FORT PIERCE – The process to determine the next operator of Fort Pierce’s iconic Little Jim Bait & Tackle is starting over, this time after city officials identify a list of existing property issues and determine who is financially responsible for fixing them.
This will mark the third time the City of Fort Pierce, owner of the North Hutchinson Island causeway bar/restaurant property, has begun the process to determine who should be awarded the next long-term lease for the historic site.
Deliberations have been mired in procedural and political issues for nearly a year after the current operating lease expired and was subsequently extended with the existing operator on a month-to-month basis.
On Sept. 23, an internal city evaluating committee rated the final two of five proposals submitted, giving the highest ranking to a Michigan bidder based on food service industry experience, site plan design and financial capability to perform.
Little Jim’s current operator, Salty 3 Baitshack LLC, was ranked second.
However, City Manager Richard Chess said Monday night those final two proposals were subsequently ruled non-responsive for apparent failures to meet all the requirements outlined in the city’s request for proposals (RFP).
“Those scores should have never happened,” Chess told the Fort Pierce City Commission Monday night.
That made all five of the original bidders ineligible for consideration, closing the award process before a final decision went before the commission.
Officials said unresolved issues relating to boundary lines, unpermitted construction, zoning and environmental concerns should have been addressed before the RFP process sought proposals.
A team of officials from a variety of city departments is now expected to convene next week to identify the full range of unresolved questions, what action is required and who is responsible for curing them.
Meanwhile, Little Jim’s future operation has become a political issue leading up to a Nov. 4 special election to fill a vacant District 2 city commission seat. There’s been at least one rally advocating for simply renewing the operating lease with Salty 3 Baitshack LLC.
However, Chess said Monday state law and local ordinances require a “fair, unbiased and impartial” bidding process to be conducted when public property is leased to a private concern. The city is compensated by the operator for use of the public land.
Mayor Linda Hudson said community concern illustrates the historic significance of the former Navy guard shack property to the Fort Pierce community.
“The public can have a favorite (operator), but we have to be objective (in a lease of public property) and follow the law,” Hudson said.
The city’s bidding process already has undergone some changes, following criminal charges against former City Manager Nicholas Mimms of bid tampering and official misconduct in connection with the award of a lease for some Avenue D vacant land to a nonprofit headed by two, then-city employees. Mimms was terminated by the city, pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
At least two of the original five Little Jim bidders have filed a protest of that RFP process, claiming the city disqualified them after they said officials failed to answer their questions surrounding the project.
None of the original bidders have indicated whether they will submit proposals when a new RFP is issued and the city has not yet announced a timetable for when that solicitation will come.
The city was given the Little Jim property by the Navy after World War II when it was no longer being used as a wartime guard shack for a military training compound here.