Commissioners come to Chapman's defense

Following the reconfiguration of the City Commission, the city is poised once again to pay to defend Vice Mayor Susan Chapman against a lawsuit alleging she violated the Government in the Sunshine law.

The dynamics of the board shifted in November when two commissioners resigned, leaving the three sitting commissioners — including Chapman — in a position to appoint their replacements. Those replacements, Stan Zimmerman and Eileen Walsh Normile, signaled their interest in resuming the city’s payments for Chapman’s defense at the end of their first City Commission meeting Dec. 1.

“I’d like to schedule a discussion to bring the vice mayor back under the city’s legal umbrella,”

Zimmerman said. “I don’t want to leave a comrade in the field.”

Chapman was the last remaining defendant in a Sunshine lawsuit brought by Citizens for Sunshine following an October 2013 meeting between city officials and downtown business leaders. Although City Attorney Robert Fournier said he did not believe Chapman had violated the Sunshine Law — she attended the meeting but did not speak at it — the commission decided to end the city-funded defense of Chapman in March.

Before that, the city had accumulated $84,861.21 in legal fees for Chapman’s defense. Chapman said she did not know exactly how much she’s paid for her defense since the city ended its payments, but Fournier said he would speak to her lawyers to catch up before the Jan. 5 commission meeting at which the topic is slated for discussion. The commission will have the opportunity to decide whether to reimburse Chapman for legal fees accrued during the past nine months.

Many regular attendees of City Commission meetings publicly criticized the board for failing to support Chapman’s defense — including Normile. Although Chapman is poised to potentially dodge a large legal bill because of the changes on the dais, Fournier said he did not believe the appointment process represented a conflict of interest for the vice mayor.

Even if Chapman was aware that Zimmerman and Normile were likely to reverse course and reimburse the legal fees she’s accumulated over the past nine months, Fournier said Chapman would only be required to abstain from any vote on paying for her defense.

“That’s part of what her job was, to make those appointments,” Fournier said. “I think she was free to take that into account if she knew. I don’t see it (as a conflict of interest) — I just think that’s one step removed.”

Chapman has not hidden her belief that the city should be responsible for defending its officials and said her situation has had a negative effect on her ability to interact with her constituents. Still, she said, it did not play a role in her selection process.

“When I interviewed potential commissioners, I had a very clear protocol,” Chapman said, clarifying that she did not interview all of the candidates. “I asked them what inspired them to apply, what were the three main issues that they saw the city was facing, and I asked them what they thought the commission could do in the almost six months that the interim period would last.”

Chapman and Commissioner Suzanne Atwell, who voted against paying Chapman’s legal fees in the past, both selected Normile and Zimmerman as their first choices for the two open seats. Atwell was also a defendant in the suit against Chapman, but quickly settled.

The Sunshine Law case against Chapman has continued for more than a year, and Chapman says she has no sense of when it may reach a conclusion. She says Citizens for Sunshine has not been ready for the last two depositions it has set, and she holds firm in her belief the group’s legal action against her is personally motivated.

“Let’s face it,” Chapman said. “It’s a political thing.”

NEW VOICES
At their first meeting on the board Dec. 1, city Commissioners Eileen Walsh Normile and Stan Zimmerman indicated a desire to see the city once again pay for the defense of Vice Mayor Susan Chapman (right), reversing course from their predecessors.