Crist to replace Manuel

Crist to replace Manuel

Replacement to be named this week

By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 12/22/08


A replacement for suspended St. Johns County Commissioner Tom Manuel will be appointed this week, St. Johns County officials said Sunday.

Manuel's trial on two bribery charges had been scheduled for January, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard allowed Manuel's Jacksonville lawyers until April to permit the defense time to examine 42 recorded conversations and transcripts that are in evidence.

Crist had intended to wait for Manuel's trial to be over, but changed his mind when the judge granted the delay, according to a county official.

His office did not return phone calls asking for comment.

Manuel, 63, was suspended Oct. 17 after an 18-month investigation by the FBI. He could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Preliminary court testimony indicated that Manuel's recorded conversations were with Atlantic Beach developer Bruce Robbins and his attorney, George McClure of St. Augustine, who were acting as government informants.

Manuel allegedly took $50,000 and then another $10,000 from Robbins and McClure.

Robbins -- and the company he works for, The Falcon Group -- had in 2005 applied to build 5,000-home Twin Creeks project on 3,000 acres in St. Johns County, with part of that project spilling over into Duval County. Manuel was not on the County Commission in 2005.

To gain development approval by the County Commission, Falcon promised improvements at the congested C.R. 210 and I-95 intersection, but those were not made because the project began foundering in 2006. Manuel joined the County Commission in November 2006.

In April 2007, Manuel and fellow commissioners voted 5-0 to purchase documents, permits, plans and engineering studies for $2.15 million that had already been completed by Falcon over the course of a year. Adding in property the county wanted, and the cost rose to $3.5 million, county engineers have said.

The FBI is apparently trying to tie the money Manuel received to that vote.

Manuel has denied any wrongdoing and said he intends to clear his name.

His District 4 seat has remained vacant since his suspension, leaving the County Commission with a possibility of seeing a 2-2 vote on issues, meaning any motion on that issue is denied.

That has not yet happened, but Commission Chairwoman Cyndi Stevenson has asked Crist's office to take action sooner rather than later on an appointment to prevent that situation.

Stevenson did not return phone calls Sunday requesting comment.



Green, Mays leading contenders

So far, 12 St. Johns County residents have submitted their names to replace Tom Manuel on the St. Johns County Commission.

One has not been made public, but the others include former St. Johns County commissioners Karen Stern and Bruce Maguire, civil engineer Cheryl Robitzsch, Planning & Zoning Agency chair Henry Green. attorneys Anna Shea and Richard Lewis, retirees Terry Flesher and Harlon Westover, businessmen Phillip Mays and David Mariotti, and former journalist Mark Middlebrook.

Robitzsch is a former PZA member and ran unsuccessfully for the District 1 commission seat against Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson.

Maguire and Stern served from 2002 to 2006, when they were beaten by challengers Tom Manuel and Ron Sanchez respectively.

None of the others has run for public office.

Green, president of Bank of St. Augustine, is a former St. Augustine commissioner and has had a personal relationship with Charlie Crist since college. Local odds makers say he and Phillip Mays of Ponte Vedra Beach, a strong supporter of Crist over the years, are the two leading contenders for the vacant District 4 appointment.

The district is mostly in Ponte Vedra Beach. Green lives in St. Augustine and Mays lives in Ponte Vedra Beach.



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