{"id":415231,"date":"2026-10-01T00:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415231\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T00:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:48:10","slug":"fort-pierce-city-clerk-testifies-about-meetings-in-former-city-manager-nick-mimms-corruption-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415231\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Pierce city clerk testifies about meetings in former city manager Nick Mimms corruption trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">Fort Pierce City Clerk Linda Cox took the stand Wednesday as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/local-news\/our-community\/fort-pierce\/nick-mimms-trial-prosecutor-says-former-fort-pierce-city-manager-got-caught-with-his-hand-in-the-cookie-jar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">trial of former city manager Nick Mimms<\/a> entered its third day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Mimms was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/region-st-lucie-county\/fort-pierce\/fort-pierce-city-manager-nick-mimms-arrested\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">arrested in 2024<\/a> on charges of bid tampering and official misconduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The jury heard first from Cox, who testified about a series of city meetings shown in video evidence by the state. One meeting, held in October 2019, showed a representative with Allegany Franciscan Ministries presenting a community center concept on behalf of the Lincoln Park Young Professionals for two vacant lots along Avenue D.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Lincoln Park Young Professionals had been awarded a $500,000 grant from Allegany Franciscan Ministries for the project. Among the organization\u2019s board members was Caleta Scott, the niece of Mimms, as well as a city employee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Mimms had begun the process of having the Avenue D land declared as surplus, even though it had been designated for use as parking for the nearby Lincoln Theater.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Prosecutors questioned Cox about whether the city board relied on Mimms for accurate information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cDoes the board also expect the defendant to give them correct information?\u201d Assistant State Attorney Brandon White said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cYes,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cDo they rely on the defendant to give correct information?\u201d Assistant State Attorney Brandon White said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cYes,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Attorneys also showed footage from future meetings of the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency, where the board voted to declare the lots surplus and later announced that the Lincoln Park Young Professionals had won the bid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WATCH BELOW: Opening statements begin in trial of former city manager<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Under cross-examination, the defense argued it was no secret that Mimms\u2019 niece was among those seeking to obtain the property. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Defense attorney Donald Murrell questioned Cox about whether she had raised any concerns at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cYou knew they were city employees,\u201d Murrell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI did,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cAnd it bothered you that they were doing this?\u201d Murrell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI thought it was a little odd,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cYou didn\u2019t raise any objections,\u201d Murrell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI did not,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Murrell also questioned Cox about the city attorney\u2019s presence at the meetings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cHe saw the same slideshow you saw, the same PowerPoint?\u201d Murrell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cYes,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cHe didn\u2019t raise any objections or concerns, did he?\u201d Murrell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cNot at the meeting,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cEver?\u201d Murrell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know. Not that I know of,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The trial is expected to last at least a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Pierce City Clerk Linda Cox took the stand Wednesday as the trial of former city manager Nick&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-415231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415231","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=415231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}