Town Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good morning everyone. We are going to call this meeting to order. Today is Tuesday, February 17th, 2026. It is 9:00 a.m. All council members are present. Town manager, deputy town manager, town attorney, and town clerk. If you please rise for the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance. As we gather today, let us take a moment to reflect on the values that guide us all. Unity, integrity, resilience, and service to our community. We are reminded that our island has faced challenges and yet our community has demonstrated remarkable strength. Through adversity, we have supported one another, and through change, we have remained committed to moving forward together. May that spirit of cooperation and shared purpose guide our discussions and decisions today. May you feel not only welcome but supported as you join in this shared work in behalf of our community. Amen.

Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, before our next agenda item, the town attorney is going to give us some clarification.

Thank you, mayor. Um, members of the public, the first item on today's agenda is a very important vote that the or action that the town council might be taking today. And so I just wanted to clarify there has been some uh confusion perhaps uh regarding uh the voting requirement for the um individual who would be appointed. Um we have focused in our deliberations and planning for today's meeting on section 4.08 which talks about the filling of vacancies. However, there is a section also in the town charter that talks about voting and the quorum. The uh issue that we find ourselves in today is the fact that one of our four uh members of your town council has uh publicly already announced a conflict of interest in voting on one of the um individuals. So I do want to cite to you um section 4.13 which is the voting uh quorum section of the town charter and that reads there is a section within that paragraph that says no action of the council shall be valid or binding unless adopted by an affirmative vote of at least three members of the council except in an emergency situation. So any individual who is um who is voted upon in order to um acquire the appointment would need to have three three members of the town council uh voting for them. Unless of course there was a determination today found that this is an emergency situation that's needed. Um at that point there could be less than three people voting affirmatively.

Um to put it in context, it appears um however it is council's um discretion uh as to whether or not we are in an emergency situation. But I believe in my opinion that that emergency situation arises when you have um a hurricane or some other type of state of emergency uh which we currently remain in one um where a quorum is present, three people are present. However, those three people may not agree on um a vote to be taken during that emergency situation. So, I did want to clarify today and and try to um get rid of any type of misunderstanding. It will require three votes for any of the individuals that have applied for the vacant position. And I I too look forward I think all of them are qualified and I just want to have somebody sitting next to me. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Nancy. Anyone have any questions for Nancy before we move forward? John,

no question, but uh we did have what appears in the resolution uh maybe it's a scrier's error or something because it's in conflict with the town charter. Nancy and I discussed it earlier and

that is correct and and I apologize for that and we will um make the necessary uh changes. It can be viewed as a scrivener's error, but we may bring it back to you uh just for a formal vote um at the very end of the resolution. It does have a catchall provision that says in the event any of the process that's in contained in this resolution uh which we did try to put that resolution together very quickly. If anything is in conflict with the charter, state law or your code, uh those other authorities would override that. So technically it would be okay, but it would be my preference to go ahead and correct that. We'll look at it to see if it could be viewed as a scrivener's error or we will bring it back to you and have it corrected.

Thank you, Scott. Not this time, Rebecca. No. Good catch. Okay. Our next item is the appointment to fill of town council seat number four with the term ending in November of 2026. There will be public comment first followed by interviews from the three candidates. Um, this public comment will be specific, correct Nancy, to just the appointment. So, we'll open up public comment now for anyone that would like to speak on this agenda item. Amy, you have anybody signed up? I have nobody signed up.

All right. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak on the appointment of the next counselor? Come on. We'll start on this side first. How about that? Come on. Yeah. Go ahead. You'd be good on Family Feud. You were the first. Sorry, I forgot to sign up.

It was so warm in here today, I couldn't think. It's usually so cold. So, uh, good morning. My name is Terry Kaine, 50-year resident of Fort Myers Beach. I'm here to speak in support of Tom Brady um for the vacant seat on town council. I believe he understands the future vision of our community and he understands the comprehensive plan. He supported um he he was very much supported in the vote that we recently had and I believe that the islanders spoke and I do believe that the islanders know what they were voting for. It was not a popularity vote as I've said before here. It was a policy vote. Um the people of this community know what they are doing. Um, and so we know that we want in the future, we want a healthy, vibrant community. We are subject to change. Although many people think we are not, we are. We've been through plenty of changes on this island. We've seen two bridges built. We've seen a a road go through the middle of Time Square. We've seen all the beautiful coconut palms taken away from Asterero Boulevard. We've been through a lot. And I'm not even counting the natural disasters we've had. So, um, again, I think that the community, not only myself, would like to stand behind Tom Brady. So, thank you very much.

