BRADENTON BEACH – In a Jan. 24 letter, City Attorney Ricinda Perry outlined the city’s reasons for the Jan. 21 suspension of Building Official Darin Cushing and is asking his employer to provide a replacement for the city.
The letter, which was addressed to Matthew Causley, president of M.T. Causley, was shared by email with city officials and The Sun. M.T. Causley is a subsidiary of SAFEbuilt Inc. and provided Cushing’s contractual building official staffing to Bradenton Beach.
The city’s reasons for what Mayor John Chappie characterized as Cushing’s “temporary suspension,” center around the Building Official’s approval of a permit for construction of a tiki hut structure at Drift-In on Bridge Street as well as various social media posts.
According to Perry’s letter, “The project at issue was for the Drift-In located on two parcels at 120 and 122 Bridge St. The project on the 120 Bridge St. parcel consisted of an outdoor structure that Mr. Cushing determined was a Chickee Hut, exempt from the Florida Building Code pursuant to Section 553.73 (10) Fla. Stat. He approved the structure with the following notable issues:
1. 450% larger (24’x54’) than the prior structure (13’x15’+3’ overhang);
2. Decreased parking spaces that were previously part of the site;
3. Allowed the replacement structure to be placed back into an easement granted to the City; and
4. The “Chickee Hut” contained non-wood features such as nails, screws, a concrete floor, outdoor bar, stage area, as well as electrical and plumbing work incorporated into the structure.
These proposed improvements fall outside of the Section 553.73 (10) exemption.”
On Jan. 21, Mayor John Chappie and Perry met with Cushing. Perry’s letter states that Cushing was asked about the intent and purpose of public comments he made on social media and said that instead, Cushing redirected the conversation to the tiki hut permit.
According to Perry’s letter, Cushing stated at that meeting: “I’m out. I’m requesting to be out of here. I want to tell SAFEbuilt to send another different building official here. They’ve already got a position for me elsewhere. So, it’s because now it feels like a hostile working environment.”
At that point, the letter states that Chappie advised Cushing he was suspending his service and would be contacting M.T. Causley for a replacement building official.
The city commission approved Cushing’s contract as building official on Jan. 23, 2024. He has been a licensed building official since 2005.
Cushing declined to comment on Perry’s letter.
Perry’s letter cited the following reasons for Cushing’s temporary suspension:
ULTRA VIRES ACT (ACTING OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF AUTHORITY)
“The city is of the opinion that the issuance of an administrative development approval to Drift-In, for the installation of a structure that Mr. Cushing deemed to be a Chickee Hut, as exempted by Florida Statutes, was improperly categorized as such, and should not have been approved until a major development hearing was conducted by the Planning and Zoning Board and City Commission.”
Perry wrote that Cushing’s administrative approval of the structure was outside the scope of his authority, and he failed to adhere to the municipal laws in the city’s Land Development Code.
According to an exhibit attached to Perry’s letter, Cushing stated in a social media post, “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.”
DISREGARDING DIRECTION FROM MAYOR
“Mayor Chappie proactively advised Mr. Cushing to refrain from issuance of any permits immediately following the approval of a demolition permit for the property at 122 Bridge, because of active legal discussions between the city attorney and the attorney for the Drift-In,” the letter states.
The letter states that Cushing issued the administrative development approval without informing anyone in the city.
“Upon seeing redevelopment work and repairs at the Drift-In on Dec. 13, 2024, Mayor Chappie immediately contacted Mr. Cushing by phone and in writing to advise him of a number of concerns that he had in order to protect the city stating, ‘“[t]he Cities [sic] Land Use Right and the Drift-In’s Land Use Rights must be protected, and proper policy and procedures must be followed. The City must operate in accordance with the policy mandates of the Commission. All proper documentation must be in place to protect the city from any FEMA issues and the Cities [sic] easement issues must be addressed by the commission prior to any additional work.”
A copy of the written notice from Chappie was attached to the letter.
“Mr. Cushing disregarded all advice given by Mayor Chappie,” the letter states.
