FORT PIERCE – Fort Pierce city commissioners called it “embarrassing and unacceptable” to approve $63,347 for the Marina Square holiday light display nearly a year after the last contract had expired and without competitive bids.

Less than a month after the commission ordered new municipal purchasing rules to “tighten up” taxpayer-funded procurement practices, commissioners learned that a Royal Palm Beach lighting firm had already performed work and submitted a bill that was 15 percent more than they had charged in 2024.

Under city policy, purchases of goods and services with a certain dollar value are supposed to be awarded after competitive bidding. However, this bill for materials, installation, seasonal maintenance and takedown never had a bidding process or contract award before 2025 work was done.

And the price was even above the spending level that City Manager Richard Chess said he’s allowed to authorize.

Officials said Lighting by Design has been creating holiday lighting displays and setting them to music in the downtown marina area since 2018. The firm’s last city contract expired at the end of 2024.

Chess said purchasing officials should have recognized then that a new request for proposals (RFP) would be needed for 2025 decorating. Then in June, when the city was billed for the 2025 project, Chess said there still would have been time to put out an RFP, as required by city rules. But when the work began in September, it was too late and the bill had to come to the city commission for approval without bidding.

Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. pulled the item from the Oct. 6 consent agenda, saying he had “great concerns” with the process. Commissioner Michael Broderick agreed, saying with a municipal budget that is “balanced, but barely,” the commission needs to scrutinize purchasing practices to “account for every penny of taxpayer dollars.”

Mayor Linda Hudson and Broderick voted to approve the expenditure after Chess said he’s closely monitoring purchasing. Johnson dissented.

Fort Pierce’s holiday Marina display will be turned on beginning Dec. 8, operating daily from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

It will feature more than 2,700 feet of lights, complete with a synchronized audio-video show.