On Feb. 5 the Sarasota City Commission will discuss whether to pay a $7,500 retainer to a lawyer to defend Commissioner Kyle Battie in a potential lawsuit from a Sarasota resident.
In short, it’s alleged that Battie added an item to a recent city meeting with the intention of calling out the resident on a Facebook post – and also to assert that it was racist in nature.
More: An offensive post stirs anger in City Hall. It should spur some straight talk in Sarasota.
The resident has stated that they had nothing to do with posting the material on social media, and that the post was a crude hoax carried out by other parties. In response to Battie’s public comments, the resident has retained a lawyer, who has notified the city of his client’s intention to sue.
What has any of this to do with the taxpayers of Sarasota? The answer is nothing, except that they will be asked to spend the tax dollars that may be necessary to defend Battie.
I like Kyle Battie, but I believe he made a couple of mistakes on this.