Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/116876
Sarasota News Leader March 22, 2013 Page 83 Siesta Seen the night before indicating Brown and all other parties had signed off on a settlement agreement. DeMarsh reminded Barbetta he had told the board the settlement had hit a snag after the parties had gone through mediation on Feb. 8. ���We���re resolving that right now,��� DeMarsh said, adding, ���It���s really not appropriate at this time ��� to go into the details.��� The lawsuit was filed in October 2011, alleging the county had singled out Brown by charging him excessive parking assessments for three of his Village properties while assessments for other Village parcels had gone down. Barbetta was persistent, nonetheless. Referring to the memo, he told DeMarsh, ���As an attorney, I have a problem. This is a signed agreement ��� by our lawyer, by our risk manager.��� County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh/Photo by Rachel Hackney DeMarsh also pointed out it was about a month ago when he sent the commissioners the memo Barbetta was referencing. ���I said, ���Please don���t take action; there���s been a problem,������ DeMarsh said. ���I���d be glad to speak to you privately, outside of this meeting,��� DeMarsh responded, ���and tell ���It���s the first I���ve seen it,��� Barbetta replied. you exactly where we are, but I don���t think it���s According to information provided by Brown���s appropriate [to talk about it in open session]. attorney, Morgan Bentley of Bentley & Bruning in Sarasota, the snag in settling the lawI���m just not ethically or professionally able to suit revolves around what county staff had do that, based upon where we are in the prothought was about 220 square feet of right of cess.��� way. The tentative settlement offer to which Again, DeMarsh stressed, ���I think we���re very, the parties had agreed after about 10 hours very close to a resolution of all the factual of mediation on Feb. 8 was for the county to concerns that arose after that document was pay Brown $75,000 and give him that amount signed.��� of right of way.