Fort Pierce City Commissioners late Thursday voted unanimously to suspend the city manager with pay and full benefits.
51-year old Nicholas Mimms is accused of rigging a bid to favor a nonprofit partially run by his niece and keeping his family ties a secret.
FDLE investigators say Mimms orchestrated a scheme to declare two vacant downtown lots surplus and steer the lease to Lincoln Park Young Professionals. The organization held the lease from 2020 until Mayo of this year, whey they requested to terminate it. A promise to develop the land into a community center never saw the light of day.
The city agreed to name City Clerk Linda Cox interim city manager.
Meanwhile Congressman Brian Mast has released a statement, demanding that Mimms should resign and if he doesn't, he wants the city to remove him from office permanently. Mast says residents deserve "a city government that addresses homelessness, crime and the garbage everywhere, which tarnishes one of the most naturally beautiful places in Florida."
In his statement, Mast writes that across much of the city "kids cannot walk to school or the local park without their parents having to fear for their life." He says the Commission has not been addressing the documented proof of major decay that he has sent to the board.