IS THE CITY ATTORNEY WORKING FOR US OR THE DEVELOPER?
The City Attorney, Joshua Koehler, is a fiduciary to the city in this huge transaction involving many acres of city-owned property and millions of dollars of tax payer money. Yet recent revelations raise the question: Is he working for us or the developer?
In a November email to the City Council, the City Attorney stated that the slanted ballot language he wrote came “after extensive drafting and review with our Partner”--the developer
Prior to the last Council Meeting, the City Lawyer changed the contract with the developer to provide for a scenario of the “Failure of the Referendum to occur,” in which case the contract would still be binding and effective.
The City Attorney is allowing the City to sign a binding contract with the developer prior to the March 10th Vote. Doing so opens up the city to possible litigation from the developer when the project has not yet been approved by the voters in March.
In May, it was revealed that the City Attorney was the lead person heading the negotiations on behalf of the city with the developer.
Prior to the last Council Meeting, Save Boca caught the extraordinary change to the contract made by the City Attorney and exposed it. The change--which made the contract binding in the absence of a referendum--had not been publicized by the city and it was buried within the 400+ page document. Further, the city uploaded the document as a scan and made it non-searchable with text.
Why would the city lawyer have changed that clause? Why is the City Attorney allowing any binding contract to be signed at all by the city prior to the March referendum? Doing so opens up the city to possible litigation from the developer when the project has not yet been approved by the voters in March.
All of these revelations raise the question--Who is the City Attorney working for in this deal: Us or the developer?
CLICK ABOVE TO WATCH: Deputy City Manager states in May that the City Attorney is leading the negotiations on behalf of the City with the developer: But who is he working for?
In a November 21st email to the City Council below, the City Attorney states that he drafted the slanted ballot language for the downtown lease "After extensive drafting and review with our Partner." Why would the City Attorney be writing the ballot question for voters through "drafting and review" with Boca Raton City Center LLC?
The developer clearly had significant influence over the City Attorney's work on the ballot question. What about the developer's influence over the City Attorney as the lead negotiator for the city in the deal?
