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HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-2003-234-for the firm-Specialized City Attorney RESOLUTION NO. 2003-234 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA, APPROVING AN AGREEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES BETWEEN THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH AND WEISS, SEROTA, HELFMAN, PASTORIZA, GUEDES, COLE & BONISKE, P.A. TO PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES AS "SPECIAL CITY ATTORNEYS"' PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Dania Beach Charter authorizes the City Commission to appoint "Special City Attorneys" who shall serve at the pleasure of the City Commission; and WHEREAS, the law firm of Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Pastoriza, Guedes, Cole & Boniske, P.A. proposes to provide specialized legal services to the City of Dania Beach under the terms and provisions of the agreement attached to this Resolution as Exhibit „A,,. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA: Section 1. That the law firm of Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Pastoriza, Guedes, Cole & Boniske, P.A. is appointed by the Dania Beach City Commission to serve as "Special City Attorneys" at the will of and at the pleasure of the City Commission. Section 2. That the agreement between the City of Dania Beach and Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Pastoriza, Guedes, Cole & Boniske, P.A. for the provision of special City Attorney legal services to the City of Dania Beach, a copy of which is attached to this Resolution and marked as Exhibit "A", is accepted and the appropriate city officials are authorized to execute same. Section 3. That all resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict with this resolution are repealed to the extent of such conflict. RESOLUTION NO. 2003-234 Section 4. That this resolution shall be in force and take effect upon the date that the City Attorney begins to furnish general legal services on an in-house basis for the City. PASSED AND ADOPTED this 14T" day f O TOBER, 003. B B ANTON ATTEST: MAYOR — CO ISSIONER C,taj I& I J�� ROLL CALL: CHARLENE JOVVSON COMMISSIONER CHUNN - A//J CITY CLERK COMMISSIONER MIKES - /L/0 COMMISSIONER FLURY - � APPROVED AS TO FORM VICE-MAYOR MCELYEA - AND CORRECTNESS: MAYOR ANTON BY: 't THOMAS J'LAA8BRO CITY ATTORNEY RESOLUTION NO. 2003-234 47avl4) CITY OF DANIA BEACH MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and Commissioners CC: Ivan Pato, City Manager Patty Varney, Finance Director FROM: Tom Ansbro, City Attorney DATE: October 9, 2003 RE: Proposed Letter Agreement for "Special City Attorney Services" Between City and Weiss, Serota Law Firm As part of the proposal to convert to an "in-house" City Attorney system, one or more ® members of the Commission had originally mentioned (at the Budget Workshop meeting) that the proposal was not intended to affect specialized legal services rendered by the Weiss, Serota, law firm, such as land use, telecommunications, labor, litigation and the like. Budget allocations were made and approved for such services for the new (now, current) Fiscal Year 2003-2004. In connection with the transition, if approved, attached is a Resolution appointing the firm as "Special City Attorneys" as is authorized by the City Charter, and a revised "letter agreement", to replace the currently existing letter agreement, which become effective October 1, 2002. The new agreement deletes the retainer provision from the past fiscal year (i.e., $275,000.00 for all general legal services, payable monthly) and continues to provide for a $150.00 per hour rate for the special services mentioned above. In case of illness or absence of the City Attorney, it also provides that the firm would assign someone to "act" in the event of such absence or illness (e.g., to attend a Commission meeting). The hourly rate remains unchanged from the rate first used with the predecessor law firm (Brinkley, McNerney et al.), when outside counsel services began in February, 1998. The agreement would only become effective if and when the in-house City Attorney system is established and functioning; in the meantime, the terms of the current letter agreement would remain in effect. 566.028 TJA:slw Attachments WEISS SEROTA HELFMAN PASTORIZA GUEDES COLE & BONISKE, P.A. ATTORNEYS AT LAW GITCHELL A.BIERMAN BROWARD OFFICE JENNIFER A.GOLDBERG NINA L.BONISKE 3107 STI RLING ROAD, SUITE 300 DOUGLAS R.GONZALES JAMIE ALAN COLE MARK B.KRAVITZ EDWARD G.GUEDES FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA 33312 CHRISTOPHER F.KURTZ STEPHEN J. HELFMAN HARRIET R.LEWIS* JOHN R.HERIN,JR. JAM IE ALAN COLE PETER A.LICHTMAN GILBERTO PASTORIZA MANAGING SHARE HOLDER-BROWARD OFFICE KAREN LIEBERMAN* GARY 1.RESNICK MATTHEW H. MANDEL JOSEPH H.SEROTA BERNARD S. HANDLER* NANCY E.STROUD TELEPHONE 954-763-4242 MICHAEL J. MARRERO RICHARD JAY WEISS TELECOPIER 954-764-7770 ALEXANDER L. PALE NZU ELA-MAURI DAVID M.WOLPIN WWW.WSH-FLALAW.COM MICHAEL S.POPOK* STEVEN W.ZELKOWITZ ANTHONY L.RECIO MIAMI-DADE OFFICE MARK A.ROTHENBERG 2665 SOUTH BAYSHORE DRIVE •SUITE 420 SCOTT A.ROBIN THOMAS J.ANSBRO' MIAMI, FLORIDA 33133 DANA J.SCHINDLER LILLIAN ARANGO DE LA HOZ* TELEPHONE 305-854-0800 • TELECOPIER 305-854-2323 GAIL D.SEROTA* ALISON S.BIELER JEFFREY P.SHEFFEL MITCHELL J.BURNSTEIN MIA M.SINGH ELAINE M.COHEN !OF COUNSEL JOSE S.TALAVERA STEPHANIE DEUTSCH' SUSAN L.TREVARTHEN October 14, 2003 Honorable Mayor and Commissioners City of Dania Beach 100 West Dania Beach Blvd. Dania Beach, FL 33004 Re: Retainer Agreement with Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Pastoriza, Guedes, Cole & Boniske, P.A. Dear Mayor and Commissioners: On behalf of all of the attorneys at Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Pastoriza, Guedes, Cole & Boniske, P.A. (the "Firm"), I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how pleased we are that you wish to continue to engage our Firm to serve as "Special City Attorneys" for Dania Beach. We have greatly enjoyed providing legal services to the City, and look forward to many years of continuing service. Based upon our understanding of the will of the City Commission, this letter will amend and replace the terms of our agreement with the City, which was dated July 26, 2002 and effective October 1, 2002. This letter is intended to set forth our understanding as to the nature and scope of the legal services you have asked us to render for you, the amount of our fees for those services, the manner in which our fees for those services shall be determined and the terms upon which the City will make payment. 