BREAKING: No Approved Public Record Exists for Fort Meade’s $2.6 Billion Data Center Vote, Minutes Never Submitted for Approval
FORT MEADE, Fla. — A Citrus Tea News review of Fort Meade City Commission agenda packets has found that official meeting minutes were never submitted for approval or made available in the public record for multiple meetings beginning in June 2025. This includes the minutes of the April 14, 2026 commission meeting, the night commissioners unanimously approved a $2.6 billion data center development agreement with Maryland-based Stonebridge. They have never been submitted to the commission for approval and do not appear anywhere in the city’s publicly available digital records as of the date of this publication. The findings come two days after the Fort Meade Recall Committee submitted first-round recall petitions to the Polk County Supervisor of Elections targeting three city commissioners over the data center approval, and two months after local residents filed lawsuits challenging the approval.
A review of the city’s own publicly available digital records reveals a pattern of absent and unapproved meeting minutes spanning more than a year. The City of Fort Meade provided an email notice of receipt of the public records request for the minutes of the April 14, 2026 meeting, but has not provided the requested records or answers as of the publication date.
What the Records Show
The Citrus Tea reviewed Fort Meade City Commission agenda packets spanning from early 2025 through July 17, 2026. Through June 10, 2025, meeting minutes were consistently appearing on commission agendas for approval, following the standard order of business established by Fort Meade City Commission Resolution 2024-010, adopted in February 2024. That resolution designates approval of minutes as item g, a mandatory standing item on the order of business at every regular commission meeting.
Beginning with the June 24, 2025 Special Commission Meeting, the minutes approval line item stopped appearing on agendas. What followed was a pattern, spanning more than one year, across special meetings, regular meetings, workshops, and public hearings, in which agendas went out with no minutes approval line item and no minutes documents attached to commission packets. Commissioners were not presented with minutes for approval at any of those meetings, and no notation appeared on any agenda explaining the absence or indicating that minutes were forthcoming.
The record shows the city eventually brought minutes from a small number of meetings forward for approval during this period. The minutes of the December 23, 2025 special commission meeting, at which City Manager Troy Bell was hired, were approved on January 13, 2026. The minutes of the November 21, 2025 special commission meeting were approved on February 10, 2026. This week, on July 14, 2026, three August 2025 meeting minutes were finally brought forward and approved, nearly 11 months after those meetings.
The minutes of every other meeting during this period do not appear in the Digital public record, nor do they show they were submitted for commission approval as of the date of this publication.
The March 10, 2026 regular commission meeting minutes do not appear in the public record as having been submitted for approval. That meeting included Resolution R2026-19, the Stonebridge data center development agreement.
The April 14, 2026 regular commission meeting minutes have never been submitted to the commission for approval and do not appear anywhere in the city’s publicly available digital records.
The April 14 Meeting
This meeting in particular has been one of the most publicized in recent Fort Meade history. Forty-one members of the public addressed the commission during public comment on the Stonebridge data center development agreement before commissioners voted unanimously to approve it. The Citrus Tea has confirmed, through a review of publicly available agenda packets, that the April 14, 2026 minutes have never appeared on any subsequent commission agenda for approval.
Of note, the April 14, 2026 agenda restored the label “Approval of Minutes” as item “G.” However, no minutes were listed under that item and no meeting minutes were attached to the commission packet. The label appeared. The content did not.
The City of Fort Meade maintains a digital public records archive on its website. Agenda packets are available dating back to December 10, 2019. The city’s separate digital archive of city commission minutes stops after August 21, 2024. After that date, some minutes appear within individual agenda packets when they were brought before the commission for approval, as identified in The Citrus Tea’s review. The April 14, 2026 minutes do not appear in either archive, in any agenda packet reviewed, or elsewhere in the city’s publicly available digital records. They have never been submitted to the commission for approval, and there is nothing noted on any subsequent agenda explaining their absence.
On June 9, 2026, the city’s new city attorney, Zachary Good of TG Law, was retained under Resolution R2026-29. He was on the agenda to provide a presentation on “Florida Sunshine and Public Records.” Citrus Tea News staff were in attendance at that meeting and can confirm the presentation occurred.
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That meeting also included a presentation by TG Law on the requirements for meeting minutes under Florida Statute 286.011, stating that minutes must be recorded promptly and made available for public inspection. This was part of the presentation included in the agenda packet on page 302 of 325. The June 9, 2026 meeting minutes, however, do not appear in the digital public record, nor have they been submitted for approval as of the date of publication.