Thank you, Jerry. Bill, we're going to do this side first, then we'll come over there. Hold on a second. We're going to finish this side and then we'll go to that side. How about that?

Hi, Bill Beach Boulevard for the record. Um, yeah, I just want to speak. I I really got to know Tom through the uh through the activity that happened after Sege went in. Um, and he was not part of the recall. He I think he may have signed the petition but he was not part of the committees. He's not active in that in any way. Um but he did step up and run. I don't think it was his preference. I think he was perfectly happy being apolitical. Um but he felt the calling. He felt the calling by listening to the people and the people were um were very upset, very disillusioned after particularly the Seagate vote thinking that their voices were not heard. The council was not listening. The council would just approve every development no matter how hard it was on the quiet center of the island and the single family homes. It's almost like there was a war going on against the quiet center where every developer's dream had to take something out of the the quiet center of the island. I got to know Tom through um through the process of of resisting Seagate. I find him to be a very um upstanding guy. I don't I think he's a man of principle. I think he would just assume, like I said, not be um political, but he really feels a true calling, a true calling um a public calling to serve the public, not to serve the developers. I also think that this vote for appointment is very weighty and it's weighty because whoever you appoint will be voting on all the all the development issues that come through. So if you vote for somebody who has publicly bragged and is proud about voting for every development, that's what you're voting for going forward. So if you've taken a tact where you are a reasonable person and you are for responsible development and not giving extra densities and heights to developers who may like just happen with the Neptune just turn around and sell it. Um that that is really what this vote is about. Restore balance to this council. Restore faith in the council that the council is listening to the public and not just developers and not just certain certain podcasts that you're actually listening to the people because they've spoken loudly. the recall the petition

had charges that was to get the petition signed by state statue. Some of you may find it distasteful. I personally did. That's all statemandated. We follow the rules of the state. But once you're once you're in the voting booth, it's specific in the rules. There is no talk about the the the allegations. It is just about do you want to recall this person? And the voters spoke loudly. And then to replace them, they also spoke loudly. So, I think if you want to be considered public servants, you have to listen to the public. Thank you very much. Thank you, Bill. Anyone on this side want to have public comment? All right, come on up, sir. Can't see you behind Dave over there.

Okay, make sure you turn your mic on, please. Turn your mic. Push the button there. There you go. Uh Mark Ledson, address 281 Ohio Avenue. Uh simply Tom Brady is our only choice for town council as we the town basically we voted for him. Uh earlier uh we we basically lost faith somewhat in our council and we spoke as a town and we just hope you listen. Mark, anyone else?

All right, seeing none, we'll close public comment. Our first person that we will be interviewing is Mr. Bowen. So, is everybody staying here? Are they If we can ask uh Mr. Brady and Mr. McClean to follow Lette, we're going to bring them out for this part. Then we'll bring them back in. Rotate in and out. You got it. All right, Jim. No time. Correct. Um, it's 5 minutes, but

Are we ready? I was just going to ask you the same thing. Okay. You want to couch or something?

Good morning, mayor, council members, staff, and attendees. My application resume in your uh packets, but let me start by summarizing my experience, background for the public. My career in local government spans almost 50 years. I have a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture, a master's in administration, a jurist doctorate in law. I have worked in both the private and public sectors. In the private sector, I've represented developers. In the public sector, I've been both an elected official and an appointed official. I was elected as Kendall County, Illinois board chairman from 1990 to 1995. In 1997, I was appointed town administrator for the community of Bowling Brook, which is about 70,000 persons. In that capacity, I was responsible for the supervision of approximately 300 employees and an annual operating budget of over hund00 million. In 2007, I went back into private practice concentrating in local government. My practice was in the areas of zoning, land use, public finance, and economic development. In 2022, I was appointed to the local planning agency. I'm also vice president of the Mantanza Point HOA and past member of Let's Go FM Peer Committee. Hurricane Ian changed our little island forever. Based on new rules and codes, it'll never look the same. My goal is to preserve as much of the flavor and vibe of the old island as possible. To that end, we must balance responsible growth and the pace of recovery. I will be guided by what is best for the 5,500 residents of Fort Myers Beach, not outside influences, special interests, or social media chatter. The recently revised comprehensive plan and local development

