COMMENTARY
MARK SCHUMANN
Just three days in advance of the City Council’s deliberations over whether to appeal a 3-2 decision of the Code Enforcement Board that many fear could open the floodgates to unlimited and unregulated short-term rentals, an attorney representing Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll and her husband, John, wrote what can only be characterized as a threatening letter to City Attorney Wayne Coment.
After dispensing with the formalities of expressing his pleasure in representing the Carrolls, Thomas Tierney of the law firm Rossway Moore Swan, put Coment on notice that if the Council appealed the CEB decision to the circuit courts, he would, on behalf of the Carrolls, sue to recover attorneys’ fees. “PLEASE BE ADVISED ACCORDINGLY,” Tierney wrote.
Tierney asserted that an appeal by the Council would be “completely unsupported by existing law,” and thus “frivolous.” Further, the Vice Mayor’s lawyer implied any such action by the Council could only be seen as an effort “ to assuage political pressure.”
Tierney’s argument against an appeal was about as tenuous as the case he presented to the CEB, and hardly justified his bold prediction that the CEB’s 3-2 ruling “will not be reversed on appeal.”
One can never know for certain how the courts will rule, but it would be a stretch to expect that judicious minds could conclude the City’s case is “frivolous.”
The City’s legal bill for defending a code which helps protect the quality of life in Vero Beach could well reach $50,000. It is a shame the City cannot sue for recovery of damages.
All of this drama and expense could have been avoided, of course, if the Carrolls had simply paid a $50 fine and stopped thumbing their noses at a well-established and long-standing interpretation of City code.
Indian River Guardian 
Turn about is fair play. If the city wins the case, the city should sue the Carrolls. No one ever said the Carrolls lacked brazenness, but what they do lack is a sense of right and wrong. Combine this with avarice and uncontrolled scorn for the citizens of Vero Beach and we find ourselves in a legal battle that is totally unnecessary. If need be the city should appeal all the way to the US Supreme Court. That’s how important this issue is to our way of life.
I agree with Frank Manas. I also believe that either way the court decides, we should take up a collection and buy the Carrolls one-way bus tickets back to their previous location. Their arrogance and disregard for the rest of us living in the City of Vero Beach does not fit in with the previously-friendly atmosphere here.
I find their elitist and entitled attitudes alarming and appalling, to say the least. How did she get into her position to begin with? Some others either agree with her completely or had no idea what she was truly like for this to have come about…
I find it incredulous that Ms Carroll, being engaged in an adversarial legal battle with the City she is supposed to represent, has the unmitigated gall to remain on the City Council. I have no dog in this particular fight but this is just another reminder of why we relocated out of Vero some years ago.