The clock is running on this Town Council to find a new Town Manager after Andy Hyatt handed in his 100 day notice on Tuesday. Hyatt said after discussing it with his wife he’s decided to move back to North Florida and “enjoy the fruits of his labor.”
The 66-year old Hyatt has transformed the Town of Fort Myers Beach from a community unable to handle a serious hurricane to a community that was not only ready to deal with one, but a community of residents who trusted the government enough to evacuate.
Under Hyatt’s leadership, among other accomplishments, the broken permitting process was fixed, a new town hall, soon to open, was located and communication with the community was vastly improved. The town did lose its 25% National Flood Insurance Program discount which Hyatt, in addition to this Town Council, are responsible for.
Most importantly, the town staff was motivated, stable, and happy. As with any new administration, early changes needed to be made to fit Hyatt’s work ethic. Some employees were promoted, others were shown the door, unwilling to change their ways. Pre-Ian, Town Council meetings featured one staff member; the Town Manager. When Hyatt took over, every staff member started attending every council meeting and when there was a question for their area responsibility they were given the freedom to respond. Staff members were often seen in giant clusters at community events, something never seen in the previous administration. As one staff member told Hyatt, “you made coming to work fun again.”
It’s rare you have 100 percent of elected officials in any municipality praise a town or city manager. They are always at the mercy of the next election and often spend just a few years on the job. At his one-year review this town council praised Hyatt with nothing but gold stars. On Tuesday the council was hoping Hyatt would stay on for another year or two to continue to rebuild the island from Hurricane’s Ian, Helene and Milton. It wasn’t in the cards.
Since the Seagate approval the Fort Myers Beach community is a divided community. E-mails to Town Council members and Hyatt over that and other issues have gotten nasty and their have been reports of death threats to council members. Someone even took the time to find where Hyatt’s wife Susan worked in North Florida and send an e-mail to her workplace. That was most likely the last straw for the Town Manager. A Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy now sits in the audience of the Town Council meetings just in case.
The upheaval of a stable town staff two years into a major rebuild will be a challenge? Will a new Town Manager want to take on this job knowing part of the community is an angry mob? If so, how much will that cost taxpayers? Hyatt took the job for tens of thousands of dollars less than the previous manager was being paid. Will the town have to settle for a less experienced manager just to fill the chair? How much additional turnover will the town experience as this transition is made? It will all play out in the next 99 days as the town begins a search for their next administrator.
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Is Roger available???? I bet Andy’s critics would be begging for him to come back then.
Andy should stay, and WAK should leave the Island!!!
I totally agree that violence has no place in our community. Unfortunately, I do believe it’s time for Andy to part ways. In his role, he should have been applying for all the government funds that the Town is entitled to since Hurricane Ian, he should have been doing more to ensure the Town didn’t loose it’s Flood Insurance Discount and he should have found better ways to spend more than on $100,000 on various types of equipment, including sidewalk sweepers for sidewalks that the County owns. Our money needs to be managed much better.
In some selective ways I feel our Town Leadership and Counselors are a victim of being too nice and accessible. I also feel Community Members, almost exclusively on social media platforms, are too engaging with disrespectful people. What I am trying to say is, I could come up quickly, with a list of “only” about six bad actors that possess traits of disrespect, only negativity and abusive consumption of time from Town Leadership, Counselors and Community Members. What gives, say these six miserably unhappy and hateful people, the power to have a negative impact upon all the rest of our quality of lives? One answer to that, we are so damn nice that we give them that power. After you shack down one of these say six monsters and their selfishly motivated behavior traits, STOP listening, STOP reading and STOP giving them the power of your time. Without providing them that power/fuel, I believe they will dissipate.
Tom like it or not these six or so monsters as you call them have every right to voice their concerns and complaints to a council still beholden to listen and respond to them. That truth would prevent you from ever becoming an elected representative of this island. You may buy your way around things and think you own the island but it will not stop a concerned citizen of this island to voice objection and seek legal avenues.
Ah dean words of a jealous person speaking. How many people have you donated money to during the past few years to aid in hurricane relief? Or donate an entire speaking lot to a town at no charge? You can always see the jealous I don’t have what they have when the time comes.
Truthfully?… I have probably donated more than what my budget should have allowed. No, I don’t have much money Mr Gates, but I’m certainly not a selfish person. My donations and not made for my self interest.
Jealous??? Not in the least. I’ve had, I’ve lost and I have regained in my life and will have no regrets of not being a generous person. Thank you Mr Microsoft.
Your name certainly implies of not having something “they” have. Are you jealous of the real Bill Gates or are you going to pretend that is your real name.
Dean,
I’m not jealous of anyone. I admire those who have achieved something be it wealth, self preservation, family or whatever. What I don’t do is hate on those that can do something because I may not be able to. Tom and Mary have unselfishly given not only monetary support but volunteering after Ian to help others. I know because I was with them. What the town needs is to get rid of the red tape and make some progress. We all know it will never be the same. I know because my restaurant was among those destroyed on time square. Stay strong FMB we support your growth and recovery.
Hey Tom, always remember that most of the real beach residents don’t like you either.
“real beach residents” Tell me how many people that post here are actually HOME OWNERS/Tax Payers of FMB? I am sure that the majority are just wannabe home owners that don’t even live in the state. Please speak for yourself. I am a home owner and I Thank God that Tom Torgeson stepped up and was willing to fight for FMB and put up with the attacks that he had to endure. Finally we have a beautiful resort that greets us when we drive onto the island instead of shabby delapitated buildings selling 1980’s tye dyed t-shirts with homeless lurking around. I am thrilled he is here and I thank him for all he has done. What have you done?
Agree 100% Debbie. Another idiotic comment. Matt T, what have you done for this Island, either economically or philanthropically?
This really should be the time that we just hand control back to the county. Now we are hearing there were death threats. I haven’t seen anything that sounded like a death threat but if there are then have the people arrested. Why would Andy leave? Just get rid of these violet/threatening people. Now we live on an island that is so violent that the Sheriff has to sit in on town hall meetings? Come on people…arrest the people who are threatening Andy and don’t like yet more crimes go unpunished. Maybe Andy just doesn’t like FMB. Maybe he figured out it’s a clown show and he doesn’t want to be part of the circus any longer. I wish Andy would stay but if he’s sick of FMB, I get it. Thanks for the hard work he put in to try to fix a very broken island/town council.
Very sad news to hear. We have several bullies who live on this island. People who think they are above the law, who have no intention of following building codes or applying for permits. We have a history of corruption pre Ian with town staff in positions they were not qualified for or being purposely overpaid. Now what shred we had with Andy building a real team within town staff is likely to erod quickly. We will be back to the double standard that has always plagued this town. Just another example of why the town should be handed back over to the county. Although I like the current mayor he hasn’t done much to pull the community together and move past the vote over Seagate. No plan announced of how to overcome the FEMA issue. Those of us who do not watch live whatever on FB really do not hear his message. Time to do some housekeeping and pull the community together with a plan or continue down this path of never ending change. Hurricane season starts in a few months and we will likely not have a Town Manager. Huge loss thank you Andy for dedicated work and bringing our town staff to a new level. You will be missed!
I would expect with death threats a criminal warrant would be issued.