Sarasota City Commissioner Kyle Battie faces an impending lawsuit after he accused a local activist of making a racist social media post, one that Battie angrily shared with the commission at a recent meeting. The post turned out to be a hoax.
City Attorney Robert Fournier plans to schedule a discussion of the city’s options going forward at the commission’s next meeting Feb. 5. If Battie must retain legal counsel to handle the lawsuit, the commission will need to determine whether he was acting in his official capacity as an elected official when he made the comments and if the city would reimburse him for his legal fees, according to city spokeswoman Jan Thornburg.
The activist Battie publicly accused of racism, Kelly Franklin, declined to comment to the Herald-Tribune. Her attorney, Richard Harrison, sent a letter to Fournier, Mayor Liz Alpert and City Manager Marlon Brown on Monday indicating an intent to sue.
“We will be instituting appropriate legal action on behalf of Ms. Franklin against Commissioner Battie in due course,” said the letter.