BROOKSVILE — The City Council has chosen Trask Daigneault LLP as its next city attorney, settling on the firm Aug. 24 after a three-hour special meeting of public interviews, one-on-one sessions and side-by-side scoring.
Mayor Christa Tanner and City Manager Lisa Hendrickson will negotiate a contract with the firm. The council is scheduled to take a final vote at its Sept. 14 meeting.
The choice fills a vacancy left by the Vose Law Firm, which had represented Brooksville since September 2017 and submitted its resignation July 1, effective Sept. 1. Vose has agreed to continue representing the city through Sept. 14 and bill for half of September.
The council narrowed the field Aug. 20 from four applicants: Sabatini Law Firm P.A.; Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins P.A.; Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick; and Trask Daigneault.
Council members scored the applications individually. Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins averaged 95, followed by Trask Daigneault at 83.6, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick at 81.6 and Sabatini at 43. Tanner said she would be comfortable with two or three finalists, while J.W. McKethan and Louis Hallal said they favored the three highest-scoring firms.
Fees
Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins proposed $250 an hour, including litigation, and $100 an hour for paralegals and law clerks on matters not billed back to developers or applicants.
Shumaker proposed $410 an hour for both the main city attorney and backup attorneys, with paralegals at $195.
Trask Daigneault proposed $315 an hour for main and backup attorneys and $105 for paralegals, plus a $150 travel charge that council members said the firm called non-negotiable.
The city is looking to save money, but as a couple of council members put it, when it comes to legal services, you get what you pay for.
The interviews
Each firm fielded 10 questions during the public portion of the meeting, two from each council member, on subjects including how the firm views the city attorney’s role, a time it had to deliver unpopular legal advice to a council and the toughest cases it has handled.
Ryan Knight of Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins said a city attorney’s job is to give council members solid research, options and a clear read on what could follow from a vote. He described a case in which settling a lawsuit was unpopular with residents but made financial sense for the city.
Matthew Maggard of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick said an attorney provides legal advice, not policy positions. His firm has served as attorney for Zephyrhills since 2016, he said, and he grew up in Dade City, where one of the council members had been his father’s football coach. He said he keeps himself separate from policy by laying out options, though he will flag the political consequences of his advice. He has had to tell Indian Rocks Beach officials the city cannot change its short-term rental codes because of state preemption, he said.
The advice he gives, Maggard said, “is what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.”
Erica Augello of Trask Daigneault went last. She said the attorney’s most important job is to proactively advise, give the council what it needs to make good decisions and warn members of pitfalls.
“Our greatest strength as a firm is we’re used to giving unpopular legal advice,” Augello said. “Sometimes my advice is, ‘Yes, you can, but maybe you shouldn’t.’”
She described a land-use case in a city much like Brooksville, where staff backed a large project to revamp a blighted area but residents opposed it. Opponents sued, she said, and the project ultimately prevailed.
“That was a very difficult position to be in because the city attorney got made the scapegoat,” she said. “That’s OK. I’m a mom. I’m used to being the bad guy.”
The decision
Each firm then met with council members one on one. Representatives of Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins and Trask Daigneault stayed to hear the outcome; the Shumaker team had to leave for another city’s council meeting.
At about 6 p.m., three hours after the special meeting began, council members returned to the dais to compare impressions. All five had ranked Trask Daigneault and Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins as their top two.
Hallal said he never got to speak with Shumaker, which he had ranked third. He had Shepard and Trask tied for first, he said, leaving price as the only differentiator, and Trask charges for travel.
Tanner called both finalists impressive despite the cost question.
“I want to be mindful,” she said. “At the same time, I want to be sure that we’re getting the right fit for all of these issues we have coming down the pike for the city of Brooksville.”
She said she leaned toward Trask, in part for the training it offers council members. Two other members agreed in a 3-2 straw tally.
Council members then thanked Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins for applying, called both firms back into the room and delivered the verdict. The vote to begin negotiations with Trask Daigneault was unanimous, 5-0.