STUART \u2014 Ted Astolfi, the Economic Council of Martin County\u2019s CEO, has asked state officials to investigate three Stuart city commissioners for allegedly violating state law by refusing to comply with Senate Bill 180.<\/p>\n
Astolfi, in an Oct. 21 request, urged lawmakers to review the actions of Commissioners Christopher Collins, Laura Giobbi and Sean Reed, accusing the trio of \u201cdeciding which laws they will abide by.\u201d<\/p>\n
His complaint stems from an Aug. 11 City Commission meeting where the three voted against rescinding land-use regulations that conflict with the new state statute.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 180, passed April 9 and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 25, prohibits cities and counties in federally declared disaster areas from imposing stricter land-use rules through June 2028. It also requires municipalities to repeal such regulations adopted since the hurricanes.<\/p>\n
The Stuart City Commission\u2019s refusal to comply has drawn the attention of Sen. Gayle Harrell and state Reps. Toby Overdorf and John Snyder, who told Mr. Astolfi they would review commission meeting recordings to determine whether a violation occurred.<\/p>\n
A Hometown News review of the Aug. 11 meeting showed City Attorney Lee Baggett advised commissioners to repeal a February 2025 ordinance that had tightened land-use regulations following a six-month zoning-in-progress moratorium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commission held numerous public meetings and workshops that resulted in several amendments to our land development code,\u201d Baggett said. \u201cMany of these amendments are arguably more restrictive. Section 28 of Senate Bill 180 prohibits adopting such amendments through June 30, 2028, and even makes the law retroactive, nullifying our zoning in progress and subsequent ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baggett warned that failing to comply could expose the city to lawsuits from developers wishing to build under previous regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the law, any resident or business owner can sue for declaratory or injunctive relief,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve already received notice from two residents and business owners who may challenge the ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Collins, who led the zoning-in-progress effort last year soon after Commissioners Giobbi and Reed took office, questioned the rescission and expressed interest in joining a class-action lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 180.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the composition of this Commission changes \u2014 and two of us have opposed zoning in progress \u2014 we may not have a Commission willing to reinstate it later,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Giobbi agreed, and discussion shifted from compliance to whether the city should join other municipalities in suing the state.<\/p>\n
Baggett cautioned that defying the law could be costly. \u201cThe law of the land is what it is right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t filed a lawsuit yet, and they could sue us before that even happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins responded with a defiant tone. \u201cIf we don\u2019t stand up now, it\u2019s just going to be worse \u2014 this is the Alamo,\u201d he said, adding that developers who sue the city may end up \u201cpaying the legal fees\u201d if the state law is overturned.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Eula Clarke, who opposed the zoning moratorium, said the East Stuart community had felt \u201cshafted\u201d by the stricter rules and moved to repeal them. Her motion failed for lack of a second.<\/p>\n
The deadlock left City Attorney Baggett uncertain how to proceed, since city staff had already stopped enforcing the stricter rules in June after the governor signed the law. \u201cI wanted Board consensus to return to the previous code,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Campbell Rich replied, \u201cI don\u2019t think you need consensus. I think our action speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several residents at the meeting praised the majority for standing up to what they viewed as state overreach. Civic activist Robin Cartwright urged commissioners to defy Tallahassee. \u201cThese developer-provided talking points that say we must abide by the Florida Constitution are misguided and incorrect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Resident Walter Lloyd agreed. \u201cThe local taxpayer gets thrown under the bus by the state,\u201d he said. \u201cOur quality of life is compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, Commissioners Collins, Giobbi and Reed voted to pay a $10,000 fee to join a lawsuit against Senate Bill 180, making Stuart the only Treasure Coast city to do so.<\/p>\n
Almost two months after that decision, Astolfi met privately with local legislators, emphasizing that his request for investigation came as a private citizen, not on behalf of the Economic Council. Rep. Overdorf later confirmed their meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Astolfi asked us to see if they, in fact, directed staff to not follow state law,\u201d Overdorf said. \u201cWe are reviewing city meetings since their election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only six days after that discussion, on Oct. 27, the Commission majority voted to fire City Manager Michael Mortell without cause and without prior notice that his job was in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
Because the dismissal was \u201cwithout cause,\u201d but some discussion implied otherwise, Mortell pushed back sharply before the meeting ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wish some of you would stop getting your information from lies you find on social media,\u201d he said to those calling for his removal. \u201cI hope all of you find the moral turpitude to hold everybody accountable \u2014 and not let anyone disregard policies or state law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two days after Astolfi\u2019s request, Vice Mayor Collins responded in a Facebook post that echoed former President Donald Trump\u2019s rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocal swamp spokesperson Ted Astolfi apparently groveled to state legislators to have the governor remove Commissioners Giobbi, Reed and myself from office,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey want to recall the will of local voters because we are fighting for you. If they can get rid of your slow-growth Stuart City Commissioners, the swamp can get back to business as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around the same time, Hometown News discovered an April 2024 video of Collins interviewing then-candidate Sean Reed, expressing enthusiasm for slowing development in Stuart.<\/p>\n
Eighteen months later, Reed moved to terminate Mortell\u2019s contract \u2014 a motion seconded by Collins. The coordinated vote drew sharp criticism from residents, including attorney Kathy Cabre Peters, who alleged the commissioners were \u201cprobably meeting outside the Sunshine,\u201d and resident Lila Wood, who said many voters felt betrayed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action is not only unjust, in our opinion,\u201d Wood said. \u201cIt\u2019s a violation of fairness, transparency and accountability to the residents of Stuart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STUART \u2014 Ted Astolfi, the Economic Council of Martin County\u2019s CEO, has asked state officials to investigate three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[326,171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-31466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-martin","9":"tag-port-st-lucie","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","11":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31466","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=31466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}