code are guideposts for redevelopment. To those who say nothing is happening, we need more activity, the response is there are only a limited number of barrier islands and only so much beachfront property. Redevelopment is happening and will continue to happen. However, the town can't force land owners to sell vacant lots. And once the town approves a project, the pace of rebuilding is up to the landowner, their financing, consultants, and market conditions. While the development of the island is center stage for much of the community, there are other challenges and policy questions that the town council must deal with. This year's levy is 5,170,600 and represents 38.97% of the general fund revenues. The 206 budget has $10 million less than the 2025 budget due to loss of hurricane recovery monies. Combine that with a threat of the state to reduce or eliminate property taxes. Where will the funds come from to operate the town and provide services? There are many other challenges facing us. The status of the beach school, the pure rebuild, parking, traffic congestion, permitting and inspections, developing a strategic and long-range capital improvement plan. All of these items need to be addressed and I think I can help navigate through these issues. I would also like to offer some thoughts about possible solutions. Construction of a wave wall could be built by creating a special service area. An SSA would not directly affect any of the town's finances. Can we stimulate redevelopment of Times Square and Old San Carlos by offering incentives to businesses such as sales tax sharing, partial real estate tax rebates, or fee waivers? Would an

intergovernmental agreement with the county or entering into a public private partnership be feasible to build a parking deck supported by the issuance of revenue bonds? Finally, I'd like to explain why I on the question about potentially running in November. I filled in undecided. If the filing period were today, I would file. At the time I filed the application, it was uncertain whether the position was for four or two year two or four-year term. There are any number of unknown reasons that can affect a candidate's decision to file between now and November. In closing, I have the time, the commitment, the desire to serve. I believe based on experience, expertise, and background, I am uniquely qualified to fill the open council position. Thank you for allowing me the time to make my presentation and considering my application.

All right. Thank you, Jim. Now we'll go to the question town council question period. Would you guys like to ask both your questions or would you like to do one at a time like we did for the the town manager? Either way it doesn't matter to me. John, what do you think? Yeah, I think one at a time. Yeah. Okay. You okay with that, Rebecca? That's fine. All right, then we'll start with you. Okay, fine. Thank you. Good morning, Jim. Good morning.

So, f first a statement that I will read to you as well as the other candidates and my questions will be exactly the same. I'm sure you already knew that, but just to repeat it for the record. So, I want to thank you for being here and your willingness to serve, Jim. This morning, my goal is to hear each of you approach is to hear how each of you approach decisionmaking, especially on redevelopment, fiscal sustainability, and the unique constraints of our barrier island. So, that's kind of my focus. So my first question to you, Jim, is when you evaluate a major redevelopment proposal on Fort Myers Beach, what specific factors carry the most weight in your decision? How do you prioritize between fiscal impact, infrastructure capacity, property rights, and community character?

Well, that's a whole bundle.

I know. Well, I think any project that uh is proposed, you know, it's always a balancing act. We're faced with um the comprehensive plan that's been recently updated that sort of creates the parameters or the outside that it's a blank canvas that we're working with. There are a number of tools that go into that and that can be variances, deviations, uh zoning, uh public uh benefits, um variances, all of those things are aspects of the comprehensive plan and they all have to be weighed. In addition to that, there's the public comments and the neighbors viewpoint. So, as you weigh all those things, you have to come to a decision on whether or not the proposed development um meets the comprehensive plan, the spirit of the comprehensive plan, and whether or not it's it's it's right for that community. What could be right at the north end is not necessarily right at the south end. And every individual site is unique. Now, as far as the aspect of the impact on infrastructure, um we've talked for a long time about having impact fees and as we see what happens in with uh 180 once it expires, I think we need to address getting a feasibility study done on what we can look for and impact fees and we should implement those. Those will help with off-site um impacts of the development.

Thank you, Jim. Uh John, Jim, thanks. What votes in the coming months do you see yourself having to recuse yourself? What do I Excuse me. Any votes in the coming months that you would see that you'd have to recuse yourself? I see no votes that I'll have to recuse myself from. Thank you, Scott. Okay. Thanks. so much for being here and thanks for your service on the LPA. My I've got kind of a direct question. You touched on it. I think one of the biggest challenge our town faces is the development of smaller boutique lots. You touched on a few things, but can you go in a little bit more detail of how we can get these lots activated?

