061328-Special SessionCITY COMMISSION, SANFORD. FLORIDA.
minUTES
Speci_a~ Session
395
June 13th at 2 O'Clock P M 1528
The City Commission of the City of
the City Hall in Sanford Florida at two O'Clock P M June 13,
property
section:
Lots 12,
Sanford, Florida met in Special Sessiom at
1928.
Present: Commissioner E F Housholder, Mayor.
" S 0 Chase
" Frank L Miller.
City Attorney George A DeOottes.
City Clerk, F~.S.Lamsom
City Manager, George H Cairns.
Recommendation from City Plahning Commission to cause the following described
to be placed on the Official Zoning Map of the City of Sanford as a local business
13, 18 and 19 Wellington's Additiom and the E. 120 ft. of Frank L Miller property
on Park Ave. between Sixteenth St. and the Railroad; also the property of Mrs Munson on the
East side of Park Ave. and adjacent to the Oviedo Branch of the A C L. R.R.; was again
brought up for consideration.
0ommissioner Chase moved that the recommendation of the City Planning 0ommission be
rejected, and~oon the roll being called the vote stands as follows:
Oommissioner Housholder Aye
" Ohase Aye
" Miller Nay
Thereupon the Chairman announced that the recommendation of the City Planning Commis.
sion had been rejected.
Upon motion duly adopted, the Clerk was notified to instruct the Clerk of the Cir-
cuit Court to accept $413.16 payment in full of taxes against Lots 30 to 38 Inclusive
Block C, South Sanford for the years 1911 to 1927 inclusive, this amount representing
the total of the taxes against this property for the ycars given, plus interest on the taxes
for the years 1925 and 1926, the interest on the taxes for the years preceding 1925 being
ordered cancelled.
Invoice of the City Attorney for $82.00
Housholder amd Miller, and Attorney DeOottes to
covering travel expensesof Co~uissioners
Tallahassee and return, to confer with
State Comptroller Amos with reference to the threatened petition of intervention of Mr
Ashcraft, Receiver of the Seminole County Bank to the validation of $425,000.00 Refunding
Bonds, in order to force the City to accede to his demands that certain so-called obligations
of the City, the legality of which is now before the Courts , be assumed and arrangements
made to make payment thereof, approved and payment thereof ordered.
Invoice of City Attorney DeOottes for $198.10 representing office help and stamps
in connection with steps ordered by the City Commission for the enforcement of the payment of
delinquent paving installments, approved.
Invoices of Sanford Signal, amounting to $157.08 advertising in connection with sale
of $425,000.00 issue of bonds, and $183,000.00 of issue of $693,000.00 ~oproved.
Commissioner Miller offered Resolution No. 369, which was unanimously adopted,
said resolution being in words and figures as follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 369
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CitY COMMISSION, SANFORD, FLORID~]~eolal Meeting , June 13,at 20Clock P N
embarrassed due to the loss of its funds on deposit with the Seminole County Bank, and
7~EREAS, the governing authority of said City realizing steps should be taken to re-
habilitate the financial ~fairs of said City, and
WHE.qEAS, a~ter much study and consideration, and after cons~ulting those authorities
thoroughly advised as to matters of finance, a refinancing plan was adopted by the governing
authority of the City of Sanford, Florida, providing for three separate issues of bonds to
be authorized and issued during the period of time from ~anuary l, 1928 to July l, 1928, to
provide funds with which to pay and discharEe valid obligations of the City of Sanford, Florida
for which its credit was pledged, and
~EREAS, the governing authority of said City has heretofore authorized and issued
two issues of bonds the proceeds of which have been used and expended to pay the just debts
and obligations for which the credit of the City was pledged, and
WHEREAS, the last issue of bonds under said refinancing plan for the aggregate eum
of $425,000.00 was heretofore authorized by bonding resolution No. 368, adopted Nay 14, 1928,
mne proceeds of said bonds authorized by said resolution being for the amount reGuired to fully
pay and discharge the remaining and outstanding valid obligations of the City of Sanford,
Florida, for which its credit is pledged, including the principal of certain bonds aggregating
$160,000.00 and the interest thereon, and the interest on certain other bonds aggregating
$174,560.00 maturing on July l, 1928, and
V~EREA$, the said City of Ssy~ford, Florida is without s~fficient funds with which to
meet its bonded obligations of principal and interest which become due on July 1st, 1928
save and except from the sale and disposition of the bonds authorized by said bonding reso-
lution No. 368, and
WHEREAS, upon the adoption of said bonding resolution, proceedings were instituted in
the Circuit Court of the Twenty-third Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida, in and for
Seminole County, for the purpose of having said issue of bonds in the sum of $425,000.00
