposes of the record, Mr. Hill
owns both sides of the road. And what Mr. Greenman
had indicated to me in person is the boat ramp is on
the scarified -- on the photo that you're shown, for
the record, will be on the left side of the road, and
opposite the house with the solar panels.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: And he has access to that
boat ramp?
MR. AMBROSIO: Right.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: And he has access in the
front of his property to a boat basin. It's deeper
than in the surrounding area. Okay. But does that
belong to him?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes. He actually has -- he
actually has deeded bay bottom, and showed it to Bob
and I at a meeting a couple days ago.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Then people coming down
that street, Ed Swift Road, all of the people that
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live on that street can come to that chain -link fence
and that's as far as they can go?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes. He owns both sides.
Currently, it's not --
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: That's fine, but who put
the chain -link fence up there?
MR. WILLIAMS: This is not one, traditionally, we
come before you. The big question you all talk about
is abandoning roads that are waterfront or to open
water.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Right.
MR. WILLIAMS: This is not. This is one of the
few that is not ending in open water. This ends in
private property. And we -- well, actually I do have
a photo of it here. That the plat map shows that
there is a parcel, separate from the housing parcel
that contains those waters and separately, legally
identified as a completely different parcel and he
owns it as well.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: And he owns it as well?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: So when you come -- do you
see the body of water, the boat basin? And then to
the right, what looks like a path with mangroves, I
guess, along the side.
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MR. WILLIAMS: Yep.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Is that also his?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes. All of that is his. I'm
trying to pull up the survey. I apologize.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Okay. So he's not going
to -- by doing this, by abandoning this road, he's not
going to impact the neighbors at all, since they have
no right to get to that --
MR. WILLIAMS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: -- in the first place?
MR. SHILLINGER: That's our observation, yes.
COMMISSIONER NUGENT: And that would beg the
question of why would we want to make him put a
cul-de-sac in.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: So they can --
MR. SHILLINGER: Fire safety.
COMMISSIONER NUGENT: None of the other roads
have cul-de-sacs.
MR. SHILLINGER: Fire safety. It's a very narrow
road.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: We're talking a bunch of people
at one time. The court reporter is not going to be
able to figure this out. Let me ask a couple of
questions. Bob, how could we agree to abandon without
going through a public hearing?
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COMMISSIONER MURPHY: We can't.
MR. SHILLINGER: In the quiet title that would
be -- you get a court order that would adjust the
title to that. Our rights would be extinguished that
way. Now, the thought about having it be a public
hearing so public input would be granted, you know,
you would have an opportunity to be heard on that. We
thought about that. The best we can identify is, we
could give notice to the public to come and speak as
to when the settlement agreement is considered by you.
And that would be an opportunity for the public to
give input. But that's not the same as a public
hearing.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: That sounds a little unorthodox
to me.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: It certainly does.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Let me go on.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Sneaky.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: When they go through the quiet
title suit, the title is going to be whatever it is.
And if we have the title, we would be entitled --
and -- and --
MR. SHILLINGER: So if we litigate it to its
conclusion, if we have the title, we have it and if we
don't, we don't.
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MAYOR KOHLAGE: Well, that's what I'm saying. In
other words, if it's determined, I mean, how could we
agree -- I want to, you know, pursue this settlement
because, you know, it looks like it's appropriate for
abandonment anyway. But, how could we agree in the
suit to pass our title to him if we don't know if we
have it in the first place?
MR. SHILLINGER: Well, because the other claim is
a claim for Declaratory Judgment and that would -- if
you had an agree on judgment, you would then agree to
the declaration of rights as it's spelled out in the
settlement agreement.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: So you're going to be asking the
court, in spite of what the record says, to declare it
to be his?
MR. SHILLINGER: That --
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Isn't that a little unusual?
MR. SHILLINGER: It's not the normal process.
The normal process is a road abandonment. And that's
what we told him is, you have a road abandonment
process and that's --
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: But isn't that easier and
less expensive, the road abandonment?
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Yeah, I'd rather see --
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: See, he files. It comes
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before us. It's a public hearing.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: We're transparent.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: And everybody in the world
can see it.
MR. SHILLINGER: It is --
MAYOR KOHLAGE: One more question, please. I
don't understand, you know, you're asking for the
cul-de-sac, or the T, or whatever. Why would this
gentleman want title to the road if he's going to
continue to use it as a road?
