When the Juice Isn't Worth the Squeeze

Whenever the government gets involved in a big, expensive purchase, the cliche, “the devil is in the details,” is almost certain to get tossed around. At a special meeting of the Manatee County Port Authority on Monday, Manatee County Commissioners (who also serve as the port authority board) found a host of devils in numerous key details and demonstrated sound judgment in walking away from a dubious land acquisition deal.

Fortress 2020 Landco LLC acquired the 103 acres of land next to the port after foreclosing on Piney Point owner HRK Holdings last August. The company then offered to sell it to the port for upward of $22 million—which is significantly more than the land’s appraised value.

Now, governments often have good reasons to overpay for land they have a unique ability to leverage, and seaports are a good example. Seaport Manatee is a vital economic engine for our community and has tremendous future potential. It is favorably positioned in its proximity to the Panama Canal and, as Manatee Port Authority Chair Mike Rhan pointed out, much of its competition has little to no room for future expansion.

However, the previous Manatee BOCC/Port Authority was led into a terrible deal last October, and proceeding with it Monday would have been imprudent. For starters, the port would have leased half of the land back to Fortress at just $10,000 a year for 30 years, and Fortress had broad discretion regarding what it could do with it. A good bit of the port’s land would not be developable, and a $10 million grant from the state the port was looking for has yet to come through. What’s more, the advertised interest of Allied Chemical and Air Products in expanding on the parcel remains uncertain.

The haste in which this proposal was made and advanced, the pressure that was being exerted to move forward, and numerous conditions that were accepted despite not being in the port’s interest, as well as some of the parties involved, raised several red flags when we began looking at this last week. The idea that it was also going to be held in an untelevised special Monday meeting out at the port after so little effort was made to inform the public seemed shady enough that it inspired me to drive all the way out there in time for a 9 a.m. meeting, despite a post-Super Bowl hangover (Go Eagles!).

Last fall, then-Manatee County Port Authority Chair Kevin Van Ostebridge worked with local attorney and former Senator Bill Galvano to put in place an arrangement that ultimately saw the board pay $500,000 just to perform due diligence and learn that the land was polluted; there were title issues that may or may not be worked out prior to closing, and DEP would retain easements to dump pollution from the Piney Point stacks. A board with three new members who had known none of this was suddenly in a position where they could either move forward with all of that uncertainty or walk away at a cost of half a million dollars. That is not a position Port Executive Director Carlos Buqueras should have allowed the board to be put in.

Despite its inexperience, this board did an outstanding job resisting the pressure to rush the process. Commissioners Jason Bearden, Bob McCann, and George Kruse were resolute in calling for a cost-free extension of six to nine months to allow wishful thinking to become known outcomes. They gained support from commissioners Amanda Ballard and Carol Felts. Commissioner Rahn remained in support of moving forward, while Commissioner Tal Siddique waffled as to whether enough things could be resolved by the Friday deadline to increase the comfort level before coming over to the prevailing side once it was clear the support was not there.

At one point, the meeting adjourned so that port counsel could confer with Fortress representatives, who balked at an extension. Commissioner McCann made a motion to cease negotiations, Commissioner Bearden instantly seconded it, and it was passed 6-1 with Chairman Rhan dissenting.

You can read more about the history of the deal and its minutia in an excellent piece of investigative journalism by TBT’s Dawn Kitterman from Sunday’s edition, which I believe brought more information into the decision-making process than any other entity involved.

I have to say that I am growing more and more impressed with Commissioner McCann’s sense of strategy, and I am very interested in seeing what someone choc full of both determination and obdurance can accomplish in that seat. He and Commissioner Kruse expertly articulated the shortcomings of the current state of the deal in a manner that was impossible to refute, and no one from the chair to the director really made an effort to do so.

I also had the opportunity to have a lengthy conversation with Commissioner Bearden after the meeting—our first. If you think his post-election about-face is a mere strategic pivot, I’d strongly disagree. I sensed a man who had been struggling to get a handle on a very complex job at a time when board leadership and much of the administration—which are supposed to be valuable resources in learning that the job—were dominated by bad actors.

I don’t think his mea culpa is any less genuine than Commissioner Kruse’s when he said that flipping the board to fire a highly competent and ethical county administrator in Cheri Coryea was an enormous mistake and the single biggest regret of his time in office. I suspect Bearden might think the same thing regarding his votes on the wetland policy and impact fees. I'm sure he and I will continue to disagree on some issues, but I’d much rather have honest disagreements than speculative ones. As Bearden showed in his own unique style at Monday’s meeting, he is committed to being loud, forward, and direct when communicating his feelings on an issue (Rhan had to ring for a recess early in the meeting when it seemed Bearden just might go postal).

In April, I will have been editor of The Bradenton Times for 15 years. In all that time, I haven’t seen a board less influenced by special interests and more willing to pick fights with bullies. I think I can speak for TBT publisher Joe McClash in saying that was a dream scenario for both of us when we set out on a mission to provide Manatee County with an independent media source to watchdog local government, but not one we were ever sure we would live to see.

I don’t expect that the dark forces who have been hard at work ravaging this county for personal gain are going to pop smoke and retreat. But I don’t think they’ll find four votes on this board, and I don’t believe dark money PAC ads will fool voters in this county into shifting gears anytime soon. Grab your popcorn, folks. I have a feeling things are about to get very interesting.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. Mitch is also the author of three novels and a short story collection available here.