PIE Hires a Lawyer

At the PIE. Annual Membership Meeting held on January 2nd, the P.I.E. Board was directed in a nearly unanimous motion to hire an attorney to fight the granting of the application by Environmental Utilities, Inc. to provide sewer service to the Island.  

On January 11th the Board of Directors met and discussed the issue. Board member Theresa Blanco, an attorney from PA, had been investigating possible lawyers in Tampa to hire for representation to PSC. PIE member Jeff Provost mentioned contacting Susan F. Clark of Radey Law Firm, a former PSC Commissioner. She referred him to D. Bruce May at Holland & Knight.  

PIE already had an informal Action Committee who had been working in opposition to EU's application for several weeks. Following the Board meeting, the committee met and determined that the best value and and quality lawyer to hire was Kelsky Law Firm in Plantation, FL. Kelsky Law is the same counsel representing the Cape Haze POA. Here are the reasons behind the decision:

1. Cost savings. CHPOA agreed to permit Kelsky to represent both PIE and CHPOA as clients.  The two associations will share equally (50% each) in all costs that are joint expenses related to the case, including the cost of expert witnesses.  Any costs that are specific to PIE will be billed separately.  When combined, our retainer added to the CHPOA retainer should give us a good amount of mileage in this case.  In addition, we have the advantage of not having to pay to bring a lawyer “up to speed” on the particulars of the docket item.
2. Strength in numbers. Whether or not the subtleties of CHPOA’s position with respect to central sewer align with ours, the purpose of the current exercise is to stop Environmental Utilities, LLC from being certified in this area.  Coming together under the same roof has the advantage of not only providing a united front, but also sharing resources and expertise to be found in each association.
3. Best Option: We investigated several suggestions. One was an Tom Crabb, an attorney at Radey Law firm who works closely with Susan F. Clark. Theresa Blanco contacted Truett Gardner from Gardner-Brewer-Martinez-Monfort in Tampa.  These large law firms frequently represent the developers and utility companies in these issues and are not inclined to take on "the opposition". Besides, their hourly rates are staggering.

Brad Kelsky is a referral from William Dahms, VP of the Cape Haze POA.  He has been counsel for the "Friends of Cape Haze" for many years. The POA has used his services twice before on both infrastructure and Comprehensive Plan issues in opposition to Charlotte County.  Both times they prevailed.

PIE Board member Theresa Blanco had a screening call with Mr. Kelsky – attorney to attorney – and was comfortable with our choice.  The Board President then spoke with him and was satisfied with his willingness to work with our own committee for research purposes to keep costs down. Mr. Kelsky gets high grades from his peers for ethics.

The President signed an agreement with Kelsky Law on January 25th. Mr. Kelsky then filed a formal "Notice of Appearance" on Monday, February 1st. He is listed in the docket summary as representing Cape Haze POA and PIE.