Stuart Commissioners Sometimes Have An Overrated View Of Themselves.

For well over a decade, the health of the St. Lucie River has periodically been the reason that has propelled the city to be in a crisis mode.

A column by TC Palm’s Ed Killer is the impetus this time along with the fact that if Mortell becomes the city manager, there will need to be a new city attorney. In addition, there are two new commissioners. Though there are currently no discharges spewing anything into the river, it doesn’t really matter. If you can stir the pot and new commissioners are eager to think they can be the hero that slew the dragon a/k/a The Army Corps of Engineers.

Relations with the Corps have come a long way, most of it due to former Commissioner Merritt Matheson, county employee, Ecosystem Restoration and Management Manager John Maehl and SFWMD Board Member Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch . They took the time to speak with patience and respect. While the Corps is not going to roll over and not do what they believe is best for carrying out their entire mission, at least they listen… for now.

When Matheson was first elected, he came under the spell of a handful of people that could only think of suing the Corps as if they could possibly win. But in a relatively short time, he saw that was an impossible approach given Stuart’s lack of standing to sue and the millions of dollars it would take to do so.

Campbell Rich at first was mesmerized by the siren call of the lawsuit but then speaking not only to staff but other environmental groups, he understood how fruitless that approach would be. Now he has taken up Matheson’s mantle and is working with the Corps, the county, environmental groups, and others to try and cut the best deals possible.

Unfortunately, Chris Collins has not learned that once elected, you need to govern and not continue the campaign. His desire to plunge Stuart into a war that is unwinnable doesn’t matter to him. Collins is rather naïve in his understanding of his responsibilities to the taxpayers of Stuart.

What he says at every meeting during comments is he wants to hire a city attorney who will pursue federal lawsuits against the Corps. Just believing this is a good strategy shows his naiveté. Not only doesn’t he understand the law…he doesn’t have any idea what a city attorney does.

Stuart’s City Attorney, Mike Mortell, happens to be a civil litigator. For the past decade while still doing most of Stuart’s litigation, he also had to render legal opinions on the day-to-day operation of government. He didn’t come unprepared for this task since he had been involved in Stuart for years as a board member, commissioner, and mayor.

Mortell further has acquired valuable expertise on land use, zoning, and codes. He would be the first to tell you that environmental law is not his specialty. An environmental lawyer could not, in all probability, perform most of the day-to-day functions of a city attorney.

Virtually any attorney who has ever tried a case would advise that Stuart does not have “standing” to even bring a lawsuit against the Corps. To have standing, Stuart would need to show that it suffered damages of some sort. What are Stuart’s damages that might have been caused by any discharges? Florida is the owner of the waters and riverbed. Regulation of the waterway by law rests with the EPA, SFWMD and the Corps. Even the land by the shore that people use to build docks is managed by the EPA’s Division of State Lands. Stuart owns nothing.

A lawsuit filed years ago by individual landowners was dismissed by the courts for timeliness and standing. The proof Stuart does not have standing (or for that matter can show any damages) is that no law firm of any sort has ever approached the city to take the case on a contingency basis. If the city is willing to pay a few million, then they could hire a firm to bring suit. Though any reputable firm would make sure that the client understood that it would be fruitless.

The idea that a single attorney (who if he were truly a top-notch environmental litigator would not be making a city attorney’s salary) and a paralegal could possibly take on the Corps and the thousands of lawyers they would have, is again naïve. And to think that court filings would get the Corps to sit down shows that those advocating such a position, have never been slammed with subpoenas to produce millions of pages of records and requests for depositions.

Stuart has already been deprived of funding in the amount of $500,000 for sewer conversion because of impolitic Facebook posts. Now the same commissioner wants to show how tough he is by going toe to toe with the Feds.