COMMENTARY

Transactional attorney Rick Miller asked attorneys working for the FMPA to withhold some correspondence from Vero Beach officials.

MARK SCHUMANN

FPL spokesperson, Amy Brunjes, has repeatedly claimed representatives of the Florida Municipal Power Agency have been unwilling to meet with Florida Power & Light personnel.  Public records reveal a different story.  For example, on Feb. 12, 2013, during negotiations on the necessity of seeking a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service on a particularly complex aspect of the proposed sale, FMPA Assistant General Counsel, Jody Finklea, wrote to Vero Beach’s transactional attorney, Rick Miller, making it clear FPL’s participation was necessary.

“We are also waiting to hear from you, as to when you and OUC’s (Orlando Utilities Commission) tax counsel will be ready to talk with FMPA’s tax counsel on the private letter ruling request.  We believe that FPL will also be a necessary party to these tax discussions, particularly in light of the option agreement between OUC and FPL on Turkey Point Unites 6 and 7,” Finkleia wrote, adding, “We will also be interested to hear from you as to your thoughts on when to bring FPL into these tax discussions.”

Addressing Vero Beach’s contingent liabilities with three separate FMPA power projects, Finkleia wrote to Miller, “It may also be appropriate to include FPL in this discussion, but we will have to be guided by your thoughts on this.”

Finkleia concluded his Feb. 12, 2013 letter agreeing to honor Miller’s request not to copy City officials on the communications.

Transactional attorney Rick Miller asked attorneys working for the FMPA to withhold some correspondence from Vero Beach officials.

Miller replied, “As to FPL involvement on tax issues, I know they have stood ready to participate in discussions, though for that to be helpful, some of the other items just mentioned (OUC’s involvement and participation by PA Consulting) need to be in place.”

Miller then assured Finklea his request to limit communications with Vero Beach staff was only in an effort to avoid having information presented “in a confusing and partial way.”

Inside Vero has begun to review the written record of communications between the City, its transactional attorneys and the FMPA regarding the private use issue. An initial reading of the email correspondence suggests FPL’s frequently repeated claim that the FMPA has only sought to delay and obstruct the sale simply does not square with the written record.

For example, in a presentation before the Indian River County Commission last Tuesday, Brunjes claimed FPL abandoned an early structure for the sale because the FMPA would control the wording of any request to the IRS for a ruling on the tax issues of the sale.  A Feb. 5, 2013 email from Finkleia to Miller appears to contradict Brunjes’ claim, for he indicates the drafting of any letter to the IRS would need to be a “collaborative” effort of tax counsel for the City, the FMPA, the OUC.  Finkleia wrote, “Our expectation is that after the next call among counsel for Vero Beach, FMPA, and the OUC, we will be able to commission the tax counsel to work together to draft a private letter ruling request without the need for input and inclusion of the large group of attorneys for the parties, assuming all parties are on the same page.”

Brunjes and her colleagues at FPL charge that the many delays in the negotiations have been the fault of the FMPA.  That accusation also ppears not to be true.  On April 19, Finkleia wrote to Miller, “Following our last call on the IRS private letter ruling request on February 1, you had suggested that a follow-up call would occur after you coordinated with OUC in March.  However, pursuant to your earlier direction, as Rick and I have discussed this week, you have needed more time to coordinate on the Vero Beach-OUC side, consequently, we have not yet held that discussion.”

On April 15, Finklea wrote to FMPA General Counsel, Fred Bryant, reporting on a conversation with Miller.  “Rick said that Vero is ‘still measuring things’ with regard to the tax issues, and still needed to deal with the OUC.  He said that they hadn’t done a good job on their side coordinating, but that things were moving.  He asked that we propose dates for the next tax call after the first week of May.”

According that written record, Vero Beach staff and the City’s transactional attorneys spent several months “measuring things” with regard to the tax issues of the sale, yet Brunjes and her FPL colleagues are attempting to fix blame on the FMPA for the drawn-out negotiations.

Brunjes also told the County Commission the FMPA has done nothing but throw up one obstacle after another in an effort to thwart the sale. Finklea’s April 19 email to Miller and his colleague, John Igoe, also seems to contradict Bunjes’ claim, repeated again Sunday by Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers columnist, Russ Lemmon, that the FMPA has obstructed the sale.  It is widely known that Brunjes, FPL’s External Affairs Manager, is married to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspaper Publisher Bob Brunjes, but it is not as well known that Ms. Brunjes once worked for Scripps.

Regarding the transactional attorneys’ request for yet another teleconference, Finklea wrote, “I also believe it would be more productive to have an in-person meeting to discuss not only the private elector ruling request, but to also pursue a work list of the other matters that need to be addressed…”

Public statements made by FPL representatives late last summer and in the early fall clearly suggested smooth sailing ahead for the sale. As it turns out, and even as Councilman Craig Fletcher now admits, some seem to have known all along there would be a grater price to pay than was revealed to voters last March.

In retrospect, it is becoming clear the three Council members who signed the purchase and sale agreement, along with the transactional attorneys and FPL strategists, knew the contract placed before voters last March was far short of a fully negotiated agreement.

Through a well-orchestrated  public relations campaign, threats of litigation, and Rep. Debbie Mayfield’s proposed utility legislation, they had hoped to force the FMPA to cave to Vero Beach’s demands for contract concessions that could ultimately put at risk FMPA’s bondholders. In this way, Vero Beach’s pro-sale advocators and FPL’s negotiators are acting like selfish adolescents. They want what they want, and for them it is as simple as that.