BRADENTON BEACH – Ricinda Perry’s 21-year tenure as Bradenton Beach city attorney came to an end on Sept. 18 when she announced her immediate retirement at a city commission meeting.
She made the announcement two days after city commissioners met to evaluate her performance following allegations that she had named Drift-In owner Derek Williams as the source of a Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) complaint against a neighboring business, the Anna Maria Oyster Bar (AMOB).
In response to Williams’ public records request, FDEP confirmed that no complaint had been filed, which triggered the Sept. 16 work meeting. At that meeting, the commission granted Perry’s request to allow her more time to respond to the allegations.
When announcing her retirement, City Attorney Ricinda Perry read aloud a five-page statement she prepared in advance. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Instead, Perry made the Sept. 18 retirement announcement as she read, sometimes tearfully, from a prepared statement which was titled,” A letter to my Bradenton Beach family.”
Perry stated she had planned to retire at the end of 2024 after selling her home and moving out of state, but when Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck, she put those plans on hold.
“Now in my 21st year of service and, with our community well on their way to recovery, as we mark the one-year anniversary of Helene next week, it’s time for me to finally retire and say goodbye to my role as your city attorney,” she said. “Writing these words is harder than I imagined, because Bradenton Beach has been more than just a place I’ve worked. It has been my family, my teacher, my calling and the source of friendships and stories that I will carry forever.”
Perry said her decision to retire was based on wanting to spend time with her husband and daughter in South Carolina.
“For the past year, I have spent too many days and months here in Florida rather than with my family,” she said. “My daughter is now one quarter of the way through her second year in her new school with me away yet again because I am serving here.”
Perry said her family has made sacrifices for the city.
“This is lost time – moments of my daughter growing up, moments with my loved ones – that I can never get back. For me this has been the greatest sacrifice of all,” she said. “My family has carried on without me so that I could be present for you and that is lost time that I can never recover.”
“It is now time for me to pour into my home life. To sit at my own table, not a city hall dais,” she said. “To watch my daughter grow up in person, not through a phone screen, to make memories with my husband that cannot be postponed or replaced.”
She thanked city staff, commissioners and city leadership.
“While the fabric of our community is woven by its people, it is our staff within these walls who hold it together day after day,” she said.
City Attorney Ricinda Perry, right, thanked each city commission member for their service to the city. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“To my commissioners, past and present, your service is the hardest and most thankless role in government,” Perry said. “For little recognition and only a modest stipend, you shoulder the hopes, frustrations and daily realities of this city.”
Transition
“Over the past year, I have worked diligently to prepare for and support a smooth transition,” Perry said. “I am fully aware of discussions that have taken place, and I recognized that some have expressed a desire for new leadership in the role of city attorney.”
“My commitment has always been, and remains, to serve the best interest of this city and its elected officials,” she said. “If my final act of service is to step aside in a manner that allows for peace and continuity, I do so with a sense of fulfillment and contentment in that decision.”
She said for the past six months, the commission has allowed her to transition half of her legal work to attorney Robert Lincoln, whom she characterized as an “outstanding attorney.”
“I am confident as I retire, the city is in his capable hands and he will continue to provide for the needs of this community,” Perry said. “Thank you, Bradenton Beach commissioners, for trusting me, for challenging me and for letting me part of your story.”
Perry said she has been working on her retirement plan for a long time and presented three binders containing details of ongoing projects and records.
“The last thing I want to do is put you in the lurch where you don’t have the documents with everything that I’ve been working on,” she said.
Perry said she will be leaving the city but if there is anything else that’s needed, she will be willing to provide it.
“We’re a small group, we work hard and 21 years, it’s hard to make sure everyone has everything,” she said. “I’m sorry and I thank you for everything.”
Perry then asked to be dismissed from the meeting.
“Thank you,” Chappie said as she left. “You will be missed.”
“We’ll be talking with Robert Lincoln as filling in as an interim at this point,” Chappie said. “See what his thoughts are. He’s already under contract and it would just be a matter of seeing if he’s willing to expand his scope of services. We’ve already talked to him a little bit.”
