STUART, Fla. — Members of the Stuart City Commission are considering firing City Manager Michael Mortell, yet are refusing to give a reason why.
In a commission meeting on Monday, Commissioner Sean Reed called for Mortell's resignation, and then made a motion to remove him from office and appoint someone else in the interim. Reed offered no explanation why, except to say he wanted to help pick the next city manager.
Mortell has been the city manager of Stuart for two years. Mortell said he was expecting a conversation about his contract and seemed caught off guard by the calls to resign.
"I have to tell you I truly am surprised at the approach we're taking tonight, just because I have been available and no one's called me to discuss terminating me once, or to tell me why they were terminating me, or to even tell me which thing I did wrong in my job," Mortell said during the meeting. "If you're inclined to go down that path, I'm obviously not going anywhere, I've lived here my whole life, we've obviously been working professionally the last two or three weeks, I would ask that this be put on another agenda item for a more formal proceeding so that it can actually be noticed properly, under the state law as it relates to due process."
The mayor and commissioners spoke up both in favor of firing Mortell and defending his position, with several residents concerned about the lack of cause for his firing.
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"He has specific responsibility. Is the implication that he has failed to fulfill some of these responsibilities in Section 3.05," Mayor Campbell Rich said during the meeting. "You got to stop worrying about sparing his feelings, we're taking his job away from him. We need to know how he has failed, if he has failed."
"I just think that we need to pull back and think about this. We're at the end of the year, we're starting a new budget. Whether or not Mike stays on, we're talking anywhere upwards of probably $275,000 or more plus other benefits for a new person," Commissioner Eula Clarke said during the meeting. "This tactic of 'meeting by ambush' is very striking to me. I will not be in favor of any termination of Mr. Mortell in this manner, especially at this time."
In response, Vice Mayor Christopher Collins said "out of respect for Mike" he would "rather not open up everything and try to litigate his faults," but is backing Reed's efforts to oust him.
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Commissioner Laura Giobbi also argued that the details of the city manager's performance should be kept private. From her first day as a commissioner in 2024, she said, there have been issues with Mortell of misrepresentation and trust. She declined to elaborate during the meeting.
"I will agree with the people who spoke for Mr. Mortell. He has a plethora of knowledge, he's been a city manager, he's been a city commissioner, city attorney, and he's done his job well," Giobbi said during the meeting. "I'm a new commissioner, and I don't want to go into the weeds, but from day one, there was a level of misrepresentation and trust, so for me, that's an issue. I don't really want to go further than that."
The commission is expected to vote on Mortell's future at a meeting on Oct. 27.