Well, I guess there's a couple of ways to answer that. one, I think that the um the development agreement process has been I won't say I guess misused, but not the way it was intended. I think that needs to be tweaked so that we actually target some of the smaller commercial lots. Um, as far as getting the vacant lots moving, um, you know, if there's a way to come up with incentives that would help some people make the decision to sell or buyers to make the decision to purchase, we ought to explore that to try and get some of these vacant lots moving. But ultimately, the market forces I don't think the town council can control.

Very good. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks Jim for for stepping up and being one of the what I think are three very good candidates for this position. In your view, what would you say the town has been doing effectively since the hurricane? And what would you do or what would you suggest in improving what could be done to make it even better?

Well, I don't think anybody's prepared for a disaster like Ian. And so in the immediate reaction is trying to stabilize what is caused by the damage. I think the town did an adequate job um early but did not communicate well with the um with the public. Um, I would hope that there is an emergency operation manual that's current that is a guideline so that as elected officials we are in a position that somebody has thought through the step by step what we need to do as far as what can we do better. Uh I think we've all heard that um the issues with permitting and inspections, you know, is there an opportunity to either uh come up with um outside third party qualified vendors to assist uh in plan reviews and inspections. whether or not we can come up with a um identifiable uh portal that can tell people exactly where the steps are, what project is, uh what has been approved, what the next step is. And uh couple of other uh recommendations maybe, you know, look at uh seasonal increases in our parking fees. Um we need to monitor uh House Bill 1049 uh that would eliminate permits under 7 uh $7,500. Um, and I think that there's a lot of

opportunities uh to move forward and uh make the the beach a better place. All right. Thank you, Rebecca. Ready for my second question? Okay. I thought thought maybe I already hit on that and it's just a followup for my first one. though. Uh, Fort Myers Beach is a 7mi barrier island with limited evacuation routes and infrastructure constraints. How do you determine when additional development intensity becomes a long-term risk rather than a benefit?

Well, that's the infrastructure question is has always been a problem for the beach with one way on and one way off. um in evacuations. Um as I've stated, hopefully there's a a current emergency operations manual and that you can stage leaving the island. Um and that based on notices and uh um actually getting the word out so people know. But it's not just uh emergency evacuations. It's water, it's sewer, it's traffic. All of those things have an impact on what exists here on the island and need to be evaluated as part of any development.

Thank you, John. Explain what it means to act in a quasi judicial role. Please, where was I in the quadr judicial world? No. Explain what it means to act in that role as a council member. quasi judicial role. Well, judicial being that you're a final decision maker. Quasi judicial means that you know you're um making a decision, but you're also a factfinder. So, it's a balance between the two.

Jimmy, you touched a little bit on on the town's current budget and reserves and financial position. If selected to serve, what priorities or improvements would you recommend for both short-term and long-term stability and wine?

Well, I would say the biggest red flag I see is that we have $70 million worth of long-term debt that needs to be addressed. We need to pursue trying to get the state and FDM to um forgive the almost $20 million that they've loaned to us. Um the long-term finances um of the town, you know, need to be um looked at as far as let's get a long-term capital improvement plan and overlay that into the um both debt service and future needs. So, um, as far as operating budget, um, you know, there's been a lot of discussion about the millage rate and what we should do on, uh, real estate taxes, but taxes, real estate taxes are almost 39% of the general funds revenue. That seems pretty high. we ought to look at other options that whatever they may be to try and reduce that reliance on property taxes. Um does that answer

the full question? Yes. I guess one thing one thing missed was reserves. How do you what do you think our Can I ask reserves? Well, yeah, we'll save that. Yeah. Okay. We'll we'll we're going to do a follow-up after give you a break for a second. Jim, as we continue to navigate recovery, redevelopment, and long-term resiliency, how would you approach your policy decision-m um powers to balance economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and quality of life for residents?

Well, all three of those have to be balanced on every decision you make. So each project, each decision you make is unique to whatever the circumstances are there. So I don't think there's an overall way you can say this is more important than that. It depends on the site whether it's you know environmental conservatorship that is going to be important in areas that are adjacent to sensitive areas. Um, I guess all three of those have to be balanced on all decisions.

