County won’t pay legal fees [Hernando Today, Brooksville, Fla.]
By Michael D. Bates, Hernando Today, Brooksville, Fla. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
As a representative of county government, it makes sense for several reasons to "defend and indemnify" Schraut, said
He said one reason is that members of volunteer boards who represent
Schraut was sued by one of the airport tenants,
In the lawsuit, Honeycutt alleges that Schraut made comments to the media that his company was "troublemakers, were liars, were bomb throwers and were like terrorists."
The comments were made "to bring shame, disgrace, embarrassment (and) indignity" on the company and "negatively affect the credibility" of Worldwide, according to the suit.
County Commissioner
Dukes said it is incumbent on those in authority not to make offensive statements to the media or in public.
"If you choose words that are inflammatory, aggressive or leaving yourself up for libel, that's a mistake, and I'm not too sure at this point that the taxpayer should be responsible for those actions," he said.
The legal office worked with the county's risk management coordinator to find an outside attorney that charged
The airport would have paid the bills, and none of the money would have come from the county's general fund.
Adkins said providing counsel was proper.
"If you are a member of any board in
Resident
Resident
"I do not believe we should cover his costs for his carelessness," Gordon said.
"It's not up to the commission to try the case," he said.
Russell said he doesn't believe the Schraut lawsuit will go anywhere and the commission's decision will harm people on boards who may think the county won't defend them from lawsuits.
Planning and zoning board members "from time to time have to do and say things about people who are petitioning the county, and they may not like their decisions and may turn around and sue them," Russell said. "That's not a good thing."
v vAlso Tuesday:
"We have a great staff," Daniel said. "Without them, this wouldn't happen."
As the county's banking depository for taxing authorities, the tax collector's office collects and administers property taxes. It gets money from sources including the selling of hunting and fishing licenses and the issuance of driver's license permits.
By law, Daniel has to return the surplus money her department nets from fees and taxes.
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