Robert Lincoln will serve as the interim city attorney. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Chappie said a special meeting would likely be called and the city would put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a permanent replacement.
“We’ll be doing that as quickly as possible,” he said. “That’s all I have to say on that.”
BRADENTON BEACH – The city commission conducted a work meeting on Jan. 28 to focus on restructuring the building department and the challenges the city faces in finding a permanent replacement for recently-suspended Building Official Darin Cushing.
“I want you to all know the work meeting is for the commission to discuss the current and future staffing of the Building and Planning Services Department,” Mayor John Chappie told attendees in a packed city hall. “Because this is a work meeting, the subject will be what is posted on the agenda, the building and planning department. This is a single subject commission meeting.”
However, during the meeting – particularly during public comment – the conversation evolved into discussions about Cushing and his city-disputed approval of the Drift-In tiki hut.
The commission considered changing the current model of using a contracted building department to hiring an employee.
Chappie began by giving an update on Cushing’s suspension, which he characterized as a “temporary suspension.”
He then read the letter the city sent to Cushing’s employer, M.T. Causley, a subsidiary of SAFEbuilt, which outlined the city’s reasons for the suspension. Chappie said M.T. Causley has place Cushing on administrative leave.
“M.T. Causley is working on a game plan at this time,” Chappie said. “They can provide an inspector on a partial basis. They also can provide online plan review.”
Chappie said the part-time inspector can conduct inspections, including electrical and mechanical, and residential plan reviews, but cannot conduct commercial inspections.
“We are also being backed up Holmes Beach for inspections and commercial inspections when we need them,” Chappie said. “We’re covering our basic current needs at this time.”
Chappie laid out some proposed options for the building department which included putting out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a company other than M.T. Causley, continuing with M.T. Causley, using the building planning services of Integrated Solutions Consulting (ISC), retaining former retired building official Steve Gilbert for floodplain review, sharing building services with Holmes Beach (Joe Payne Inc. – JPI) or advertising for a new employee.
“In the past, the building official was an employee, and we changed that in 2015,” Chappie said.
He said the pros to hiring an employee as a building official are continuity of care, getting to know the public and being an actual supervisor of the building department. The cons include paying for errors and omissions insurance included in a contractual agreement.
“It is my opinion that it would benefit Bradenton Beach to have an inspector in-house rather than outside,” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said.
Chappie said the current cost to the city of building official professional services is $215,977 and $70,000 for planning professional services.
“I think we have better options in-house, but I’m concerned about what happens immediately,” Commissioner Scott Bear said. “If we decided to terminate (with M.T. Causley), how do we make sure we don’t have a gap?”
Chappie said M.T. Causley has been advertising for a year or more for a building official.
“It would be a difficult road to hire somebody,” Chappie said. “It could take a lot of time. Right now, M.T. Causley is willing to work with us. They’re working on a game plan to try to get somebody here all the time.”
“We also have the option because we’re still within the FEMA timeframe to get compensation for building services,” City Attorney Ricinda Perry said. “That expires in approximately two months. So, you could under your emergency powers hire the same firm that Holmes Beach is using.”
Perry said she could prepare an RFP within 24 hours if approved by the commission.
“I think M.T. Causley should come up with a solution,” Commissioner Ralph Cole said. “I have constituents who are concerned and standing in limbo waiting for permits.”
Perry said the city has not missed a single inspection.
“This meeting has nothing to do with the Drift-In application, it has nothing to do with Mr. Cushing’s performance,” Perry said. “It was simply one of the steps the city is going through to get stronger and better dealing with storm events.”
“It was read into the record at the beginning of the meeting, about the Drift-In,” Cole said. “That being said, that’s separate. We need to assure the public that the permits are getting processed and it’s our job to make sure that happens. So here we are, we have to make a decision on what to do.”
