- April 26, 2024
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Out of a batch of four firms, the Palm Coast City Council has moved forward with a St. Augustine-based law firm with a Flagler Beach office.
The firm, Douglas Law Firm, was established in 2013 and has 12 attorneys on staff. Of those, attorney Marcus Duffy, a Flagler County native who served for six years as a United States Air Force Judge Advocate General attorney, would be the lead attorney for Palm Coast, with two others serving as his support.
The council unanimously chose to continue negotiations with Douglas over the other law firms.
The city still needs to negotiate the contract with Douglas Law Firm and will return to a future City Council meeting with a contract for the council's approval.
Douglas was one of four firms who applied for the position. The others were Fishback Dominick Attorneys and Counselors at Law, based in Winter Park, GrayRobinson, a firm with offices across Florida, and Vose Law Firm, also based in Winter Park. Fishback withdrew from consideration before the March 2 meeting.
Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri asked all the attorneys who presented at a Feb. 21 special workshop whether or not they represented any developers. Douglas firm partner Jeremiah Blocker said the firm did not.
The firm pitched a monthly flat-rate fee of up to $30,000. When asked if a roll-over of funds could be installed — say, Pontieri said, the city only bills for $25,000 one month and wants to add the remaining $5,000 to the following month — Blocker said that is something the firm can do and has done with other contracts.
Pontieri said at the March 2 meeting that the $30,000 proposed by the Douglas firm was "pretty on par" with the $29,000-$30,000 the city had been paying monthly for the last several years.
The contract proposal also listed an hourly fee of $250 per hour, but, Blocker said, that would is a contingency if the firm needs to draw in other lawyers for large litigation.
Duffy told the council on Feb. 21 that the law firm has experience with multiple government contracts across multiple counties.
Pontieri said at the March 2 council meeting that she wanted to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest. Vose represents the city of Bunnell and GrayRobinson, during the workshop, said the firm does handle development contracts, though those are handled by separate attorneys.
"For me, the Douglas firm didn't present that," she said. "...I just want to avoid any potential conflicts of interest."