Okay. Follow-up questions. Scott, what you yours is fresh in your mind.

Yeah. My my first one was what what do you think the status of our reserves are and how if if you feel they're deficient, how would you improve them? Well, according to the the audit, and there's a difference between the the 24 audit, which is the information we have, and the 26 budget. So in the 24 audit, the reserves and overall fund balance of all funds increased by $7 million, which is a nice step showing that in 24 we were adding to the value of the beach. So is there a magic number for reserves? No, because you don't know what disaster you're planning for. But um I would hope that we would have two years worth of operating revenue in reserves.

Very good. Thank you, John. Any follow-up questions? None. Rebecca, no. Thank you, Jim. I do have one, Jim. I know my my question is very open-ended. It gives those who have probably done this in the past a very easy out. So, I'm going to put you a little bit on the hot seat and everyone else for that matter. Of the three things, economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and quality of life for residents, if you had to rank those in order from one to three in your decision-making processes, what would you what would you rank first, second, and third?

Uh, as I said, I those three would have to be ranked based on a specific question or a specific site. Um, so they don't rank the same on all development. Okay. Thanks, Jim. Yep. J. Oh, we're just getting started. You can go take a nap, though. All right. Next will be we'll take just a few seconds to get Mr. Brady. No. Does Jim have to leave room there? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Amy.

We'll bring all three back after the uh personal interview. You may want to get a drink of water and All right, Tom, we're going to You have about five minutes for your opening statement, then we'll have two questions from each council member and then potentially some followup or uh clarification questions after that. Thank you. Welcome.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak. After announcing my candidacy for town council last September, I spent five weekends and several weekdays going doortodoor across the island speaking directly to voters. I also met with community groups at Bay Beach Lane and Mosquito Control District. Those conversations mattered. They changed some of my views on development, taxes, the school, and wave mitigation. That's exactly how it should be. Serving the council is about listening to the public. If you vote on an issue and you were surprised afterwards about public reaction, that's a sign that you may not have been in touch with the voters beforehand. I spoke with young people who grew up here, attended Beach School, and hope to return someday to raise their own families. This perspective influenced me. Thank you, Christian and Christie. Listening to residents full-time, part-time, young and old, will always take precedence over the interests of developers who come and go. I take phone calls. I answer every email. As for the budget and the taxes, we must build and ma maintain resources and reserves strong enough to carry us through another catastrophic event. No one wants more taxes, but contributing a smaller amount now to projects and emergency funds will prepare us for the future. I believe code compliance is underfunded as we suffer from abandoned houses, short-term rentals, 50% unregulated, and we need people managing the traffic with stop lightss until pedestrian crossings are debugged. Even though there's been a slight pullback in the market, the tax base base appears strong as new builds come in as much higher valuations. Most of the residents I spoke to are not day traders on this island. We are not here for short-term gains. We are here for the long term. We believe in the long-term strength of the island and Lee County Tax Collector has indicated that long-term outlook is strong. The real question is what kind of community holds value over time? One built for quick

returns or one built for resilience, livability, and families. To prepare myself for this position, I have watched nearly every town council meeting since Hurricane Ian and most LPA meetings. I participated in the strategic planning sessions at Bay Oaks and the comprehensive plan sessions at the library. I've read the IGM Metro forecasting model report. I also watched the sunshine videos and public disclosure videos. The toughest decisions facing town council are not about land use. They're about the budgets, the school, business development, grants, taxes, strategic planning, and communications with residents. Those are decisions that require preparation and balance and most of all critical thinking. As for development, this island did not grow through a grandmaster plan. It developed piece by piece. The town was incorporated. The con comprehensive plan laid out a plan, but parts of that plan were ignored to set aside for to accommodate large development proposals. We do need development, but we need human scale development. We don't need home runs on development projects. Massive projects that take years to materialize or stall out entirely. We need singles. We need small shovel ready projects that reflect how this island was originally built. I am not anti-development and I am not anti-progress. But I am also in favor not in favor of unchecked growth that destroys neighborhoods. As for my priorities, I want to see the school return, perhaps even exploiting additional educational options such as Catholic school or other church-led schools, explore every opportunity, understand what our power is in those negotiations. I'd like to see an acceleration of the town's adoption of digital workflows and AIdriven systems that free up staff to focus on more highlevel work. I'd like to see an overhaul of the financial reporting and I will contribute to all these things. clear dashboards that give residents a line of sight into the town's finances

and performance and a metrics driven organization. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. And above all, we need transparency across all levels of our government. And of course, incentives for small businesses such as incubation zones. On protect FMB, I did not sue the town. I asked for judicial review. I will always stand up for the residents. I cannot support projects that compromise quality of life of neighborhood homeowners. Protect FMB is about protecting that and giving a stronger voice to the people. The island belongs to its residents. I am committed to thoughtful growth, fiscal responsibility, modernization, and above all representing the people who call this island home. A special thanks to all those that sent in emails supporting my appointment and spoke today. Thank you.

