Testimony resumed this week in the corruption trial of former Fort Pierce City Manager Nick Mimms, with an FDLE agent walking jurors through emails and records that prosecutors say show Mimms stayed deeply involved in a bidding process for two vacant Lincoln Park lots even after he supposedly handed it off to the city's purchasing department. Mimms, who has pleaded not guilty to bid tampering and official misconduct, faces allegations that he steered the contract toward a nonprofit with ties to his own family.
FDLE Agent Derek Brisky testified about emails and other records collected during the investigation, according to WPEC. Prosecutors allege Mimms improperly influenced the city's process for two vacant lots in the Lincoln Park area and ultimately steered it toward Lincoln Park Young Professionals, a nonprofit whose board includes Mimms' niece and another city employee. Much of the courtroom focus has centered on who actually controlled the request for proposal and how closely Mimms remained involved after the project was supposedly transferred to purchasing.
Parking Claim at the Center of the Dispute
Part of the testimony dealt with Mimms' own justification for the project. He reportedly told the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency that the RFP would address the Lincoln Theater's parking needs, but the station's report notes the RFP Mimms actually sent to the purchasing department did not include language addressing that parking problem. Investigators also found no evidence that Mimms ever filed a 2019 memorandum concerning those parking plans in relevant city records, though the defense has questioned how significant that missing document really is.
The purchasing department was responsible for assembling and publishing the RFP once it received project specifications, and the defense has pushed back hard on the state's framing of the deal as a sole-source arrangement. Under cross-examination, Brisky acknowledged that the RFP was not technically a sole-source contract. Still, emails introduced at trial reportedly show Mimms continued communicating with city employees about the RFP's evaluation criteria and the makeup of the evaluation committee well after the process had left his desk.
Who Knew What, and When
According to the same account, city employees were aware there had been only one submission after the RFP was posted, and an email address associated with Lincoln Park Young Professionals was copied on at least one communication about that submission. The defense has also raised questions about why other city employees involved in the process were not treated the same way as Mimms; the purchasing official who handled the RFP was not charged in the investigation.
Kalita Scott, a former Fort Pierce employee, testified about Lincoln Park Young Professionals and its efforts to develop the Lincoln Park properties, describing the group as a collection of young professionals focused on community development. She noted that the need for parking near the Lincoln Theater was widely known in the community, a point the defense has leaned on to argue the project's goals were not invented to benefit any single group.
A Scandal That Reshaped City Hall
Mimms was arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on August 14, 2024, following a two-year investigation into the RFP for the city-owned surplus lots, and was booked into the St. Lucie County Jail on a $10,000 bond. FDLE investigators determined Mimms had initiated the process to declare the two vacant lots surplus, acted as the RFP's project manager, controlled its wording, and provided non-public information to Lincoln Park Young Professionals before the bid ever went public — a group FDLE noted was formed by two former city employees, including Mimms' niece. Mimms had served as the city's manager.
Fort Pierce's city commission initially placed Mimms on paid administrative leave before voting 3-2 in September 2024 to strip his pay and request his resignation, according to Florida Politics. The commission eventually hired Richard Chess as the new city manager in April 2025 at an annual salary of $200,000.
New Rules, Lost Grant Money
In the wake of the scandal, Chess introduced draft procurement reforms in late 2025 that bar city employees from participating in bids benefiting family members and establish so-called cone of silence rules during contract evaluations.
The project at the heart of the trial, an outdoor community marketplace known as The R.O.O.T. — short for Recognizing Ourselves in Others Together — was funded in part by a $500,000 grant from the Catholic nonprofit Allegany Franciscan Ministries intended to revitalize the Avenue D commercial corridor. A 2024 email sought guidance about returning unused funds. In 2026, prosecutors added the Fort Pierce deputy city manager and city clerk to the state's official witness list, though neither has faced criminal charges.
Mimms faces bid tampering and official misconduct charges. The defense continues to argue the evidence does not establish a criminal conspiracy and that Mimms did not improperly favor Lincoln Park Young Professionals. The trial is continuing in St. Lucie County.
