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A semi-regular column FAA Shade Meeting Transcripts
It starts out slow and reads like a low-budget John Grisham novel, but this summer's must read book is not a novel at all -- it's the transcripts of what should have been a rather mundane set of closed meetings. Intrigue, mystery, betrayal and an incredibly surprising twist ending -- it's all here
-- compiled and annotated by John Patten, 06/14/04
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com  All of the transcripts on this page require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 5 or higher
Got a comment? Make it here Putting the transcripts into context
The city's handling of the FAA Notice of Investigation is an expensive lesson in how not to run a government. Originally accused by the FAA of diversion of revenue by negotiating a lease that was incredibly favorable to the Venice Golf Association, the city manager responded by hiding the paperwork from the city's own attorney and turned it over to local powerbroker E.G. "Dan" Boone instead. From there, things became worse before they became better. It doesn't help that the whole set of events played out on these pages was a created disaster, molded and designed by Dan Boone and then-City Manager George Hunt. Hunt handed over to Boone the power to draft the lease between the Venice Golf Association and the city, a bizarre situation in which the attorney for the tenant was allowed full power to set the terms and responsibilities of the city while the city's own attorney, Bob Anderson, was effectively kept out of the loop. Hunt's reasoning to the public was that this would save the taxpayer a lot of money in legal fees. Mayor Calamaras defended the situation, stating that it would all be OK as the city would have the city attorney review the document for corrections and final approval. Problem: ultimately, that never happened -- the document ended up going straight from Boone to Hunt to council for quick approval with nobody ever asking the city attorney for his opinion until long after this was a done deal. It was the ultimate inside deal, with Dan Boone proving once again that he could get virtually anything he wanted from his bought-and-paid for stacked council. The contract did not have the several standard airport lease clauses, including one that required that it be in conformity with airport and FAA rules and regulations, a key contractual omission that would later give the city attorney nightmares. A curious new clause was inserted and is valid to this day: that of right of last refusal for purchase. What this means is that if for some reason the airport were to move or close down, the Venice Golf Association would have the right to purchase all land it is leasing (including a choice tract along Harbor Drive directly across the street from the Gulf of Mexico), and it would have the right to put in a final top bid on any competitive offers, a key contractual insertion that causes former Councilman David Farley to suffer from severe drooling to this day. Meanwhile, Roy Stout and Herb Levine of the Venice Taxpayers League smelled a rat. They contacted the FAA office in Orlando and laid out their suspicions and fears. This ultimately led to an FAA review of the lease and resulted in the FAA accusing the city of diversion of revenue in a formal Notice of Investigation. Once again, Hunt and Boone did a quick dodge of the city attorney -- Hunt handed over the documents from the FAA to Boone while never informing Anderson or council that the documents existed. Hunt would later state that it was an oversight, that he didn't recognize it as a legal document, an outright lie as Hunt's own letters to Boone subsequently showed. Boone formulated and fired off a response to the FAA that basically told the Federal agency to put it between two pieces of bread and munch on it. Boone provided a copy of his response to Hunt, but neither Boone or Hunt cc'd the city attorney with any of this documentation. By the time Anderson discovered what was going on and subsequently received copies of the FAA documents to review them, the time had nearly run out for the city to submit a written response as required by the FAA. Anderson quickly received approval from council to act on the city's behalf on the matter and immediately filed a request for a time extension, unsure if the FAA would grant such an extension. That pretty much brings you up to speed up to the time of the first transcript (below). As the story opens in the first transcript, the FAA has just granted the city an extension in time to respond to the Notice of Investigation, and Anderson is in the process of asking for a second extension so that he can bring another attorney on board. The transcripts themselves tell the rest of the story. | The full shade meeting transcripts, available for quick download, five transcripts in total Chapter 1:
