FORT PIERCE – The Fort Pierce City Commission Monday said no for the third time to a proposal to settle a citizen lawsuit over the Little Jim Bait and Tackle property.

Commissioner Arnold Gaines, himself an attorney, suggested that a settlement demand that Little Jim’s current operator be given the right to match the outcome of any future bids to lease the city-owned property, would violate state law.

Public entities are required to competitively bid the awarding of things like property leases to get the best outcome for taxpayers. Gaines suggested giving Little Jim’s current operator an automatic “right of first refusal” would violate the principle of competitive bidding.

Instead, commissioners unanimously decided to offer a counter settlement that says they are willing to forgo a claim for the city’s legal costs involved in defending the lawsuit – a minimum $3,600 – if plaintiff Kevin Keene will drop his action.

Keene, a Fort Pierce resident, said he filed suit against the city in October as an attempt to give citizens more authority in determining how city-owned waterfront property is used.

Little Jim, a former military guard post that was given to the city by the Navy after World War II, has been embroiled in controversy for more than a year over claims the current operator installed unpermitted docks that encroached on state-owned property, plus issues surrounding the 2025 award of a new lease to operate the property.

The current operator, Salty Baitshack 3, has continued business there on a month-to-month lease for more than a year.

A St. Lucie County judge has twice dismissed Keene’s lawsuit, but gave him an opportunity to refile.

Keene’s latest settlement offer would:

– Require the city to suspend any new Requests for Proposals (RFP) for awarding the next long-term Little Jim lease until all issues with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have been resolved.

– Require the city to agree to put any future sale or long-term lease of publicly owned waterfront property to a citywide vote.

– Give Little Jim’s current operator the right to match the highest bid resulting from an RFP process.

A new lease would be for no more than nine years and the property would be leased “in its existing ‘as-is’ condition, without requiring or conditioning the new lease upon any additional improvements, alterations, redevelopment, or other changes to the property.”