Town selects new attorney
At Monday’s meeting, the Fort Myers Beach Town Council picked a new attorney.
It’s the third attorney the council has had since 2016.
After agreeing to rebid the attorney contract earlier this year, the town got five applicants, including the current firm, Peterson Law Group, after issuing a request for proposals July 1. One of the applicants withdrew Aug. 14.
After interviewing each candidate in one-on-one meetings, the council convened in the Chambers to interview the candidates together.
Then, the council members ranked their choices. The contract was awarded to the Dye, Harrison, Kirkland, Petruff, Pratt & St. Paul, PLLC, located in Bradenton.
The town’s main attorney from this firm will be Thomas Thanas.
Thanas currently helps to represent Holmes Beach, and has represented St. Leo and the Manatee County School District. Council Member Anita Cereceda asked if the commute would be a problem – but Thanas said no, because he lived in the Chicago area for years where it could take two hours to go 30 miles.
He’d be attending all council meetings, as well as being present at the Local Planning Agency’s monthly meetings, and will set up office hours at Town Hall.
“A lot of the things I’ve been dealing with in Holmes Beach will translate quite well.
Code enforcement, environmental issues, short term rentals, trying to balance your community between residential issues that arise, and the commercial issues,” he said. “Obviously both are thriving in your community and there’s a balancing act the council must perform.”
The town will be his primary client, but he will still be working with his colleagues at his firm to provide “background” support when needed, he said.
Details of the Dye Harrison submitted proposal – and the other proposals – were under the cone of silence until Monday. Further details of the proposals could not be obtained before press time Tuesday.
In December 2016, town attorney Dawn Lehnert resigned. In January 2017, the town hired the Peterson Law Group after receiving only one applicant for the request for proposals. Town Manager Roger Hernstadt, current attorney Jack Peterson and new attorney Thanas agreed there would be a transitionary period to bring him up to date with the legal issues the town is working on.