John Maguire is between a dock and a hard place.
Maguire, 59, a fisher who lives in Cortez on a boat, may have to halt his boat-based bait sales at the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.
The commercial fisherman came to the city’s rescue in July 2015 after commissioners evicted the Cast-n-Cage Restaurant and there was no one to sell bait on the pier. He says he obtained permits and purchased more than 100,000 shrimp. He’s sold much of it, at $4 per baker’s dozen.
According to Maguire, he works 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily from his small skiff, anchored alongside — not attached — at the day dock where he sells bait over open water. He conducts business not unlike the tour boat and sailboat that also call the day dock home.
And he loves it.
Maguire, whose cap, beard and white rain boots evoke the long-ago image of a sailor at sea, developed a rapport with locals and tourists alike. His advice on how to catch fish often is appreciated. He’s helpful and opinionated. A 1976 transplant from Illinois, he speaks fast and often has much to say.
Even though people appreciate his role as an ambassador for the pier and the city, officials say legal issues are forcing his departure. They are asking Maguire to leave on an undetermined date because his business is no longer essential.
The city in July leased the restaurant and two retail units on the pier to AMOB restaurant owner John Horne, who opened the restaurant Dec. 27.
Horne had considered contracting with Maguire to sell bait, but opted instead to lease the secondary units to others. One is a combination jewelry/retail store with two owners; the other is a concierge business that plans to sell bait when it opens later this month.
Through his lease with the city, Horne has a no-compete clause for the sale of goods on the pier. The city doesn’t want “peddlers” to compete with businesses on land or on the pier, building official Steve Gilbert said in a Jan. 6 phone interview.
But Maguire stands firmly on his reputation for service.
“I’ve been more reliable in six months than that bait shop had been in five years,” he said Jan. 6, referring to various attempts by former pier vendors to sell bait.
Maguire said he accepted the temporary arrangement because he assumed the city would put a bait shop in one of the retail units and that he had the support of commissioners and Police Chief Sam Speciale, facilitator of the pier team committee, to run it.
Like others, Maguire planned to make a proposal to the city to lease one of the two units. But the leases were not put out to bid and the commission instead voted to lease the kiosks to Horne. And Horne was not obliged to follow the open government process for his sub-leases.
That vote to lease the kiosks to Horne became the impetus for a lawsuit filed by Bradenton Beach Marina owner Michael Bazzy against the city, Horne and his sub-tenants, which is pending in 12th Judicial Circuit Court.
There is confusion about Maguire’s position and his use of the day dock.
Gilbert read the section of a city ordinance disallowing the sale of merchandise “from a mooring field” at the Jan. 6 pier team committee meeting. But the area south of the pier, where dozens of boaters live, is not a mooring field. It is navigable waters, not designated for mooring or anchorage.
But an ordinance “says you can’t do that,” Speciale said. “You cannot conduct business on that pier.”
Speciale says the city has been in “an awkward business relationship” with Maguire, with the commission violating its own ordinance for six months because of the lack of a bait shop on the pier. But, he said, the new circumstances require Maguire to move on. The chief likened the city’s discretion in Maguire’s case to police officers selectively enforcing traffic laws.
Maguire says BBPD officers have threatened to arrest him for trespassing though they never have. However, the nighttime confrontations have had a chilling effect, he said.
Maguire might be able to sell bait from a boat anchored a certain distance from the pier. But how would pier fishers get to him? Perhaps his only customers could be other boaters. He said he sells to boaters now.
If Maguire had enough commission support, they could vote to amend any ordinance that prohibits his business from operating on city property. But any such change likely would have to respect the no-compete clause in the lease.
“If they’re OK with it, I don’t see a problem,” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said of Horne and Baldwin. She said Maguire is “doing a real service for the fishermen” and suggested his quandary be brought before commissioners.
Horne said he expects the city to enforce the no-compete clause.
Maguire says he’ll follow the steps to maintain his business, but he can’t afford an attorney to defend his rights against the city.