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TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33320
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March 4, 1986
NOTICE OF
SPECIAL MEETING
CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA
There will be a Special City Council meeting on Wednesday,
March 5, 1986, at 8:15 A.M. in the West Conference Room of
City Hall, 5811 NW 88 Avenue, Tamarac.
The purpose of the meeting is discussion and possible action
on the following legal matters affecting the City:
1. Claim of John Taribo against the City of Tamarac.
2. Case of John Purdy vs. City of Tamarac.
• 3. Status report of the Case of Peter Prior vs, the
City of Tamarac seeking an injunction regarding
certain Charter Amendments on the March 11, 1986
Ballot.
4. Authorization to pay the court reporter in the ESM
matters.
The public is invited to attend.
Carol E. Barbuto
Assistant City Clerk
Pursuant to Section 286.0105, Florida Statutes
If a person decides to appeal any decision made by the city
Council with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or
hearing, he will need a record of the proceedings and for such
purpose, he may need to ensure that a verbatim record includes
0 the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS
CITY OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
March 5, 1986
Tape 1 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Kravitz called the meeting to order on
Wednesday, March 5, 1986, at 8:15 A.M. in the West Conference Room
of City Hall.
ROLL CALL: PRESENT:
Mayor Philip B. Kravitz
Vice Mayor Helen Massaro
Councilman Arthur H. Gottesman
Councilman Raymond J. Munitz
Councilman Sydney M. Stein
ALSO PRESENT•
Larry Perretti, City Manager
Jon M. Henning, City Attorney
Patricia Marcurio, Secretary
LEGAL AFFAIRS
2. Case of John Purdy vs. City of Tamarac - Discussion and
possible action.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: The City
Attorney was authorized to pursue
this with John Gronda, Legal Counsel,
in the courts at a cost up to $2,500.00.
Mr. Henning said there was a lawsuit filed on 2/25/86 and both
Mayor Kravitz and City Manager Perretti were served. He said the
case regards John Purdy, a Police Officer, who had a heart attack
and, though his doctors have stated that he can go back to work,
the City doctors find that he is not ready to go back to work. He
said the City is reluctant to put someone who is in less than top
medical condition back on active duty in the Police Department.
Mr. Henning said the City was pursuing either light duty or
another department for Mr. Purdy to work in. He said Mr. Purdy is
one year past the Police retirement age, which is 57, and is
eligible for retirement.
Mr. Henning said a complaint was filed in Circuit Court and he
spoke with John Gronda, the City's Labor Attorney, and they feel
there are several defenses to the action. He said he would like
John Gronda to be authorized to represent the City to file Motions
to Dismiss and to fight this case in Court at a maximum cost for
legal fees of $2,500.00. He said the City will continue to
negotiate, through the Personnel Department.
V/M Massaro asked if the City's doctor examined Mr. Purdy and
City Manager Perretti said Dr. Serrano, the City's physician,
checked Mr. Purdy and, after a stress test was given through
Mr. Purdy's own doctor at the hospital, the test showed he failed
the requirements. He said, consequently, Dr. Serrano felt
Mr. Purdy could not go on active duty as a Police Officer.
Mr. Perretti said when this report was received, he requested
Judy Deutsch, the Personnel Director, call Mr. Purdy into the
office to discuss alternatives. He said the day after
Mrs. Deutsch spoke to Mr. Purdy, the City received the summons.
He said, therefore, there was no opportunity to discuss alterna-
tives with Mr. Purdy.
V/M Massaro MOVED to authorize John Gronda and the City Attorney
to pursue this in the Courts at a cost up to $2,500.00. SECONDED
by C/M Gottesman.
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C/M Gottesman asked if Mr. Purdy's salary would be less if he were
given duties other than those of a Police Officer and Mr. Henning
said Mr. Purdy could be retired from the Police Department and
still have another job within City employment. 91
VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE
3. Status Report of the Case of Peter Prior vs. the City of
Tamarac seeking an iniunction regarding certain Charter
Amendments on the March 11,_1986 Ballot - Discussion and
possible action.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: The
City Attorney gave a status
report.
Mayor Kravitz noted that when the original claim came in he was
not listed at all but the second notice listed him as the Mayor.
Mr. Henning said this document is a Notice of Hearing and is
addressed to various people and is only addressed to
Mayor Kravitz on behalf of the City. He said the Mayor is not
named as a party.
Mayor Kravitz said Mr. Prior filed this claim as a member and Vice
Chairman of the Administrative Board for the Pension Plan and he
asked by what authority Mr. Prior is representing the Administra-
tive Board. Mr. Henning said at the February meeting of the
Pension Board, Mr. Prior asked him if he would file the case and
he told him he could not because of a conflict of interest. He 12
said it was dropped and there was never any action taken by the
Board on that matter. He said these are some of the items that
will come up at the Court hearing.