"We've got Bill Gates' cousin"
Meeting 1 - January 17, 2003
62 pages
SUMMARY:  | Farley goes way off topic, tries to move the airport to allow for development, has a secret investor that he's been secretly talking to, refers to him as "Bill Gates' cousin;" | | Moore calls for a citizen review board; | | Farley continues to try to talk council into considering moving the airport; | | Anderson finally tells Farley that moving the airport has nothing to do with the issue at hand; | | Anderson goes over legal strategy, asks council for permission to retain outside council, tells council to be very cagey with the public. |
Chapter 2:
Dan Boone sticks his beak in
Meeting 2 - February 11, 2003
51 pages
SUMMARY: | Anderson has retained Thomas Devine as outside counsel, was successful in obtaining an extension in time to respond to the FAA's Notice of Investigation, is now seeking a second extension to fully prepare an appropriate response; | | Anderson breaks down the FAA's case; | | Dan Boone intervenes, catches city off guard by sending a letter to the FAA telling them that the city is right, the FAA is wrong and there's nothing the FAA can do about it; | | Anderson describes Boone's letter as "inflammatory," expresses reservations about Boone "sitting on my side of the table;" | | Farley reveals his secret investor as Stan Thomas, owner of the Taylor Ranch tract, Thomas wants the airport land for "some kind of development or something;" | | Farley and Hunt agree to pursue Thomas' offer; | | Moore asks if anyone knows who the officers and directors of the VGA are; | | Anderson reveals that he has a list of VGA shareholders that was given to him by a source who Anderson will not name; | | Hunt discusses Carl Roman (misspelled as Rolman in the transcript), who Hunt accuses of ripping off the VGA; | | Moore advocates convincing Dan Boone to tone down his rhetoric, refers to Boone as "inflammatory." |
| THE PLAYERS
as they were in 2003
click on any photo for a larger version | 
E.G. Dan Boone, attorney for the VGA
(with son and fellow attorney, Jeff Boone)
The whole VGA/FAA mess was created by Boone -- he was allowed by Hunt to get highly creative in his drafting of the VGA's lease | 
former City Manager George Hunt
A would-be puppetmaster with tangled strings, Hunt became an advocate for the VGA at the city's expense, behaving as though he had a personal vested interest in the golf course; Hunt resigned in early 2004 | 
Mayor Dean Calamaras
(at left, with George Hunt)
Calamaras was initially supportive of Boone's drafting of the VGA lease, a decision that he obviously lived to regret
| 
Vice-Mayor Rick Tacy
Tacy was largely silent through the shade meetings, however his blurt near the conclusion of the 5th meeting ended up being one of the most memorable and defining moments | 
City Attorney Bob Anderson
Anderson was often kept out of the loop until it was nearly too late, then took the heat for not acting fast enough | 
former Councilman Burt Brown
Not one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, Brown apparently spent most of the proceedings trying not to fall asleep; Brown resigned in late 2003 for health reasons
(photo: Venice Gondolier Sun) | 
former Councilwoman Virginia Warren
A harsh, staunch and sometimes vicious defender of Boone and Hunt; Warren passed away in late 2003 after a long battle with cancer | 
former Councilman David Farley
An investor in local development, Farley epitomizes self-interested politicians -- his main concern during these meetings was moving the airport on behalf of a fat-cat developer; Farley's term ran out in November 2003 | 
Councilman Jim Myers
(holding microphone)
Another pol who, like Warren, blindly defended Hunt, the Boones and the VGA until it became politically unpopular | 
Councilman John Moore
A symbol for local due process, Moore strangely went along with council's plan to keep the public out of the loop |
| Chapter 3:
"You're dealing with a mask"
Meeting 3 - April 8, 2003
63 pages
