City Council Votes to Keep Councilmember Befaithful Coker From Taking Her Seat: Chooses Litigation to Keep Seat Vacant
Posted November 29, 2021 04:35 pm
Florida map: Kjrstie via Pixabay| Photo of Judge
Fina and graphic: Columbia County Observer
LAKE CITY, FL – Lake City's City Council digs in, jettisons City Charter and Florida statutes, and heads off to court to keep City Council member Befaithful Coker from taking the City Council seat to which it appointed her. That Lake City continues to be a standing joke in Florida is inconsequential to the four members left on the City Council and the City Attorney, its legal counsel.
Background
Recently,
dysfunction is the name of the game at the City
Council. The Council's inability to keep and
find a city manager and the
bollixed up
appointment of an interim city manager, who got
his job through a phone call, and didn't show up
the day he was appointed, gives one the general
tenor of what is going on in Lake City.
Lake City’s City Council membership woes began on September 9 with the sudden and unexplained resignation of Councilman Chris Greene.
Filling the vacated City Council seat should not have been that difficult. The City Charter made it simple: “The council shall within sixty (60) days from the date the vacancy occurred, by a majority vote of the remaining members, choose a successor to serve said unexpired term of the vacated council seat.”
Two weeks after the vacancy, the City Clerk advertised for letters of interest from District 14 residents to fill the vacated seat. By October 9, the City received five letters of interest or applications. Two applicants dropped out.
On October 13, during a special meeting and after a secret ballot, the Council voted to appoint Stephen Douglas to the vacated seat. At that time, the requirement of the City Charter was satisfied. All that was left was for Mr. Douglas to take his Oath of Office and take his seat. He didn't.
Instead, City Attorney Fred Koberlein, Jr., waited until October 18, when he prepared a resolution appointing Mr. Douglas again.
On October 18, candidate Befaithful Coker filed a lawsuit against the City, claiming the secret ballot was a Sunshine Law violation. At that time, Ms. Coker had nothing to gain from the lawsuit. She told your reporter she just "wanted the City Council to follow the law."
In a deal worked out between Ms. Coker's attorney, noted civil rights attorney Neil Henrichsen, and City Attorney Koberlein, Stephen Douglas was not sworn in, and the City Council began a do-over to fill the vacated City Council seat.
On October 26, the City Council met again to choose a person to fill the vacated seat. On the sixth ballot, Befaithful Coker was selected on a 3-1 vote. All that was left for Ms. Coker was to take the state-mandated Oath of office and take her seat.
Once again, as with Mr. Douglas, that didn’t happen.
The next day, October 27, Councilman Todd Sampson emailed City Attorney Koberlein asking if the Council’s vote could be “reconsidered.”
On October 28, 07:54 am, City Attorney Koberlein emailed Councilman Sampson with his answer ("no") and copied City Clerk Sikes. An hour and a half later, Ms. Sikes, in what appears to be a violation of Florida’s Sunshine law, acted as a liaison between Mr. Sampson and the rest of the City Council, sending Mr. Sampson's email and the attorney's response to the City Council.
On November 1, 10:30 am, Ms. Coker took the Oath of office provided by the City Clerk and filed a notarized original with the Clerk's Office. The City Clerk claimed that only she could give the Oath.
Requirements for Filling the Vacated Seat
The City Charter required the City Council to appoint someone within sixty days. The City Council did that.
The City Charter, section 513 – Oath of office is clear: “Every officer of the city shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation to be filed and kept in the office of the city clerk; which oath shall be in the form prescribed for state officers by the Constitution of the state.”
Ms. Coker took and subscribed to the Oath of office in the correct form and filed it “in the office of the city clerk.”
November 1: Reconsideration by Another Name
City Attorney Fred Koberlein,
reconsideration took on another name.
(file photo)
On November 1, Ms. Coker came to the City Council prepared to take her seat and begin doing the people’s business.
On the City agenda was Resolution No. 2021-165. The resolution was prepared by City Attorney Fred Koberlein, Jr., the same "Koberlein" who opined earlier that Ms. Coker's appointment could not be reconsidered.
The resolution stated: "A resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake City, Florida appointing Befaithful Coker as Councilmember of District fourteen in accordance with the City Charter…."
There is nothing in any rule in Lake City that mandates a vacated City Council seat be approved by resolution.
City Attorney Koberlein did not mention to the City Council that Ms. Coker had already been appointed and had filed her Oath with the City Clerk. Instead, he sat silent.
The Council failed to approve the resolution appointing Ms. Coker again and denied Ms. Coker her seat.
The Council decided to do another do-over on November 8.
See: Filling a Vacated City Council Seat had the Council Flying by the Seat of Its Pants.
November 8: Ms. Coker is Forced Back Into Court
November 8, 12:41 pm, Ms. Coker is forced to file another lawsuit. This time to keep from being bullied out of her City Council seat by the City Councilmen.
At 5:15 pm, Lafayette County Court Judge Darin Jackson, acting as a circuit court judge, issued an order to show cause which gave the City twenty days to show the Court why Ms. Coker should not be seated. The Court emailed the order to both City Attorney Koberlein and Ms. Coker's attorney, Natalie Kato. Ms. Kato was driving and didn't see the email. Mr. Koberlein is constantly checking his email.
As the November 8 meeting got underway, City Attorney Koberlein did not mention the lawsuit or Judge Jackson’s order to the City Council. It is not clear if he had spoken with any of them.
Attorney Natalie Kato (left) and Befaithful
Coker after they learned of Judge Jackson's
order to show cause. This was before attorney
Kato was hoodooed by City Attorney Koberlein.
