Why did the Little Jim’s bid process get scrapped? | St. Lucie County

FORT PIERCE –Fort Pierce City Commissioner Michael Broderick said Thursday “layers of environmental issues, code violations and boundary issues” at the city-owned Little Jim’s Bait and Tackle property prompted him to call for terminating the current process to award a new, 20-year lease to operate the site.

“All of these issues that need to be addressed are so grand that it would be unconscionable to expect the tenant to settle them,” Broderick told Hometown News. “In my professional opinion, the burden of fixing these expensive, complicated problems rests with the City of Fort Pierce and we need to fix them and then put out a new, clean RFP (request for proposals) .

“Right now, we’re trying to sell somebody a s–t sandwich, to put it candidly.”

And Broderick is calling for changes in the bid-review process, including replacing city employees with outside experts on evaluation committees.

Broderick’s involvement came to light this week after Charlie White, a Republican political activist and nephew of Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson, posted on social media a letter written by Broderick to City Manager Richard Chess. It said the two had met and discussed terminating the current RFP process after an internal review committee of city staff had already reviewed and ranked proposals it deemed acceptable. That recommendation was scheduled to go to the city commission for its review and lease award.

The highest-ranked proposal was from Luigi Lucaj, a Michigan firm, with the current Little Jim’s operator, Salty 3 Baitshack LLC, placing second.

The final evaluation results were first publicly reported by Hometown News on Oct. 10.

In a letter from Broderick to City Manager Richard Chess, dated October 15, Broderick says he met with Chess on Oct. 8 “where we discussed the status of the Little Jim RFP (Request for Proposals).

“It was discussed in detail that the current RFP process would be scrapped/terminated and a revised and updated RFP would be put out for circulation for respondents to review,” the letter said. “This letter shall also confirm that no decisions regarding operations of Little Jim can or would be made by COFP (City of Fort Pierce) staff and that all decisions regarding Little Jim shall be made by vote of the (City) Commission solely.”

However, an Oct. 15 statement posted by the city provided no specific reasons why all Little Jim’s lease proposals have now been disqualified, even after the two advanced through the final evaluation process, saying only “it was determined that the submissions lacked key qualifications…”

The lease award has not appeared on any city commission agenda since Sept. 25.

Meanwhile, the Michigan firm with the highest ranked proposal, has said the RFP termination “reeks of shadiness” and Salty 3 Baitshack LLC, the current operator, will continue running Little Jim’s on a month-to-month basis while the city says new bidding will be solicited.

Five companies expressed initial interest in bidding for the Little Jim’s lease. Two were deemed non-responsive by the city early on. The city said they failed to meet deadlines and the two hired an attorney, charging the city had not responded to significant requests for information they had about the project.

Some of those questions are among issues Broderick now says should be resolved before a new RFP is released. They include allegations of building code violations, zoning and boundary issues, possible unauthorized encroachment of docks on state land and environmental concerns .

A third firm was ruled non-responsive by the evaluation committee in September and the final two proposals were then discussed and rated by three city employees.

Broderick called the Little Jim RFP “a debacle…a scandal the city needs to fix now.”

According to Broderick, commissioners do not know which city employees were on the evaluation committee and he believes future evaluations should be done by independent people with expertise in applicable fields, rather than city employees. Final awards are decided by the city commission.

Wilson’s social media posting of Broderick’s letter to Chess has drawn online comment from District 1 City Commissioner Arnold Gaines, who suggested politics could be involved as District 2 voters go to the polls Nov. 4 for a special election to replace former Commissioner Jams Taylor III, who resigned after being charged with online exploitation of a minor.

All three candidates in the nonpartisan race have issued statements regarding the Little Jim’s issue on social media.

And the Little Jim’s imbroglio is expected to be a hot topic at Monday’s 5:05 p.m. city commission meeting.

“I really wish people would go back and watch all the past city meetings and see what Commissioners said about Little Jim and all other issues that are now, all of sudden front and center,” Gaines posted. “I can’t wait until Monday night to address this topic and all others. Tired of the certain spin that is being put out.”

Broderick has been a critic of the city’s existing financial agreement with Salty 3 Baitshack, once saying it was costing city taxpayers $70,000 annually.

“Monday’s city commission meeting is going to be a circus,” Broderick predicted.

Little Jim’s is located off the waterfront causeway that links Fort Pierce with North Hutchinson Island. It was originally a guard building to access a Navy training center here during World War II. The U.S. Navy gave the land to the city when the base closed in 1944.