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Agenda Item: |
Prepared By: Lina Upham, Purchasing & Risk Manager |
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Business: |
Department: Internal Services |
Subject:
Title
Selection Process for the Hideaway Beach Tax District's Attorney
Body
BACKGROUND:
During the last District Board meeting, staff was directed to present options for selecting a new Board’s attorney.
Please note, that there is no requirement in any of the Hideaway Beach Tax District Board’s documents to have an attorney, any parameters for selecting one or any list of the duties that person or firm would be performing, for example there is no requirement for the attorney to attend every district’s meeting. However, having a Board attorney is something the Board has decided to do since this dependent taxing district was created in 2004.
There is nothing in the current documents preventing the Board from using the same law firm as the City, Weiss Serota, for general services, and Bryant Miller Olive for bond issues. The district pays for legal services from its own budget, therefore this will not affect the City’s general fund. Recently, the purchase of a beach rake by the District and the subsequent lease of this machine to the Hideaway HOA was reviewed by Weiss Serota.
If the Board chooses, the District can continue with their current law firm, Woodward Pires & Lombardo, at the current level of service. The current contract is ongoing with no set renewal or expiration dates.
Should the District decide to solicit bids for attorney services, a Request for Proposals (RFP) will have to be developed. To develop the RFP, staff needs to include two main items:
1. What services should be included in the scope of work, and
2. How will the applicants be evaluated?
The Purchasing Manager has prepared a document to assist the board members in defining these parameters. It is Purchasing Manager’s intent to go through the questions in that document, get the Board’s consensus and post the RFP if that is the route chosen by the Board. Review and evaluation of the received proposals will be done at the following board meeting, at which point the Board can make selection or shortlist several choices and invite them to interviews.
FUNDING SOURCE / FISCAL IMPACT: Every year Hideaway Beach Tax District budgets for attorney expenses.
RECOMMENDATION: Provide staff with one of three options:
1) Continue with current law firm
2) Explore options for using City’s Attorney
3) Post a Request for Proposals