The Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. (CTDC) and a group of individual citizens announced today that they have filed new counts in their ongoing lawsuit challenging the right of the Jacksonville government to enter into a 19 to 25 year, multi-hundred million dollar, no-bid contract extension with Waste Management to operate the City’s Trail Ridge landfill and future waste disposal technology.

Specifically, they have amended the complaint filed last year against the City of Jacksonville and the City Council to request that the Court declare the passage of Ordinance 2010-217 to be both illegal and void. The several grounds asserted include multiple City and Council violations of Florida’s open government meeting (“Sunshine”) law.

The lawsuit further seeks to protect the public interest by asking the Court to force the City to correct violations of the public records law, which require government and officials to make records available to every citizen for review and copying. The City has failed to create and provide minutes of a public meeting (related to Trail Ridge), and refused to make a Council member’s records of the official business use of his cell phone available to the public.

A press conference will be held at 12:00 noon on Thursday, June 3, 2010, in front of the Jacksonville City Hall, 117 West Duval Street, Jacksonville, Florida, by Victor Wilhelm, President of the CTDC, and John Winkler, lead attorney for the Plaintiffs.

The Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. is a not for profit corporation and nonpartisan political committee dedicated to serving the community as a watchdog group, using public information to oppose corruption, waste, and “Sunshine Law” violations in government. Additional information is available from the author of this press release, immediate past president John Winkler, who can be reached at 904-384-9918.

Below is a summary of the amended complaint. You can view the entire complaint here.

Paragraphs 1 to 5 briefly explain why the suit exists and the relief requested

Paragraphs 6 to 11 are jurisdictional and standing allegations

Paragraphs 12 to 20 are the early history of the City’s dealings with WM and Trail Ridge

Paragraphs 21 to 39 are the history of the Mayor’s attempted deal with Waste Management, the subsequent Waste Management vs. the City litigation, and the 2010-217 “settlement”

There are 15 individual counts:

COUNT ONE

Violation of Sunshine Law F.S. §286.011(2)and/or F.S. §119.07 for Failure to Record Minutes of Trail Ridge Oversight Special Committee Meeting of November 4, 2009

COUNT TWO

Violation of Sunshine Law (F.S. §286.011(8)(a)) – SHADE MEETING of November 24, 2009 — exceeding permissible scope of meeting [transcript attached as Exh. 17]

COUNT THREE

Violation of Sunshine Law (F.S. § 286.011(8)(a)) – SHADE MEETING OF MARCH 9, 2010 — exceeding permissible scope of meeting [transcript attached as Exh. 18]

COUNT FOUR

Violation of Sunshine Law (F.S. §286.011(8)(a)) – SHADE MEETING OF MARCH 15, 2010 — exceeding permissible scope of meeting[transcript attached as Exh. 19]

COUNT FIVE

Violation of Sunshine Law – unlawful shade consideration of $486,000 in noise abatement actions in lawsuits against third party, and subsequent incorporation into “litigation settlement”

COUNT SIX

Violation of Sunshine Law – unlawful shade consideration of $7.2 million in City claims against non-party, not in litigation, and subsequent incorporation into “litigation settlement”

COUNT SEVEN

Violation of Sunshine Law – use of shade meetings to evade open meetings law and improper incorporation of extraneous matters into “litigation settlement”

COUNT EIGHT

Violation of Sunshine Law and voting conflicts statutes (F.S. §286.012, F.S.§112.311, §112.313; F.A. §112.3143(3)(a)) by Councilman Ray Holt and Councilman Dr. Johnny Gaffney

COUNT NINE

Violation of Sunshine Law (F.S.§286.012) by Councilman Art Graham on Ordinance 2010-217 (failure to vote on bill)

COUNT TEN

Failure to waive Ordinance Code §126.105- failure to submit to the Planning and Development Department

COUNT ELEVEN

Failure to comply with Ordinance Code § 106.215 (2/3 vote of Council needed)

COUNT TWELVE

Public records law violation –refusal to provide Holt’s cell phone records

COUNT THIRTEEN

Violation of Sunshine Law (F.S. §286.011) ILLEGAL MEETING(S) of May 24-25, 2010 – C/M Clark and C/M Joost in re: Council president’s election

COUNT FOURTEEN

Declaratory judgment as to scope of 1990 RFP and application to 2010-217

COUNT FIFTEEN

Application of OGC Opinion of December 18, 2008 to Procurement of landfill operations “services” and to Procurement of services in general

Exhibit list:

Exhibit 1 – 1990 Request for Proposals [attached separately]

Exhibit 2 – City of Jacksonville Ordinance 2010-217

Exhibit 3 – City of Jacksonville Ordinance Code Chapter 126 [attached separately]

Exhibit 4 – Jacksonville Office of General Counsel letter dated December 18, 2008 [attached separately]

Exhibit 5 – Jacksonville Office of General Counsel letter dated February 27, 2009

Exhibit 6 — Memorandum of April 14, 2010 from Cindy Laquidara

Exhibit 7 – City Council Auditor’s report, April 15, 2010

Exhibit 8 – Memorandum of April 16, 2010 from Cindy Laquidara

Exhibit 9 – March 11, 2010 notice of Shade meeting of City Council

Exhibit 10 – March 12, 2010 notice of Shade meeting of City Council

Exhibit 11 – Letter to Waste Management from City Solid Waste director Fred Forbes dated January 22, 2010

Exhibit 12 – Letter form City Council of May 25, 2010

Exhibit 13 – Communications Allowance Request of Ray Holt dated June 26, 2009

Exhibit 14 – Jacksonville City Council Communications Allowance Policy, July 1, 2005

Exhibit 15 – Council Auditor Report dated March 10, 2008

Exhibit 16 – Docket Trail Ridge Landfill, Inc. and Waste Management Holdings, Inc. v. City of Jacksonville

Exhibit 17 – Shade Meeting Transcript of November 24, 2009

Exhibit 18 – Shade Meeting Transcript of March 9, 2010

Exhibit 19 – Shade Meeting Transcript of March 15, 2010

Exhibit 20 – Ordinance 2009-362-E

Exhibit 21 – Ordinance 2010–170-E

Exhibit 22 – Trail Ridge Oversight Committee Meeting Notice (for meeting 11/4/09)

Exhibit 23 – Screen shot of Jacksonville City Council Trail Ridge Oversight Committee available documents as of May 30, 2010