Haines City to pay $10,000 to get back into compliance with Florida sunshine laws

HAINES CITY — In a few months, Haines City should again be in compliance with Florida sunshine laws.

But it's going to cost some $10,000 to do so.

On June 23, City Manager Jim Elensky informed commissioners that based on their direction at the June 16 city commission meeting, he would be contracting outside help to transcribe 38 meetings worth of minutes.

The commission had previously directed Elensky to contract outside help at a May 31 special commission meeting, where commissioners discussed ongoing issues with the city clerk, Erica Anderson. At the end of that meeting, the commission agreed on a unanimous vote to direct Elensky, then the interim city manager, to obtain a quote from the agency that handles transcriptions for the police department on what it would cost to transcribe meetings that have not yet been handled by the city clerk's office.

Previously: Haines City to hire outside help for missing meeting minutes, discusses clerk's performance

Also: Haines City commission to discuss city clerk's job, including 'pattern of irresponsibility'

After that meeting, Interim Police Chief Loyd Stewart reached out to American High-Tech Transcription and Reporting, which is based in Palm Harbor. Elensky said he had Stewart call the company and explain "in better detail" what the commission would need.

American quoted the city $3.50 per recorded minute that would need to be transcribed. The company said it would provide a synopsis of the meeting and would conduct speaker identification — the Haines City meetings have audio recordings but no corresponding video recordings — at no extra charge.

The company said it anticipated completing the minutes "no later than four or five months from receipt of the recordings, probably sooner." Elensky confirmed in a phone call with The Ledger Wednesday that four or five months is "worst case scenario."

Elensky was supposed to present a proposal to the city commission for approval, although the city manager is technically able to authorize contracts up to $25,000. But after the May 31 meeting, Elensky got on the phone with Anderson, who rejected the outside assistance.

"We are doing them in house. It's about 20 or so meetings and we are just, we're working with my staff and team to get them completed," Anderson said in a phone call with The Ledger ahead of the June 16 meeting.

Other news: Haines City delays decision for youth football teams jockeying for use of a field

Moving up: Haines City police chief unanimously selected to take over as city manager

At the time, Anderson declined to say when the minutes would be done, saying it would be "as soon as possible."

Anderson said she discussed with Elensky "the need and cost" of using an outside agency and they decided to leave it to her office.

But on June 16, the commissioners reinforced their desire to see an outside agency handle the transcription and told Elensky to get a quote.

The issue was on the agenda for a special commission meeting June 23, but that meeting was canceled since Attorney Fred Reilly is on vacation — a fact that was known when the meeting was scheduled on June 16.

Missing minutes to cost city $10,000

In an email sent June 23, Elensky indicated that he would be moving forward with a quote for $10,080. That quote includes 38 missing meetings, including: five regular city commission meetings, three special city commission meetings, seven city commission workshops, 10 planning commission meetings and 13 community redevelopment agency meetings.

Each of the meetings were calculated at one hour of audio each, with the exception of the regular city commission meetings, which were estimated to be about three hours each.

Elensky said in the email that the final cost is flexible, as some meetings may be longer or shorter than estimated.

"My primary data has been obtained by Deputy City Clerk (Erica) Sanchez due to the fact there has been very little communication feedback from City Clerk Anderson," Elensky wrote to commissioners.

Elensky said he intends to move forward with getting the meetings transcribed Friday. He's waiting to receive the tapes of the meetings from Anderson. Elensky said there's been a "short delay" as he's working with Sanchez rather than Anderson.

At the June 16 meeting, Commissioner Morris West said he'd been informed that Anderson is out of office for the time being on family and medical leave.

An eligible employee can get up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, which can be used intermittently or all at once.

Human Resources Director Veronica Hairston would not say whether Anderson is already out on leave. However, Anderson sent an email to Sanchez, which was then forwarded to staff, on Tuesday saying that she would be out of office for an "undisclosed period of time" and that Sanchez would assume her duties in the meantime.