Mr. Henning said there is a Notice of Hearing, as just discussed,
for Friday, March 7, 1986 at 3:30 P.M. before Judge Garrett at the
County Courthouse. He said he has asked that Alan Ruf, Consultant
City Attorney, handle this case because of a conflict of interest.
He said he may be called as a witness on the case since he has
been before the Pension Board, Charter Board and City Council and
has been involved in several aspects of this.
Mr. Henning said there is no one on the City Council that must
attend this hearing and they will ask the City Clerk's office to
help with records for preparation of this. He said they are
addressing one or two questions on the ballot regarding the
Pension Plan and investments for the Pension Plan. He said they
are seeking to have the Court throw the question off the ballot.
He said the ballot has been printed and they cannot change the
ballot but there is a question as to whether they can affect the
results of the election.
Mr. Perretti said Peter Prior is receiving money from the I.A.F.F.
to pursue this and there is interest in this throughout the Count
because they feel it may have an affect on some of the other
Pension Plans throughout the County.
Mr. Henning said at the last Pension Board meeting on 2/27/86, the
Actuary gave a report and the Pension Plan is doing very well. He
said the City's contributions are projected to be reduced by about
half of what they have been and the City is projected to save
approximately $300,000.00 if investments continue as they are
presently.
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3/5/86
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V/M Massaro said she understood that the issue did come before the
Pension Board and Mr. Prior was Denied the right to do this and
Mr. Henning said he will check the Minutes but he does not believe
there was authorization either way. V/M Massaro said that is a
very important question.
V/M Massaro asked if Mr. Prior was not authorized to do this, is
it too late for this to be meaningful at the hearing and
Mr. Henning said no, that would be some of the defenses that would
be brought up at the hearing.
4. Authorization to - pay the court reporter in the ESM matters -
Discussion and possible action.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: Authorization
was given for payment up to $500.00.
Mr. Henning said one of the bills distributed at the last meeting
was for approximately $400.00 and there are several bills to be
presented at the next Council meeting. He said he would ask
authorization to pay the court reporter up to $500.00 because they
are threatening that they will not show up any longer. He said he
will get the actual invoice to the Finance Department.
Mayor Kravitz asked if it is not normal procedure for the attor-
neys to include that in their bill and Mr. Henning said this is
coming through on English, McCaughan letterhead, which is the
billing for the public body group. He said the City is only
paying 8% of these bills.
V/M Massaro questioned whether this was the whole bill or 8%
another bill. Mr. Henning said it was an interim bill up to the
date of the bill and it was 8% of the whole bill. He said, in
fact, there is a discount because the attorneys explained there
would be several court transcripts needed and they received a
discount on the normal rate.
Mr. Henning said they called him yesterday and said if the court
reporter does not get paid, she is threatening to quit. He said
this affects all of the public body group.
Mr. Henning said he is requesting authorization for payment up to
$500.00 and he will get Council copies of all invoices and checks.
C/M Stein so MOVED, SECONDED by C/M Munitz.
_YQTE•
ALL VOTED AYE
1. Claim of_ John Taribo-against the City of Tamarac - Discussion
and possible action.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: The
City Attorney is to notify
Mr. Taribo and his attorneys
that the City prefers to go
through the grievance procedure.
Mr. Henning said John Taribo was in middle management of Tamarac
Utilities West. He said the Utilities Director/City Engineer has
worked in City Hall for many years and several months ago the
Utility Director's office was moved to the Utility plant in the
new modular building.
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Mr. Henning said the Utility Director now has closer contact with
his workers and some things that came to his attention caused him
some concern. He said because of this he requested the dismissa
of John Taribo. It
Mr. Henning said Mr. Greenwood requested this dismissal through
the City Manager's office and it was approved. He said Mr. Taribo
was given a few days notice, was dismissed and hired a lawyer and
he is asking for a hearing, to be reinstated and retained on the
payroll.
Mr. Henning said at a Council meeting a few weeks ago, the Council
authorized John Gronda, the City's Labor Attorney, to work in
defense of this case for an amount not to exceed $3,000.00. He
said they tried to reach a negotiation with a bottom line figure
requested of 6 weeks severance pay. He said the Personnel Manual
authorizes 2 weeks severance pay for someone in Mr. Taribo's
position payable with the authorization of the City Manager. He
said since this is a request of an additional 4 weeks, it would
require Council approval.
Mr. Henning said settlement, therefore, could be made with payment
of 6 weeks severance pay, which is approximately $4,500.00. He
said an alternative would be to authorize Mr. Gronda to give
guidance to the City to regroup on this case and correct any
mistakes.
Mayor Kravitz expressed concern that a precedent could be set wi
discharged employees suing the City and, based on the high cost
legal fees, settlements are made. Mr. Henning said after negotia
tions with Mr. Taribo, this appears to be the bottom line figure
for which he will settle.
Mayor Kravitz asked the City Manager whether or not he feels this
settlement has merit and how he feels about the Personnel Manual.
