BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Jimmy Crosby has resigned from his position as Starke city clerk.
Crosby was elected unopposed to the office in 2021, but submitted a brief letter explaining he didn’t want to continue and become a distraction.
“Dear Mayor Roberts,
“A question has been raised on the issue of whether I properly qualified for the office of city clerk. I have always strived to serve our city with the utmost professionalism and without unnecessary distraction.
“To avoid distraction from the good work our office has done and will continue to do, I resign effective immediately.”
On the morning of Feb. 27, investigators from Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Public Integrity Division closed city hall for several hours. It is still not clear what triggered the search warrant, but FDLE left with multiple documents related to the 2021 election.
Crosby served time in federal prison after pleading guilty to accepting kickbacks from a vendor while serving as secretary for the Department of Corrections. His sentencing was in 2007, and by 2021, Crosby was confident the path had been cleared for him to hold public office again in the city of Starke. Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment a few years before simplifying the restoration of voting rights for many former felons, and Gov. Ron DeSantis affirmed the right to hold office could also be restored.
It appears issues with official paperwork led to questions about whether Crosby had “properly qualified” to hold the position of city clerk. Crosby acknowledged his qualification had been challenged on a “technicality,” but he did not expound, saying he did not want to make an issue out of it.
“I just didn’t feel like, at the end of the day, that it was worth my trying to fight on that issue,” Crosby said.
Mayor Scott Roberts appointed City Manager Drew Mullins as acting city clerk, and the commission voted to back that appointment Tuesday night.
The idea has been floated that Crosby could come back to work for the city in some capacity. Mullins said working with Crosby has been “phenomenal.”
“Jimmy and I are extremely close and really, really good friends,” Mullins said. “He has taught me so much, he really has, so I still want to call him for advice.”
With the history of conflict between Starke clerks and managers, Mullins said he and Crosby strived to cooperate for the city’s benefit. The loss of his role working for the city here and in Tallahassee and Washington to push so many projects forward will come as a blow, Mullins said.
Commissioner Janice Mortimer didn’t just sing Crosby’s praises. She went back over financial and operational audits the city has received, both from CPAs and state auditors. Under one clerk, she said, there were more than 30 significant findings, and by the end of the next clerk’s term there were still 14 findings that needed to be addressed after multiple terms in office. Crosby inherited those, but he, with the help of his staff in finance, have reduced that to 3 minor findings in two and a half years, she said.
“I think that speaks volumes for the work that Mr. Crosby was doing for the city,” she said. “I want to give credit to the man for the job that he did and getting the ship right.”
The situation is unfortunate, she added, but the city needs to move forward and continue in the direction Crosby helped chart.
Crosby could be the last clerk to be sworn into the office. The commission also voted Tuesday night to have the city attorney bring back language to consider placing a referendum on the ballot asking voters if the position of city clerk should be removed from the charter as an elected official.
If the referendum moves forward and voters change the charter, the city clerk would become an employee of the city commission.
