Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers was none-too-happy that the Marine & Environmental Resources Task Force committee removed Estero Boulevard resident Eddie Rood from their agenda after the town staff placed him on the agenda for their December 13th meeting.
Rood, who also leads the 501c3 organization Friends of Little Estero Island, wanted to tell the committee about the problem of the invasive Australian Pines on the beach and the proliferation of sand spurs. Those are issues the MERTF committee was specifically organized to address; environmental issues affecting residents.
The committee removed Rood from the agenda because they were not consulted with adding him beforehand. It’s important to note that the majority of the committee worked overtime trying to do everything possible to get Rood’s Dune Walkover denied. The personal animosity toward Rood from the majority of this committee runs deep.
Mayor Dan Allers said he was concerned that a town resident with concerns that pertains to the island is simply taken off the agenda. “How does that happen? To me this seems like something that should go through the MERTF Committee so they can make recommendations to the council. And to not be heard doesn’t make sense to me.”
Allers was not happy Rood was just removed from the MERTF agenda when staff believed the issue was important enough to put him on. “This is an environmental issue, Allers said.”
Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said the items Rood brought up were time sensitive and needed to be heard.
Rood had to use 3 minutes of public comment at the start of the meeting and then again at the end of the meeting to pass along his Australian Pine and sand spur information.
During the MERTF meeting several committee members also repeatedly berated and mocked town employee Chad Chustz, who is the town staff liaison to the committee for not attending. Chustz was out on a sick day.
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