Thank you, Tom. Rebecca, good morning, Tom. Morning. Take a breath.

So, I'm going to just make a quick statement that I'm making to all three candidates. I'd like to make it to you as well. I want to first say thank you for being here and your willingness to serve this morning. My goal is to hear how you will approach decision making uh especially for redevelopment. How do you approach fiscal responsibility considering the unique constraints of our barrier island? Okay, so that's my focus on my questions. So my first question is when you evaluate a major redevelopment on Fort Myers Beach, what specific factors carry the most weight in your decision-m? Do you prioritize fiscal impact, infrastructure capacity, property rights, or community character?

Um, I would prioritize community character and adherence to the comprehensive plan first. We um we need to keep that in mind. The founders of this island um were were good thinkers. they they captured and it's been revised on what we want the character of this island to look like. Um, of course, all those other things bear into my decision-making also, but I think you you walk into these projects with an open mind and then you ask questions to find out what really are the benefits of having this project come into the town and then you listen to the residents. I think I said uh that maybe was on Ed show that I said that well if all the residents agreed then I would certainly look at it. Well, that's not absolutely true because if the residents all said they wanted a 40story building next door to them, I don't think I could agree to that. There's an overall community of the island also that impacts the decision-m saying that, you know, it needs to make sense within that community. If the neighboring buildings are of a certain height and the building comes in at that height and the comp comp plan says it it's only 30 feet over flood, then I would give careful consideration to what the residents said nearby. But I would be hardressed to feel that or that have to be outstanding public benefit based on what the actual public came back and said as to the benefits of that before I could say that that building would make sense for the island.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Tom. What votes in the coming months would you see yourself having to recuse yourself from? I don't think I need to recuse myself of anything that's currently coming down the uh pike for the island. Thank you, Scott.

Tom, I want to thank you. Um, this is this is big. So, um, we've had some good conversations over the last couple weeks and and I want to thank you for your time. My question to you is I I feel that one of the challenges on our island right now in our in our regrowth and a redevelopment is how do we activate these smaller commercial lots? You talked about incubation thing. Can you can what what would be your angle to help this town get projects going on those smaller lots? Well, if I could provide incentives, I would. The community redevelopment is a way to take future tax money and apply it to those projects. If that would help, I think that that would be a good thing. I do not want to stand in the way of any of those things happening. As I said, that's the way this island grew was from a grassroots effort of these small businesses coming here. And I think that's the future of the island because it happens much quicker rather than these these ginormous projects that may not even get built. Um, if we can relieve some of those barriers, then that's what I would like to see. In addition, I was really heartened when council directed town manager to negotiate with property owners that currently have property that can could be uh rented out. So I think that we should continue those negotiations looking for some kind of mutual point that we can rest on and that will provide opportunities of space that's already there to bring those buildings back. The rest of the things you've already you voted on things like uh the ice cream store uh the um the beach bar they are coming back. Um the goods will come back. I think that looking at uh uh Tom's property in Lola and the and even the changes that he makes with the wave

mitigation wall and helping those kind of projects through the system will help redevelop these properties that um have been stalled for a period of time. Um it's but the but I'm I'm glad to see that there's been a lot of action on the island particularly well we've approved a lot of you've approved a lot of projects but not all of them have gotten started and I would like to see that you know smaller ones seem to get kicked off much quicker and I think if we can get more people come forward and make that happen now business is driven by business we can't force business to come on the island but we can entice them in certain ways with CRA or or other incentives to bring them onto the island. And I would I would investigate funding those in every possible way. There is a lot of federal funding, uh, state funding, county funding to make that happen. And I think we ought to explore those avenues to help and and be a champion for those businesses to help bring that those kind of funds into the island to make to help them redevelop. Well, thank you.