At 6 pm, the meeting was gaveled to order. It became a campaign event as supporters of the candidates came before the City Council to make a pitch.
At 6:48 pm, during candidate Jernigan’s pitch, City Attorney Koberlein handed his laptop to Attorney Kato, showing her the court order, which among other things, stayed all proceedings concerning the filling of the "vacated" seat.
Before breaking into the meeting and announcing the lawsuit and court order, Mr. Koberlein allowed Mr. Jernigan to finish his pitch.
The court order gave the City and the City Clerk twenty days to respond to why Ms. Coker should not take her seat on the Council.
The 20 Days and Litigation Strategy
Judge Jackson gave the City twenty days to respond. The clock began ticking on November 8. The twentieth day fell over the Thanksgiving Holiday. If the City wanted to wait until the last minute to file, it could have delayed until Monday, November 29, to file its response.
The Council needed to come up with some sort of strategy. Florida statutes allow the City Attorney to call for a strategy session behind closed doors. Some call it a "shade" meeting; others call it an executive session.
The meeting must be announced and requested at a Council meeting, and the attorney must state who is to attend.
City Attorney Koberlein is an experienced municipal attorney. He did not request the meeting on November 8. Instead, he stalled.
On
November 14, community activist Sylvester Warren
communicated by his Facebook page that the City
should keep the seat vacant by tying up Ms.
Coker in Court.
On November 15, seven days after the Judge’s order, City Attorney Koberlein, as an afterthought, mentions to the City Council that he needs a strategy session.
On November 16, eight days after the Judge's order, City Clerk Sikes advertises the "shade" meeting. She bollixed up the advertisement and ran a corrected version on November 17.
On November 18, Lake City's mainstream media and official newspaper, the Lake City Reporter (Lake City's version of Pravda), abandoned the rule of law.
Ignoring
the fact that Ms. Coker had met all the legal
requirements to fill the seat and that she was,
in fact, the City Council member from District
14, the paper’s management followed in the
footsteps of Community Activist Warren, opining
that the City should not fill the vacated seat.
On November 19, eleven days after Judge Jackson’s order, the City Council met in the “shade.” As usual, the City had trouble with its Youtube broadcast and the audio of the broadcast, missing the entirety of the last open session of the City Council.
Interim City Manager Mike Williams has allowed
second rate broadcasts of City meetings on the
City Youtube channel.
The City also changed its agenda during the meeting without voting to do it. City Attorney-Parliamentarian Koberlein was silent.
In what was claimed to be a 4-0 vote, the Council reached a consensus on fighting the lawsuit and hiring an outside attorney to represent the City. Florida statutes require a transcript of the "shade" meeting to be available after the litigation.
November 24, sixteen days after Judge Jackson's order to show cause and one day before the Thanksgiving Holiday, City Attorney Koberlein finally got around to filing court papers.
Mr. Koberlein filed two pleadings: one a motion to dissolve the temporary injunction, of which there was none, and one for an extension of time to answer the order, i.e., to respond to the Writ of Mandamus, showing why Ms. Coker should not take her seat on the City Council.
Motion for Extension of Time
Bogus arguments highlight City Attorney Koberlein's filings. The caption is the information at the top of court papers that states the parties.
The caption asking for an extension of time is from the wrong case. City Attorney Koberlein used the caption from Ms. Coker's "secret ballot" case instead of the "Writ." City Clerk Audrey Sikes, a named party in the "Writ" case, the case in which Mr. Koberlein was asking for an extension, is not named in the caption.
City Attorney Koberlein's argument that "Due to the statutory requirements necessary for the city council's holding of a litigation session meeting…a meeting to consider the documents served could not be conducted until November 19, 2021, at 3:00 P.M.," is wrong.
There are mechanisms that allow the City Council to hold special and emergency meetings and promptly take care of its business without excuses and stalling.
City Attorney Koberlein and the City Council missed Judge Jackson's 20-day requirement to show cause by dragging their feet, implementing stall tactics, and disrespecting the Court and its citizens.
City Attorney Fred Koberlein, Jr., is an announced candidate for circuit court judge. He claims to be an expert in municipal law. Fred Koberlein, Sr., is a member of the Koberlein law firm and a retired judge. Between the two of them, the City could have met Judge Jackson's 20-day deadline to respond.
City Attorney Koberlein states: “Petitioner would not be prejudiced by the granting of this Motion but does object to the extension of time requested.”
What is the City Attorney thinking? The City is asking for an extension of time, and Ms. Coker is objecting. She is expecting the City to comply with the twenty-day order.
City Attorney Koberlein states, “This motion is made in good faith and not for the purpose of delay.”
That remark is in the eye of the beholder. The City’s request is for an extension of time, sixteen days after an order that gave the City twenty days to answer the question: tell me why Befaithful Coker is not lawfully entitled to take her seat on the City Council.
72,000 People Directly Affected by the Vacant Seat
The City Council seat remains vacant. The City Charter requires it to be filled within sixty days after the vacancy.
A vacant City Council seat directly affects the 12,000 plus residents of Lake City. Because of its location and importance to Columbia County, another 60,000 thousand County residents, a total of 72,000 residents are affected directly, along with hundreds of thousands of people passing through Lake City every month.
Epilogue
Suwannee County Judge David W. Fina has been a circuit court judge since March of 2005; that is sixteen years.
He is presiding over a case, which at its heart concerns the rule of law at the roots of local government and asks the question: Is the Lake City City Council required to follow its Home Rule Charter and the laws of Florida?
The ball is now in Judge Fina’s courtroom. He will examine the law and the facts and come to a decision. Is Befaithful Coker a City Councilperson, or is she not?"
Lake City, Columbia County, and Florida are watching.