Mr. Perretti said it is a matter of economics vs. what could
happen with other employees pursuing this same course. He said
there could be lengthy Court action and would cost more money than
$4,500.00 to pursue it. He said it is possible the City could
win, however, recently the Courts have ruled in favor of the
employee with the burden on the employer to prove that they have
done everything correctly.
Mr. Perretti said this is an ideal case of a long --term employee,
who worked for a boss in the past, Larry Keating, who gave
him excellent evaluations and now there is a new boss,
Bill Greenwood, who has reverse thoughts about this employee. He
said if Personnel evaluation forms were shown on John Taribo, the
case for the City would not look good because of the different
evaluations involved. He said it is basically a judgment call as
to who is right and who is wrong on this case.
C/M Gottesman asked what the City's chances are if the case is
lost in Court and Mr. Perretti said Mr. Taribo has the very
prestigous law firm of Finley, Kumble. Mr. Henning noted that
Tom Tew, Trustee for the ESM litigation of the City, is with this
law firm as well. He said he will sue for more than $5,000.00
because that is the minimum amount of a case that can be handled
in Circuit Court.
Mr. Henning said it is very possible Council would be in a
position to have a grievance procedure hearing for this case.
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3/5/86
/pm
v/M Massaro said if the City is following proper procedures in
terminating employees teen this type -of litigation should be
stopped.
C/M Stein said if the City should lose this case, it could set a
precedent by having Mr. Taribo not only win what he wanted but
more than that. He said the City's legal fees will certainly be
much more than $4,500.00 since they will probably not quit at the
Circuit Court with this particular firm. He said the City has
already authorized up to $3,000.00 in legal fees for this case as
well. He said because of the difference in the evaluations from
one supervisor to another, it could be viewed by the ,judge as a
personality conflict rather than a qualificaton conflict. He said
he would like to go on record as favoring the settlement with
Mr. Taribo.
C/M Munitz asked if they would agree to the G weeks severance pay
and Mr. Henning said yes, as a matter of fact, one of the reasons
this is being discussed today, is because they would not wait
until the next regular Council meeting.
v/M Massaro said there must be a problem somewhere and she felt
the proper things are not being put into the employees' records.
She said when an employee has done something, it should go into
the records. She said she is tired of having people terminated
and being paid a severance pay on top of that.
C/M Gottesman asked if part of the problem is not caused by lack
of -proper procedures in the Personnel Manual for severance, lay
offs.or firings. He said it would be advisable for the Personnel
Maria der to correct the Personnel Manual concerning this.
-P-erretti said many municipalities have questions when an
eAlpl-loyee in long standing is of excellent standards and then
�urMdenly changes. He said as an example, in the contract of
filly Johnson, former City Manager, Council specifically had a
stipulation that if he was to leave in a specified amount of time
he would only get a specified amount of money. v/M Massaro said
this is already in the Manual and Mr. Perretti said it is not the
same.
C/M Stein said he agreed that it should be stipulated, for
instance, "If a man works 5 years, the maximum amount he can claim
is
_ He said if the employee accepts the job under those
terms than his stature in the Court is different.
Mr. Henning said there is a difference between what is termed a
"vested employee", who has what is called property rights to his
job once he has passed probation and an employee at will such as
the City Attorney or City Manager, who are working at the pleasure
of the City Council and are not vested.
Barry Eden, resident, said each case should be reviewed on an
individual basis. He said this employee was with the City over 5
years and could be a difficult case to win in Court. He said for
the amount they are agreeing to as settlement, this would be the
economical way to go.
C/M Munitz asked Mr. Henning if he would recommend a grievance
hearing on this case and Mr. Henning said one alternative that
Mr. Gronda is discussing with Mr. Taribo's Attorney is whether it
goes through a grievance procedure.
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/pm
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V/M Massaro said she feels any option which would bring this to a
reasonable solution is the answer. She said Council does not know
the basis of Mr. Taribo's termination at this moment.
C/M Munitz said since Council does not have the facts, a grievanc
hearing should be held for all the facts to be reviewed fully.
Mr. Henning said there is some documentation that there was some
problem with the biofilter maintenance and this could be consider-
ed as well.
C/M Stein MOVED that Mr. Taribo be notified that Council prefers
to go through the grievance procedure and V/M Massaro SECONDED.
V/M Massaro said this will set some procedures as what should be
happening with the Department Heads, the Departments, the Per-
sonnel records. Someone should be held to task if there is a
problem with an employee and that Personnel record does not
reflect it; the person who should have done it should be fired.
VOTE:
ALL _VOTED AYE
Mayor Kravitz adjourned the meeting at 9:00 A.M.
!�_O-M OR
ATEST:
C TY CLER J r -
This public document was promulgated at a cost of $40.46 or
$1.12 per copy to inform the general public and public officers
and employees about recent opinions and considerations by the City
Council of the City of Tamarac.
CITY OF TAMARALC
APPROVED AT MEETING OF
City Cle
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3/5/86
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