Due to the President’s Day holiday Monday, the next Fort Myers Beach Town Council meeting will be Tuesday at 9AM. The number one issue on the agenda is filling the empty council seat.
The council recently instituted a new process if a seat on council opens up. That new process will debut Tuesday
Jim Atterholt resigned from his seat at the end of 2025, a little over one year after he won reelection to a second 4-year term. There are 3 Fort Myers Beach residents vying for the seat: Jim Boan, Tom Brady, and John McLean. With four members on the current council, one of the 3 candidates must receive 2 votes (2-1-1) or 3 votes.
If there’s a tie, the council can take as many votes needed to get to a majority. Or, if there’s a stalemate with no clear chance someone will get 2 votes, they can also decide to leave the seat open until the November election and let the voters decide. 
As we’ve reported, Council member John King is not permitted to vote for Brady following Bill Veach’s “offer” to drop his recall appeal against King. The Town Attorney determined that if King voted for Brady, and Brady won the seat, and Veach dropped his appeal, King would benefit financially from that outcome because he would no longer have to pay legal fees, and in fact might win a judgement against Veach to pay his legal fees.
During Tuesday’s meeting, each candidate has up to 5 minutes for an opening statement. The Town Council will then interview each candidate without the other 2 in the room and ask them the same set of questions. The 4 members of the Council will then vote and whoever wins will take the oath of office immediately.
The appointment to the seat is until November. The town’s charter states that if there’s a resignation the seat will be filled until the next election. This seat along with John King’s seat and Rebecca Link’s seat will all be on the November 2026 ballot. So far, Tom Brady has announced he will run for election whether he’s appointed to the open seat or not.
Beach Talk Radio will carry the meeting live on our Facebook page and YouTube Channel.
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In a nut shell: Boan, Brady, McClean, yea or nay for Seagate as passed? I realize I could listen to their interviews. But please, wrap it up in a pretty bow for me.
John McLean voted for Seagate. Jim Boan voted against. Tom Brady is opposed.
2-1-1 is also a win along with 3-1. Either could happen.
it might be a win. I thought they kept voting until someone had a majority.
2-1-1 is a majority according to the town attorney at the last meeteing.
I have heard ED bemoan his lack of math skills but I think that 3 votes is a majority of 4 possible, 2 would be a tie. Vote for Tom Brady, the one who has already been chosen by a majority of voting residents of FMB.