District will pay $120K to lawyer in Boca golf deal

A Boca-area park district has agreed to pay its lawyer’s legal fees for brokering a golf course deal — undeterred by the mayor’s question over whether the payment is ethical.

Commissioners for the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District unanimously voted to pay the lawyer Arthur Koski his $120,000 bill for brokering the $24 million deal to buy the Ocean Breeze Golf Course.

Koski, who also is the district’s interim director, said he had based his fee on the sale price instead of charging his hourly rate, saying he wanted to offer the district a lower price for his work.

Boca Mayor Susan Haynie had questioned the payment, sending the district a letter saying the fee should pass county and state ethics codes before it was paid. The billing method raised an issue of whether Koski had reason to negotiate a higher price than necessary.

But a request for an ethics opinion never happened and no one from the city or the public spoke on the legal fees during a meeting Monday.

Koski called the whole issue “a misunderstanding.” And he said he’s not an employee, so he’s not subject to ethics codes that govern directors.

Also at Monday’s meeting, Koski said it was time for him to step aside as interim director.

“Five years is too long,” he said about his tenure.

Koski told the board he would provide a job description at the next meeting. He said he had a mild stroke in February.

“I can’t said.

The city of Boca Raton got involved in the golf course sale by approving the price. It loaned the district $21 million to buy the 27-hole course in Boca Teeca, with plans to make do this forever,” he