{"id":24359,"date":"2025-10-28T22:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T22:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/24359\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T22:30:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T22:30:06","slug":"stuart-begins-search-for-new-city-manager-after-mike-mortell-ousted-by-3-2-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/24359\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuart begins search for new city manager after Mike Mortell ousted by 3-2 vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stuart is now on the hunt to find a new city manager after commissioners voted to fire Mike Mortell<\/a> on Monday night, ending his two-decade run with the city.<\/p>\n

The controversial decision came after a packed and emotional City Hall meeting where residents overwhelmingly urged commissioners to keep Mortell in his position.<\/p>\n

WATCH BELOW: What’s next after Stuart city manager ousted?<\/p>\n

“Two words come to mind on our discussion tonight,” said resident David Sharfy. “First one is circus. Traveling company of performers. Spectacle that entertains a mass audience.” <\/p>\n

“Many of us elected you, not expecting something like this would happen, and have lost a lot of trust in those that we will not vote for again,” resident Lila Wood said. <\/p>\n

“If you have a problem with the way he’s managing the city, sit him down,” another resident said.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Sean Reed, who first called for Mortell’s resignation, stood firm on his motion despite the comments from the community. Commissioners Christopher Collins and Laura Giobbi backed Reed, voting 3-2 to fire Mortell.<\/p>\n

“I’m not willing to withdraw my motion,” Reed said when asked if he would reconsider. <\/p>\n

An interim city manager will take over immediately.<\/p>\n

Mortell defended himself during the meeting, pushing back on allegations and thanking his supporters before leaving the room.<\/p>\n

“I know I sound a little frustrated, and I am. But it’s not because I’m going to lose my job. I accepted that two weeks ago when I found out I was losing my job,” Mortell said. “It’s because I knew it wasn’t for cause, and I was going to stand firm on that.” <\/p>\n

Reed maintained there were complaints against the outgoing city manager, though specific details were not provided during the meeting.<\/p>\n

“There are two stories, two things being told up here,” said Reed. <\/p>\n

While the overwhelming majority pushed commissioners to keep Mortell, some did speak in favor of firing him. <\/p>\n

“Talk about transparency \u2014 please be transparent and tell people what you know,” said resident Olga Hamilton. <\/p>\n

Another resident warned commissioners about the impact of their decision: “You’re going to affect the whole community. Black, white, whatever color.”<\/p>\n

Now, taxpayers are left wondering what comes next and who will foot the bill for Mortell’s severance package and the search for a new hire.<\/p>\n

David Sharfy wants the next city manager to have experience.<\/p>\n

“You know what I hope they find is someone with beyond paper qualifications that someone like Mike had, preferably someone who is already a public servant in the city of Stuart,” Sharfy said.<\/p>\n

William Rudge said he is looking for change and wants to know the next manager’s stance on growth management and development.<\/p>\n

“I think a fresh attitude is a bit more important than experience,” Rudge said.<\/p>\n

Both residents acknowledge they’ll be paying for the transition costs and hope the change pays off.<\/p>\n

“I’m looking forward to the city improving itself,” Rudge said.<\/p>\n

Sharfy expressed concerns about the disruption. <\/p>\n

“I’ve hired and fired and retrained, and it sucks,” Sharfy said. “It holds a lot of establishments back, and I don’t think a city is any exception.”<\/p>\n

City officials declined on-camera interviews, but a city spokesperson said they’ll discuss the next hiring steps at a meeting scheduled for Nov. 9. Both Mortell and Reed have so far declined to answer questions on camera.<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stuart is now on the hunt to find a new city manager after commissioners voted to fire Mike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-24359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}