PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — The longtime Punta Gorda city attorney, David Levin, abruptly resigned and walked out of a city council meeting on Wednesday.
Levin has served as the city attorney since 2005. The resignation came amid a tense discussion about his replacement and potentially hiring an interim city attorney after the city council decided not to renew Levin’s contract which expires in July.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on David Levin's resignation:
During the discussion Councilmember Jeannine Polk criticized Levin for waiting until after the council voted on entering an agreement with ICE at a March 19 meeting. Then, Vice-Mayor Greg Julian asked if there would be funding to hire an interim city attorney while Levin was still under contract, in order to facilitate a smooth transition.
“I’m going to make this easier for y’all,” said Levin before giving his resignation. “Effective immediately, I'm going to resign as city attorney, and my firm is going to resign as city attorney, and that opens the door to do whatever you want with respect to an interim city attorney.”
Levin said he will make himself available to communicate with the interim city attorney if need be, before getting up and walking out of the meeting.
Moments later, a resident at the meeting said they were communicating with local attorney Steven Leskovich, who had expressed interest in filling the role in the past. He had also recently announced his candidacy for state Attorney General. About an hour later, he arrived back at the meeting (he had been in attendance earlier) and accepted the position.
"It certainly was not expected, but it's been a long time coming and we had to take immediate action to find an interim attorney, and thankfully we found somebody who is willing to help us out and cares about this city,” said Greg Julian, Vice-Mayor of Punta Gorda. “And I think we're going to be fine."
Levin’s firm, Icard Merrill, charged the city $150 an hour, Leskovich said he would charge $175 an hour or $12,500 a month, but will work for free until May. Though, the details of the payments have not yet been agreed to.
Leskovich told Fox 4 he has the experience to help the city, wants to see the city succeed.
“80% of what I do is civil law, whether it's corporate law, family law, government law or contract law,” said Leskovich. “I have a vested interest because I'm a business owner, a property owner in the city of Punta Gorda, and I want to see the city flourish.”
Leskovich said he will help the council with the decision to hire permanent representation, whether in-house counsel or an outside firm.
