Nobody knows yet. As of close of business last night there was no official word from the Lee County Supervisor of Elections or the Town of Fort Myers Beach following a very awkward Town Council meeting Thursday.
The election to recall John King and Karen Woodson has been set for November 4th by Chief Judge Frank Porter. Porter and the Lee County Supervisor of Elections then told the town of Fort Myers Beach they needed to set a qualifying period for candidates. The Town Attorney drafted an emergency resolution Wednesday setting the qualifying period for Monday morning 9AM through Tuesday afternoon at 5PM and she requested the Town Council pass an emergency resolution codifying those dates it to keep the recall on schedule for November 4th.
That’s when everything went off the rails?
The Town Council voted 4-1 to deny setting the qualifying dates after the Town Attorney said the Town Council was not mandated to do so. Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said, “We have a poorly worded state statute that’s been hijacked by some folks for nefarious purposes using slander and defamation. I can’t be a party to cleaning up a mess that’s so devious. It’s embarrassing for the town.” Council member Scott Safford said he was refusing to put his name on the attempt to push out his colleagues.
Mayor Dan Allers was the only one in favor of moving the process forward. “We had no control over the process. I support setting the dates.”
King and Woodson refused to sign the conflict of interest forms which the town attorney said was their prerogative. Woodson said the recall is a sham perpetuated by lies and deceit and everyone knows it. “The petitions that were signed should be thrown out because they were gathered under false pretense. They used the Seagate vote as the bait, and I have witnesses that will testify to that in court: no mention of the three allegations that are total lies. I don’t have a conflict of interest with this vote. Quite the contrary, I have a vested interest in this, and I will not stand down.”
Allers made the motion to approve the qualifying dates which died for lack of a second. Safford made the motion to deny which was approved 4-1, Allers being the only no vote.
This turn of events is unlikely to stop the recall from happening on November 4th. It probably won’t even delay it. It’s likely the Superviser of Elections and Judge Porter are trying figuring out what to do to make sure the election is executed legally. The state statute says the Judge and Supervisor of Elections are to set the qualifying dates, not the town. The elections office has been telling candidates who wish to qualify to call their office.
The missing piece in the puzzle was the town’s charter which does not clearly state what to do in the case of a recall. That’s why the Town Attorney drafted the emergency resolution. However, 4 council members who believe the process is flawed, and the recall is based on lies, refused to clean up what they believe is a poorly written state statute or be seen as advancing the ball for the recall committee.
Following the vote, we reached out to the Lee County Supervisor of Elections and asked what happened next. We were told, “At this time, there aren’t any additional details. We’re in contact with the town and will reach out to you once we have more information.”
In their recall petition, Veach and Murphy alleged King and Woodson violated the Florida Sunshine Law and accepted gifts from developers that had business before the town council. The allegations were never filed with the State Commission on Ethics, which is how that process is typically followed, and King and Woodson have repeatedly denied the allegations. Veach and Murphy have never offered proof of those allegations and canvassed the streets of Fort Myers Beach telling residents the recall was about Seagate and other large developments.
A judge (not Porter) will decide if what the recallers did fits the state statute for a recall election. King and Woodson have filed lawsuits against Murphy and Veach over the false allegations. They are asking the judge to throw out the recall based on false allegations. And they have asked the judge for a speedy trial. Veach and Murphy have asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuits stating the allegations fit into the criteria in the state statute and no proof is needed. They say the courts have no business getting involved and that it is now up to the voters.
When/if the recall happens, voters will see two ballots, one to recall John King and the other to recall Karen Woodson. If a majority votes to recall King and Woodson they are removed from office. Those ballots will also include a list of candidates. From those candidates the two people who receive the most votes will take over for King and Woodson. We should start to see who the candidates are over the next days and weeks. King and Woodson cannot be on the ballot as candidates. As of 9PM last night there are no candidates that have officially filed to run for those two seats in the recall.