validated and confirmed ~ a decree of said Court, the return date of said validation
proceedings being the llth day of June A D 1928, and
WHEREAS, since the failure of the Seminole County Bank the City of Sanford, ~lorida has
instituted injunctional proceedings in the Federal Court in the City of New York, State of New
York, for the recovery of SY~o,o00.O0 of bonds of the City of Sanford, Florida, which had no
legal inception and for the recovery of purported certificates of indebtedness of the City
of Sanford, Florida,.aggregating $500,000.00 , al~ of which said bonds and purported certif-
icates of indebtedness~ without any authority of law whatsoever were prior to the failure of
the Seminole County Bank assigned by said Seminole County Bank to the Chase National Bank of
New York, as collateral security to a loan of Several Hundred Thousand Dollars made by the
Chase National Bank of New York to the Semihole County Bank, and
WHEREAS, a temporary injUnction has been granted by the Federal Cou~t in the City of
New York to the ~City of Sanford, Florida, in said proceeding, and
WHEREAS, said proceeding is still pending and undetermined in said Court, and
WHEREAS, since the institution of said injunctional proceedings in New York, E H
Ashcraft, as the Receiver of Seminole County Bank, has brought suit against the City of Sanford
Florida for the recovery of the eum of $51,500.00 evidenced by a purported so-called time warrant
CITY COMMISSION, SANFORD, FLORIDA:
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Special Session June 13,
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pledged, is denied by the governing authority of the City of Sanford, Florida,., ~nd said pro-
ceeding in the State Court is now pending and undetermined , and,
WHEREAS, the credit balance of the City of Sanford Florida, for funds on deposit with
the Seminole County Bank, is far in excess of any sums of money claimed and alleged by E R
Ashcraft to be due him by the City of San~ord, Florida, as Receiver of the Seminole County
Bank, and
WHEREAS~ on the ?th day of June 1928, the said E H Ashcraft, appeared before the City
Commission of the City of Sanford, Florida, and at that time threatened to file a petition of
intervention in the validation proceedings for the purpose of contesting~the legal right and
authority of the City of ~anford, Florida to issue bonds in the sum of $425,000 under the
bonding resolution a~oresaid unless the City of Sanford, Florida would immediately enter
into an agreement with him as the Receiver of Seminole County Bank, to withdraw the legal
proceedings pending in the Federal Court in the State of New York, the legal proceedings in-
stituted by him to also be withdrawn and to acknowledge an indebtedness by the City of Sanford
Florida, to Seminole County Bank and the 0hase National Bank of New York in the sum of approx-
imately $737,ooo.oo
WHEREAS, the governing authority of the City of Sanford, Florida, refused to consider
said preposterous suggestion of the said E H Ashcraft, and
WHEREAS, on the 8th day of June A D 1928, the said E H Ashcraft, as Receiver of Semi-
nole County Bank, and as a taxpayer and citizen of the City of Sanford, Florida, as the
Receiver of Seminole County Bank, did file in the ~ircuit Coumt of the Twenty-third
Judicial Circuit of Florida, in and for Seminole County, in said validation proceeding an an-
ewer to the citation to the taxpayers to show cause a~d petition in intervention attacking the
legal right of the governing authority of the City of Sanford, FloricL~, to issue bonds of the
City of Sanford, Florida, in the sum of $425,000.00 as aforesaid, and
WHEREAS, upon the filing of said answer and peition by the said E H Ashcraft , on to-
wit,: the llth day of June 1928,. the said E R Ashcraft, accompanied by his attorney, Samuel
R Dighton, again appeared before the City Commission of the City of Sanford, Florida in session
assembled and submitted a further proposition to said governing authority in writing, in words
and figures as follows:
"To The Hon. City CommissiOn of the City of Sanford, Florida:
Gentlemen:
With reference to the Petition in Intervention filed by me in the Circuit Court of
Seminole County on behalf of the Seminole County Bank as a taxpayer ,, I submit the following
proposition for your consideration:
I will withdraw the petition and my objections to your proposed refunding bond issue,
if you will first enter into a written agreement to arbitrate, within thirty days, with me
and the other holders of your obligation paper through assignment from the Seminole County
Bank, the question of your liability thereon to the Seminole
said arbitration to be made a rule of court from which there
In explantion of my position, I desire to point out
County Bank and such other holders
shall be no appeal.
that the affairs of the Seminole
County Bank can never be liquidated so long as the question of the liability of the 0ity~
said Bank upon paper aggregating more than $?00,000 remains undetermined.
