BRADENTON BEACH – The city has released a Jan. 22 audio recording from the meeting between Mayor John Chappie and former Building Official Darin Cushing in which Cushing was suspended from the city’s service.
Cushing met with City Attorney Ricinda Perry and Chappie, in part, regarding comments he had made on social media regarding his permit approval of the Drift-In tiki bar.
Perry said that Cushing was aware that the conversation was being recorded.
The city had been at odds with Cushing over his approval of the Drift-In tiki hut. The city maintained the permit should not have been issued and that the project had to be classified as a “major development” due to the tiki’s size.
In one Facebook comment, Cushing wrote, “I pretty much call ******** on the whole cockamamie affair! It was approved administratively and needed no more than that. But others aren’t getting their way (or that property) so I’m being asked to pull back my approval and force the owner to go through a ridiculous set of processes. Well, I am not taking this laying down, nor is the owner Derek (Williams). My job is actually in question over this and other things. I can’t afford not to work, unlike others involved. So, when it all hits the fan, be prepared to get some on your face!”
In the recording, Cushing said, “I feel like I’m being railroaded. I think there’s something going on. I don’t know what it is. If you want to railroad us out of here, then railroad us out of here. I’ll leave today. For some reason somebody doesn’t want me here and a lot of people in this town will say just the opposite. They’ll back me up 100%. They do like how I operate this building department, and I don’t know what’s going on after 18 years with the same contract, but now we need to reevaluate? That doesn’t make any sense to me. Makes no sense to me one bit, whatsoever. It sounds squirrely. Something’s up.”
Cushing was employed on a contractual basis in Bradenton Beach since January 2024 through a city contract with M.T. Causley, a subsidiary of SAFEbuilt. Following the suspension from the city, Cushing’s employment was terminated by M.T. Causley.
According to Longboat Key media reports, Cushing had been terminated as building official in 2017 for undisclosed reasons after two years as that city’s building official.
Cushing’s LinkedIn account shows that he was the Deputy Chief Building Official for the City of Palm Coast; Building Code Administrator-Construction Educator for SAFEbuilt for eight years beginning in 2017 and Senior Project Manager for Michael K. Walker and Associates for seven years beginning in 2017.
