City sued for Sunshine Law violation

A dispute between the city’s Public Art Committee, city officials and a steering committee charged with formulating a $55,000 interactive sculpture project downtown is now heading to court.

Last week, Citizens for Sunshine attorney Andrea Mogensen and Public Art Committee Chairman George Haborak filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that the steering committee held several closed-door meetings that should have been open to the public and they would not provide minutes for the meetings held.

Specifically, city planner and public art liaison Dr. Clifford Smith and public-art coordinator Virginia Hoffman are being sued, along with the city.

The lawsuit states that the two refused to provide meeting minutes and didn’t advertise what should have been public meetings to discuss a public-art project that’s been disputed by members of the Public Art Committee.

Emails that were submitted with the lawsuit filed in Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court reveal that Smith and Hoffman were working with Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown to plan for a project that Mayor Suzanne Atwell proposed in 2011 and directed city staff to formulate. Atwell and Brown, though, are not listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

Haborak attended a regular commission meeting last month to provide a board update that revolved primarily around the conflicts surrounding the project.

The art project, which would be owned by the city, is anticipated to mimic a popular art project concept in downtown Greenville, S.C., called “Mice on Main,” which allows adults and children to walk the streets of downtown and find sculptures of mice in unique places.

Hoffman and Smith, though, have clashed with the art board, which wants more input on a theme that Haborak and Citizens for Sunshine contend has only been discussed behind closed doors.

The steering committee, which includes local businesses and organizations, was charged with coming up with a Sarasota theme called “Diversity of the Arts: A Child’s Journey.”

The broad theme was presented to the art committee last month, after the art committee requested to review the theme. Board members don’t think the presentation was specific enough.

The debate has intensified in recent months, with Smith telling art committee members their purview is only for the sculptures and they don’t have control over the story and the illustrations that will come later.

Haborak, board member Trulee Jameson and others disagree with Smith and now say the theme is too broad and they wish to provide input on the future storyboard. Haborak explained at the board’s May meeting, five out of six board members were uneasy that the sculptures have been approved but board members don’t have any say over what kind of storyboard will be created.

Commissioners have already agreed to move forward with the project and the funding for the sculptures has been approved.