The situation with Brightline as it relates to the relationship between Martin County and the City of Stuart is well known.
In 2018, the Martin County Board of County Commissioners reached a settlement agreement with Brightline where the private company would pay for 50% of new station with the County agreeing to pay the other 50%. Also as part of the agreement, Brightline agreed to replace the 1920’s-era drawbridge that runs parallel to the old Roosevelt Bridge. Elevating the bridge by even a few feet and removing the need to constantly put the bridge trestle down for the train to cross would allow for fewer disruptions to marine traffic.
On November 8, 2023, TCPalm published an article Martin County Fairgrounds, downtown Stuart site to be offered for Brightline station detailing the 2018 agreement and stating that the Commission was allocating $125,000 to include amongst other things, a “collection of economic, demographic and other data” to share with public.
The article states “Stuart, specifically, would benefit if additional companies establish corporate headquarters in the city, Mayor Troy McDonald said, adding that a station and the availability of train travel could bring more high-paying jobs to the area.
Overall, a Brightline station here could strengthen Martin County’s economy, echoed Joan Goodrich, executive director of the Business Development Board of Martin County, a group that exists to do just that.”
Yet no economic feasibility study has been provided.
On December 11, 2023, the City of Stuart at its Commission meeting included on the agenda the authority for then Mayor Troy McDonald to sign the interlocal agreement between the City and County in advance of the following day’s County meeting.
The ordinance read: “By entering into the agreement with the County, the City will receive the land necessary to properly respond to the RFP, and it will also receive up to 50% of the station cost from the County. It is the intent of the City and County that we jointly apply for any and all grants that can help defray the costs for the project but the City is agreeing to be responsible for the costs associated with the parking garage if Brightline selects Stuart as the location for the station. The benefits to the City are extensive. In the event the City is selected by Brightline, it would work jointly with the County to seek grant funding and it would accept the 50% contribution for the Station from the County but the City would ultimately be responsible for the balance of the costs associated with the project.”
On December 12, 2023, at the Martin County Board of County Commissioners meeting as part of a very full agenda, the County moved and voted to direct “staff to submit a proposal for a train station to be located at the Courthouse site, approved the interlocal agreement with the City of Stuart, and authorized staff to work with the City of Stuart to initiate the conditional use process for rezoning.”
Fast forward to March 4, 2024
Fast forward to March 4, 2024. Brightline responded and asked for stipulations and change the terms.
The letter was sent to Harold Jenkins, Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, and Becky Bruner, Mayor of the City of Stuart.
To sum up the letter, the agreement was unilaterally changed with seemingly no negotiations or input from County or City Commissioners and without the opportunity for any public review or comment. It is believed conversations were being had between the County Administrator Don Donaldson and City Manager Mike Mortell with Brightline to determine these new conditions.
Listed in the letter is the stipulation that the County will contribute $15,000,000, which was the original agreement.
However, the cost to the City of Stuart, while previously not assigned a number, was now $30,000,000 with the City of Stuart paying for the garage, as stipulated previously, but now also hard and soft costs (as stated in the letter) for the station itself.
Additionally, there were stated modifications to the 2018 agreement including the removal of the requirement for Brightline to pay for 50% of the station with immediate funding by the City and County as well as “Continued cooperation from both Martin County and City of Stuart relative to the St. Lucie Bridge Replacement, the closeout of Brightline’s construction of the modification of crossing agreements as required in the Settlement Agreement.”
This means that Brightline would not pay for the proverbial dangling of the carrot to replace the bridge, in complete violation of the original agreement.
But more importantly, this letter was not made public until months later.
On August 12, 2024, the City Commission, during a regularly scheduled meeting, presented for consideration a new Interlocal Agreement with Martin County and a Ground Lease specific to Brightline. Both were preemptively signed by Mayor Campbell Rich. At no point during the meeting was there any notice of the drastic change of terms sent to the City and County. Yet the City voted on these items pushing them through as this was the last meeting for Becky Bruner and Troy McDonald as they had lost their elections and would be replaced.
Christopher Collins was absent from that meeting due to a family member being hospitalized. He had asked the City Manager to delay this vote to allow him to be present. He was denied that request by the other commissioners on the dais.
