Recent Blog Posts
Lawsuit alleges Sarasota city manager broke public records law
A lawsuit filed Thursday against Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin and the city alleges that the top administrator’s frequent failure to produce city-related discussions from his private Gmail account as part of numerous public records requests broke state open records law and eroded public trust in local government.
City manager pledges compliance with records search
On Monday, in the wake of public and media scrutiny regarding his use of a private email account to discuss some city business, City Manager Tom Barwin read from a prepared statement and pledged to comply with an ongoing search for any messages that might be subject to the state’s Sunshine Law.
Sarasota city manager surrendering personal devices for independent email examination
City Manager Tom Barwin will surrender his personal cell phone and laptop to the city attorney pending an independent forensic examination of the devices to ensure all stored city-related matters are made public, following recent revelations Barwin has extensively used his private email account to conduct city business.
Sarasota hires law firm to defend Barwin in potential litigation stemming from personal email usage
The city has hired an outside lawyer to defend City Manager Tom Barwin in looming litigation stemming from his years-long use of private email to conduct city business — and it could cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.