A letter to the Martin County Commissioners sent July 5, 2013

Some decisions are really, really difficult. Others are much easier to make. Whether you are going to proceed with the collection of court costs against Martin County Conservation Alliance and other named parties or waive those costs could be one of those very difficult decisions. Whatever the commission decides, there will be people that will disagree with that decision.

The U.S. has a remarkably complex and, at times, convoluted legal system. Court costs in most of the world, including the United Kingdom on which so much of our system is the based, are borne by the loser.  In the United States, it is customary for each side to pay its own costs. This has led to many frivolous law suits being filed. As you know, those legal costs can be enormous.

However, was this lawsuit frivolous and without merit? It is true that the appellate courts have said that it was. But we know the facts of the case better than they do. At the time, only Commissioner Heard stood against the other four members of the commission. In each instance, she voted against these proposed amendments and changes which were the basis for the case. Commissioner Heard knew that this was an unbridled attempt to allow uncontrolled western sprawl. If it were not for the court case slowing down implementation, the county would look different now than it does. You ran for the commission in order to stop the undisciplined approach to development that those changes represented.

Now you need to decide if you are going to punish individuals who formed these associations to further the cause of sustainable and sound ecological growth. They had no desire to obtain financial gain associated with their actions. Each not only gave of their time for the cause, they also expended their own money to fight for something that they believed was paramount to the future of Martin County.

These people are not gadflies who sue to be a nuisance to county government. The former commission wanted only to appease the developers. All other reasonable remedies were exhausted. The only course left to them by the former commission was to seek redress in the courts. It is unfortunate that the courts took the highly unusual position of awarding court costs. This could have a chilling effect on other civic groups challenging decisions in courts. Do we, as citizens, want our government to be without the restraint that can be afforded through our judicial system? If something is wrong, then Election Day can be too far in the future to wait.

At the same time, as good custodians of our tax dollars, you don’t want to encourage law suits without merit. This would definitely be a lesson to all that it could be ruinous financially to challenge governmental decisions. You will show that no compromise need be found between elected representatives and their constituents.  It could be almost as if the former commission was correct in its stance.

Actually, there is nothing hard about doing the moral and ethical thing. It is not difficult to forego the retribution of the past for the sake of the present and future. These individuals give unselfishly of their time to make Martin County a better place. They are your friends and followers, your supporters and voters. As they have given you their support, they now deserve yours.