It was at the next meeting on September 9, 2024, that Commissioner Collins moved to rescind the agreement based on the changing of the terms as well as the nondisclosure of the memo to anyone, except presumably to whom it was addressed – the County Administrator, the City Administrator, and perhaps legal counsel.
The motion to rescind was approved meaning that there is no valid or enforceable Interlocal Agreement.
What else aren’t we being told?
In and amongst the conversations being had about Brightline were seemingly innocuous text messages, until you consider the date.
On December 18, 2023, there were text messages between Commissioner Ed Ciampi and Stephen Leighton, acting as Brian Mast Chief of Staff.
To be clear, there is nothing wrong with them communicating. However, the context creates a question as these should have been shared as part of the commissioner comments as an ex parte communication.
Ex parte communication is a person speaks or communicates with someone else who has a vested interest in a project or information relevant to a project that could sway consideration or a vote.
There are some local leaders who don’t believe any communications need to be relayed unless there is a quasi-judicial vote but even then, most of those have stated they have no obligation to share with whom they speak but do so because it gives the impression there is nothing to hide.
On December 18 there were texts between Stephen Leighton, chief of staff for Congressman Brian Mast, and Commissioner Ed Ciampi.
These texts were sent after the City’s initial agreement to support the Brightline initiative and after the Commission meeting. If we take them at face value, they are about the rail bridge over the St. Lucie waterway that Brightline was supposed to pay to replace.
At 2:48pm, Mr. Leighton provided to Commissioner Ciampi the call-in information for a call with “the City of Stuart & Martin County & Marine Industries Re: Brightline Grant.”
Commissioner Ciampi responded “I will do all of the talking I also have a song prepared that I would like to sing.”
At 4:09pm, Mr. Ciampi says: “See I kept my mouth shut.”
Mr. Leighton replies: “Even if you said something, it wouldn’t upset me you’re my man and if there’s a call you’re gonna be on it I want you to be in the know.”
Commissioner Ciampi: “Thank you How do we make sure Brian gets the credit he deserves? Without him we would have gotten zero.”
Mr. Leighton: “Mention is at the board meeting. I’m sure Harold will bring it up.”
One would assume that there is nothing obvious in the texts between Commissioner Ciampi and Mr. Leighton beyond what was presumed to be a conversation about replacing the rail span over the St. Lucie. However, the comment about “Harold” (Jenkins) seems to indicate there is a possibility that Mr. Leighton was acting as an intermediary.
There was another text dated February 28, 2024 at 7:57pm.
Mr. Leighton: “How is the bright line station funded?”
Mr. Ciampi: “I missed Brian’s call
All still up for negotiations
Tenatitive
15 million county
15 million Brightline
Parking garage up to 30 million.
After the fact grant will be applied for.”
Mr. Leighton: “He’s awake sitting at his desk.”
Mr. Ciampi: “In DC or here.
I called him back and got the voicemail”
Mr. Leighton: “DC”
This conversation on February 28 is in advance of the March 4th memo from Brightline to the Commissioner Jenkins at the County and Mayor Bruner at the City of Stuart.
The questions we have to ask:
- Who was part of these conversations with Brightline?
- Who else knew the agreement was being updated to include a dollar amount of $30,000,000 to be applied to the City of Stuart?
- Was anyone from the City of Stuart part of these conversations?
Has Commissioner Ciampi had these conversations before?
In the summer of 2017, Commissioner Ciampi visited the Costco headquarters in Washington state. He stated he was there on business and basically just “stopped by.” However a visit to anyone at headquarters of a company of that size would take some planning.
The only reason we are aware of Mr. Ciampi’s visit is not because he told us. We were initially made aware of his visit only because of a post made on social media by his daughter.
She claimed he “used his own money to fly all the way to Seattle to meet with the executives of Costco & negotiate on behalf of the best interest of everyone who calls Martin County home.”
After this was discovered, a public records request was submitted to the County asking for travel reimbursements, calendar confirmations, and emails specific to this trip.
The result was that apparently no items existed specific to the trip on record.
However there was one email on file that was sent by Mr. Ciampi from his work email discussing county business, specifically in reference to the proposed Costco in Palm City.
