TAMPA — City Council individuals will be told about federal and state civil rights investigations, however there’s a catch: They can’t inform any individual.
City Attorney Andrea Zelman presented “a workable compromise” to council individuals Thursday, who had complained that that they had been stored at midnight a few U.S. Department of Justice probe that started in December 2021. They didn’t know about it till Mayor Jane Castor discussed it at a news convention the next April. The federal company was once investigating the Police Department’s crime-free housing program, through which landlords have been inspired to evict tenants who have been arrested.
City officers are involved that publicizing an ongoing investigation may go away town susceptible to court cases, scare away witnesses and obstruct the facility of investigators to assemble proof.
As a normal rule, Zelman mentioned, “you don’t litigate a case in public.”
She instructed that council individuals be notified in one-on-one conferences with town officers. They would signal an settlement on the briefing to not reveal the information.
Council member Bill Carlson mentioned the compromise was once a “good solution” and thanked Zelman for devising it.
Council individuals requested Zelman to convey again a solution for a last vote on April 20.
During the dialogue, Zelman, who was once deputy town legal professional when the Justice Department investigation started, mentioned she didn’t find out about it till months later.
The best town staff who did know have been phase of a small group that needed to collect information to reply to investigators, she mentioned.
Notifying council individuals about investigations whilst requiring them to not inform any individual was once the easiest way to stability Florida’s open-records regulation and the confidentiality of investigations, Zelman mentioned. No council member disagreed.