Elensky said that Sanchez provided the list of missing minutes to the best of her ability and believes the count to be accurate. The city will pay for the transcription service out of the city clerk's budget.

"She believes that it's an accurate number and she believes it's on the high side," Elensky said. "So we're not misleading people and putting that on the low side and it ends up being more."

Getting an accurate quote was difficult, as there was disagreement on just how many meetings needed to be transcribed.

A list compiled by IT Manager Brian Ross and last updated in May showed more than 80 meetings of the city commission, planning commission and CRA board that have not yet been uploaded to eScribe, the system the city has been using since January. Some of those meetings have minutes generated, they may just not be approved by the commission or uploaded. Of that total list, 49 instances of incomplete minutes were for city commission workshops, regular meetings or special meetings, and over half of those are recorded as not having minutes started at all.

Deputy City Clerk Sanchez had previously told The Ledger that some of the missing minutes would be handled by a temporary employee the clerk's office had hired. The employee, who was hired from Nesco Resource, is paid $23.75 an hour, according to an email sent by Sanchez to Mayor Anne Huffman. The employee spends half her day acting as a secretary for the office and the other half transcribing minutes. The employee is being paid out of the personnel budget.

Elensky said that the commission wanted all of the minutes handled by an outside source, so that's the plan he's moving forward with. He said that the temporary employee may be able to handle minutes at upcoming meetings if Sanchez needs assistance.

Of the 38 instances of missing minutes, 15 are related to the city commission. Minutes for the city commission are generated by the city clerk, while all other boards and commissions are handled by the deputy city clerk.

Sanchez said that before the previous city clerk, Linda Bourgeois, quit in 2020, all of her city commission meetings were caught up. What had fallen behind were meetings for the CRA, Planning Commission and other boards.

Under Bourgeois, Anderson served as deputy city clerk before being promoted in 2020.

In other news: In six months, Haines City racked up nearly $100,000 in credit card charges. Here's what that bought

'Part of my legacy': Haines City commissioners elect the city's first Black, female mayor

A lack of transparency?

While there's no official timeline, Florida law requires that the minutes of any board or commission of a state agency or authority be "promptly" recorded for open, public inspection.

According to Ross' list, there are lacking minutes for meetings dating back more than two years — September 2019. Most of the missing minutes are from 2021 and 2022. Elensky confirmed that the new list generated by Sanchez has minutes stretching back a couple of years.

Additionally, the minutes that do exist are not easily accessible by the public.

There is a public meetings section on the city's website that has documents for past meetings. There are 18 available city commission meetings, dating back to Jan. 6. Of those meetings, only one has accompanying minutes to its agenda — the May 19 meeting.

There are 10 available city commission workshop agendas dating back to Jan. 6; none have accompanying minutes. Three CRA and five Planning Commission meetings, all from this year, are missing minutes.

Sanchez said that the meeting minutes aren't being uploaded to eScribe, the system the city switched over to in January. Rather, the documents are being uploaded to a general records system where there's a host of other records from various departments.

"That's why there's so many minutes that were not found," Sanchez said.

The new minutes, once transcribed, also won't be uploaded to eScribe. Sanchez said they can't because eScribe is new and doesn't have the original agendas for the accompanying minutes.

In a phone call with The Ledger, Anderson said that the meeting minutes aren't uploaded to the website, either. Members of the public can call and request the minutes.

Anderson said if the request will take over 30 minutes of a staff member's time to complete, the person making the request will be charged.

The minutes not being independently accessible means other information cannot be verified without a public records request. For example, a Ledger reporter requested attendance records at city commission meetings for commissioners over the past two years, as that information is not readily available online. The Ledger was quoted $43.88 to fulfill that request.

Maya Lora can be reached with tips or questions at mlora@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayaklora.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Years worth of missing Haines City minutes to be transcribed for $10,000