‘Beach Guy’ speaks out after commissioners terminate contract

A man lovingly given the nickname “The Beach Guy” can no longer rent out chairs and umbrellas on Englewood Beach after he was accused of threatening county commissioners in a recorded rant.

Now, the county is cutting ties with Mark Timchula, a decision that has been met with a lot of pushback.

When Timchula applied for a vendor position at Englewood Beach 11 years ago, he couldn’t have imagined what it turned into.

• RELATED: Commissioners terminate ‘Beach Guy’ contract after Facebook video rant

“I started with about 10 umbrellas and about 18 chairs, and I built it to 160 chairs and 71 umbrellas,” Timchula said.

It wasn’t just the beach chairs that kept people coming back. It was what Timchula represented.

“Even if they don’t rent from us, we still become a beach family with these people because that’s what we were all about,” he said.

But, after Tuesday, that place will have to exist without The Beach Guy, as Charlotte County commissioners made the decision to terminate Timchula’s contract with the county, citing a nearly 17-minute Facebook video as a reason.

“The next step is going to have to be to do something about it, and you know, if it leads in the political direction, somebody’s got to get their clocks cleaned and teach them a lesson that you can’t do this to people,” Timchula said in the video.

Timchula admits it wasn’t his best moment.

“I was feeling really let down and really am emotionally hurt, and I said some things that I probably should have not said on social media,” he said.

He was reacting to the county’s recent decision to accept bids from other companies to come in and take over.

However, he feels he didn’t impose any threats.

“I was never threatening in any way. I just brought out the facts that were of it, and we believe that they had have had it out for us for a while,” he said.

But he’s heartbroken at Tuesday’s outcome.

“They really have just made our heart feel heavy and just sad,” he said.

He wants to thank the community for rallying around him both online and in person.

“I can’t say enough about the people that have just been here for us the whole time,” he said. “It was never about the money. It was always about Englewood Beach.”

Timchula said this may be the end of one chapter, but he’s not going anywhere and does have big plans for the future, and to those who know and love him, he’ll always be The Beach Guy.