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: No, the cul-de-sac would be
on the other side of it.
COMMISSIONER CARRUTHERS: Well, he's got so much
property --
MR. WILLIAMS: All right. His current plan, my
understanding from speaking with his counsel is, this
gentleman is acquiring those parcels on that end for a
large personal estate. Going to fence off the road at
the end of the entrance to his estate. Put the
turn -around, cul-de-sac there for fire emergency
vehicles.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Put the cul-de-sac where? Where?
MR. WILLIAMS: Before his fence. Before his
parcels.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: But will he have enough
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room because that's privately owned?
MR. SHILLINGER: He's going to acquire --
MR. WILLIAMS: He is currently -- we had this
discussion. And -- before we got here today. He has,
under contract, the next available lot, prior to the
ones he currently owns. Lot 56 he has under contract
and will build a T turn -around on it for public
benefit. What's currently happening, if anyone's
driven down this road, and Chris' pictures show it's
extremely narrow.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Yeah.
MR. WILLIAMS: I mean, you almost have to back
out to get back out of it. This gentleman owns all
the properties on both sides anyway. He's relatively
tired of everyone going down to the end of the road,
turning around on his land, on his property that he
owns, tearing those up and then trying to leave. So,
he provides this. I mean, it is not exactly
altruistic, but it does keep people from turning
around on his property. If he's allowed to
turn -around, before they get to the end of the road.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Steve, his ability to agree to
this condition about the T, or cul-de-sac, is
dependent on him acquiring additional property?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes. And --
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MAYOR KOHLAGE: Has he done that?
MR. WILLIAMS: -- contract. Not done yet. He
doesn't know how this meeting is going to go.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: This is premature.
MR. WILLIAMS: It happens -- you guys -- I agree
completely. This is different than we normally do.
He's alleged that there is question as to the
ownership of the lands under the road. I think Bob,
Chris, and I are all pretty clear that there's not
much real question there. But you're within your
rights to bring it back to road abandonment. We'll
just be doing the same process over again on the road
abandonment. And, then, it will be up to him whether
or not he wants to build a cul-de-sac, or a
turn -around, out of his own pocket.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Well, if he doesn't, can
people turn -around down there now, or does he have the
whole thing fenced? That's not --
MR. WILLIAMS: No. I mean, you can sort of do
it, but you're pulling into -- off the road. I mean,
if you're doing it -- people do do it, as Counsel even
pointed out.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: In other words, it's not
fenced off?
MR. WILLIAMS: No, there is. You can pull into a
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lot and turn -around. You can turn -around on the
empty, vacant scrub lot.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: The fence does not go all
the way?
MR. WILLIAMS: Right. You're not driving through
a tunnel.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: Let's try to bring this to some
conclusion.
MR. SHILLINGER: All right. I'm thinking I'm
getting the direction that you would rather go through
the normal road abandonment process than entertain any
out -- unusual processes in this matter. Is that --
this is your first exposure to this case. We wanted
to get the flavor for it. And we have to decide, are
we going to aggressively defend it, move to dismiss?
We also wanted to get a sense of where can we go from
here. I don't -- I'm not anticipating, or I'm not
sensing that there is a burning desire to hold onto
the road --
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: No.
MR. SHILLINGER: -- necessarily, but you want to
go through the normal process.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: That's my feeling.
COMMISSIONER MURPHY: Mine, too.
MR. SHILLINGER: Right. And we're not here to
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take a vote. I'm just here to get your sense and I've
got that. So, thank you.
Mr. Mayor, unless there's other questions, if you
would like to close the closed session, we can move
on.
MAYOR KOHLAGE: I very much would like to do
that. Okay. The closed session is now ended.
(The attorney/client session was concluded at 2:38 p.m.)
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A
CERTIFICATE
STATE OF FLORIDA,
COUNTY OF MONROE
I, Patricia A. Zischka, Florida Professional
Reporter, do hereby certify that I was authorized to
and did stenographically report the foregoing
proceedings; and that the transcript, pages 2
through 19 are a true and correct record of my
notes.
I further certify that I am not a relative,
employee, attorney, or counsel of any of the
parties, nor am I a relative or employee of any of
the parties' attorneys or counsel connected with the
action, nor am I financially interested in the
action.
Dated this 11th day of June, 2015.
Patricia A. Zischka
20
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