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Treasure Island looking for legal cover against causeway lawsuits

 
Published Dec. 14, 2016

TREASURE ISLAND — City commissioners, afraid of possible lawsuits if a toll is reinstated on the Treasure Island causeway, are seeking a binding legal opinion.

Commissioners recently voted unanimously to get an outside legal opinion on whether charging a causeway toll is legal in light of past promises to the late U.S. Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young.

Young helped the city receive a $50 million federal grant to replace the drawbridge in exchange for assurances that a bridge toll would be removed.

In the early 2000s, the city had received a grant to replace the two smaller bridges, which are part of the causeway, but had planned to replace the drawbridge with a combination of funds from tolls and bonds.

When the city received the money through a 2004 federal appropriations bill, city commissioners removed the toll in 2006.

In 2015, when the city began seriously looking at funding sources to cover the escalating maintenance costs of the causeway, it received a legal analysis from Williams Law Group and Clary Consulting in Tallahassee that there were no legal obstacles to reinstituting the toll.

But Commissioner Larry Lunn suggested at a recent commission meeting that the city needs a binding opinion that could withstand legal challenges.

"We need outside legal counsel to give us an opinion because we don't need a lawsuit," he said.

Other commissioners who said they favored using tolls to pay for bridge maintenance agreed, including Commissioner Ken Keys, who admitted he was going back on his campaign promise not to support a bridge toll.

Keys said having a toll seems the only revenue source available aside from raising property taxes.

The city is contacting former state Department of Transportation general counsel Thornton Williams, who helped with the 2015 legal analysis, to see if he would write a legal opinion.

City Manager Reid Silverboard said he was assured by officials with the Federal Highway Administration that there was no legal reason that prevents a toll from being placed on the bridge.

The city paid less than $10,000 for the analysis and Silverboard said he was told then that a legal opinion would cost around $25,000.

The city has entered into a contract with Atkins North America to do a feasibility study and financial plan for the causeway.

Commissioners and residents have balked at the idea of spending $295,000 on the contract, which includes $57,000 for "public engagement" — providing information and seeking opinions from residents through social media, websites and meetings.

Mayor Robert Minning said the city has not been able to get help from other government bodies to pay for bridge maintenance or take over jurisdiction of the causeway.

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"It's ours, it's not going anywhere, so let's get on with finding a way to fund it," he said.