No audit for holiday light legal bill to city
Plantation’s fight against one of South Florida’s biggest Christmas displays will cost $30,000 less than expected. But there’s a catch.
The reduced bill means the city won’t hire an auditor to determine whether the charges – nearly a halfmillion dollars – were justified in the first place.
Residents and elected of-
ficials began asking for the legal bills to be reviewed about a year ago after the city sued over the display at the home of Mark and Kathy Hyatt, contending that the attraction created a public nuisance.
The Hyatts prevailed in court in 2016 when a circuit court judge said Plantation’s attorneys failed to prove their claims.
The legal bills, including work before the litigation, reached nearly $475,251, according to the city clerk’s office.
To resolve the city’s legal bill concerns, City Attorney Don Lunny Jr. told the city he would adjust the bill as a courtesy. “We’re doing this because we’re being asked to do it,” he said.
The firm doesn’t acknowledge any “fault or liability or wrongdoing,” he said.
He has 30 days — until the end of April — to pay the bill.
Lunny had initially proposed a $22,000 refund. But at a recent meeting, City Council member Lynn Stoner took some exception to Lunny’s reasoning for his offer.
“You’re digging a hole,” Stoner told him. “You’ve had over a year to come back and save us from all these processes. There’s been no goodwill gesture on your part or from your firm in a year.”
Lunny then increased his offer, telling the council that if his partners at Brinkley Morgan reject the $30,000 compromise, he’ll pay it himself.
“I’m willing to make up the difference to make it happen,” he said.
Lunny did not respond to two emails this week inquiring whether he has paid the tab. The city hasn’t yet said whether he has paid it.
For years, the Hyatts’ massive interactive display on the front lawn of their Plantation Acres home has drawn throngs of people.
After neighbors pleaded for relief, the city took the Hyatts to court in hopes of scaling back the display or even ending it. Its features have included an estimated 200,000 lights, a 30-foot tree and even a Ferris wheel for stuffed animals.
Various years have featured a live Santa, a live “reindeer” and dance troupes. Volunteers snap photos of families posing by life-size statues and parents snap photos of their children near lit-up gingerbread men.
Council member Jerry Fadgen said that although the public now won’t ever know if there were billing problems from the lawsuit, the deal with the law firm is “probably the more expedient way of disposing of the matter.”
The council had agreed to put the audit out for bid, but city officials recently said that three firms were rejected because they didn’t have enough years of experience or didn’t turn in the proper paperwork.
Fadgen said an audit could have cost taxpayers at least $20,000 “and the results might not have even been conclusive. At least this way both parties have some agreement ... and we get some adjustment of very large legal bills.”
Still, he voted against the refund, saying, “It wasn’t enough.”
Mark Hyatt became a City Council member after the legal victory. He told the South Florida Sun Sentinel the display will continue this upcoming holiday season.