This email correspondence was through August 2017. For context, the application for the Costco in Palm City was not officially withdrawn until September 18, 2017.
It should be noted that this email was not in the County’s database or system until January 5, 2022. So if anyone was searching the County’s email system, it would not have been available due to this significant delay.
There was also an incident in August 2022 involving Commissioner Ciampi and the new owners of the Meridian Marina in Palm City.
On 8/2/2022, a constituent contacted the County Commissioners about the Meridian Marina in Palm City and their concerns about the activity.
To sum up the events:
- The email was sent to the commissioners at 12:05pm by the constituent.
- It was forwarded by a county attorney to development staff at 12:19pm.
- It was then forwarded by development staff to Mr. Crady at Lucido & Associates at 12:29pm.
- The applicant reached out to the constituent at 2:03pm.
When it was learned that the applicant had directly reached out to the constituent, the question was asked if it was appropriate if someone sent an email to the commissioners and it was forwarded with no notice to the sender to the developer who then contacted the constituent.
At the commission meeting on August 9, Commissioner Ciampi had some comments about it.
He basically admitted that he called Bob Raynes (applicant’s counsel at Gunster Yoakley) and Morris Crady (applicant’s land planner at Lucido & Associates) and suggested they call this constituent as it would be “smart” for them to call to get a copy of the email.
Mr. Ciampi made a point to say he was within his right to do this.
Any e-mail sent to a County Commissioner is a public record and those emails theoretically can be shared without restriction.
Is it appropriate for any commissioners or staff to seemingly help the developer by identifying potential opposition in this way? It’s safe to say any community residents who contact the commission are not expecting their emails to be instantaneously forwarded to an applicant or their counsel. What they see as reaching out, some could see as intimidation.
This tactic isn’t new. There doesn’t appear to be any law, ordinance or even any ethical rule that is breached by forwarding a resident’s e-mail about a project to the project owner or representative, but it is intuitively wrong.
Instead of Mr. Ciampi contacting the constituent to discuss it or even advise the constituent he was sharing the email, he opted to tell Mr. Raynes and Mr. Crady it would be “smart” to contact the county for the email. And apparently the county attorney made sure the email was received by the development department who quickly forwarded it to Mr. Crady who then shared it with the applicant.
If you or I wanted information or an email, we would be told the only way to get it is to submit a public records request and then wait and maybe even pay for the request depending on the scope and scale of the request. No commissioner is calling any of us to give us a heads up or say “it would be smart of you to call to get a copy of an email” so we could email a developer.
Mr. Ciampi commended the applicant for reaching out to those in the community.
To be fair, there is nothing illegal about any of Commissioner Ciampi’s communications to Mr. Leighton, with Costco representatives, or with the owner of the Marina or his council, though they are on the surface questionable. The question is are these conversations germane enough to be disclosed, especially when they have a direct connection to or could have a direct impact on a vote.
And the email was to the commissioners, not the developer. Any responses to the constituent should have come from the commission, if only initially.
Now what?
On Thursday, March 6, 2025, there is a meeting scheduled between the City of Stuart and Martin County Board of County Commissioners in an effort to resolve the outstanding conflicts specific to the Brightline interlocal agreement between the two.
It is a result of the County sending a demand letter to the City of Stuart on January 7, 2025.
The letter states that the City is in breach of section 6 of the Interlocal Agreement, however, as the agreement was rescinded, it’s unclear as to what the breach is.
In attendance representing the City of Stuart will be Commissioner Chris Collins, City Attorney Lee Baggett, and City Manager Mike Mortell.
Representing the County will be Commissioner Sarah Heard, County Attorney Sarah Woods, and County Administrator Don Donaldson.
The outcome of this meeting is yet to be determined. Regardless of what is decided regarding the agreements, the first questions that should be asked are who was part of the conversations that lead to the March 4th letter from Brightline, why were only certain people at the City of Stuart privy to this information, and why was it not disclosed until after the original Interlocal Agreement was voted on where it was not disclosed that the City of Stuart residents would be responsible for the majority of the funding for this project with Brightline removing any financial responsibility?
The meeting is scheduled for March 6 at 9am at the Blake Library. The public is encouraged to attend.