St. Pete Beach Commission chooses new attorney - or does it?

ST. PETE BEACH - The St. Pete Beach City Commission voted to hire a new city attorney this week, but now a dispute has arisen over how the decision was reached.

It's all about math.

The commission met Tuesday and offered the job to Ralf Brookes, a Cape Coral lawyer, and set another meeting next week to finalize the contract.

But Vice Mayor Mike Finnerty disputes the results and took his concerns to the city manager.

The commission had agreed to rank the applicants from one to four - one being their first choice, four being their last - and add up the scores. The lowest score would be the new city attorney.

That didn't happen.

City Clerk Teresa McMaster saw that Brookes had gotten three No. 1 votes and announced him the winner without totaling all the votes, City Manager Mike Bonfield said in a memo.

It turns out that Mike Davis, former city attorney for St. Petersburg, got the lowest score.

Now the commission has to decide who gets the job.

"She made a mistake,'' said Finnerty, referring to McMaster. "Let's get beyond this and go forward. Mr. Davis is the city attorney of St. Pete Beach.''  Finnerty ranked Davis first and Brookes last.

But Ed Ruttencutter, one of the three commissioners who listed Brookes first, said the majority rules.

"I thought the way we were doing this was screwy anyway and this is why," he said.

The meeting is set for Tuesday.

-- Nick Johnson, Times staff writer

Comments

[ricco]

POLITICIANS???AND DECISIONS
FLIP A COIN****ARM WRESTLE***MUSICAL CHAIRS***ROCK PAPER_____***Wait this is Florida;don't they a problem counting votes.. It must be genetic!!!

[JRR]

They fire good people, like the last city attorney for giving them good advice and then they can't even count. Maybe they should retire and get someone who can handle simple things like reading and math.

[gmr]

I'm embarrassed to be from St. Pete.

[Al]

You can relax, gmr. That's St. Pete Beach, not St. Pete. You can be embarrassed to be from St. Pete, but think of a different reason! Mike Davis was the St. Pete city attorney. He left voluntarily after establishing a very good reputation.

[Brita]

Ralf Brookes / Al Gore whats the difference!

You Florida people are guilty of bait and switch! and catch and release...do you have a fishing permit for this stuff?

[mark]

Sounds like an honest, albeit an embarassing, mistake. I'm more concerned w/the method used for selection. With only two finalists for the job, seems like a yes or no vote for the applicant of their choice would have been less convoluted.

To bad St. Pete Beach is full of corrupt liars on their commission. It sure shows something about the slime that CRG is involved in when one of their own (Finnerty) has gone to the other side. Ed ,Linda, and Metz are scumbags pure and simple. Corruption pure and simple,,,trying to scam St.Pete Beach with a hometown democracy lawyer. This is the way its been done for years, and now all of a sudden they act like they are completely innocent. I move that they should be impeached.

[Florida Sun]

It appears there was confusion with the obscure point system. Both Candidates seemed very qualified. I believe Brookes will do a great job as I have asked around his area from people that know him and have looked at articles online. Brookes will be passionate and loyal to St. Pete Beach defending the city. He won't gouge the city like other attorneys.