SUMMARY: | | Anderson states that the FAA is now willing to meet with Venice officials and that a Venice delegation will be headed to Washington on April 23 -- Hunt will not be a part of that delegation; | | Anderson will meet with Dan Boone and representatives of the VGA on April 9 to try to convince the VGA to agree to a modification of their rent agreement in order to help appease the FAA; | | Hunt accuses the FAA of being myopic, of not seeing the bigger picture, which includes tearing down the Island Wastewater Plant and the start of a business park on airport land; | | Council tries to talk Hunt into going to Washington -- whether he's to be an asset in the negotiations or a sacrificial lamb is open to interpretation; Hunt strongly declines, then agrees to rethink his refusal to go (ultimately, Hunt ends up not going); | | Legal expenses to date in this fiasco total $35,000 so far; | | Anderson is taking the position that if the current VGA lease puts FAA grant assurances at risk (worth $12.4 million over the next four years), then the lease can be voided, that there is a provision in the lease that says that everybody has to abide by airport rules and regs; | | Anderson counts on the fact that the VGA is owned and run by prominent citizens who will not want negative publicity -- the plan is now to agree with the FAA to raise the rental fees and then somehow force the VGA into agreeing to the increase; | | Hunt spits out some astronomical figures as to the value of the VGA's irrigation system that was provided by the city; | | Farley speculates about how much VGA stock is owned by Dan Boone, that Boone might not own stock outright but in a trust to shield ownership; Calamaras quickly changes the subject; | | Anderson states that the magic number that will make the FAA happy is $216,000 a year in rent -- getting the VGA to agree will be the tricky part; | | Farley states that the VGA is not worried about bad publicity as nobody knows who really owns the VGA -- "You're dealing with a mask." |
Chapter 4:
"Warm and fuzzy" and the fake gag order
Meeting 4 - May 13, 2003
26 pages
SUMMARY: | Anderson summarizes the meeting with the FAA in Washington, is ecstatic -- the FAA agreed to a rental rate of $180,000 a year, which is considerably lower than the $216,000 that the city was to originally pitch; this raises the VGA's rent by $20,000 a year from their contractually agreed upon amount of $160,000; still unresolved is whether or not the new rate is retroactive to the signing of the current lease in 1999; | | Anderson describes the atmosphere as "warm and fuzzy;" | | The FAA has placed a stipulation on the agreement that they be the only ones to comment on how the $180,000 figure was arrived at; | | The remaining issue at this point in time is whether or not the $20,000 increase in rent can be legally passed on to the VGA or whether the city (read: taxpayer) is on the hook for the additional $20,000 annually; | | Farley complains about "adversarial people loading them [the FAA] up with misinformation;" Anderson responds by stating that when in front of the FAA in Washington, Venice divorced itself from the VGA and Dan Boone: "...the correspondence that they [the FAA] received from Dan Boone was incendiary and we needed to make sure that they weren't lumping us together because they're not real happy with the tone of the correspondence they've been receiving from the VGA and Mr. Boone;" Calamaras quotes the FAA as describing the Boone letters as "belligerent;" | | Farley, apparently looking for ammunition, asks if the FAA discussed letters from the Venice Taxpayers League or former council member Cheryl Battey, is told no; | | Calamaras states that the VGA had taken a stance that if the FAA wanted more money, it was going to be a city problem and not a VGA problem -- "...they [the VGA] said no, you've got a problem with the FAA, it's your problem, not ours, we've got a lease;" Calamaras states that if the VGA holds that tone, there's only two options: file a lawsuit against the VGA or the city (read: taxpayer) agrees to pay the difference to the airport fund; | | Hunt offers a third option -- the city pays the $20,000 and the VGA gives up a bit of land back to the city for use for additional parking for the dog park; Anderson warns against it: "That $20,000 has to come from a source independent of the airport or else the FAA will say this is just a shell game;" | | Calamaras advocates making the VGA eat the $20,000 in increased rent; Tacy agrees and instructs Hunt to be firm in talking with the VGA; | | Anderson warns that there might be "...no legal mechanism to extract the increased rent from the VGA," meaning that the city might well have to subsidize the rent increase from "...let's say, the utility department:" | | Council and Hunt agree to keep the news from the public, as, according to Hunt, "...part of the reason we're sitting here and part of the problem is all of the letter writing and telephone call campaign from the nay-sayers who spent hundreds of hours polluting the waters in [the Orlando FAA