Government Digest

FWB files complaint against city
VENICE — Gianluca Morello, a securities and antitrust lawyer with Tampa's Fowler White Boggs office, filed a complaint July 2 against the city of Venice as part of the ongoing battle over permitting for four new hangars sought by the Venice Jet Center at the municipal airport. The complaint calls for an official fact-finding investigation that could lead to litigation or other legal action against the city. Four members of the city council are named in the complaint, including Mayor Ed Martin.

The Jet Center is asking the Federal Aviation Administration to issue an order that could potentially deny the city millions of dollars in future federal airport grants and suspend current payments for six months or until the violations are corrected, whichever is later. The complaint charges five counts of violations of federal grant assurances in the terms of a 1947 quit claim deed agreed to by the city.

The city is also embroiled in a multi-million dollar sunshine law violation case settlement with ties to the airport issue.