CITY COMMISSION, SANFORD, FLORIDA,
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of the City through a large increase in your bonded debt.
The essence of the matter is whether the City is indeed liable upon these obliga-
tions. If it is not, I have no desire to interfere with your refinancing plans. If it is,
justice to the depositors of the Seminole County Bank demands that provision' should be made
for the prompt payment of these debts.
I.am convinced that your approval of this proposition will result:
1. In clearing the financial atomsphere of this com~manity.
2. In settling many intricate and perplexing questions which in a large measure arel
responsible for our present financial unrest.
3. In sooner completi~ the liquidation of the Seminole County Bank which is a de-~
velopment greatly to be desired, not only for the best interests of the depositors but of th$
community as a whole.
4. In greatly increasing the dividends to the depositors of the Seminole County Bank.
its credit
5. In assisting you in refinancing the City upon a basis that will insure
and materially reduce the tax burden upon the people.
6. In saving to the City and the depositors of the Bank many thousands of
standing
dollars im
attorney fees and other expenses which would otherwise be spent in protracted litigation.
Your refusal to accept the above suggestion can only be construed as disregarding
the rights of the depositors of the bank ~nich I represent as a Receiver, in which event I
will feel amply justified in proceeding with my petition in Intervention to protect such
depositors, and I shall resist with all the power at my command your present policy of paying.
your other creditors through large increases in your bonded debt to the exclusion of our
Very truly yours,
E H ASHCRAFT"
claims..
And,
WHEREAS, the City Commission upon consideration of said written proposal of the the
said E H Ashcraft, as Receiver of Seminole County Bank, duly rejected the same, advising the
said E H Ashcraft that in its opinion, Courts of competent jurisdiction were the only tri-
bunals in which matters of controversy, public in character involving vast sums of money
and the rights of/large number of ta~oayers and citizens, should be adjudicated and finally
determined, and
~'~%tEREAS, on the 13th day of June A D 1928, the validation proceeding pending in
the said Circuit Court and the answer and petition in intervention of the said E H Ashcraft
as Receiver of Seminole County Bank, came on for final hearing, and after due consideration by
the Court a decree was made and entered striking the answer and petition of the said E H
Ashcraft, and validating and confirming the legality of said issue of bonds of the City
of Sanford, Florida, in the sum of $425,000.00 thereby placing in repose all questions of
law and fact involved in the authorization of the issuance of said bonds, in the sum of
$$25,O00.00, and.
WHEREAS, it is essential for the City of Sanford, Florida to sell and dispose of said
funds
validated issue of bonds on or before July l, 1928, in order to provide/for the payment of the
principal and interest of bonded obligations of the City of Sanford, Florida, maturing on said
date, and
CiTY COMMISSION. SANFORD. FLORIDA.
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Special Session June 13, at 2 P ~
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and said City will forever stand in the eyes ~f the financial world as a municipality
that defaulted in the payment of its bonded obligations of principal and interest, and
WHEREAS, should such a condition arise, the result thereof will cause irreparable
injury and damage to the citizens and tax payers of the City of Sanford, Florida, and
will tend to further depreciate the value of property, real and personal located in said
City, and will cause said municipality to bear a reputation as a community having no regard
for its binding obligations, and
WHEREAS, should E H Ashoraft, as Receiver of Seminole County Bank take an appeal fro~
the decree validating and confirming the legality of said issue of bonds in the sum of
$425,000.00 the judgment and decree of the Circuit Court of the Twenty-third Judicial Circuit
of Florid~ validating Said bonds c~n not be confirmed by the Supreme Court prior to August
6th, 1928, and
WHEREAS, a decree of validation tends to give a marketability to negotiable municip~
bonds, and
WHEREAS, THE pendency of an appeal to the Supreme Court of this State from the I
decree made and entered validating the legality of said issue of bonds in the sum of
$425,000.00 .greatly tends to retard and handicap the governing authority of the Ofty of Sanfor(
Florida in selling and disposing of said bonds at an advantageous price, and may possibly
prevent said governing authority from making a sale of said bonds prior to the decision of
the Supreme Oourt of the State of Florida, and
WHEREAS, two similar issues of bonds b~sed on the same authority of law for the
issuance thereof have been heretofore authorized by the governing authority of the City of
