It was announced at the beginning of the workshop on Monday, October 4, that the City Attorney, Jeff Sullivan, had given his 30 day notice to resign. The Council Members stated that there were no hard feelings and they wished him well.
It seemed recently, the City Officials had been advised by Mr. Sullivan to seek outside council on several occasions because many issues the city had been faced with he said were outside his realm of expertise. Understandably, with the numerous lawsuits against the City lately, that seat might have gotten pretty hot. Maybe Mr. Sullivan, being an insider and knowing the state the city was in, was already getting his ducks in a row to turn in his resignation. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall, saw this ship is sinking, and decided to bail out while he still could. What do you think???
IT'S TO BAD POLK CITY DOES NOT VIDEO RECORD THE MEETINGS. THE CITY ATTORNEY'S BODY LANGUAGE SAID IT ALL. HE WAS DIEING TO GET OUT. I HOPE WHO EVER THEY HIRE NEXT IS FRIENDLIER AND SITS UP STRAIGHT.
ReplyDeleteMy question is why would the City use a personal injury attorney instead of a municipal attorney or at least someone affiliated with the IMLA, International Municipal Lawyers Association; below you will find qualifications of Mr Sullivan from the Stidham & Stidham, PA website.
ReplyDeleteJEFFREY SULLIVAN
Jeff is an associate with the firm. Born and raised in central Massachusetts, Jeff attended the University of Miami and graduated with a degree in History and Political Science in 1991. Jeff then received his Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1994.
Jeff moved to Polk County in January, 1995, and began his legal career as a law clerk/staff attorney for the Judges of the Felony Division for the Tenth Judicial Circuit in Bartow. In 1997, Jeff was hired by the Office of the Public
Defender in Bartow. He practiced in the criminal appellate division for six months and then moved into the felony trial division. During his tenture at the Public Defender's Office, Jeff argued several criminal appeals before the Second District Court of Appeals and participated in numerous felony trials.
In April, 1998, Jeff became an associate with Stidham & Stidham, P.A. In addition to acting as co-counsel with Jonathan Stidham on a majority of the firm's complex injury and wrongful death cases, Jeff maintains his own caseload consisting of personal injury, criminal defense, and commercial litigation files.
Jeff is licensed to practice in all three U.S. District Courts in Florida, and is a member of the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Polk County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and is a Barrister in the Willson American Inn of Court. jsullivan@stidhamlawyers.com
He probably figured that he was going to be laid off in downsizing anyway.
ReplyDeleteWell if you knew anything as for why he resigned after speaking with him he was leaving due to family reasons. He has a child that plays sports and with the city meetings on Tuesdays he could not be there for his child.
ReplyDeletePeople learn your facts!
SOMETIMES WORK TAKES PRECEDENT.IF YOU WANT TO EAT AND HAVE NICE THINGS YOU HAVE TO PUT WORK FIRST.
ReplyDeleteBrian for some people work may take precedent but for others FAMILY is first and for most of the people in the CITY OF POLK CITY- they are about family.
ReplyDeleteIts just kills me how these concerned citizens post so "little" information and yet leave out the facts that are there.