Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/281176
to be reevaluated. "Do we need to raise this one restaurant up, or take them down to the basic level of everybody else?" Snyder asked. The commissioners told Tucker to talk with Mattison, but they deferred any action until after the "sound ordinance" has been consid- ered. The current lease expires Sept. 30. THE LEGAL SQUALL Next up was the issue of Commissioner Susan Chapman's legal fees. She is charged with a violation of the Open Meetings Law for attend- ing a gathering of downtown constituents and city staffers about the topic of homelessness and vagrancy. Fellow Commissioner Suzanne Atwell attended that gathering as well, and both were named personally in a suit filed by Citizens for Sunshine. The city admitted a technical violation (lack of prior notice), while Atwell admitted nothing but agreed to pay $500 to a charity to settle the suit against her. There is consistent confusion over this issue in both the local media (the Sarasota Herald- Tribune), the statewide media (the Brechner Report) and even in the mind of Judge Kimberly Bonner, who is presiding over the Chapman case. All three have stated and writ- ten that Atwell admitted to violating the law, when she did no such thing. The judge later City Auditor and Clerk Pam Nadalini asks newly elected City Commissioners Suzanne Atwell and Susan Chapman to recite the oath of office on May 17, 2013. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader March 21, 2014 Page 41