Commissioner Deborah Scaccianoce said, “I have a concern about going forward with M.T. Causley. The Drift-In, the planner in that process, also failed to catch issues, which is an M.T. Causley employee. So, my concern is the quality and the knowledge of that company in our permit review process. I think we need to consider that because how many other poor decisions were made that we don’t know about? That was a big one.”
Perry said there are 55 days left for the city to get FEMA reimbursement for building services.
“There’s a hybrid option for all of this,” Perry said. “There’s floodplain, there’s inspections, plan review, building official services.”
“Another part of the process could possibly be to talk to Mayor Titsworth (Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth) about shared building services,” Chappie said. “In fact, if we were able to work something out with who they’re using. It would help our elected officials in the state realize we are listening to what you say, and we are using the OPAGGA study, as much as we didn’t like it, we are using it as a tool.”
The OPPAGA study recommended that Island cities work together on certain issues to save money.
“We have Causley in place, then we can make a decision rather than rushing,” Cole said. “We have them under contract until June.”
“The hybrid approach makes a lot of sense, that’s a long term solution,” Bear said. “We also need an immediate solution.”
“M.T. Causley is a stop gap until we have more information with regards to what they come up with in their plan,” Chappie said. “To the extent that Mr. Cushing is available, he is on administrative leave. Do we want to continue with Mr. Cushing or have M.T. Causley provide a different building official?”
“I don’t think we should use Mr. Cushing,” Vosburgh said.
“It sounds like he doesn’t want us to use him either,” Bear said. “I think the motion is they provide someone other than him, because having him here as a disgruntled employee is not going to help us. There are two sides to the argument, so I’m not taking one side over the other, I’m just saying it’s a little difficult to have a disgruntled employee.”
“I think the motion should be to continue with M.T. Causley and have them provide a building official so we can make a permanent decision on some type of hybrid approach,” Bear said.
The meeting was then opened for public comment.
Public comment
Linda Cushing asked who the building official of record for the city is. She was advised by Chappie that questions would not be answered during public comment.
“I’ve been a property owner since 1995 and have done numerous building projects. I just wanted to add my two cents about Darin Cushing,” Keith O’Neill said. “I will tell you I was very supportive of him, he was very supportive of our project and regardless of everything I want to speak on his behalf and say he did a great job for the projects I was engaged in.”
“I live in Sandpiper Resort and I’m here to support what may or may not occur with Drift-In,” Bill Wisotzka said. “We’re all trying to recover from a disastrous scenario. I hope you find some compassion to process what we need to do with Drift-In.”
Pines Park homeowner Elayne Armaniaco spoke in support of Cushing.
“Darin is approachable, he was knowledgeable,” she said. “I think the fact that he was so approachable was really helpful because as you all know we went through a terrible situation and through it all he was fair and kind.”
Michael Silberge, president of West Coast Air Conditioning, spoke in support of Cushing.
“My comments today are to support Darin Cushing,” he said. “I have never had any problems with M.T. Causley. Steve Gilbert is a saint in my opinion, and so is Darin Cushing.”
“I’m concerned. There’s been no discussion up here about Darin,” said Angela Rodocker. “What he did on social media is wrong. If I had an employee that did that I would put them on leave too. But I wouldn’t be up here talking about him being gone. I was shocked. There’s been no discussion about a man that has worked in this community and has an amazing reputation. That’s why you hired him in the first place.”
“What’s going on here today seems like a bit of a witch hunt,” Neil Lind said. “Has counsel or Bradenton Beach staff made mistakes in the past? If so, were you terminated? No.”
“I have a lot of employees who are really hurting right now,” Drift-In owner Derek Williams said.
Drift-In owners Helena and Derek Williams speak to commissioners at a Jan. 28 work meeting. From left are Commissioner Deborah Scaccianoce, City Attorney Ricinda Perry and Helena and Derek Williams. – Leslie Lake | Sun
Motions
Bear made a motion to continue with M.T. Causley and have them provide a building official until the city can make a permanent decision on some type of hybrid approach.
