TO: Mayor and City Commission
FROM: David M. Wolpin, Interim City Attorney
DATE: May 15, 2019
Title
APPOINTING PURDY & FLYNN, P.A. AS CODE ENFORCEMENT SECOND ALTERNATE SPECIAL MAGISTRATE FOR AN INDEFINITE TERM; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
BACKGROUND: Attorney Alan L. Gabriel currently serves as the Special Magistrate for Code Enforcement hearings. Upon appointment of Weiss Serota as Interim City Attorney, a conflict arose for Attorney Gabriel, as an attorney of the firm, to simultaneously serve as Special Magistrate. Alternate Richard L. Doody was already scheduled as an Alternate Special Magistrate for the May hearings; however, he is unavailable for several months thereafter.
Attorney Harold Mark Purdy, from the firm of Purdy & Flynn, P.A., is agreeable to serving as the City’s Second Alternate Special Magistrate. The following is a brief excerpt from the professional biography of Attorney Purdy, which includes his appointment as Special Magistrate for the City of Fort Lauderdale from 2007 to present.
BAR ADMISSIONS:
Florida (1970); Hawaii (1992)
JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE
1979-1981: County Court Judge for Broward County, Florida.
1981-1985: Circuit Judge, 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida.
2007-Present: Code Enforcement, Special Magistrate for City of Fort Lauderdale
CERTIFICATIONS
Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator - (1990); Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator,(1993); Certified Mediator, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida (1993); Florida Supreme Court Certified Appellate Mediator (2011); Qualified Arbitrator (1993). Trained in mediation of residential mortgage foreclosures (2010).
MISCELLANEOUS
Nominated to the Fourth District Court of Appeal by the Judicial Nominating Commission, 1988; Adjunct Professor of Law Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center (negotiation, mediation and legal ethics); Three-term Chairman of the Broward County Bar Association Mediation Committee; Member of the Board of Directors, Association of South Florida Mediators and Arbitrators, 2009-2010.
RECOMMENDATION: For approval of Purdy & Flynn, P.A. as Second Alternate Special Magistrate.
FISCAL IMPACT: The rate for the Second Alternate Special Magistrate of $150 per hour is the same rate as currently provided to the Special Magistrate and Alternate Special Magistrate.
CONTACT PERSON: David M. Wolpin, Interim City Attorney