What the Law Requires
Florida Statute 286.011 requires that minutes of all public meetings be recorded promptly and made available for public inspection. Written minutes are required. Audio or video recording is optional but can support the written record.
Linda Bourgeois, Deputy City Manager for the City of Lake Alfred, confirmed to The Citrus Tea that best practices for City Clerks and Sunshine Law requirements call for meeting minutes to be completed within a reasonable time. If a delay occurs for any reason, Bourgeois said, an explanation should be noted on subsequent agendas and minutes, with the minutes provided as soon as possible.
Bourgeois also confirmed that under Florida’s Sunshine Law, a written public records request is not required to inspect public records. However, The Citrus Tea has been informed that all public records requests to the City of Fort Meade are currently being handled exclusively through email to City Attorney Zackery Good at TG Law.
During the research process, the Citrus Tea News reviewed multiple cities in Polk County and found that all agendas and minutes were accounted for across each of the municipalities reviewed. Where minutes had not yet been formally approved, they were attached to the next meeting agenda, labeled as draft, and scheduled for formal approval at the upcoming meeting.
The City’s Own Rules and Order of Business
Fort Meade City Commission Resolution 2024-010, adopted unanimously in February of 2024, establishes the mandatory order of business for every regular commission meeting. Item “G” on that order of business is approval of minutes. The resolution also requires that all agenda items be reviewed by the city attorney before publication, leaving questions on how so many agendas reached the commission and the public without a minutes approval line item.
No Response From the City
The Citrus Tea submitted nine questions to City Manager Troy Bell on July 2, 2026, regarding the data center, water infrastructure, and pending lawsuits. Bell forwarded the inquiry to the city attorney at TG Law to answer the question noting it was in “reference to unknown law suit regarding data center approval,” that same evening, but did not respond to any of the other questions.
Court records show that the Certificate of Service in Case 2026CA-002488 states: “I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing/this document was filed through the Florida Court’s E-Filing Portal on this 14th day of May, 2026, and that the City Manager of Respondent, the City of Fort Meade, shall be served via U.S. Mail at/to City Hall, 8 West Broadway Street, Fort Meade, FL 33841.”
As of publication, neither Bell nor the city attorney has responded to the July 2, 2026 email to issue a statement or to confirm awareness of the lawsuits filed against the city.
The Citrus Tea submitted 3 formal public records requests under Chapter 119, Florida Statutes on July 17, 2026, one specifically requesting the April 14, 2026 meeting minutes in any form in which they exist, including any draft, unsigned, or unapproved version. Interim Deputy City Clerk Olivia Martin confirmed verbally and in an email to The Citrus Tea News that the requests were received, though she stated could not satisfy the records request in her interim status. As of publication, no substantive response had been provided by the city, the city clerk’s office, or city attorney Zachary Good at TG Law.
Editor's Note: The information contained in this article was gathered and reported in good faith based on a review of publicly available digital records maintained by the City of Fort Meade at cityoffortmeade.com, direct communications with city and county officials, and court records available through the Polk County Clerk of Courts. The Citrus Tea News made every effort to verify the accuracy of the information presented prior to publication and provided the City of Fort Meade multiple opportunities to respond, clarify, or correct any information before publication. If any information contained in this article is found to be inaccurate or incomplete, The Citrus Tea will promptly issue a correction or update. Corrections and updates will be noted within the article. Readers with additional information relevant to this reporting are encouraged to contact The Citrus Tea at [email protected].
Sources: Fort Meade City Commission digital public records archive, agenda packets December 10, 2019 through July 14, 2026, cityoffortmeade.com, Fort Meade City Commission minutes archive through August 21, 2024, cityoffortmeade.com, Resolution 2024-010, Fort Meade City Commission, February 13, 2024, Resolution R2026-29, Fort Meade City Commission, June 9, 2026, Florida Statute 286.011, Linda Bourgeois, Deputy City Manager, City of Lake Alfred, July 17, 2026; Citrus Tea Polk County municipal records review, July 16, 2026; City of Fort Meade email correspondence, July 2, 2026, Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, Olivia Martin, Interim Deputy City Clerk, City of Fort Meade, July 17, 2026
