MANATEE COUNTY – County Commissioner George Kruse’s personal call log indicates he has had numerous private phone conversations with commissioners Vanessa Baugh, James Satcher and Kevin Van Ostenbridge since being elected.
It is not illegal for members of the same elected body to communicate by phone, text message or email, but it is a violation of Florida Sunshine Law if they discuss anything that has, will or could foreseeably come before them as official county business.
On Tuesday, Dec. 8, Kruse provided paralegal Michael Barfield with a call log and a copy of a text message exchange he had with Satcher. Kruse produced those records in response to the public records request he received from Barfield on Friday, Nov. 20.
Baugh, Satcher, Van Ostenbridge and former commissioner Steve Jonsson received similar records requests and were originally given until Friday, Dec. 4 to respond. Barfield made his records request according to Florida’s Public Records Act.
According to Kruse’s call log, he had, or attempted to have, 16 telephone communications with Baugh during the Nov. 3 to Nov. 20 timeframe specified in Barfield’s records request.
Kruse had three phone communications with Satcher and two with Van Ostenbridge during that same period. He also made one call and received one call from developer Carlos Beruff, and on Nov. 20, Kruse called 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas.
Nicholas swore Kruse in as a county commissioner on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Satcher and Van Ostenbridge were also sworn in that day as new commissioners, joined by Baugh, an incumbent who was elected to another term.
Later that day, the newly-reconfigured commission participated in a commission work meeting. Kruse left Satcher a voice mail at 6:39 p.m. and called him again at 10:18 p.m., according to his call log. At 10:22 p.m., Kruse called Baugh, and then called her again at 9 a.m. the following morning.
At 6:45 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19, Kruse sent Satcher a text message that said, “Ignore our call the other night. Stick to original.”
During the work meeting that took place later that morning, the commission adopted by 4-3 vote a county resolution presented by Baugh with no public notice. The adopted resolution now allows the commission to change its meeting procedures while a meeting is in progress, with no advance notice to the public.
“Any of the foregoing rules may be waived at any board meeting then in session by a majority vote of the board, unless such waiver is in conflict with state or local law,” according to Resolution 20-191.
Van Ostenbridge then initiated a discussion, with no advance public notice, that resulted in a 4-3 vote to put County Administrator Cheri Coryea on notice that her potential termination would be discussed and determined on Wednesday, Jan. 6.
Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore opposed the Nov. 19 actions initiated by Baugh and Van Ostenbridge.
Bellamy said the efforts to terminate Coryea seemed “premeditated” and Whitmore said they seemed “orchestrated.”
Barfield began submitting his records requests the following day.
Barfield’s reaction
“It’s a bombshell,” Barfield said Wednesday afternoon when discussing these initial discoveries.
According to Barfield, the three new commissioners became subject to the Public Records Act and the Florida Sunshine Law once the election results were known on Nov. 3. As an incumbent, Baugh has long been required to comply with the Public Records Act and the Sunshine Law.
“There’s 16 calls between Vanessa Baugh and George Kruse at various times,” Barfield said.
“That message about ‘ignore the other night’ is so telling, coming hours before the Nov. 19 meeting began,” Barfield said about the Kruse-Satcher text message exchange.
“It seems to me this is strong evidence of coordination in advance of a meeting,” Barfield said regarding the various communications between commissioners.
Barfield said Baugh had not provided him with an original draft copy of the resolution she presented with no public notice.
He said Baugh’s official county emails indicate she had a conversation with the county attorney’s office on Nov. 18 about her requested resolution, but did not provide the county attorney’s office with a digital copy of the document.
“To date, she has not produced that record. Vanessa did provide a photograph of the draft language of the resolution,” Barfield said.
Barfield questions whether Baugh or someone else wrote the original draft of that resolution.
Still awaiting records
Barfield said he received some preliminary records from Van Ostenbridge Wednesday afternoon and was told he’d receive copies of Van Ostenbridge’s text messages and personal call log on Thursday.
Regarding Baugh, he said, “I received a couple emails from her official county account and a phone log from her official county phone that has virtually nothing on it. I’ve received nothing from her private email accounts or her private cell phone, including her text messages and call log.”
Barfield said Satcher produced some records Tuesday night that he was still reviewing.
When asked where all of this might be headed, Barfield said, “I’m still collecting evidence.”
Just before the start of Thursday morning’s county commission work meeting at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto, Satcher was served with a summons from the Manatee County Clerk of Court.
According to Barfield, the summons formally started the five-day window for Satcher to show cause to the court as to why the records request should not be granted.
As he walked into the meeting area, Satcher said, “I just got served. I love this job.”
Paralegal Michael Barfield attended the county commission work meeting Thursday morning. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
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