🎣 Main Squeeze: Little Jim Bridge RFP Closes After All Bidders Deemed "Nonresponsive"

What's Going On: City Manager Richard Chess spent 15 minutes Monday night explaining why the Little Jim Bridge RFP was closed with no winner selected, pushing back against public perception that the city flip-flopped after media coverage favored an out-of-state bidder over the beloved 80-year-old restaurant.

By the Numbers:

• 80 years: Little Jim's has operated in Fort Pierce
• 20 years: Length of expired land lease
• 5 respondents submitted bids
• 2 immediately deemed nonresponsive (didn't submit bid packages, just addendums)
• 3 others failed to submit mandatory documents (balance sheets, required paperwork)
• 0 bidders met all requirements
• Decision made: September 22nd
• Public notification: October (after Chess briefed commissioners)
• Media coverage: October 10th

Money, Money, Money: This is the second RFP for this lease. The first one was also canceled. Taxpayers have now funded two RFP processes with no result.

The backstory: Little Jim's Bait & Tackle has been part of Fort Pierce for 80 years, playing a role in naval World War II training. Co-owner Donna Qvarnstrom calls it "the happiest place in Fort Pierce." The city designated it a "historic property" and "locally significant site" last summer, but that doesn't guarantee the restaurant keeps the lease. The land is city-owned, and state law requires competitive bidding for leases exceeding one year.

The timeline that matters: Chess was emphatic that the decision to close the RFP happened September 22nd—weeks before media reported that an out-of-state vendor from Michigan was the apparent winner over the current operator. "The optics appear the citizens made [the decision] because the article was in the newspaper. That wasn't the case. That decision was made actually September 22nd," Chess said.

How it happened: Chess met with the purchasing manager September 22nd to review the process. That's when he discovered evaluators had scored bidders who didn't submit mandatory documents. "I said wait, you can't do that. If they didn't submit something that was mandatory they were nonresponsive," Chess explained. The purchasing manager's supervisor (finance director) was on vacation, so Chess waited to brief his "bosses" first—meeting with commissioners October 5th and the mayor October 6th before going public.

The cone of silence: Chess stressed he doesn't participate in RFPs and maintains a "cone of silence" around evaluation committees. "They don't even speak with me about, they do not speak with the mayor and commission about the RFP at all or anyone," he said. Evaluators can only communicate through the purchasing manager, not even with each other.

What went wrong: According to Chess, the evaluation committee scored bidders who should have been disqualified upfront for missing mandatory documents. "If they submitted information they should've been nonresponsive upfront like the other [bidders]. That did not happen."

The public perception problem: Social media and news coverage suggested the city recommended the Michigan vendor, then backtracked after public outcry from Little Jim's supporters. Chess pushed back hard: "There was never a vendor recommended to me, period. We discussed what the issue was. No one ever came to me and said, Mr. Chess, we have these two vendors, we recommend vendor A. It never happened."

Chess's message to staff: In a morning meeting with department heads Monday, Chess was blunt: "Under no circumstances should anyone from the outside influence their decision in the RFP process. We don't want to be there. It's illegal. It's against state law. It's against our ordinances." He added that staff shouldn't be influenced by social media or newspaper articles, and warned that any employee showing bias in an RFP process faces termination as "the least of their problems."

Why they can't just pick Little Jim's: Multiple residents asked why the city can't simply extend the lease with the current operator. Qvarnstrom's biggest fear is that Little Jim's could be replaced by "a chain restaurant or a big box store." But Chess explained it's a legal requirement: "The worst thing I can do...we cannot just give this contract to the current operator. It has to be competitive, it has to be fair, unbiased and impartial." The current lease is month-to-month after the 20-year agreement expired.

Commissioner Broderick's deep dive: Broderick, who visited the property, identified a "laundry list" of problems: violations at state, county and city levels, docks on state-owned land that the city is leasing out, unpermitted work, and compliance issues across multiple departments. "We were trying to force onto a tenant a shit sandwich," Broderick said bluntly. "We are the landlord here. It is our responsibility to clean up this mess."

Broderick's proposal: Instead of immediately putting out a new RFP, fix all the violations first. "We take this specific city-owned asset, we drill into these issues at the commission level...to find out what do we need to do to correct these issues. Then if we go out and correct them...we at that point in time have a clean property that we can put out for RFP." He argued this would increase the rent value and attract better proposals.

The morning meeting: Chess revealed he met with department heads Monday morning specifically about Little Jim—engineers, public works, marina director, code enforcement, building permits. He asked them to return next week with "a list of what the current issues are with that property, everything, and what we are going to do is that we will come up with a solution for each of those issues and the responsible party."

Commissioner Johnson's concern: "We can no longer turn a blind eye to these violations that are out there, right? Because now you are jeopardizing the city of Fort Pierce from a liability because we are an asset holder. So there's work that's been done that has not been properly procured, vetted and proper documentation."

Commissioner Gaines's request: "I really think we need to have an RFP on public lands and public property agenda item...People can read it on the agenda and we discuss what we can do, what we can't do, so everybody can stand up there and ask questions...because I'm not going to Tallahassee on an ethics complaint. I'm not going to Tallahassee with no bar complaint and I'm definitely not going to jail because somebody think I'm doing something wrong."

The historic significance: The property came to the city piecemeal from the Army, starting with the guard shack where Navy SEALs checked in before World War II training. "It has an important historic value to us but it also has historic problems that...over time were overlooked," Mayor Hudson said. The public outcry has made clear how precious this property is to Fort Pierce residents.

What happens next:

• Staff compiling list of all violations and issues
• Determine what city must fix vs. what tenant caused
• Special workshop proposed just on Little Jim to explain RFP process to public
• New RFP will involve broader team (engineering, code, planning, building, marina)
• Mayor Hudson emphasized: "This property is important. This is historic and it is important...we need to spend some time on it and make sure that we get it right."

The bigger picture: This is now the second failed RFP process. As one resident noted during public comment, "This RFP process has just been a colossal shit sandwich." The question isn't just about who operates Little Jim—it's about whether the city can execute a fair, legal procurement process that the public trusts while preserving a beloved 80-year-old institution.

💭 Your take: Should the city fix all the violations before putting out a new RFP? How do you balance preserving Little Jim's character with following state procurement laws? Share your thoughts here.