FORT PIERCE – More than a year after he was arrested on charges of official misconduct and bid-rigging a lease of city property involving two city employees, the criminal trial of former Fort Pierce city manager Nicholas Mimms has been pushed to Sept. 28.
The case brought by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) had been scheduled to begin Sept. 14.
But at a meeting with St. Lucie Circuit Judge Michael Linn Thursday, a court official said the trial date was changed because it appeared it would be “hard to organize all the witnesses” if the expected week-long trial began Sept. 14.
In another action Aug. 28, Judge Linn had denied a motion by Upendo Shabazz, a significant witness in the case, asking to modify her subpoena to appear to testify.
Shabazz, through her attorney, Johnny L. McCray Jr., of Pompano Beach, told the court she would be in Europe on a pre-planned vacation from Sept. 11-26. She had been scheduled to testify when the trial was initially set to begin Sept. 14.
Records show Shabazz had represented Lincoln Park Young Professionals (LPYP), a non-profit created by two city employees, one of whom was Mimms’ niece, in presenting a proposal to the city for the $1 lease of two, vacant, Avenue D lots to create a Lincoln Park education and business development enterprise.
Shabazz also was vice president of Allegany Franciscan Ministries (AFM), a Catholic charitable group that pumped millions of dollars into plans to improve the low-income Lincoln Park neighborhood. And she was integral to LPYP receiving more than $500,000 in AFM grant money to fund its Avenue D proposal.
Records show AFM approved the half-million-dollar grant to LPYP more than a year before the city issued its 2020 Request for Proposals for leasing for the Avenue D property.
Today, the two lots are still vacant and the grant money remains unaccounted for.
Following the FDLE investigation, Shabazz was dismissed by AFM.
So far, Shabazz is one of two potential witnesses, subpoenaed to testify at Mimms’ felony trial, who will be represented by their own attorneys.
Court records show West Palm Beach counsel Kevin R. Anderson has entered an appearance to represent Joseph Cooper, an excavation contractor who was hired by LPYP at the request of a project manager who had been recommended by Shabazz.
The FDLE report says while some money was paid to Cooper’s company, the site preparation was never completed.
Neither Shabazz nor Cooper are currently facing any criminal charges and are only listed as witnesses in the case against Mimms.
Mimms, 53, joined city staff in 1998, as a project engineer, and was named city manager in 2015.
He was arrested in August, 2024, placed on leave by the city and subsequently fired.