All right, Tom. Again, as I said to Jim and I'll say it to you and I'll say it to John, I appreciate you taking the opportunity to step up and and be a public servant for the town. Um it's not always easy. Um it takes commitment and we're very fortunate that we have three very qualified candidates to fill this vacancy today. In your opinion or in your view, what do you feel is working well within the town and what would you do to improve the overall effectiveness? I think the town has done a fantastic job of recovering from the hurricane. Um the focus um the attention, the determination of all count all council members has been phenomenal and uh we've made so much progress. There are some things that we could do better to make more progress, I think. Um getting small businesses back on the island because I'd love to solve the traffic problem. I'd love to stand up to you and say I'm going to solve the traffic problem, but that's probably not going to happen. But um I would like to get the data, the metadata from the tag readers to figure out where the people are coming going. But I do believe that the small businesses on the island could alleviate some of that traffic problem. So there's a real reason why we need to bring small businesses back on this island. But um I I have been concerned. It's it's gotten it's gotten quite a bit better, but I was really concerned about code compliance. I I live on the street and uh it's turned into all short-term rentals, even though they're monthly rentals, but they're short-term rentals. And they they take their garbage cans out 3 days early. They leave them out for weeks. I I call the town, nothing seems to happen. I think we can it's the broken windows effect. I think that, you know, you need to solve those small problems, the broken windows before the community turns better as a whole. And I was concerned that we had a lot of broken windows on the island, abandoned

properties, overgrown properties. So I think code compliance needs a lot of focus and attention. And I was concerned when we adopted a budget that you adopted a budget that did not support additional funding for that even though the town manager had asked for that. So I think that I would like to see that increased also. And the last thing that I've commented on is I I I had wished that I had wish that the budget discussions had gone more to a consensus decision making that we all got together. Nobody likes more taxes. Um me least of all anybody. But if they're short-term projects, if they're directly focused at something like code compliance or like putting officers on the street where they can direct traffic, where we can at least make the traffic flow to the maximum extent possible through downtown, I would absolutely support those kind of initiatives and I think it would make the town a better place to be. Um, and I would keep a reserve in there for uh for more money for Lee Lee Sheriff's Office, which we had in the budget, too, and then was cut. I think that would be a good thing to have for future concerns on the island law enforcement.

Thank you, Rebecca. So, I'm at my second question, correct? Yes. Thank you. So, Tom, Fort Myers Beach is a sevenmile barrier island, as you know, with limited evacuation routes and infrastructure constraints. How do you determine when additional development intensity becomes a long-term risk rather than a benefit?

Well, I think uh at this stage any additional intensity is a long-term risk. Um we are governed by this traffic problem and it it it constrains how many people we can hold on this island and that's probably the biggest infrastructure cost. Now, could there be game changers out there that come in? Sure. We could uh oh well this will be getting me in trouble. They will we could have uh drones flying people back and forth and it's theoretically possible. Of course uh helicopters have raised a lot of concern on the island so I don't know that we could stand the noise of drones going back and forth but there could be some gamecher solutions that come but I I would not count on another bridge or you know helicopters curing people or drones carrying people back and forth. Um, it doesn't look like anyone stepped up to run a ferry service that would run back and forth because it may not be financially viable and we can't force that to happen. Although it is an interesting concept, other towns do do that, including Venice, Italy, I suppose, runs their own bus service with with with water taxis. But we're constrained by the road and that really hurts us for all the additional development on the island. If we keep adding when we when we figure out better ways to run the traffic and it's running at its maximum throughput after after we analyze we got about another year of data to collect on the current intersections and we understand that we can't get any more traffic to this. We would be we would be in pain if we had approved projects that um have additional intensity on this island bring more people on the island. So I think we're we might we struggle with where we're at today. I think any increase in that is uh is problematic.

Thank you, John. John, explain what it means to act in a quasi judicial role.

