Mitch Needelman | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Member of the FloridaHouseofRepresentatives from the 31st district | |
In office November 7, 2000 –November 4, 2008 [1] | |
Preceded by | Harry C. Goode,Jr. |
Succeeded by | John Tobia |
Personal details | |
Born | [2] [1] Miami,Florida [2] [1] | October 23,1952
Political party | Republican [1] |
Spouse | Joan "Joannie" McDonald Needelman [2] [1] |
Children | Michael [2] [1] |
Residence(s) | Melbourne,Florida |
Alma mater | Miami Dade Junior College (A.A.,Criminology,1972),Warner Southern College,(B.A.,Organizational Management,1994),Webster University (M.A. Public Administration/Human Resources Development,1996) [2] [1] |
Mitch Needelman (born October 23,1952) is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives serving as a Republican. He represented the 31st district from 2000 to 2008.
He then served as Clerk of Brevard County Courts,but lost his bid for re-election in 2012.
He was a member of the City of Melbourne Zoning Board of Adjustments from 1988 to 2000,and its chairman from 1996 to 1997.
In early 2012, BlueWare CEO Rose Harr met former state representative and current Brevard County Clerk Mitch Needelman, via Matt DuPree, a former lobbyist and business partner of Needelman. On April 6, 2012, Needelman signed a contract with RoseWare LLC, one of the 10 companies within BlueWare's "corporate family." On the day of signing, $100,000 was wired from Brevard County to BlueWare.
On April 18, 2012, the former Brevard County Clerk, Republican Scott Ellis, filed a public records request for any and all contracts between the County Clerk's office and BlueWare.
On May 3, 2012, Needelman issued an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) for a contract to digitize old county records which were then being stored in a gymnasium. This ITN, which was reportedly written by BlueWare itself, allowed only eight days to submit bids, which did not allow other firms the time needed to prepare. Selection of a bid was made only five days later. BlueWare, which had never performed such services for government before, submitted a bid of $8.5 million under the company name BlueGem, Inc. [3] Despite the short time-frame, the experienced document imaging company FNTI had submitted a bid of only $3.5 million. [4] On May 23, in spite of the lower bid, BlueWare was wired an additional $500,000. The contract was signed on June 29, and BlueWare received its first monthly payment of $90,000.
While this was ongoing, Needelman and Ellis were competing for the Republican nomination for County Clerk. One of the major issues in the campaign was the contract Needelman had signed with BlueWare. It would later emerge that some of the money Needelman had arranged for BlueWare to receive was being diverted to his campaign. The primary was held on August 14, 2012, and Ellis defeated Needelman with 60.8% of the vote. [5]
On August 30, 2012, a former BlueWare employee filed suit against BlueWare and CEO Harr for, among other things, illegal termination. The suit claims that the employee was terminated in retaliation for threatening to expose Harr's "improper conduct" with "a certain government official in the State of Florida." [6] Sometime in the next month, DuPree was hired by BlueWare. [7]
On October 27, 2012, County Clerk Needelman signed a loan with Hewlett Packard for $6.1 million, despite the fact that the County Clerk is not allowed under Florida law to borrow money. On November 8, 2012, Needelman wired $5,690,526 to BlueWare.
On January 8, 2013, Ellis was sworn in as Brevard Country Clerk and continued his investigation into Needelman and BlueWare. Needelman and DuPree were arrested on August 15, 2013. [8] The next day, Harr turned herself in to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. [9]
Needelmen in October 2017 was found guilty of bribery, bid tampering and official misconduct. [10]
William Dupree was found guilty and sentenced to 21 months in prison. [11]
Brevard County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. It is on the Atlantic coast of eastern Central Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in Titusville. A secondary center of county administration, including a circuit courthouse, was built in 1989 in the planned community of Viera, Florida, the geographic center of the county.
Cape Canaveral is a city in Brevard County, Florida. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,912 at the 2020 US census.
Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located 72 miles (116 km) southeast of Orlando and 175 miles (282 km) northwest of Miami. It had population of 84,678 at the 2020 United States Decennial Census, up from 76,068 at the 2010 census. The municipality is the second-largest in the county by both size and population. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1969, the city was expanded by merging with nearby Eau Gallie.
Melbourne Beach is a town in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population had 3,231 residents at the 2020 United States Census, up from 3,101 at the 2010 census.
Palm Bay is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The city's population was 119,760 at the 2020 United States census, up from 103,190 at the 2010 census, making it the most populous city in the county and the largest by land mass. The historic section of the city lies on the mouth of the Turkey Creek and the Palm Bay. Palm Bay has historically expanded south and to the west. The newer section is mostly situated west of Interstate 95 and south of the Tillman Canal.
Port St. John is a census-designated place located between Titusville and Cocoa in Brevard County, Florida. The population was 23,474 at the 2020 United States Census, up from 12,267 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Rockledge is the oldest city in Brevard County, Florida. The city's population was 27,678 at the 2020 Census, up from 24,926 at the 2010 United States Census, and is part of the Palm Bay−Melbourne−Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
West Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It was created in 1959 to stop the area from being annexed into the city of Melbourne. Since 2000, the city has experienced the highest population growth percentage of any municipality in Brevard County. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 25,924, up from 18,355 at the 2010 census.
Brevard Public Schools is a school district serving Brevard County, Florida, and based in Viera, Florida.
State Road 507 is a 4.9-mile-long (7.9 km), four-lane highway serving Melbourne and Palm Bay, Florida. It is also known locally as Babcock Street. The southern terminus is an intersection with Malabar Road in Palm Bay; the current northern terminus is an intersection with New Haven Avenue in Melbourne.
BlueWare, Inc. was an international strategic healthware solutions corporation located in Cadillac, Michigan, which focused on developing and marketing software products to the healthcare industry. The company was created by former IBM Healthcare and Advanced Technology Specialists and was an IBM Premier Business Partner.
Jason Steele is an American politician who was a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1980 to 1982. His district included portions of Brevard County. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Space Coast Area Transit is the public transit system serving the communities in Brevard County, Florida.
Brevard County has a county government, municipal governments, and various Florida state and U.S. federal agencies.
The History of Brevard County can be traced to the prehistory of native cultures living in the area from pre-Columbian times to the present age. Brevard County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The geographic boundaries of the county have changed significantly since its founding. The county is named for Judge Theodore W. Brevard, an early settler, and state comptroller, and was originally named St. Lucie County until 1855. The official county seat has been located in Titusville since 1894, although most of the county's administration is performed from Viera.
Eastern Florida State College, formerly Brevard Community College, is a public college in Brevard County, Florida. It is a member of the Florida College System and has campuses in Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville, as well as a Virtual Campus.
The Brevard County Library System is a public library system in Brevard County, Florida that coordinates activities between its member public libraries, which collectively serve Brevard County. It is composed of 17 distinct branches stemming all the way from Mims to Micco, with the central administrative and largest of these libraries being the Catherine Schweinsberg Rood Central Library in Cocoa, Florida. It is governed by a board of trustees appointed and funded by the Brevard County Board of Commissioners. Its missions statement is "Brevard County Libraries enables people of all ages to improve their quality of life by providing information and enrichment through traditional resources and new technology." Its vision statement is "We will be recognized as a Library System that excels in providing efficient, modern, accessible and customer oriented services."