This morning's edition of the Hernando Today ran an article calling for an outside audit of the county legal department by a self-proclaimed civic activist in Hernando County. This activist has been lobbying for an outside audit of the county legal department for months and is unwilling to accept an audit conducted by Karen Nicolai, Clerk of Court for Hernando County. This demand is inconsistent with her past requests to save the taxpayer dollars at any cost especially when no one knows how much an outside audit would cost, in comparison to using the county clerk's office for this purpose.
It should be noted that this activist has openly targeted Mr. Garth Collar during the citizen input portion of the Hernando County Commission meetings quite frequently with her petty insults at the podium. She labeled his department the "Collar Law Firm" in her habitual attempts to humiliate the county legal staff with her many unfounded complaints.
Her latest attempt to discredit the county legal staff may be the result of her recent, failed lawsuit against Commissioner Rose Rocco. Garth Collar served as legal council for the Supervisor of Elections which was also a party to this suit against Ms. Rocco. The suit brought by this civic activist cost the county taxpayers a bundle of money to defend which could be construed as frivolous, with her repeated filings in Appeals Court, and then her last ditch effort in the Florida Supreme Court. Ms. Rocco spent well over $100,000 to defend herself in this never-ending suit brought by this "civic activist" and this doesn't take into consideration the tax dollars spent for county legal services to defend the supervisor of elections office.
Has this civic activist finally crossed the line to become a public nuisance?
4 comments:
"...Ms. Rocco spent well over $100,000 to defend herself..."
And your proof of this is what?
I'll agree that Baldwin has an in for the legal office but you'll have to agree that it's the right message with the wrong messenger.
You are blurring two stories and effectively minimizing the real issue. Ms. Baldwin's request is irrelevant. I'm sure she's just grinding her axe. What is relevant is the fact that Mr. Coller failed to inform the BOCC, his employer, of some creative budgeting techniques. In my opinion, no attorney salary should be 100% paid by a utility, especially when that attorney has other duties ( P and Z, etc.) And if such budgeting is employed, the county attorney has a duty to make sure it is aggressively disclosed to the commission. Here it was obviously kept under the radar. Moreover, $85,000 for a government "attorney in training" is ridiculous. Third year associates at large Tampa law firms aren't paid that well, especially when you consider the value of state benefits. And the legal assistant salaries listed in the Hernando Today are $20K a year over the local average. Make no mistake, this waste is a result of Mr. Coller's ability to bully and outfox a weak and incompetent county commission.
Anon 1: The information on the cost of the legal fees for Ms. Rocco came directly from Mr. & Mrs. Rocco.
No, I do not agree right message, wrong messenger.
Periodic audits are already done for all county departments, including the legal department. These audits are done in-house by the clerk of court and do not need to be done by an outside auditing firm which would cost the taxpayers additional money for their services.
If discrepancies appear in these audits, Karen Nicolai has the power to alert appropriate authorities, such as the recent case of Emergency Management overtime debacle.
Anon 2: Your statement "the county attorney has a duty to make sure it is aggressively disclosed to the commission" gives me the impression that you would relieve the county commission of any responsibility to be able to actually read & understand the budgets they approve every year.
The director of the Utility Department should be back-charging other departments for the use of his attorney since this is an enterprise fund and not in the general fund category. Shame on him if he is not doing this because it short-changes the rate payers of this utility.
I agree with you on the salaries spread between government and the private sector. This is just another reason why the county needs to eliminate the Mercer Studies and do true, competitive salary studies based on our local private business salaries and benefits.
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