By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter      

            An odd mistake occurred at Williston City Hall on June 15 when one of two application packages for the city attorney’s position was delivered to City Manager Jackie Gorman’s office when she wasn’t there.

            Gorman was in the city council meeting room to open the bids and wasn’t aware the second package arrived until after she opened the first one. Gorman decided to leave the second proposal unopened until the board could discuss the matter with legal counsel.

            City Attorney Fred Koberlein told the council Tuesday night that the second package arrived before the 4 p.m. deadline on June 15 and was delivered to Gorman’s office by an employee as instructed by the delivery person. He said it was legal for the board to discuss the second proposal.

            Gorman will set a date for the council to interview both law firms. Former Williston City Attorney Norm Fugate, who was the first proposer, and also the law firm of Walker, S. Scott, Folds, Walker, & Malby from Gainesville, which offered the second proposal that was temporarily misplaced at City Hall are the applicants for the position of Williston city attorney.

            Gorman said the problem with the delivery wasn’t the fault of the employee that brought the package to her office.

            “The problem was – one came into this room (council meeting room) for the bid opening and the other was delivered to another employee in another room who was not aware that the box needed to come in here,” Gorman said.

            Koberlein further clarified what happened.

            “My understanding is the proposal arrived prior to the deadline on June 15 at 4 p.m.  The delivery person instructed the employee to deliver to the city manager and the proposals were to be delivered to the city manager at her office. However, the city manager wasn’t present there. She was in here (council meeting room) at no fault of the second proposer,” Koberlein said. “I would encourage the city council to accept it. I was not able to find any case law because I don’t believe any cities have gone to litigation when they had an employee, unbeknownst to them, that did not deliver a package to the right place; so it wasn’t taken to court. If the package had been a few minutes late and it had been the fault of the proposer, it would be up to the discretion of the council.”

            Koberlein said the city correctly advertised for the position of city attorney and received two excellent proposals.

            “I think you have two qualified proposals from two well-qualified proposers. I have not seen the content of them. I speak of them from their reputation in the industry. I think it was advertised correctly and it was an abundance of caution by the city manager, and well done, so I would encourage you to open the second one and go forward with the proposals and decide whether you want to interview or rank them.”

            Koberlein also suggested the council develop criteria for evaluating the firms and determine how the council intends to pick the best one, “so you compare apples to apples.”

            Later in the meeting during public participation, Fugate said he believed the council made the right decision to keep the second proposal and interview the Gainesville firm as well as his firm. If the circumstances had been reversed and his proposal had been in question, Fugate said he would have appreciated the council making the same decision to hear both proposals.

            “Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Koberlein’s statements that you have two qualified candidates. I know the Folds, Walker firm isn’t known to some of the council members, but you probably have the top two municipal law firms in the Northeast Florida area. You’ve got some qualified candidates,” Fugate said.

            Fugate, who said he attended the council meeting to listen to the discussion of legal services, disagreed with Koberlein’s statement that the council should consider developing criteria for evaluating the two law firms. He said the criteria are listed in the advertisement for the position, known as an RFP or Request for Proposals. New criteria aren’t needed.

            “The other thing I would like to say is Mr. Koberlein made the statement he thought you needed to come up with criteria. I think the first sentence of Section 3 in the RFP states the criteria you need to be looking at….when we read the RFP we understand what needs to be responded to. It basically says the successful applicant will be selected based on the ability to meet the needs outlined in the RFP and the competitive rates at which these services may be provided, so you have a competence component and a price component.”

            Koberlein responded that he thinks the council can use a process similar to the one used to interview and evaluate city manager candidates and he agreed fresh criteria wasn’t needed. Gorman said she would send a complete package of background information provided by both firms to the council members along with a date for the public interviews.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting June 22, 2021; Posted June 25, 2021