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As I see it most resident do not want 10-17 story condos on the beach, nor do we want the additional traffic. This was voiced by I am guessing hundreds of residents that attended the SeaGate meetings. These two council members voted contradictory to the resident’s objections. We now have London Bay also proposing 10 and 15 story structures on the Beach. We need to vote Woodson and King off the Town Council immediately to stop the London Bay proposal. I wish we could also vote Atterholt off the board because he will also vote for London Bay project (maybe next year he can be recalled). My hope is recall legislation add a clause that recall elections are allowed anytime when elected officials completely ignore the interest of most of the residents.
Such decisions are not statutorily permissible grounds for a recall, which is why the current recall claims to be about ethics violations (with zero proof nor is proof required under the statute) but is actually driven by unhappiness over Seagate.
A more reasonable group of residents opted to redress that decision with the Writ of Cert action, rather than ginned-up meritless claims of ethics violations.
Stay out of our business. You are not a FMB resident or even a resident of Florida.
LOL
Where does BTR give a qualified-to-comment test to its 130k++ followers?
Welcome to the website.
I’ve been following BTR since it’s inception, as I am a full-time resident of the beach. You are divisive and a keyboard critic with nothing better to do.
Hi Holly!
While freedom of speech and opinion matters to your “rights”, it does nothing for your right to vote on this subject matter. Without a vested interest, your opinions are moot.-(adjective)
Thank you Steve. All she does is attack residents, mock them and then copy and pastes the answers so she can appear she knows everything. I am sure that ChatGPT is also sick of her.
LOL
Too funny.
I’ve also followed BTR since the days at Pete’s, and it’s odd that “cutting and pasting” a statute or other source is somehow wrong – you must prefer rumor or misinformation.
FWIW, not a fan of AI of any sort and never use it.
Y’all enjoy your own divisiveness in pathetic attempts to denigrate some of the 130k followers/subscribers to BTR. Great comedic relief instead of meaningful discourse on the myriad issues on which BTR reports.
Spot on Arnold – the leadership of FMB is a joke – the Town Council can’t even follow the Towns own Comp plan that was voted on unanimously by Town council to be followed after IAN – the Town comp plan was also supported by vast majority of town residents (90+% at a packed town meeting).
Having town council pick winners and losers is the problem – stick to the comp plan and we could move forward .
This isn’t complicated , not sure why Dan , Jim and the two Town council members being recalled have been unwilling to keep their word (on Record as a recorded vote) . Not one has attempted to explain their votes or actions that are in direct contradiction to the vote to follow the comp plan.
All they do is waste taxpayer time , money and resources instead of addressing the underlying issue –
Follow the Comp plan
Last night I sat for four hours watching your elected officials and people who work for our town.trying to get a fair budget to make sure our town is safe and enjoyable for all residents. What i observed was a team of people working very professionally agreeing and disagreeing to get a budget that will be fair to all citizens of ft.myers beach.The people who run each specific job that keeps our island running were given time to explain their needs and costs.I can assure you They all are doing a good job with what they have.Yes there are alot of benefits given to non residents but we are a tourist town.Each department head was willing to cut costs in order to cut taxes.Very difficult to do in times like this. Elected officials also voiced concerns about raising taxes for citizens. Versus raising taxes and fees for tourist and business owners. It’s the citizens of ft.myers Beach who are suffering and paying the price for the economy and results of hurricane Ian.Its becoming unaffordable for us.I know everyone at town hall our elected officials realize this.
What a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and public officials’ time. There is an election next year. Let people decide this issue then. We have bigger issues on the island than a cat fight among politicians. If you want to make an allegation against someone, have the proof to back it up. Otherwise, go away.
Exactly don’t accuse people of doing wrong unless you have the proof.I watched these two council people work for four hours last night trying to save tax dollars for the residents of our beach Their ideas and questions were not about themselves…but for the benefit of us…..one I believe his name is Mr.Kingmen even suggested selling the property of the old town hall which the community owns.excelent idea put the money towards the deficet..
As I see it, no resident wants towering condos on the beach, nor do we want the additional traffic. This was voiced to the council members. These two council members voted contradictory to the resident’s objections. I am not sure about the bribes but I do know the votes were contradictory. Actions talk louder than what may or may not have happened behind closed doors.
