January 18, 2022 was John Goggin’s last day serving on the Fort Myers Beach public safety committee. He also served on the town’s audit committee, both for a little over 3 years. Goggin leaves behind very big shoes to fill and a healthy serving of outstanding community service.
Goggin tells Beach Talk Radio News the reason he volunteered his time was that, like many resident, he was semi-retired and had the time and experience to share. “I had hoped to use my experiences in government to bring foreword fresh ideas for the Town Council’s consideration when making strategic investments and policies I believed by sharing lessons learned (good and bad) from over 40+ years in government it would help inform the Council before they took action.”
Dawn Thomas is the current chair of the Fort Myers Beach Public Safety Committee. She says she was lucky to have served on the Committee under Goggin’s leadership. “His attention to detail, level of expertise and commitment is something that I can only try to achieve. He will truly be missed on Fort Myers Beach.”
In recent years Goggin worked very hard on, among other issues, bicycle and pedestrian safety, the homeless situation on the beach and the foot-of-the-bridge project. Goggin was probably the most vocal about the abundance of crosswalks in the states plan for the Matanzas Pass bridge project.
Councilman Jim Atterholt said Goggin was exemplary in his service to the island. “His unique professional experience and thoroughness made him an ideal candidate to lead the Public Safety Committee. Although he won’t be far from the island, his presence in our community will be sorely missed.”
Goggin told us he believes everyone in the community should participate in community service at some level. “FMB is a very diverse community and, as such, each unique voice adds value to the decision-making process. No one person or small group has all the information needed to make broadly informed decisions. The Council needs to consider as much diverse input as possible – compare and contrast before they decide an issue. They can’t do that without their voices.”
Public safety committee member Jim Knickle says Goggin is an incredible leader and his presence on the committee will really be missed. “It was clear to me when I joined the PSC that John is a caring and thoughtful person who loves Fort Myers Beach and has worked tirelessly to make FMB a safer and better place for all of us. It has been an honor working with John and I wish him all the best.”
We would also like to thank Goggin for, not only his service to the community, but always being available to us to answer a question about the public safety committee and coming on our Saturday show. He really is one of the good guys.
After 11 years as a resident on the island, Goggin recently moved off of Fort Myers Beach
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