Pensacola mayor addresses Fish House lawsuit deal, government shutdown

Jim Little
Pensacola News Journal
File photo of The Fish House.

A few of the topics Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson covered at his weekly press conference Monday included the deal to sell Pitt Slip to resolve the Fish House lawsuit, the newest appointment to the Triumph Gulf Coast board and the federal government shutdown’s local impact.

Robinson pledged during his campaign for mayor to hold weekly press conferences, and he has held them each Monday since taking office in November.

Here are some of the topics Robinson talked about Monday:

Pitt Slip sale still in the works to settle Fish House lawsuit

Last week, Robinson said the city was working on a deal to sell Pitt Slip for $850,000 to settle the Fish House lawsuit and avoid paying $500,000 in attorney's fees.

Robinson said the details of the deal are continuing to be worked on, and it would not be coming to the City Council for approval in January.

The lawsuit stretches back to 2014, when then-Mayor Ashton Hayward tried to renegotiate the lease of the property with Ray Russenberger's company Seville Harbour Inc. and his subleases, Collier Merrill's Merrill Land LLC and Great Southern Restaurant Co., which operates the Fish House and Atlas Oyster House restaurants.

The issue wound up in the courts, and the city ultimately lost and faced paying Seville Harbour's legal fees.

"The primary issue for both this council and this administration is neither of us caused the issue of the $500,000 in legal fees," Robinson said Monday. "We're having to live with that. That's going to be a cost we're going to have to deal with whether it's through the sale of the property or something going forward."

Robinson pointed out that the waterfront at Bartram Park would not be affected and the deal would result in there being another functioning marina on the city's waterfront.

Many people on social media have expressed opposition to the deal, and on Monday, Robinson didn't rule out having a town hall on the issue. However, he said, at this point it was too early because the details of the potential sale are still being worked out.

"I hate to be hamstrung and have no money to be able to spend because we spent it on legal fees incurred by the past administration," Robinson said. "That's not what I want to do. I'm committed to finding a solution."

Former mayor joins Triumph board and the ST Engineering project

Robinson said he was glad that Escambia County will have a resident on the Triumph Gulf Coast board after Gov. Rick Scott appointed former Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward to the board last week.

"We hope that will help us in dealing with Project Titan as we move forward on Triumph," Robinson said, referring to the ST Engineering expansion project by its FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance project code name. "Hopefuly, we'll have an ally for Triumph."

Triumph Gulf Coast was created by the Legislature to award economic development grants from the $1.5 billion settlement with BP over the 2010 oil spill to the eight counties most affected by the spill.

The city of Pensacola was awarded a $56 million Triumph grant for the ST Engineering aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility expansion that is expected to bring in more than 1,300 jobs. The entire cost of the project is $210 million and the city remains about $25 million short of that total.

Robinson said he would be meeting with officials from ST Engineering this week to discuss the status of the project.

Triumph Gulf Coast gave the city until March to identify the remaining sources of funding for the project.

Robinson said he remains optimistic about being able to find the funding and pointed out that the project runs over multiple years so the funding didn't have to come immediately.

"We don't need it all this year. We don't need it all at one time. I think we're confident we'll be able to find a way to get there. I can't tell you what it's going to look like at this point, but I can tell you that's what we're going to look to do."

Ferries and government shutdown

The question remains if the Pensacola Bay ferries will be back in the 2019 tourist season after the beach ferry operator and the National Park Service ended their agreement in October. 

Compounding the issue is the fact that the partial government shutdown could even further affect the park service's ability to sign a new operator.

"All of that at this particular time is in the Department of the Interior's hands," Robinson said. "It's their system. It's their stuff, and as long as it is, we will participate with them. But we aren't the ones that are calling the shots on that. We're just a partner."

The National Park Service ferries are now in the water at Commendencia slip at the Port of Pensacola, Wednesday, May 23, 2018.

Robinson said the government shutdown closing Fort Pickens hurts all of Escambia County and he hopes the federal government gets back up and running.

"Obviously we'd like to see all that get back open," Robinson said. "It's just a reminder as I said before that your local government is here working. We're here every day. We haven't shut down. We have to pass balanced budgets. We do, and we operate within those budgets."

Robinson said he hopes the shutdown doesn’t delay the ferry from coming back in 2019, but he said no matter what happens, the city's $3.5 million ferry terminal building will remain a city asset.

"If the shutdown continues to slide, then maybe something happens," Robinson said. "But at this particular time, we hope the federal government will get back and figure out what they need to do, and we'll move forward."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.