NEWS

from Anna Maria Island Sun November 25, 2020

by Anna Maria Island Sun

CAPTAINS REPORTS

THE SUN ISLAND NEWS

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NOVEMBER 25, 2020

IN BRIEF

Thanksgiving changes and closures

Changes are coming to local business hours and trash/recycling collection services for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Waste Pro and Waste Management customers with normal pickups for trash, recycling or yard waste on Thursdays can expect their debris to be collected on Friday. No pickups will take place on Saturday or Sunday. All other pickups will take place as normally scheduled.

The city offices in Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach all will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Nov. 26 and 27. The Center of Anna Maria Island, Tingley Memorial Library and Island Branch Library all will be closed Nov. 26 and 27.

Pick up farm fresh veggies in Holmes Beach

Come out to Holmes Beach city field on Thursdays and pick up some fresh vegetables, fruits and other items at the new weekly farm stand. Vendors will be out each Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with fresh produce for shoppers to choose from. The city field complex is located adjacent to Holmes Beach City Hall at 5801 Marina Drive.

Boy struck by van in Anna Maria

SUBMITTED

A 9-year old boy was struck by a van Sunday evening in Anna Maria. West Manatee Fire Rescue Batallion Chief Jay Johnson said the accident occurred near the intersection of Gulf Drive and Palm Avenue and the call came in at 8:44 p.m.

“Our crew arrived on-scene to find a 9-year-old male lying face up in the roadway in front of a van. The patient was alert but a little confused. The injuries found were some abrasions and contusions on the back and a substantial bruise to the forehead,” Johnson said.

Paramedics called a trauma alert to notify the receiving hospital that a high-priority patient was incoming for trauma assessment. WMFR Fire Marshall Rodney Kwiatkowski said, “We don’t know the rate of speed the van was traveling when the boy was hit. Because of the mechanism of injury being a vehicle, and the altered level of consciousness, he was transported by paramedics to City Field (in Holmes Beach) and airlifted to Tampa General. The family is not local. They’re from out of state. I think it’s going to be a pretty positive outcome considering what happened.” When contacted Monday afternoon regarding the van driver and the cause of the accident, Lt. Greg Bueno from the Florida Highway Patrol said, “The trooper is still working on the case.”

Sunshine Law expert seeks records from four county commissioners

The words “premeditated,” “orchestrated,” “reckless” and “dangerous” have been used to describe the efforts to potentially terminate the county administrator.

BY JOE HENDRICKS

SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com

BRADENTON – Thursday’s Manatee County Commission discussion about potentially terminating County Administrator Cheri Coryea has triggered a public records request from Florida Sunshine Law expert Michael Barfield.

Friday afternoon, Barfield, who works as a paralegal, submitted individual written public records requests to county commissioners Vanessa Baugh, George Kruse, James Satcher and Kevin Van Ostenbridge. On Monday, Barfield submitted an additional records request to former Commissioner Steve Jonsson. County Attorney Mickey Palmer was copied on each of the requests Barfield submitted on behalf of Sarasota-based Denovo Law Services.

The records requests seek the public records in the individual possession of Baugh, Kruse, Satcher and Van Ostenbridge.

On Nov. 3, Baugh, was reelected as the county’s District 5 commissioner. Kruse was elected as the at-large District 7 commissioner. Satcher was elected as the District 1 commissioner. Van Ostenbridge was elected as the District 3 commissioner, a district that encompasses Anna Maria Island, Cortez and west Bradenton.

The four commissioners were sworn into office on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Two days later, Van Ostenbridge initiated, with no advance public notice, a preliminary discussion seeking the termination of Coryea without cause.

At the conclusion of Thursday’s discussion, the newly reconfigured county commission voted 4-3 in favor of putting Coryea on notice that her potential termination would be discussed at a special county commission meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Baugh, Kruse, Satcher and Van Otstenbridge sup-

JOE HENDRICKS | SUN Paralegal Michael Barfield seeks the text, email, social media and phone records of four Manatee County commissioners.

ported that action. Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Mistry Servia and Carol Whitmore opposed that action.

During Thursday’s discussion, Bellamy said the efforts to oust Coryea appeared to be “premeditated.” Whitmore said the efforts appeared to be “orchestrated” and Servia called the Van Ostenbridgeled efforts “reckless” and “dangerous.”

PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST

According to the public records requests: “This is a request for records pursuant to Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, otherwise known as the Public Records Act of the Florida Constitution. We understand that a citizen is not required to make a written request to obtain public records under the act, but we want to be clear what we are seeking from you.”

The records requests pertain to the following records made, sent or received in connection with the transaction of official business, or the rendition of services on behalf of each of the four request recipients: • All emails sent or received from Nov. 3 to Nov. 20, 2020. • All text messages sent or received from November 3 to Novvember 20. • All messages sent or received via any digital app or social media platform from November 3 to November 20. • A detailed phone log of all calls made or received from November to November 20.

According to the records requests, the term “record” or “public records” also includes responsive records in both digital and hard copy formats, including email, text, SMS, MMS, .doc and voicemail.

According to the requests, “This request for records further includes any responsive records sent or received by any individual or entity via any private, nongovernmental account, as well as those records maintained, stored or archived in the cloud, on a shared drive, on the Internet, via social media accounts or any other electronic device such as a cell phone, tablet, flash drive, that is capable of sending, receiving or storing digital information.”

The records requests are also directed to any individual or entity – including any other public or private agency, person, partnership, corporation or business entity – acting on their behalf of any of the records request recipients.

“If you contend that any record, or portion thereof, is exempt from

REQUEST: Sunshine Law expert seeks records

FROM PAGE 4 or portion thereof, is exempt from inspection, please state in writing the basis for the exemption and include the applicable statutory exemption,” the records requests note.

The requests say the records shall not be disposed of for a period of 30 days after the written records requests were submitted on Friday.

Citing Florida Statute, the records requests state: “If a civil action is instituted within the 30-day period to enforce the provisions of this section with respect to the requested record, the custodian of public records may not dispose of the record except by order of a court of competent jurisdiction after notice to all affected parties.

“The absence of a civil action instituted does not relieve the custodian of public records of the duty to maintain the record as a public record if the record is in fact a public record subject to public inspection and copying and does not otherwise excuse or exonerate the custodian of public records from any unauthorized or unlawful disposition of such record.

“We are requesting that you notify each and every individual and entity in possession of records responsive to this request, and that all such records be preserved on an immediate basis.

Please produce all records responsive to this request as provided by 119.12(1)(b), Fla. Statute,” the public records requests say in conclusion.

According to Barfield, the three new commissioners – Kruse, Satcher and Van Ostenbridge – became subject to the Public Records Act and the Florida Sunshine Law at the conclusion of the Nov. 3 elections.

According to Barfield, the four commissioners have until early December to fulfill the public records requests.

PREVIOUS SUNSHINE CASE

While assisting the attorneys representing the city of Bradenton Beach, Barfield recently played a significant role in the city prevailing in a Sunshine Law lawsuit that resulted in two of the six defendants paying the city $350,000 on Friday.

The $350,00 was partial reimbursement for the attorney fees the city incurred as a result of a civil lawsuit the city filed against six former city advisory board members in 2017. An extensive number of emails and other records and documents that Barfield obtained from the defendants and others in that case factored into the judge’s 2019 ruling that Sunshine Law violations occurred.