Eustis, FL July 26, 2017
The Eustis City Council members just can't keep out of the dirt pile. Now three Eustis Buzzards will spend $320 to $450 per hour for three Jacksonville attorneys to conduct a witchhunt on conservative Councilman Anthony Sabatini over a question of his voting at his college rather than his home in Eustis.
Here are some of the other Eustis snafus in the last 3 years, with details on the new law investigation. The Eustis City Council just keeps digging a bigger hole for themselves. No wonder nearby retirement communities don't want to be annexed by them.
Overpaying for a building: In the past, the Eustis City Council used city funds to overpay to buy a local historic building, sell it for only $500 in a sweetheart deal to buddies of the past City Mayor, Michael Holland, then finance the deal with no monthly payments for a year.
Atheist Angst in Eustis over City Council Meeting Prayers - Then, following a Federal law, the City Council allowed an atheist group to give the opening prayer at a meeting. New Councilman Anthony Sabatini objected and gave a second prayer, aggravating liberal Council members.
The Great Eustis Annexation land and tax grab - The recently, the City Manager and Mayor started a campaign to annex resistant retirement communites eight miles outside of city limits, causing angry residents to vent at public hearings, and causing the County Board to vote 5 to 0 to not support the "land grab" to increase tax revenues.
The Latest Squabble - Costly investigation of election law: Now, recently, three liberal City Council members, Mayor Robert Morin, Vice Mayor Marie Aliberti, and member Carla Gnann found that new Council member Anthony Sabatini had voted last year in Tallahassee while a law student and running for the Council. His family has lived here for years, and Sabatini lives right in Eustis. But, as a novice, he apparently voted in Tallahassee, thus registered there, rather than being registered in Eustis and voting by absentee ballot.
Sabatini has resisted big government spending by Eustis and asks many questions of staff regarding spending, thus irking the three liberals.
As a consequence, on July 20, the Council had a vociferous meeting with squabbling on both sides and the three liberal Amigos voted to hire an expensive attorney to determine if Sabatini illegally ran for office. Watch the video HERE of the meeting yourself by scrolling ahead to the squabble segment at 2:23:50 . Notice that the fifth Council member, Linda Bob, supported Sabatini and said it was a stupid (my word) action and they should just drop legal action.
(Note: if you get an error saying it won't load, and use Chrome as your browser, Eustis is using propiretary video player software with obsolete technology (Flash) and you have to call the City Clerk, Mary Montez at 352-483-5430 like I did to find how to downgrade the security of Chrome to use their video player.)
Today, Sabatini sent me the attorney engagement letter, where the Jacksonville firm will charge hourly rates of $320, $420 and $450 depending on which attorney bills the time. Here it is:
Also, well respected Lake County Property Appraiser Carey Baker issued a Facebook statement supporting Sabatini and calling for the three Amigos to drop the lawsuit. He said:
Carey Baker
Yesterday at 2:34pm ·(July 25, 2017)
Please share this:
As a Eustis resident I am officially demanding that Eustis Mayor Robert Morin and Vice-Mayor Marie Aliberti rescind their vote to spend scarce tax payers dollars on hiring an attorney to investigate City Councilman Anthony Sabatini over his residency status. Anthony grew up in Eustis, graduated from Eustis High where he served as Student Body President, graduated UF and the UF Law School. He is an officer in the Army National Guard and he is the Executive Officer of our hometown Eustis Infantry/Heavy Weapons Company. He lives one block from our Town Hall and works for our State Attorney's office in Tavares. He is everything we as a community could ask of one of our own. I stand with Anthony!!!
So, keep an eye on how much Eustis will spend on this political witchhunt.
It is time Eustis voters registered their dismay over this nonsense with the Three Amigos.
Be sure to comment and share this with those who need to know what is happening in Eustis and Lake County, FL.
Vance Jochim
FiscalRangers.com
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