PORT ST. LUCIE - And it’s a wrap.

The City Council Monday night unanimously gave final approval to a 20-year lease agreement with Wyndcrest DD Florida Inc. that requires the city to provide the company with 15 acres of land and a 150,000 square-foot movie animation and video game production studio within the Tradition development.

The move, finalizing a $51.8 million deal between the city and Wyndcrest, drew applause from local business and community leaders who urged the council to support the project because it would create much needed, high-paying jobs in the community. Nobody at the meeting spoke out against the project. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Residents opposed to the St. Lucie County Fire District’s plan to erect a cell tower on Dalton Circle won their battle Monday night.

“But the war is not over yet,” said Dalton Circle resident Ron Colangelo.

The City Council unanimously rejected a plan by the Fire District that would have allowed it to replace several of its 911 communications towers at various fire stations with cell phone towers without having to comply with existing city zoning codes.
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VERO BEACH — High electric bills have provided the spark to this year’s election, with some candidates contending a contract with a new power provider will bring relief and others suggesting the city look at getting out of the electric business.

Incumbents Bill Fish and Debra Fromang are being challenged by five people looking to gain two-year terms on the five-member council.

The challengers include former City Council member Ken Daige; frequent council critic Brian Heady; retired National Geographic Society Chief Cartographer Jack Shupe; downtown businesswoman Susan Viviano; and local businessman and political commentator Charlie Wilson.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — City Hall critic Dave Mittler is demanding City Councilwoman Michelle Berger publicly apologize for calling him and his former neighbor, John Methvin, “professional anarchists” during a Sept. 28 City Council meeting.

The issue has Mayor Patricia Christensen reassessing how City Council meetings are conducted.

Mittler’s call for an apology comes after Methvin called the City Council office about two weeks ago demanding Berger apologize for making the remark or he would show up at the next council meeting with “guns loaded,” a statement he later said was a figure of speech.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Each time City Hall critic John Methvin attends a City Council meeting, he’ll be screened for weapons by a police officer using a metal detector.

In a telephone conversation last week with an employee in the City Council office, Methvin allegedly demanded Councilwoman Michelle Berger meet with him to apologize for calling him and his neighbor, Dave Mittler, “professional anarchists” during a Sept. 28 council meeting. He said if Berger refused to meet with him, he would show up at the next council meeting with “guns loaded.”

Methvin said his remarks were taken out of context and were a figure of speech.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — City Manager Don Cooper is resigning his post after 20 years on the job.

Mayor Patricia Christensen made the surprise announcement at the end of Monday night’s City Council meeting.

“After 20 years of phenomenal work for the city of Port St. Lucie, Mr. Cooper will be leaving us the first of the year,” Christensen said.
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FORT PIERCE — At the same time city officials are investigating past allegations of favoritism in the Community Services Department, some actions this week are raising eyebrows.

In particular, citizens are questioning the recent hiring of Finance Director Gloria Johnson’s daughter, Ursula, as a program specialist in the Community Services Department, which assists low-to-moderate income families with obtaining housing using state money.

“The Finance Department is supposed to provide a kind of check and balance over monitoring and checking on the financial transactions, and preventing or finding mistakes and irregularities (in the Community Services Department),” residents Linda Salisbury and Linda Hudson wrote in an Oct. 4 e-mail to City Manager David Recor. “Ursula Johnson may or may not be competent, but this family relationship makes a mockery of serious, honest scrutiny.”

Johnson, who has a master’s degree from Florida A&M University, and has worked as a temporary administrative assistant in Community Services since July of last year, begins her $40,163-per-year full-time job as a program specialist Oct. 26. (more…)

SEBASTIAN — City Council candidate Joseph Scozzari is trying to avoid any last-minute surprises by explaining why, 31 years ago, he became a convicted felon.

Scozzari said he was a 17-year-old single father who owned and operated pony rides in New York. He and a group of four others decided to take nine saddles from a vacant barn. The saddles belonged to some judges and attorneys and the young Scozzari and the others ended up arrested.

Scozzari said the others could afford lawyers, but he had a public defender who told me he was facing some time in prison if convicted of burglary.
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PORT ST. LUCIE Despite final pleas from residents to keep taxes flat, the City Council Monday night voted 4-1 to an 11 percent increase in the property tax rate.

The new tax rate, $4.68 per $1,000 of taxable value, will go into effect Oct. 1.

Vice Mayor Jack Kelly was the lone vote against the increase. Also, the council unanimously agreed to approve a 2009-2010 $431 million budget.

“This 11 percent increase is a compromise,” City Councilwoman Michelle Berger told residents in a packed chambers, noting that she and Kelly tried for a zero increase but could not get support from other council members.
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PORT ST. LUCIE - The Port St. Lucie City Council approved Monday a $2.6 million contract for construction of the future Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens.

The contract is with Paul Jacquin & Sons, Inc., and provides that the work will be complete within 240 days. The company also will construct the access road to the site from Westmoreland Boulevard. (more…)