Commissioner says Jerry Coleman needs oversight A Monroe County commissioner wants the staff to oversee an affordable housing consultant who has charged the county about $200,000 a year for the past two years. Commissioner George Neugent wants to limit the amount the county pays Key West attorney Jerry Coleman, who has been paid $406,232 since March 2005 to advise the Workforce Housing Task Force and to work with the staff on affordable projects, leases and ordinances. Neugent also wants to limit the scope of Coleman’s work and give greater control of his billable hours to Growth Management Director Andrew Trivette and County Attorney Suzanne Hutton. Coleman’s contract is for work on affordable housing projects, but his invoices show charges for other subjects. For example, he charged for advising Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro on wastewater issues and for working on issues related to the Marine Resources Department and Navy Air Installation Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ), which dictate where development should occur around military bases. Hutton forced Coleman to omit the charges for wastewater research because the county has another attorney handling sewer issues, she wrote in an e-mail to Coleman. “There is no oversight,” Neugent said. “I want to put a stop to this. This situation has gotten out of control. It’s like ‘Girls Gone Wild,’ but it’s lawyers gone wild. We could hire an attorney for $100,000 a year who specializes in this. We are spending all of this money on this attorney who has free rein. It is disruptive to the growth management and planning departments.” Neugent wants to discuss the matter at the board meeting in December, a month before Coleman’s hourly rate increases from $350 to $500, according to his contract. The increase comes as the county is in a budget crisis, partly brought on by the state Legislature limiting the amount the county can collect in property taxes. County Administrator Tom Willi and the County Commission have begun monthly meetings with department heads to cut expenses, starting with the Community Services Division, which oversees libraries, animal control and shelters and social services. That department, for example, was asked to cut $400,000, which could mean program reductions and closing the Islamorada, Marathon and Key Largo libraries one day a week. Neugent remarked that if the county wanted to save $400,000 it could cut Coleman from the budget. The commissioner said he has become increasingly concerned about Coleman’s invoices. The most recent batch, from October 2006 to October 2007, totaled $214,677, county records show. Coleman billed the county $8,925 for June, $24,255 for July and $12,278 for August, including matters not directly tied to affordable housing. For example, he billed the county $2,695 in July for nine separate telephone calls, meetings and research dealing with the state’s proposal for the county to collect all information on needed wastewater projects in the Florida Keys. The invoices included $1,085 in charges for “advice and consulting” on wastewater projects for Di Gennaro and $525 for online research and a phone call with Di Gennaro. Di Gennaro acknowledged he contacted Coleman for advice. Coleman argues the wastewater projects are tied to affordable housing because the state is requiring homeowners, including low- and middle-income families, to pay thousands of dollars in hookup and infrastructure costs to connect to a central sewer system. Coleman charged the county $70 to return a message from Assistant County Attorney Bob Schillinger regarding the Marine Resources Department and the county being in an Area of Critical State Concern. He also billed the county $70 for an email exchange between himself and the Navy about the AICUZ. Coleman said he is comfortable with the county cutting his position or curbing his hours if the board deems it necessary to help the budget. “Everything has to be on the table,” Coleman said of budget cuts. “If things have to be cut, I am fine with not working for the county.” Di Gennaro on Friday praised Coleman’s work and called him a “top-gun expert” in the field of land-use law. “We should cut back certain things, but we should not cut a nickel that will cost us a dollar,” Di Gennaro said. “I want experts so we can move forward, and Jerry is an expert.” Coleman said he successfully lobbied the state for $1.75 million in Florida Finance Housing Corp. grants for construction of 18 affordable units on Big Coppitt Key, which Habitat for Humanity is building. He also drafted 99-year leases for the Park Village affordable housing project on Stock Island and the Sea Grape low- and very low-income apartments in Marathon. The leases gave assurances to banks that allowed them to approve the mortgages. The lease will be the model for the Islander affordable housing project on Stock Island and could be used for other affordable housing projects in the future, Coleman said.