There was a dispute among Manatee County commissioners Aug. 9 as they discussed the county takeover of the Coquina Beach Market.
Commissioners Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore questioned why there was no policy decision by the board concerning the termination of the market vendor’s contract.
“I felt that that was something that should have come to this board as a policy decision. It did not,” Servia said.
Manatee County announced Aug. 1 that it was terminating its agreement with the vendor, Ambrose Services LLC, and that the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau would assume operation of the market in November.
Nancy Ambrose is a former islander who had been arrested in 2017 for fraud charges involving a charity, entered a plea agreement and forfeited the nonprofit’s bank funds of more than $90,000 in 2018. She had operated the market for more than nine years. The agreement with the county included a lease of property to Ambrose Services for the market along the multipurpose trail at Coquina Beach with annual rate increases up to 2024.
Servia said she received hundreds of emails from people regarding the termination of the market agreement and none mentioned problems with the market operation.
County administrator Scott Hopes responded.
“You all did get plenty of emails,” he said. “I got plenty of emails, in early June, about a rumor that was being spread by, believe it or not, the person who held the contract for the beach market.”
He continued, “I sent you an email from one of the vendors that included the attachments from the individual that held the contract for the beach market and words were used like extortion, compelling and threatening, that if vendors did not send an email to you and say certain things, in an email to me, that they would not be given a space in the market on public property.”
The Islander requested copies of the emails Hopes mentioned and received a series of emails dated June 7-11 that originated from Ambrose.
In her emails, Ambrose told market vendors that Hopes wanted to shrink the market over lack of parking.
In a June 11 email, Ambrose wrote, “If he should make this happen that would mean that not everyone would be able to attend the market as a vendor but, what that would mean is that even now during the summer months not all of you could attend.”
Ambrose asked vendors to write and “explain what the market means to you.”
Hopes, during the commission meeting, defended the county takeover, referring to a beach-market inspection in the spring.
“I merely did a beach tour that went from the Longboat Pass all the way north of Manatee Beach,” Hopes said. “As part of that tour with the director of public safety, with the chief of beach patrol, they brought up a lengthy history of issues related to everything from safety concerns to beach access to inhibiting the paved trail along Coquina.”
Whitmore spoke against Hopes’ decision to terminate the contract without bringing it to the board.
“All due respect, this is not your decision to make,” she said. “We’re not in the business to grow government and manage a flea market.”
She asked that the board take up the issue at a future meeting.
“For someone to go ahead and do this on their own without public hearing or comment is part of the reason we got all the emails,” Whitmore said.
But before addressing Whitmore’s suggestion to bring the matter forward on a future agenda, several commissioners walked away from the dais, leaving the board without a quorum.
And the meeting was abruptly halted.