1. Nature of Legal Services. You have engaged us to serve as "Special City Attorneys" of Dania Beach, to provide legal services to the City as may be directed and • authorized from time to time by you, the City Attorney or both. Honorable Mayor and Commissioners October 14, 2003 Page 2 of 3 2. Special City Attorney Services. The Firm will provide "Special City Attorney Legal Services" to the City at the rate of$150.00 per hour for all attorneys, together with applicable taxes, if any. It is our practice to charge for actual time expended on your behalf, but not less than 1/10 of an hour for each activity. "Special City Attorney Services" shall mean all legal services performed by the Firm for the City that are requested and authorized by you, the City Attorney or both. You, the City Attorney or both are not obligated to request any legal services and such services will only be rendered if requested and authorized. If the City or any City official is served with any lawsuits or claims that are or may be covered by any insurance policy, the City may request that the insurance company retain the Firm to provide a defense for the City at the expense of the insurance company. In addition, if the Firm represents the City on any matter as part of a group or a coalition of cities, there shall be a separate retainer agreement regarding such representation. 3. Costs. In addition to the fees discussed in paragraphs 2 and 3, we anticipate that certain expenses may be incurred and advanced on your behalf. These expenses may include filing fees, recording costs, out-of-town travel expenses, delivery charges, long distance telephone charges, photocopies, special postage (express mail, certified mail and the like), computer research charges, court reporter expenses (including costs of transcripts and court reporter fees for attendance), court costs (such as filing fees, service of process, newspaper publication costs, subpoena costs, witness fees, recording fees, etc.), accounting and appraisal fees, fees and expenses of experts necessary to assist in the preparation and hearing of your • cases, investigation costs, word processing fees, computer charges and applicable lobbyist registration fees. In addition to our fees for legal services, you agree to pay us for such out-of- pocket expenditures. In the event unusually large costs or advances are anticipated, we reserve the right to require an additional cost deposit from you prior to undertaking the expenditures of funds on your behalf. 4. Payment of Fees and Costs. Our invoices for Specialized Legal Services will be submitted to you on a monthly basis and each invoice will be due and payable when rendered. If any invoice or payment remains unpaid for more than 60 days after it is rendered, we reserve the right, in our discretion (subject to court approval, if necessary), to cease to provide further legal services to you. The City will, however, be liable to us for the payment of any fees earned and any costs incurred by us to that time, together with any applicable taxes. In the event we are ultimately required to bring suit to collect any unpaid fees and costs, the City will be required to pay reasonable attorneys' fees as well as legal interest on the amount of any fees and costs due us, if awarded by the Court. You further understand that we have the right to retain any and all files, papers and other property coming into our possession in connection with our engagement without any liability to the City until we have been paid all costs, fees and interest due us under this agreement. You also agree to the imposition of a charging lien for any monies due us on all real and personal property that is preserved, protected or obtained as a result of the representation undertaken herein. Interest at the rate of 12% per annum will be added to any invoice which remains unpaid for more than 30 days after it is rendered. . 5. Termination of Representation. Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing written notice to the other party. WEISS SEROTA HELFMAN PASTOI3IZA GUEDES COLE & BONISKE, P.A. Honorable Mayor and Commissioners October 14, 2003 Page 3 of 3 6. Representation of Other Clients. We are bound by rules of legal ethics not to represent any client if the representation of that client will be directly adverse to the interests of another client unless each such client consents to such representation after consultation. The Mayor shall have the authority, on behalf of the city, to consent to such representations, after notice to the City Commission, if the Mayor deems it to be in the best interest of the City. 7. Commencement of Representation. If the foregoing is agreeable to you, please acknowledge your understanding and agreement by signing this letter and delivering it to us. The prior agreement between the City and the Firm, mentioned above, but adjusted for the retainer fee pursuant to the 2003-2004 City Budget, shall remain in full force and effect until such time as the City Attorney begins to furnish legal services on an in-house basis. This agreement will become effective at that time, effectively replacing the prior agreement. We appreciate your confidence in our Firm and we assure you that we will make every effort to continue to perform our services in a prompt, professional and efficient manner. Very truly yours, WEISS, SEROTA, HELFMAN, PASTORIZA, • GUEDES, COLE &BONISKE, P.A. By: n/ Jam A. Cole AGREED AND ACCEPTED on A I, ,e 2003. CITY OF DANIA BEACH By: /0"6� Robert Anto , ayor • WEISS SEROTA HELFMAN PASTORIZA GUEDES COLE & BONISKE, P.A.