office], and we don't want them to have access to this information and try to undermine the deal before it's even completed;" | | In spite of the fact that there is no gag order, mayor and council agree to create a fictional gag order from the FAA if the public or press asks about any settlement -- Farley states that "...they're going to be persistent, they're going to ask you why, and you understand that there's a gag order from the FAA until the [official city] press release;" Anderson reminds council that "there's technically no gag order and the FAA doesn't really have the authority to impose that;" | | Outside legal fees (not including Anderson's bill) are now at around $60,000 and the meter is still running; Anderson has submitted invoices for his own services to the tune of around $38,000. |
NOTE: At the conclusion of this particular shade meeting, council filed back into council chambers looking as though they had just returned from a funeral, an odd account of which can be found here. Chapter 5:
A gentleman's agreement once the dog goes to sleep
Meeting 5 - May 27, 2003
23 pages
SUMMARY: | Anderson advises council that the city is in a weak legal position to force the VGA to pay the increase in rent; the reason is unspoken by Anderson but silently understood by all present -- that Hunt and the Boones drew up the current lease without input from Anderson and that Hunt and the Boones left out the standard airport lease clause that requires the lease to be in conformity with FAA's rules and regulations; | | Anderson states that if a lawsuit was to go forward, it is a surety that all council members would be deposed and that Anderson and Boone would likely be precluded from being able to act as attorneys as they too would likely be deposed; | | Not mentioned (by Anderson or anyone else) is the possible use of the ultimate legal nuclear bomb -- that if the case heads for court, the city would have the right to subpoena the VGA for its list of owners and stockholders, something that the VGA has in the past shown a fierce resistance to; | | Nevertheless, Anderson doesn't want the VGA to know that the city would rather not go to court over the rent increase, that Anderson still wants to use the possibility of court action as a sword over the heads of the VGA; | | After exhausting all possible legal theories that would allow the city to challenge the lease, Anderson states "Maybe it's just that the City of Venice made a bad deal and we have to live with the results, if the rent is $160,000, the rent is $160,000. ...there's nothing in the lease which specifically says this lease is subject to FAA confirmance." | | Warren states that she'd rather have the taxpayers pay the $20,000 than go through the embarrassment of a lawsuit; | | Tacy advocates giving the VGA a reduction in electricity rates and work out some kind of deal to use some of the land for parking to offset the blow of a $20,000 increase -- in other words, the taxpayer will still eat some of the loss; Calamaras concurs; | | Anderson goes for a more subtle [and dangerously deceptive sounding] approach -- agree publicly with the VGA for the rent increase to $180,000, but then have "...a gentleman's agreement that as soon as that dog [the FAA, the press, the public] goes to sleep we then have this deal where we're going to start metering South Brohard, the dog park, and take that expense away from the VGA, [and then] rent a certain portion of their leasehold for parking at the paw park... [the VGA] gets some good publicity out of it, the deal goes down and it's resolved. Then once the dust settles and we get through the headlines, then we implement the metering and a new lease with them... for the paw park parking." | | Tacy is happy: "The metering could be done without even really getting into the press." | | Anderson advocates letting Calamaras and Hunt work out the details with the VGA, as he is now to the VGA what Hunt is to the FAA -- a hated entity or, as Anderson puts it, "a lightning rod." |
All transcripts were scanned from hard copies using optical character recognition software. The scans were then carefully reviewed for accuracy to ensure that the electronic versions online here are as close to true copies as physically possible. Pagination is retained from the original documents. Page layouts are somewhat altered due to the change in font style from hard copy to electronic copy. All spelling, punctuation, etc. is retained from the original hard copies, no corrections have been made. |
John Patten is the editor and publisher of Venice Florida! dot com and had previously worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times. |
