Milton council votes 6-1 to authorize joint motion to end public-records lawsuit with mayor

The Milton City Council on March 20 authorized the city attorney to work with Mayor Heather Lindsay’s legal counsel to prepare and file a joint motion asking the Santa Rosa County Circuit Court to sustain the mayor’s objections to roughly 315 documents, confirm that other records identified as public were produced, and dismiss the litigation with prejudice.

The motion, offered at a special-called meeting, was the culmination of the council’s direction to resolve what City Attorney John Adams called “the public records lawsuit.” Adams told the council the court had reviewed more than 3,200 records — material that he said may have contained “over a hundred thousand texts” — and that the mayor had lodged objections to about 315 of the documents identified by the circuit court on Jan. 31, 2025.

Adams laid out a four-part package he said would resolve the case: ask the court to sustain the mayor’s objections to the approximately 315 documents; have the court confirm the mayor has produced the remaining records identified as public in the court’s Jan. 31, 2025 order; have each side bear its own attorney fees and costs; and dismiss the litigation with prejudice. "People resolve litigation, litigants resolve litigation every single day. Large part, they're tired of spending money on lawyers. They wanna put an acrimonious chapter behind them, and it happens every day," City Attorney John Adams said.

Councilman McKeon moved to approve the proposal as Adams described it; Councilwoman Farrow seconded. With no further council amendments, the motion passed 6-1. "I personally am not in favor of not collecting the documents that the judge already ruled was public record," Councilman Powell said before casting the lone dissenting vote. The council chair confirmed the vote as "passed 6 to 1," with Councilman Powell recorded as the nay.

Members of the public addressed the council after debate. Howard Steele called the move "a sham" and said it "was a fraud perpetrated on the people of this city." Other speakers urged the council to conclude the matter. Pam Mitchell thanked Adams and the council for bringing the issue to an end and noted the small fraction of records at issue relative to the full set reviewed by the judge. Lauren Rogers said the mayor should be "made whole." Orin Smith, another resident, criticized the attorney who filed the lawsuit, naming Alex Andrade as having profited from the litigation.

The city attorney told council members he had conferred with the mayor’s counsel and did not anticipate objection to filing a joint motion but would not speak for opposing counsel. The motion instructs the city attorney to work with the mayor’s counsel to present the proposed joint motion to the Santa Rosa County Circuit Court in the case styled City of Milton v. Heather Lindsay, case number 24-000269. The city clerk was asked to provide council members a copy of the motion once prepared.

The decision ends the special session; council members said they would take a short break before a scheduled workshop later that evening.