Nearly a year after firing Mike Mortell, the Stuart City Commission voted 3-2 to rehire him as city manager.
The vote came after a newly elected commission took office following the Aug. 18 election. During the same meeting, Commissioner Sean Reed was removed as mayor and Eula Clarke was named mayor.
Mortell's return follows another change at the city's top administrative position. Michael Giardino, who replaced Mortell, was fired Aug. 24 in a 3-1 vote just months after being hired. Giardino has since been hired as interim village manager for Indiantown.
Commissioner Campbell Rich proposed bringing Mortell back, saying the city needed someone who could immediately address its problems.
"We had to put in place someone who could straighten this out immediately. And luckily that person was willing to take the job and was available and is in fact the best person for the job."
Mortell's annual salary was $265,725 when he was fired in October. City Attorney Lee Baggett said Mortell agreed to return at a lower salary.
"When Mr. Mortell's employment terminated in 2025, his salary at that time was a little over $265,000. He has agreed to start at $225,000," he said. "In addition, since we're about to go into the new fiscal year, we will be getting 3% COLA raises for the year. He also agreed to forego the first COLA raise for the next fiscal year."
Commissioners Laura Giobbi and Reed voted against rehiring Mortell. Reed questioned whether restrictions in Mortell's contract would address his concerns about Mortell's alleged conduct and objected to the commission making the decision while Mortell was not present.
"It really doesn't matter what restrictions we put on this contract. They're irrelevant," he said, referring the majority voting block. "I also think it's a disservice to our constituents that we're taking action on a potential city manager employee, which is one of the three highest levels that we have employed here at the city of Stuart, and this individual is not here to be questioned."
The turnover has also come with a financial cost to the city. With two city managers fired within a year, Stuart paid more than $175,000 in severance packages between Mortell and Giardino.
Reed asked commissioners to give up their annual $20,000 salaries for two years to cover that cost. The proposal is expected to be discussed at the commission's Oct. 12 meeting.