Drama continues as Fort Meade mayor accuses city manager of lying

Fort Meade’s City Commission gathered on Sept. 17, intending to approve a budget and set the taxing rate for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

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Because of an error in giving legal notice, the discussion and a vote on the budget did not happen, and the legally required final TRIM (truth in millage) hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 25.

Though the City Commission took few official actions, the meeting proved tumultuous. Mayor Jaret Landon Williams continued his public criticism of City Manager Troy Bell, repeatedly accusing him of lying to the commission and the public.

At one point, Commissioner Matthew Taylor suggested that Williams had committed a misdemeanor as he asked the city clerk to make a phone call during the meeting.

Taylor also addressed rumors that one or more of them had directed actions by city staffers, which is beyond their scope. He said he would never do that because “I’m too pretty for prison.”

For the second straight meeting, a three-person bloc of commissioners thwarted Williams’ possible attempt to hold a vote on terminating the contract of Bell, who was hired last December.

Like other cities throughout Florida, Fort Meade has held meetings in recent weeks to consider a proposed $42.4 million budget prepared by Bell. Commissioners were expected to vote on keeping the property tax rate unchanged at 8.4403 mills.

One mill equals one dollar of tax per $1,000 of assessed value on a property.

The millage rate is 1.465 above the rolled-back rate, the rate at which Fort Meade would collect the same tax revenue as the current fiscal year. Under state law, that makes the rate a tax increase.

Error delays vote on budget

Early in the meeting, City Attorney Zackery Good informed commissioners that an error had occurred in the advertising of the meeting. The newspaper that published the notice of tax increase and the budget summary failed to place the two items together on a page, as required by law, Good said.

Commissioners decided to postpone the TRIM meeting until Sept. 25 at 6 p.m.

The agenda contained two late additions apparently requested by Williams: the fire department’s operations and services and the city manager’s employment contract. Williams led a discussion of Bell’s contract at the Sept. 8 commission meeting, criticizing the city manager for his handling of the budget, his treatment of staff members and the possible presence of mold in the fire station.

Williams and Vice Mayor Petrina McCutchen seemed prepared to fire Bell, but the other three commissioners – Jim Watts, Candice Lott and Taylor – expressed varying levels of support for the city manager. Neither Williams nor McCutchen offered a motion to remove Bell.

At the Sept. 17 meeting, Taylor questioned whether the items on the fire department and Bell’s contract belonged on the agenda of a meeting devoted to the budget and millage rate. Good said that the items could be added through a motion and vote.

Commissioners then voted 3-2 against considering the two items, with Lott, Taylor and Watts voting no.

That did not deter Williams from continuing his public campaign against Bell. He reprised his argument from the previous meeting that Bell has lied about details of the budget-making process.

Williams focused on a statement Bell made at the Sept. 3 budget meeting. The mayor has criticized Bell for leaving the position of finance director unfilled for months.

Bell reminded Williams that he has a master’s degree in finance and has served as finance director in other communities. Noting that Fort Meade has lacked a finance director for much of the past three years, Bell said that the city “figured out a way to work through the lack of a finance director, and that is, you know, through the use of contract assistance.”

Bell then mentioned White Paper Consulting, a Bartow company that has served as a contractor to Fort Meade. Breanna Smith is the company’s president.

“We still have the services of White Paper, which is Breanna, and then she is still assisting us through this process,” Bell said. “So, it’s not like this was done completely without her.”

Since that meeting, former Interim City Manager Dustin Burke has reported on his Facebook site, Illuminate Fort Meade, that Smith called Lott during the Sept. 3 meeting to dispute Bell’s description of her firm’s involvement with the budget process.

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Smith told Lott that she had never met or spoken to Bell, Lott said at the Sept. 8 meeting.

During that meeting, Williams pressed Bell on his statement that White Paper “was involved in the budget process.”

“First of all, that’s not what I said,” Bell answered. Speaking of White Paper, he said, “They have provided input, and provided facts and figures that have been used to develop a financial forecast.”

Williams raised the matter again at the Sept. 17 meeting, asking Interim City Clerk Olivia Martin to call Smith on a line that would be audible to all in attendance. Taylor objected.

“You are dictating a city employee to do a call,” Taylor said. “That is not your job. That is a Florida state misdemeanor for you to do.”

Contractor: No role on budget

Williams offered a motion to direct the call to Smith, which passed 3-2, with McCutchen and Lott joining him in favor. Williams then asked Smith three questions about her company’s services to the city.

Smith said she and her company had no role in helping to prepare Fort Meade’s budget. She said that White Paper had provided financial information related to payroll.

Bell tried to interject during and after the phone call, but Williams rebuffed him, saying that he had not yielded his turn to speak.

“What I want to emphatically say to the people, we may have disagreements on policy,” Williams said. “We may have disagreements on a lot of things, even favorite food, things that we enjoy, but one thing that can never happen is we can never allow – and this commission knows – we can never allow someone to stand here and blatantly lie to the people.”

The mayor reminded all in attendance that Bell’s previous statements could be found in archived videos from the meetings.

Watts came to Bell’s defense, saying he had never heard him lie in public.

Taylor accused Williams of conducting a “witch hunt” toward Bell. He alluded to Fort Meade’s history of frequent turnover in leadership, with Bell serving as the eighth city manger, counting interim leaders, in slightly over three years.

“I don’t know to what end it is, but we’ve got to slow our roll,” Taylor said. “We cannot go with another city manager again and again and again and again and again. That’s what has gotten us to this position today.”

Taylor also picked up on a resident’s statement in the public comments about rumors that city commissioners were giving orders to Fort Meade employees. The city manager has authority over all employees.

Taylor said he speaks to some employees but would not give them direction on conducting their jobs.

“And I’m certainly not telling Olivia to do anything because I’m too pretty for prison, and I am not going to take that chance,” Taylor said.

Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Drama continues as Fort Meade mayor accuses city manager of lying

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Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger

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This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 8:02 AM.