By TOM McLAUGHLIN
315-4435 | @TomMnwfdn
tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com
Posted Oct. 1, 2015 at 5:04 PM
Updated at 5:10 PM
Suzanne Harris has won a lawsuit alleging the state Sunshine Law was violated when Walton County hired attorney George Ralph Miller without the public being notified.Judge John Simon granted a motion for summary judgment filed by Harris attorney Matt Gaetz.The ruling could end a case originally filed in 2010, following a controversial purchase of South Walton land in the area of Chat Holley Road.Simon decided that then-interim County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara put Miller on retainer without notifying the board of county commissioners she was doing so.That violated a county admonition to Hoshihara that she “work with the board to secure outside legal counsel, as needed,” Simon said in his ruling.Walton County wound up paying $187,400 to Miller during the time he was on retainer, the ruling said.“Unilateral action by one government official that commits taxpayer funds and that has not been fully and lawfully authorized at a public meeting” violates Florida law, the judge ruled.“No record evidence indicates that Ms. Hoshihara worked with the board at any public meeting ... to subsequently hire or enter contracts with Attorney Miller.”Gaetz called it “ludicrous” that Walton County would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending something he called “clearly illegal.”“Walton County cannot enter into contracts without a public meeting,” he said. “Conducting business outside of the sunshine is what feeds the good ol’ boy mentality.”The Chat Holley land deal that led to the revelations about the hiring of Miller occurred when Miller negotiated the purchase of land in the area with developer Lloyd Blue.Questions arose as to whether Blue owned the land he sold and if the county might not have even owned some portion of the very land it bought. Bill Warner, the attorney who represented the county, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
315-4435 | @TomMnwfdn
tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com
Posted Oct. 1, 2015 at 5:04 PM
Updated at 5:10 PM
Suzanne Harris has won a lawsuit alleging the state Sunshine Law was violated when Walton County hired attorney George Ralph Miller without the public being notified.Judge John Simon granted a motion for summary judgment filed by Harris attorney Matt Gaetz.The ruling could end a case originally filed in 2010, following a controversial purchase of South Walton land in the area of Chat Holley Road.Simon decided that then-interim County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara put Miller on retainer without notifying the board of county commissioners she was doing so.That violated a county admonition to Hoshihara that she “work with the board to secure outside legal counsel, as needed,” Simon said in his ruling.Walton County wound up paying $187,400 to Miller during the time he was on retainer, the ruling said.“Unilateral action by one government official that commits taxpayer funds and that has not been fully and lawfully authorized at a public meeting” violates Florida law, the judge ruled.“No record evidence indicates that Ms. Hoshihara worked with the board at any public meeting ... to subsequently hire or enter contracts with Attorney Miller.”Gaetz called it “ludicrous” that Walton County would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending something he called “clearly illegal.”“Walton County cannot enter into contracts without a public meeting,” he said. “Conducting business outside of the sunshine is what feeds the good ol’ boy mentality.”The Chat Holley land deal that led to the revelations about the hiring of Miller occurred when Miller negotiated the purchase of land in the area with developer Lloyd Blue.Questions arose as to whether Blue owned the land he sold and if the county might not have even owned some portion of the very land it bought. Bill Warner, the attorney who represented the county, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