At this point, many owners can only hope that the island cleans up, rebuilds and the real estate market climbs, so we can sell. The self destruction is real.
I totally agree!! They could care less about cleaning up the properties that have been abandoned by owners since IAN. We have filed complaints in line with the town, called many times and still nothing!! The property is right next door to our house which we rebuild and it is a health hazard.
There is zero reasons why they don’t make owners clean their lots, cut down dead trees and dead shrubs. Sanibel cleaned up their dead trees and shrubs within weeks. Not us…..3 yrs and we still have dead trees everywhere. BUT town hall is opened and they all have brand new offices with new furniture that we paid for.
I agree with you, Deb. The writing is on the wall. The residents of FMB do not have a voice. Who wants to own a home in a place with this kind of “leadership”? It’s embarrassing.
Congratulations to Jim and Scott for refusing to advance a flawed and undefined process yesterday. Everyone with an ounce of integrity recognizes the petitioners have bastardized the state recall statue for their own agenda and their differences in opinion regarding development. The Council is under no obligation to help them perpetuate this coup any more than is necessary than what’s defined in the Statue and Town code. They should give any available courtesy to their own fellow Council members who are being unfairly attacked by a group of radicals who don’t value truth or honor the process established for actual ethics violations. The group behind this illegitimate coup is a cancer on the Island and an embarrassment to the Town, County, and State of Florida. Legislators and local leaders must stand up to abuse like this and do better in crafting our Statutes.
Spot on correct.
100%, total agreement with your comments.
Yes! Ethics are very important. How ethical is it to taxpayers to continually pay for something like the mooring field that operates in the red annually? What are your thoughts on that subject Jim?
I served on the Town Anchorage Advisory Committee and we discussed this topic. The issue was (and I assume still is) that the mooring field expenses and the general maritime expenses for the Town are lumped together. The Harbormaster and his team are responsible for both functions, however they are very different operations. The mooring field has its own revenue from rentals and receives significant grants to sponsor operations with a condition that it must operate at a near break even position. The other maritime operations duties like working in canals etc, for the Town are not related to the mooring field but the expenses are not broken out separately.
My guess is the mooring field with its rental revenue and grant’s is not a huge financial burden to taxpayers if you just had their expenses broken out separately. I also think the mooring field is a huge benefit to the Town because if it were not there, derelict vessels would litter the area all long Matanzas Pass and create environmental concerns. The Town should really dig into the P&L revenue and expenses isolated to the mooring field only and then you could decide whether the benefits I mentioned are worth the cost…if there is actually a deficit.
Thank you for clarification on the operations and financing of these two separate entities. As our dollar value continues to decline people begin to expect more accountability of our taxes. State grants are taxpayer funded with no guarantee of renewal. I’m curious as to what maritime duties are performed in canals and what is entailed within the etc duties. For the town to propose a 25% increase in taxes and then say; “Ohh…maybe not”, drives home the implication they need auditing.
Very legitimate concerns. I don’t know all the duties, but think the Harbor Master has two or three full time employees. In addition to mooring field operations, they respond to fuel and oil spills – protect manatees, seagrass beds, and other sensitive marine habitats – Monitor marine sanitation and pollution control – Oversee maintenance of docks, restrooms, signage, and navigational aids – Prevent illegal anchoring and dumping and many other things. I believe they were very involved in the canals after the storm but not sure if that was temporary.
The Anchorage meets monthly and I’m sure they would appreciate your questions and have public comment at each meeting. I encourage you to attend one
https://www.fortmyersbeachfl.gov/92/Anchorage-Advisory-AAC
Prevents illegal anchoring and dumping.
Monitors vessel conditions and mooring system integrity.
Enforces local ordinances and town council resolutions3.
I cringe when boats are anchored, not in the mooring field, because you know they are not using the pump-out service.
The mooring field has never been used by those who park outside of the field. Unless they are banned, they will continue not using the field.
The mooring field is nothing but a floating homeless camp. When you take a boat through the area there is toilet paper floating around. It’s disgusting. Imagine visitors coming to FMB and the firs things they see are beat up old boats moored and then a big red light stripper place. Keeping it classly on FMB.