Town Attorney
Lynn M. Dannheisser
About the Office of the Town Attorney
The Town Attorney is responsible for providing effective legal counsel and representation in all matters affecting the Town of Surfside. Specifically, the Town Attorney is responsible for providing effective legal counsel and representation to the Town in matters relating to labor and personnel matters, real estate-related transactions, land-use and zoning matters, construction and construction-related issues such as the Community Center, Sunshine laws, Public Records laws, conflict of interest and other ethical issues, Charter revision, Code enforcement, Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA) matters, police matters and capital projects.
Additionally, the Town Attorney is responsible for preparing and/or reviewing resolutions, drafting ordinances, preparing and/or reviewing contracts by, and for the Town. The Town Attorney established and maintains a continuing program of preventative law, the object of which is to prevent circumstances that may be cause for litigation against the Town. The Town Attorney assists the Town Planners in any and all planning and zoning matters.
Preventative Law Program
The Office of the Town Attorney strives to limit the Town’s liability by the proactive approach, in providing effective legal advice to the Town Commission and the Town’s various departments. The Town Attorney’s Office instituted a preventative law program with the specific goals of reducing the Town’s liability risks and reducing the number of emergency items presented to the Town Attorney’s Office. The preventative law program, seeks to reduce the Town’s liability risks in the following areas; (1) tort liability; (2) transactional liability; and (3) employment disputes.
Tort Liability
Tort liability, liability caused by negligence of employees, is of major concern for many local governments due to the fact that the number of personal injury claims or lawsuits filed against the Town, significantly impacts the Town’s general liability insurance coverage, ultimately resulting in increases in the Town’s insurance premiums. Realizing that the Town’s general liability policy is greatly affected by the number of personal injury lawsuits, the Town Attorney’s implementation of the preventative law program is timely and results in fewer claims against the Town.
Transactional Liability
Last year, the Town Attorney instituted a comprehensive contract review process, whereby the Town Attorney, prior to execution, reviewed all contracts with the Town for form and legal sufficiency. The Office of the Town Attorney continues to draft and/or re-draft numerous contracts on the Town’s behalf. This contract review process assists in avoiding contract disputes.
Tourist Bureau/Pension Board
The Office of the Town Attorney provides all legal advice required by the Tourist Bureau. The Pension Board has separate specialized legal counsel but the Office of the Town Attorney provides support as needed.
Consultation with Department Heads
As in-house counsel, the Office of the Town Attorney meets with department heads on a regular basis to address department-related issues and other job-specific concerns before they became emergency items. This procedure tends to lessen, to a great extent, the number of emergency items presented to the Town Attorney’s office for remediation.
Legislation
One of the Town Attorney’s primary duties is to draft legislation for the Town, in the form of Ordinances and, to a much lesser extent, Resolutions. The Office of the Town Attorney also assists in finalizing (whether by review or re-draft) legislation proposed by department heads.
Land Development Regulations
The Office of the Town Attorney represents the Planning and Zoning Board in their zoning, advisory, and design review functions. In addition, the Office is involved in developing, revising and re-drafting the Town’s proposed Zoning Code, Comprehensive Plan Amendments, Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) and related issues within the Town’s boundaries.
Community Center Project
The Town Attorney’s office assists the Office of the Town Manager in all legal requirements for the financing, design, and construction of the Community Center. Specifically, the Town Attorney drafts and reviews all contracts for the architectural firm and general contractor. The Town Attorney assists in the location of easements, real estate work and other planning and zoning issues that must be addressed on the project.
Charter and Code Review
The Town Attorney’s Office in conjunction with the Office of the Town Manager guides and documents the charter review process and ultimately provides a revised charter document for Commission review. In addition, the Town Attorney will begin to revise and update the Town Code.
Information
Click here to download the Ethics Memo