Round one to remove Fort Myers Beach town council members John King and Karen Woodson from their seats has ended. Enough signatures were gathered and verified during that first round to move the process onto the next step.
Step one in the recall process is to gather 10% of the registered voters on a recall petition. With about 3,300 voters on the island, the committee needed 337 signatures. This week the Lee County Supervisor of Elections verified 422 signatures to recall town councilman John King (85 more than needed) and 427 signatures for Councilwoman Karen Woodson (90 more than needed). 35 signatures from King’s packet of petitions were rejected. 39 signatures from the total collected for Woodson were rejected.
Both King and Woodson now have a few days to submit their resignation or a statement of defense of 200 words or less. If they resign the remaining Town Council members would appoint someone to fill those seats. Both King and Woodson plan to fight the recall and by law, according to Town Attorney Nancy Stuparich, town taxpayers must reimburse them “reasonable” legal fees.
King and Woodson deny the charges the recall committee has alleged against them. The recall committee does not have to prove the allegations they are making against King and Woodson are true. The Florida State Legislature wanted the recall process to be hard enough for recallers to get the process to a ballot (2 rounds of signatures) but not impossible (no proof of wrongdoing needed). That process allows for accusations of malfeasance or misfeasance, two purposely vague words. The theory is: let the voters decide.
Former Councilman Bill Veach, who’s leading the recall committee with former Mayor Ray Murphy, have not hidden that this recall is not really about what they accusing King and Woodson are doing, it’s about the approval of Seagate’s redevelopment of the Red Coconut property and other developments being approved on Fort Myers Beach. King and Woodson both voted for Seagate. Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt also voted for Seagate but is not eligible to be recalled. Atterholt was re-elected in November of 2024. Council members must serve 1/4 of their terms before they are eligible to be recalled. Council seats are 4 years.
When King and Woodson submit their statement of defense, Veach’s recall committee then has 60 days to gather 505 registered voter signatures (round two is 15% of registered voters). The entire signature gathering process must be started over. Previous recall petitions can not be used and added onto. Those new signatures must also be verified by Lee County.
If 505 or more signatures are verified by Lee County a recall election will be set by a judge and paid for by the town. There is no time-frame set for when that happens in the state statute. If there is a recall election, and the majority of voters who participate in that election vote to recall King and Woodson, they are removed from office. And, whoever receives the majority of votes under the recall boxes takes their seats. When it’s clear a recall will take place, candidates can come forward to submit their paperwork to run. Those candidate names would be put under a box similar to this one:
Nobody has come forward and said they plan to run yet.
Voters can also vote not to recall King and Woodson on the ballot. The majority of voters will decide whether to recall King and Woodson or to allow them to finish their terms (November 2026). If they lose the recall, whoever the voters choose will finish the time left on those two seats and would have to run for election again in November of 2026 if they wanted to remain on the council.
Here are the recall petitions that were circulated by Veach and his committee:
Sadly, few if any of the signatories of the recall petition have read or understand the nuances of the Florida Sunshine statute. They have permitted themselves to be used by Veach who acts as FMB’s self appointed Pied Piper.
There’s a reason Ray Murphy is the “former” mayor. Voters looking for a leader may do well to keep that in mind.
There is zero proof of the allegations simply because they NEVER happened. People who signed the petition are willingly making false claims against people in their own community who were voted into office by the majority of the electorate only because of their voting history, which is not allowable by law. They have knowingly bastardized the system and are going to cost all the taxpayers more money for legal fees and possibly a special election. It’s being driven by a group of former Town leaders who want to regain power by inserting their own people in the offices or running again themselves. That will be obvious if there is a special election and then you see who runs because they are all colluding in this Town coup. Why anyone would want of live in a community like that is beyond me. FMB was not destroyed by Ian, but it is currently being destroyed by these radicals who have no regard for their neighbors, process, or ethics.
Jim, I could make an argument that cause should have included manipulatiion of a comprehensive community lands plan. But I won’t.
Not my day to argue. Maybe tomorrow.
Even if the recall effort is successful, isn’t the Seagate project approved? Is this effort to stop Seagate or get revenge?
Hopefully it will stop another Seagate from happening…
Seagate is an abomination.
Yes!
The abomination is the status of this property, Outrigger, Junkanoo and many, many homes in the area around Seagate. Approaching 3 years and they look no different. Get shovels in the ground.
Lori Zocolo, do you have a relative, Larry Zocolo, who lived on the beach in the fifties?