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Vice chair raises Sunshine Law concerns over "Coffee With Candidates"; board asks counsel for opinion
Summary
At a Sept. 17 meeting, Vice Chair Arthur Rhodes said an Oct. 9 "Coffee With Candidates" event organized by the HPCA may amount to a campaign promotion and risk Sunshine Law violations; the board directed the district manager to investigate and asked district counsel for a written opinion.
The Heritage Pines Community Development District board added a late agenda item to discuss a "Coffee With Candidates" event scheduled for Oct. 9, 2024 after Vice Chair Arthur Rhodes said candidate bios attached to the event memo raised "serious problems in the relationship between the HPCA and the CDD." Rhodes asked who instructed Ms. Kim Norton to schedule the event and whether HPCA had authority to arrange a forum tied to CDD races.
Herb Hurley, HPCA general manager, said "the candidates asked for the event to be scheduled so they could become known as candidates for the CDD Board," and said board members were advised that they could not attend because of the Sunshine Law. Rhodes expressed concern that multiple board members' attendance could create prohibited simultaneous deliberation, and he reported attendance history showing one candidate had limited prior meeting participation. On a motion by Arthur Rhodes, seconded by Carol Vaughan, the board unanimously directed the district manager to review the implications of outside candidates and asked district counsel to provide a legal opinion. Chuck Adams said he will request counsel's memorandum and reminded board members not to reply to the related email.
