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Local critic alleges out-of-sunshine negotiations in ball-field talks
Summary
Ed Davidson, a former school-board member, told the council he had FOIA records and alleged that village manager and mayor held private negotiations with school-board members that bypassed Florida's Sunshine Law; the council attorney did not provide a direct refutation at the meeting.
At the ball-field public-comment period, Captain Ed Davidson, chairman of the Florida Key Citizens Coalition and a former school-board member, alleged the school-district facilities director and a village-based design team met ‘‘out of the sunshine’’ for years and that emails show village manager Ron Saunders and Mayor Don Horton privately negotiated an addendum that Davidson said ‘‘dramatically contradicts and extensively overrules the original baseball field license wording adopted twice by this council.’’
Davidson cited FOIA documents and Florida precedent, saying the Sunshine Law ‘‘is to be construed so as to frustrate all evasive devices’’ and arguing the public was denied required transparency. Village Attorney John acknowledged that some attorney-recommended terms were not accepted during negotiation but did not directly address Davidson’s allegation of illegal private meetings during the public hearing.
Davidson’s claim remained unresolved at the meeting; there was no formal legal finding and council action moved forward on the license agreement. The assertion raises a separate procedural question that would require review of meeting notices, produced minutes and the FOIA records Davidson references if it is to be pursued further.
