That’s what Mayor Dan Allers said Monday when the Town Council had to reverse course and nix a deal with the town’s landscaping company to install a new irrigation system and sod on the Bay Oaks field. Here’s why…
It turns out there is only $36,000 in the park impact fee fund not the $232,500 needed to complete the project. This mistake is part of the reason two employees are on paid administrative leave while the town conducts a forensic accounting investigation.
Community Services Director Jeff Hague, who was in charge of the project before his suspension, told the Town Council earlier this month that park impact fee funds would cover the cost of the project but it turns out he was wrong. Town Manager Will McKannay said he will continue to plan for the project but wait until the funds are available to bring it back to council.
Council member John King said, “This is kind of embarrassing. I think we need to do a better job on things before they come to light. This is something we should have known before it was brought to us. I’m disappointed in that”
The item was walked onto the town’s agenda earlier this month which means it was brought forward without going through the typical process that may have red flagged the funding issue.
Council member Scott Safford said he asked the direct question about the budget when the item was presented. “I hope that when we walk something on we have all of our facts straight from the get-go.”
Mayor Dan Allers wanted to know what was being done to make sure this doesn’t happen again. “What we’re going through with the town hall property, it seems to now spilled over into this. We all have to sit up here and eat crow for something that was easily preventable.”
Hague was also in charge of the town hall property project which was started without following the town’s permitting procedures. At the end of the day, McKannay runs the town and he took the heat from the council and told them all he’s already made some process changes to prevent this from happenng in the future. And, he said more changes will be made.
On our show Sunday, McKannay said a 3rd party independent firm to help the town conduct the forensic investigation should cost the taxpayers approximately $50,000 and could take up to 4 weeks to complete.
As a forensic accountant, the first thing I would ask is where are the internal controls and does the town have insurance for fraud? Insurance could pay the $50k fee. Many small towns think they can trust their employees to do the rifht thing. Trust is not an internal control.
The Mayor’s comment about “eating crow” comes across as incredibly out of touch. At this point, I believe it’s time for the County to take back over operations. If that’s not going to happen, then it’s time for new leadership. We can’t continue down this path and expect different results. Enough is enough—we need real accountability, real change, and leadership that will move our community forward.
Totally agree
For such a small town, you guys have a really hard time getting things done right. Bunch of hillbillies running the island.
Well, I’m a hillbilly from Eastern Kentucky. We may have hollers and moonshine, but at least we know which end of the holler the government is coming from when they come looking for the still. 😂
We all know what happens to grass when saltwater hits it, right? The permitting department needs a complete overhaul. I was told the town’s brightest and best work there. Frankie has dirty hands. Take a look at 250 Miramar St. We went round and round with this. He ignored me and thought I was a nobody. Turns out the house was too close to the road, like I said it was. They had to move it back. It now sits 13.62 ft from the road. They tried to use the parallelogram rule incorrectly. It is still incorrect. The back corner is 11.87 feet from the back corner. Frankie, (something dirty going on). I said it then and say it now: something is not right. Do the audit.
I wonder how much ICS materials is paying/paid “someone” to use the old town hall for storing the fill material there.. and continuing to use the site for storage.
I believe it’s time for all the FMB voting residents to analyze if we need the whole town council etc when it may be better today to have the county take over operations as they did many years ago. Changes must be made and the council we have can’t even agree on the plan set. Hate to say it but higher structures will need to come to survive the future cost associated with this area. Like it or not it will be painful for the older establishment and total infrastructure. Taxes will drive many more out as do Hurricanes. There will be no room for anyone that’s not a millionaire, that’s the fact we are all faced worth.
That’s a smart comment. In reality, if the Council truly believes the residents should decide the Town’s future, shouldn’t it support putting any proposal to dissolve the Town before the voters rather than making that decision themselves?
And dissolving the Town doesn’t necessarily have to mean eliminating local influence altogether. One option would be to eliminate the Town as a general-purpose government while creating a smaller, island-specific government structure that preserves meaningful local influence over development. Lee County could assume responsibilities such as permitting, police and general administration, while a Fort Myers Beach district could retain a formal role in establishing and protecting the development standards residents want for the island.
In other words, the choice doesn’t necessarily have to be between keeping the Town exactly as it is and giving up local control altogether. There may be a third option: eliminate the expensive general-purpose municipal government while preserving the local voice over the things that matter most to Fort Myers Beach.
How is that plan working for Captiva and South Seas?
Totally agree!! It is time for Lee County to take over! Student council needs to go! I think the resident should sign a petition to have Lee County takeover. This is crazy!!
A petition??
That’s not how it works.
Dissolution of a municipality is governed by FS 165.051: it takes a special act of the state legislature — or an ordinance passed by TC, which is then voted on by registered voters.
Never going to happen.
You’re right and that’s sad. How can that be changed?
How about zero scape. Native grasses, trees, and schrubs.
👍👍👍👍👍
Yeah, that would make a lot of sense wouldn’t it, I can’t imagine what they paid for the Royals at Bay Oaks
And why spend $232,000 for grass? They seeded that area last year and now it’s all weeds..This town sees some money somewhere and must spend it…what a bunch of clowns!
Amen, I own a condo on the Island since 2001, seen how much it’s changed internally. So sad, big mess.
The current TC needs to stop making decisions and stop spending money until the new Council is in place. Maybe they can figure out what’s going on and clean up this mess.
1. Didn’t TC just give the TM an amazing performance review and quite a pay increase due to their perception of what a great job he’s doing?? Very ironic!!
2. There were multiple mentions of additional positions made in Sunda’y’s interview and in yesterday’s meeting. Seems the go to fix these days is to add a body to oversee a specific task. How many people does this dinky island need?? How many can we afford?? When does the spending stop??
Perfectly said!
Honestly, why is there a deputy town manager? Has there always been one?
I dont think so and no PIO either.
Definitely don’t need a PIO. Rarely see anything from her. They choose to use Beach Talk instead. The island is way too small for a deputy manager as well. But that just shows the backward thinking of this town
It shouldn’t cost the taxpayers anything, we didn’t cause this or ask for a third party remedy. If you’re not capable to take appropriate action in your house, you should not be there. Remember, it’s $50,000 plus the paid leave of two employees. Shameful!
Completely agree!! It seems since Ian this islands leadership is just turning on themselves and everyone else is footing the bills. I don’t own on island- I own 6 mi off but I’m here every month and most of my money gets spent on this island bc I’ve loved it since 2019 but these newsletters are just so sad anymore with all the negativity and inside drama and possible corruption and it’s just thrown onto the tax payers when some of them don’t even have their homes back!!! Something has to be done here. A new regime? Younger more educated council members? I don’t even like commenting bc I don’t want to add to the negativity but this is just crazy! Maybe time to clean house and stop paying these people so much money and also stop adding more people to payroll. I truly feel for the residents on fmb bc again, I live right off San Carlos and these newsletters actually hurt my soul to read 😩 hopefully something changes but I’ll still be showing up spending my money bc I truly love this beach.