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<br /> <br />City of Sunny Isles Beach <br />18070 Collins Avenue, Suite 250 <br />Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 33160 <br /> <br />(305) 947-0606 City Hall <br />(305) 949-3 1 1 3 Fax <br />(305) 947-2150 Building Department <br />(305) 947-5107 Fax <br /> <br />City Commission <br />Norman S. Edelcup, Mayor <br />Lewis Thaler, Vice Mayor <br />Isaac Aelion, Commissioner <br />Jeanette Gatto, Commissioner <br />George "Bud" Scholl, Commissioner <br /> <br />Jorge Vera, Acting City Manager <br />Hans Ottinot, City Attorney <br />Jane A. Hines, CMC, City Clerk <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: The Honorable City Commission <br /> <br />FROM: Hans Ottinot, City Attorney <br /> <br />DATE: February 23,2011 <br /> <br />RE: Resolution Authorizing Payment of Experts Costs and Attorneys Fees in the <br />Eminent Domain Action for property located at 215-255 Sunny Isles Blvd. <br /> <br />Recommendation: <br /> <br />This Resolution is presented for your approval. <br /> <br />Reasons: <br /> <br />In January 2010, the City acquired the property located at 215-255 Sunny Isles Boulevard via <br />eminent domain. Under Florida's eminent domain law, the City is required to pay all costs and <br />attorney's fees for the owners. Through a contested fee hearing, the City was able to reduce the <br />amount of expert costs and fees requested by three law firms. <br /> <br />As indicated in the attached, the City was able to significantly reduce the amount of fees <br />requested by the law firms by contesting the requested fees. A total savings of $201,884.76 is <br />reflected in the attached table. If we include an estimated $50,000.00 as cost incurred by the City <br />to hire the appropriate experts to contest the fees, a net savings of$151,884.76 is realized. Please <br />note that acquiring the property by eminent domain is a costly endeavor under Florida law <br />because the condemning authority is required to pay for costs and attorneys fees. Please note that <br />the City has already paid the majority of the fees approved for the law firm of Hicks and <br />Schreiber. <br /> <br />~-DtJ ~ k? <br />Agenda Item I D I "\ <br />Date ~ - ?. '?:> - 11- <br />