Ex-commissioner awarded fees in suit against city
By BOB McCLURE
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007  |
REDINGTON BEACH – Former Redington Beach Town Commissioner Sam Maniotes was recently awarded $4,322 by County Judge Walter Fullerton after winning a civil lawsuit against the Town of Redington Beach.
Maniotes, 38, sued the city for costs associated with his legal fees to defend himself in an earlier lawsuit by former Mayor Robert Fountaine.
The earlier suit, which was heard March 1, alleged Maniotes failed to honor a 2006 public records request by Fountaine concerning public records Maniotes copied from city files for his own investigatory purposes.
On March 22, County Judge Walt
Logan ruled there was no legal basis to the Fountaine lawsuit because Maniotes was in possession of copies of public records and was not the town custodian of the original public records.
“I’m happy that it’s over,” said Maniotes. “This has been more frustration than anything else.”
Coupled with an earlier award this year of nearly $11,000 the city has reimbursed Maniotes more than $15,000 in attorney fees and court costs in 2007.
“What I paid was probably double what I received but according to Florida statutes I can only receive a certain amount back,” Maniotes said. “This (lawsuit by Fountaine) was a frivolous lawsuit but the justice system vindicated me. Mr. Fountaine cost the city a lot of money.”
“Sam can lay the blame wherever he wants,” said Mayor Nick Simons. “Fountaine is two mayors removed. If he says Bob Fountaine is to blame, then that’s his opinion.”
Simons, who became mayor March 20, said the case is closed as far as he is concerned.
“One of my goals in running for office was to clean up things from the past,” he said. “We’re moving forward. If we did something wrong, we’ll try to correct it. This is one of the chapters of the past and as far as I’m concerned we’re closing the book on it.”
A call to Redington Beach City Attorney Andrew Salzman was not returned.
Maniotes, a computer programmer, was elected to the Town Commission in March 2005.
Less than a year later, in January 2006, he spearheaded an effort to dismiss former Town Clerk Beverly Brown when he alleged Brown illegally signed city checks on behalf of Fountaine, a violation of the town charter. Maniotes also accused Brown of sending pornographic material via city e-mail and suggested she doctored the budget for fiscal year 2006.
Brown in turn filed a lawsuit against Maniotes and the city of Redington Beach, which was later dropped after a settlement was reached. Brown later resigned on May 16, 2006.
On June 1, 2006, a recall election petition to remove Maniotes from office was filed at Town Hall by Anna Wiggers of Redington Beach. The petition alleged Maniotes illegally withheld public records.
Three months later, Maniotes won injunctive relief in court regarding the petition drive to remove him from office. The court ruled the charges were “devoid of facts” to form the basis of a recall under Florida law.
“I wish nobody would ever have to go through a recall election,” said Maniotes. “It’s not a good practice, especially for a town our size. I wasted all of 2006 defending myself because somebody didn’t enjoy what was happening.”
Maniotes said he fought the charges because he felt he had to clear his name.
“Why did I fight? It would have been cheaper to quit,” he said. “For a year my name was run through the mud. I fought for my name and I fought to clear my name.”
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Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007
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