Madeira Beach Mayor resigns, calls out ‘corruptive behavior’ in letter to residents
MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. - There's a shakeup at Madeira Beach City Hall after Mayor Jim Rostek abruptly resigned last Friday, but not before sending a letter to the city's residents outlining a series of concerns surrounding what he calls "corruptive behavior."
He said his concerns with leadership is the reason he had to walk away.
"What is going on with this small town is all wrong," said Rostek.
Pictured: Former Madeira Beach Mayor Jim Rostek
FOX 13 spoke with Rostek on Wednesday. He was emotional when speaking about his message to the community.
"I am sorry that I have to walk away. It is for my health. Please keep up the fight. I will always try to have your back. Please continue to do what's right," Rostek said.
Rostek said the stress of City Hall dealings resulted in a series of health scares.
He explained to FOX 13 that he's a stickler for ethics, safety and the city's liability. He said his efforts to address those issues went nowhere.
"The city manager refused to implement any policy. He said he would talk to them and I told him, ‘talk is cheap.' I said, 'you need to have policy to back up what you've told them, because when it comes time for a lawsuit, we're not going to have any ammunition to substantiate,’" he said. "If you don’t get the small things right, what about the big things?"
Rostek also called out wasteful spending, concerns over the city’s procurement process and what he called selective or discriminatory enforcement. He said he believes there’s more.
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"God only knows what else is going on. You don't know what you don't know until you start looking and digging deeper."
FOX 13 asked City Manager Robin Gomez for an interview. He provided a statement which reads, in part:
"While entitled to his opinions, the city has provided answers and resolutions to the comments although not completely supported/agreed/understood by Mr. Rostek. It is unfortunate that the disagreements and misunderstandings of city processes and policies by Mr. Rostek led him to state/list claims of corruption, which are simply baseless and false."
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"We continue to perform our daily tasks and responsibilities pursuant to federal, state, county, and city laws/ordinances/statutes in the most ethical manner," said Gomez.
He’s left office, but Rostek said he’s not done with City Hall.
"My hope out of all of this is someone at the state level makes contact with me, and I will show them what they have," said Rostek.
Pictured: Anne-Marie Brooks (Courtesy: City of Madeira Beach)
Anne-Marie Brooks is now serving as mayor. She was previously a city commissioner.
The city manager tells me they will have a special meeting next week regarding filling her position.
Commissioners also just voted to renew the city manager’s contract.
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