Sanford, Florida, validated and confirmed by a decree of the Circuit ~ourt of Seminole
Oounty, Florida, .and sold and delivered by the City of Sanford, Florida, and
WHEREAS, many municipalities in the State of Florida have invoked the same &~thority
of law which has been invoked by the City of Sanford, Florida, for the authorization and issuance
of refunding bonds, and
WHEREAS, the authority so invoked heretofore by the City of Sanford, Florida, and o~
municipalities has never been questioned or challenged by any taxpayer and citizen, and
WHEREAS, attorneys of national repute in the City of New York well versed in the law
of municipal secu~ities whose opinion as to the validity of municipal securities gives market-
abilit~ the~o and is acceptable by the investing public have heretofore approvingly passed on
similar issues of bonds by the City of Sanford, Florida, and other municipalities of the
State of Florida, issued under the same authority of law invoked by the governing authority of
the City of Sanford, Florida for the issue.rice of said bonds in the sum of $425,000.00, and
WHEREAS, the said E H Ashcrsfft has taken the position that his purpose in intervening
the validation proceeding aforesaid was to bring pressure to bear upon the governing authority
of the City of Sanford, Florida to cause them to stifle litigation and tO accede to his demand
that the matters in controversy between the City of Sanford, Florida, and E H Ashcraft, as
Receiver of Seminole County Bank, and the Chase National Bank of New York be settled by arbit~a-
tion and to embarrass , hinder and delay the governing authority of the said City in the sale
and disposition of its securities in time to prevent a default in the payment of its bonded
obligations maturing on July l, 1928, and
~THERNAS. it is the firm conviction of this Commission that there i~ ~b~l~t~lv ~
her
in
400
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S_m~ial Session June 13, at 2 P M
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bear on this Commission to stifle litigation and force the determination by arbitration of t~
matters in controversy between the City of Sanford, Florida, the Seminole County Bank and the
Chase ~ational Bank and with utter disregard to the future welfare, progress and prosperity
of the City, and,
WHEREAS, the said E H Ashcraft has twice publicly declared to this ~ommission that
he has no concern for the future welfare of the City and that it is a matter of indifference
to him whether, by the action he threatened to take, and has since taken, the credit , finan~
cial standing and integrity of the City of Sanford is impaired, ruined and blasted, and
whereas he has further stated that his chief and only concern in the attitude assumed is to
force an immediate determination of the aforesaid matters in controversy notwithstanding
said matters are now in process of determination in courts of competent jurisdiction,
therefore, ~
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, as the governing authority of the City of Sanford, Florida,~
stamp with our whole hearted disapproval the action of the said E H Ashcraft, as uncalled
for , unnecessary, and serving no useful purpose, as said action and conduct on tn~ ~rt
of the said E H Ashcraft in no way tends to adjudicate the existing controversies between
the City of Sanford, Florida, E H Ashcraft, as Receiver of Seminole County Bank and the
Chase National~Bank, but on the contrary places a stumbling block in the way of the governing
authority by the impairment of the credit of the City of Sanford Florida, should in the future
it be necessary for the City of Sanford Florida to issue securities to provide funds for the
payment of any valid claim successfully maintained against the City of Sanford, Florida, by
the Said E H Ashcraft, as Receiver of Seminole County Bank.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be furnished unto Ernest
Amos , Comptroller of the State of Florida for his perusal and careful consideration, and
that said Comptroller be and he is hereby requested, upon the consideration of this reso-
lution in the interest of good citizenship, good government and for the protection of the
interests of the taxpayers of the City of Sanford, Florida,. and in order to preserve the
financial integrity of said municipality, to direct and instruct the said E H Ashcraft, as
Receiver of Seminole County Bank, not to take an appeal from the decree validating and
confirming the legality of said issue of bonds in the sum of $425,000.00 so that all questions
of law and fact with regard to the legality of said authorized issue of bonds may after the
date of the expiration of time withi~ which an appeal may be
remain in repose.
Adopted this 13th d~y of June A D 1928.
Attest:
F S
City Clerk.
(Seal)
taken to the Supreme Court
E F Housholder,
S 0 Chase -~__
Frank L Miller
As the City Commission of the
City of Sanford, Florida.
Upon motion duly adopted Chief of Police Williams was ordered to release Frank Howard