FAILURE TO ADHERE TO PROCEDURES AND NOTICE TO REVIEWING AGENCIES
Perry’s letter stated: “The failure to notify any of the reviewing agencies i.e. WMFD (West Manatee Fire District) violated the procedures of the Building Department and came at a cost to the property owner. Mr. Cushing did not provide any information nor the plans for review to the West Manatee Fire District (“WMFD”), the City of Bradenton Beach Police Department, nor the City of Bradenton Beach Public Works, as required in the approval process.”
“During a 12/19/24 Commission Meeting where an update was provided on the Drift-In matter, a directive by the city commission to notify WMFD was directed to Mr. Cushing, who made the following statement: “I know the Fire Marshal is aware of the situation, but I will bring this new information to him today and see if he needs to put an approval on it. However, during the WMFD meeting a month later on 1/14/25, Chief Rigney and Fire Marshal Kwiatkowski stated that they learned of the Drift-In project through social media and had not been provided any municipal notice, nor a copy of the permit application. The Fire Marshal was obligated to red tag the property and found that the thatched roof was in violation of the standards and regulations promulgated by the District. Accordingly, the new roof would have to be removed and replaced with synthetic thatched materials, which may have been avoided with notice to WMFD.”
According to a social media post attached to Perry’s letter, Cushing had written, “I will take ownership of not routing to WMFR, but the Fire Marshal and I immediately had a conversation about it and agreed on a game plan. Then he came out and red tagged it, at whose direction? The whole thing stinks to me… I may be wrong… but I’m usually not.”
FAILURE TO ADHERE TO AND PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF FEMA/FLOODPLAIN POST-STORM EVENT
“The cessation of securing a permit for property improvements/repairs at 120 Bridge St. violates a number of policies of the City, the Land Development Code, and, in light of the post-hurricane floodplain/FEMA compliance, likely violated the substantial damage and substantial improvement procedures,” Perry stated in the letter.
“As noted by the Fire Marshal on 1/14/25, the second structure located at 122 Bridge St. had undergone extensive renovations including electrical, plumbing, restroom reconfigurations, windows, doors, concrete, painting, flooring, HVAC work. No permit was required by Mr. Cushing for any of the work until a meeting with WMFD, wherein the City Attorney and the WMFD Fire Marshal requested for one to be applied for and reviewed by the Building Department and the appropriate agencies,” Perry’s letter states. “As directed by FEMA Floodplain Management and Insurance Specialist, Braydon Williams from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, every single improvement to any property, including minor repairs such as repainting an interior wall, triggers the need in a post-storm event for a permit in order to properly and legally capture substantial damage and substantial improvement matters. Failure to do so is grounds for non-compliance and audits.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
“The actions of Mr. Cushing to engage in salacious social media postings with slang profanity terms is improper and harmful to the City of Bradenton Beach. The City is aware of no less than half of a dozen comments on social media that contained factual misstatements, made declarations adverse to the best interest of the City, incited the public against the City, and made statements that could be taken as threats against the City ‘[s]o when it all hits the fan, be prepared to get some on your face!’,” Perry’s letter states.
She stated that one additional posting by Cushing pending his temporary suspension casts a negative light on the City of Bradenton Beach.
“I requested the assistance of Paul Featherston to address any written or verbal statements by SAFEbuilt, M.T. Causley or its agents that could be defamatory in nature with the public or press. We would again emphasize the importance of maintaining a level of professionalism that does not negatively impact the reputation of the City or SAFEbuilt/M.T.Causley,” Perry stated in the letter.
Featherston is the West Coast/Central Florida Regional Operations Manager at SAFEbuilt.
THE CITY’S REQUEST FOR REPLACEMENT BUILDING OFFICIAL
“Mayor Chappie has contacted Mr. Featherston each day this week since Mr. Cushing has left the service of the city and has been advised that options are very limited,” Perry’s letter states. “Time is of the essence—especially in the aftermath of the two storm events that greatly impacted our community. If SAFEbuilt is unable to provide the services needed and contracted for by the city, please advise immediately.”