A second motion was read by Perry to authorize staff and Chappie to pursue emergency services for building department and planning services with JPI and ISC as well as to submit any necessary mission requests to the State of Florida or Manatee County.
A third motion was read by Perry to authorize Chappie and staff to coordinate with Holmes Beach for any additional services that cannot be fulfilled by M.T. Causley in the immediate future to provide building and planning services to the constituency.
All three motions passed unanimously.
“I think we should do everything possible to work with the owners of the Drift-In to help them move on with that building,” Vosburgh said.
Drift-In matters
Perry advised the commission that she would not represent the city in Drift-In matters.
“Mayor Chappie, there is a change,” Perry said. “I have declined representation on behalf of the city. The notices have gone out, the hearing will be the first commission meeting in March. The P&Z meeting and the city commission meeting. I am declining any representation, in large part, because Mr. Williams has retained the law firm of my husband and I am uncomfortable with representing the city with that perceived potential for conflict.”
That prompted an exchange between Drift-In owners Derek and Helena Williams and Chappie.
“In regards to the city attorney’s comment, as a business owner if she’s now stating she has a conflict of interest, from what we’ve been told there’s no replacement,” Helena Williams said. “So, in my opinion it looks from our perspective that we’re at a standstill until somebody else is appointed to represent you, so how that’s going to affect our business and us opening I would like to know the answer to that. There needs to be a replacement. When is that going to happen? Because we would like to move forward and open our business.”
Derek Williams said, “First let me say, I’m not attacking anybody, including Miss Perry. I feel the tensions back and forth since I arrived. The email I received last night said Ricinda got our 30-day public notice out and I have to wait for 30 days. There’s been some questions about when the Planning and Zoning meeting would be. All of these things get addressed in one day? There’s not been a lot of clarification. That means potentially I’m closed for another 30 days.”
“The only comment I’ll make is Ricinda is going to recuse to be clear there’s no conflict and it’s the safest way. Drift-In knew her husband was in the firm,” Chappie said.
Williams said, “I was told they’re divorced.”
“You knew who her husband was, and it is what it is,” Chappie said. “We’ve got to protect the city’s rights.”
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.”
BRADENTON BEACH – Construction is expected to begin this summer on the Bridge Street hotel project, according to City Attorney Ricinda Perry.
“By way of keeping you in the loop with development activities within the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) district, I have spoken with Shawn and Jake (hotel co-applicants Shawn Kaleta and Jake Spooner) who have the hotel that’s supposed to come on to Bridge Street,” Perry said to CRA members at a Jan. 16 meeting.
On Dec. 7, 2023, the city commission approved the 106-room resort hotel, 60-seat restaurant, 5,396 square feet of retail and 154 on-site parking spaces.
“I have been told that those plans have been worked on, they are submitting the building department plans for this and they hope to turn dirt by late summer for that project, so it is still on task,” Perry said.
Just days after approval, on Dec. 11, a permitted demolition began on 129 Gulf Drive S., the location of the former Joe’s Eats N Sweets. On Jan. 13, 101 Bridge St., formerly the Freckled Fin, was demolished. On Jan. 26, demolition began on the building at 105 Bridge St., formerly the Magnolia Inn.
The parcel, on the corner of Bridge Street and Gulf Drive South, has since been used as a public paid parking lot.
The hotel property is sited on 1.61 acres and located at 101, 105, and 117 Bridge St. and 106, 108, 110 and 112 Third St. S.
“It’s nice to hear Bridge Street hotel is moving forward with their project,” Mayor John Chappie said.
Building Official Darin Cushing said he has not yet received updated plans from the hotel applicants.
Perry’s update was one of three she presented on Kaleta-owned projects at the CRA meeting. The others were a possible rezoning of the Pines Trailer Park and conceptual plans to eliminate dry storage at Bradenton Beach Marina and add retail and restaurants there.
The Sun reached out to a representative for Kaleta for comment, but no response was received by press time.
