STUART, Fla. — Stuart residents are expected to pack Monday night's city commission meeting as elected officials prepare to vote on whether to fire City Manager Mike Mortell.
The controversy began Oct. 13 when Commissioner Sean Reed suddenly called for Mortell's resignation without providing specific reasons, saying only that he was not on the commission when Mortell was hired.
WATCH BELOW: Stuart city manager faces potential firing
"I am truly surprised at the approach tonight because I have been available and no one has called me to discuss terminating me once or to tell me why they were terminating me," Mortell said during the October meeting.
According to Mortell's contract, firing him would trigger 20 weeks of severance pay costing taxpayers at least $85,000, plus additional expenses for recruiting a new city manager.
Commissioners Chris Collins and Laura Giobbi have backed Reed's motion, with Giobbi citing "trust issues" but refusing to elaborate on what those concerns entail.
"If your employer decided that he wanted to end your contract with you, would you be happy if he posted all those reasons on your internet so everyone in the company could see it?" Giobbi said when pressed for details.
"I think that the difference is this deals with taxpayer dollars, my job doesn't," investigative reporter Kate Hussey responded.
"It’s still a contract, I mean, we have a contract, you'd have to read the contract," Giobbi responded back.
Collins suggested there might be "more serious issues."
"Sometimes it's just a personnel switch ... and if there's more serious issues that may have been alluded to at the last meeting, then I'm sure it'll come up," Collins said.
"Are you aware of these serious issues, or are these just things other commissioners have alluded to?" Hussey asked.
"It's tough because you can't talk, so you don't know how — what other interactions have happened," responded Collins.
WPTV filed public records requests to see if there have been any complaints made by staff, elected officials or residents regarding Mortell, but we did not find any. Mortell's personnel file that we obtained also showed no complaints.
Mayor Campbell Rich confirmed he was also unaware of any performance complaints against Mortell.
"I am not aware of any complaints about Mike's performance, and I will be meeting with every department head to ask that," Rich told Hussey on the phone.
However, some residents have independently raised concerns to us about overdevelopment and other issues under Mortell's leadership, sending us complaints they made about the city manager.
Other taxpayers believe the commission should scrutinize his position regardless of cost.
"I'm not so much in favor of somebody being fired. I want to be very clear. I'm more in favor of his contract being reviewed. And if he's not abiding by his contract, then the commission holding him to that," resident Robin Cartwright said.
Other residents have rallied behind Mortell, questioning the financial impact on taxpayers and pointing to Mortell's more than two decades of service with the city as a reason he should stay.
"It's the unintended consequences of what could come of this that really concerns me," Jeff Bowers, a local business owner and longtime Stuart resident, said.
When asked whether the commission would consider taxpayer costs, Collins said, "Obviously, every penny matters."
Reed has declined to address questions about his reasoning for seeking Mortell's termination on camera. Mortell has not returned our calls for comment.
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