TO: The Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
THROUGH: Jennifer W. Shuler, County Attorney
FROM: Susan J. Prado, Deputy County Attorney
DATE: April 7, 2025
SUBJECT: Calcutta Docks License Agreements
__________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND
An agenda item was brought to the Board back on November 19, 2024, to seek guidance on how to proceed with addressing issues that were discovered upon implementation of the license agreements that were adopted in 2022 for the Calcutta Docks. The directive to staff at the end of that meeting was the following:
• Have addresses issued to each dock
• The building department is in charge of all inspections dealing with the docks
• No person may have more than one dock license agreement
• The County Attorney’s office was to update the license agreement to reflect those changes including an inspection fee for the building department.
The question also came up on whether the dock license agreements can be revoked and I advised that I would research the subject further. I have done that research and conclude that the Calcutta Dock License agreements may be revoked. The use of the docks are exclusive and therefore this is a lease and not a license agreement. Due to the lack of term laid out in the license agreements this lease is a tenancy at will. A lease without a term becomes a tenancy at will pursuant to Florida Statute Section 83.02. When a tenancy at will exists then the tenancy may be terminated by either party giving notice pursuant to the time frames laid out in Florida Statute Section 83.03. Because the rent on the docks is collected on an annual basis the tenancy at will would be deemed to be an annual tenancy. See Fla. Stat. §83.02. An annual tenancy may be terminated by giving not less than three (3) months’ notice prior to the end of any annual period. See Fla. Stat. §83.03(1). There is also case law on point on this legal question.
Based on this information and the request made to update the lease agreements, the County Attorney’s Office has prepared the attached lease agreement for consideration by the Board. Please also note that the building department has performed annual inspections of the docks and multiple docks were found to need repairs. Those docks were issued letters to repair the docks as well as notices of violations from the building department. A few of those dock licensees have called in and requested extensions of time stating that the 30-day time frame contained in their current license agreements is not sufficient to have the repairs done.
ANALYSIS
N/A
BUDGETARY IMPACT
Revenues collected for dock license agreements are deposited into account 001038-362010 - General Fund/Miscellaneous/Rents & Royalties.
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTIONS
Those noted in background above.
POTENTIAL FUTURE BOARD ACTIONS
The County Attorney’s Office is seeking direction from the Board on the following questions:
1. Is the proposed updated lease agreement acceptable or are there changes? What are they?
2. Does the Board want to move forward with terminating the old license agreements as they come due and offer the new lease agreement upon notice of termination of the old license agreement?
3. Does the Board wish to grant more time to those license holders that are in the process of starting the repairs on their docks to do so or to move forward with termination of those license agreements if repairs are not done within the 30-day window?
4. Does the Board want to delegate the authority to make those decisions on whether to extend the amount of time to give a person to come into compliance with the license agreement or to make the decision to terminate the license agreement to a department head or would the Board like to keep that authority?
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
N/A
OTHER PLAN ALIGNMENT
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The County Attorney’s Office recommends that the Board of County Commissioners consider approval of the resolution and the associated form dock lease agreement.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Power Point Presentation
2. Deeds From Original Property Owners
3. Current Deeds for Property Owners
4. List of Current Dock Licensees
5. Current Waiting List
6. Proposed Lease Agreement
7. Proposed Resolution
8. 2022 Agenda Items for Reference