Well, since uh since council members aren't aren't uh official judges, we can't and all the judicial rules do not apply. And don't ask me all the judicial rules. I'm not an attorney, but there is a subset of the judicial rules that apply during quasi quasi judicial hearings and I think the public would love to see that those remain purely quasi judicial and council members don't try to litigate from the bench and I know it's difficult to do that because you're because council members are also legislator legislators so they do they do enact laws but I think the discussions at council should keep away from that and just uh base their decisions based on the facts that are presented to them in that court of law. Judges cannot rule on things that they hear outside of the court of law. They can only rule on what they hear inside of that courtroom. And I think when it comes to some of these heavy decisions now there are little decisions and there was big decisions. on the great big decisions. I think we should keep it as a purely as judicial as it possibly can be without the council members being judges. But I think the the most critical one to me is that we just listen to evidence that's presented during that session and we make our ruling based on that evidence that is presented during the session.

Thank you, Scott. Uh Tom, you touched on a lot of this in your answer Dan's question, but as a followup, what how do you feel our our town's current budget and reserves are currently, and what improvements would you make for both short-term and long-term sustainability? Um it's yeah, the reserves absolutely worry me and um because we can't be self-insured. We've we we ought to be fully insured because we can't be self-insured. So buy a lot of insurance, but we also need uh cash flow when those bad situations happen or we need matching funds for when those bad situations happen. And that's what those reserves are for to get us through that hump. We get a lot of money from the state and federal government. But we need to protect ourselves against the small events, even if it's just cash flow until the next until the payments come in or we don't know whether the payments are going to come in. So that's why I support boosting those reserves. I don't have a magic number in mind for what those reserves would be, but they seem woefully low right now. And um unfortunately, Scott, I don't know what the levers are to pull in the budget to get more money. Um I that's what part of the transparency in the financials. The financials aren't presented the way they've always been presented to me in the the past. We operate on a um quasi acrruel or modified acral basis for accounting and um it does not resonate with me. I'm used to balance sheets and things like that. And when we we call a loan an asset, I don't think of that as an asset. But I get it. There is a difference in in government accounting that that I'm not used to. But I I can't see those levers. And the levers would be things like what people said, well that the impact fees are going to help us out of this situation. They don't help you. You can't gain anything on an impact fee. It can only apply to what the actual incurred expenses are associated with a new building coming in. So forget that one. Now, there's a lot of other things that are the same

way in our budget that the the state or someone else says, "Well, you can't pull that lever because it's only for cost recovery." I don't know what all the ones are levers that we can pull. I know that the fees are some of the levers that we can pull on this island. Unfortunately, the budget's locked in for a year now. Um, I don't know which one of those levers make any sense to happen now, but I think it's probably anticipating the impact of the next budget cycle as we go forward of what can we figure out to which lever can we pull and which one should we pull and there ought to be a lot of discussion around that to help us build back those reserves. Great. Thank you,

Tom. As we continue to navigate recovery, redevelopment, and long-term resilience, how would you approach your policy decision- making uh role to balance economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and our quality of life for residents? Well, that's the magic sauce. Um it's um it's this critical thinking mind. You got to be a little bit skeptical of everything. You got to ask these detailed uh in-depth questions of everybody that comes before you. But you got to begin with a beginner's mind with an open mind that says, "Okay, I really I'm going to get rid of all my prejudices. I'm going to set them aside. I'm going to listen to what the people say. I'm going to listen to what the builders say. I'm going to listen to um what the what our what the town manager and the finance people. I'm going to listen to g gather input from all these people and then say okay what does this make sense to me on the whole with my life history applied to that too. So um it's boiling that down into you've got to keep all those people happy. This is like a it's not just a three-legged stool. It's a five-legged stool. We got visitors, we got residents, we've got uh uh short-term people, we got commercial, we got developers, we got all these people. And you've got to there's a balance that happens between all those different points of view. There's not a magic formula. There's not one answer. It's about thinking about and evaluating. I I create matrices to help myself evaluate things. Uh I lay it out. I weight those matrices. Um and then I make my decision based on or I or I formulate a decision based on applying what I've heard to these matrices with a waiting factor. And then that's how I base my decision.

Okay. Follow-up questions. John, anything? Uh, yeah, I have a a couple. Um, I'm I'm confused and I see it as a contradiction and I hope you can clarify for me because you talk about listening to coni constituents and doing what they asked, but then for the budget process, the huge majority of the constituents we heard from were against any tax increase. So, you'd go against that. You also said uh you wouldn't support what the neighbors wanted if they wanted it in their area. So uh I'm confused about that and it's a contradiction to me. Is that a question? I guess I'm I'd like I'd like to clarify. Yeah. Okay. It's a clarifying question on what I see as a

Would my three voters care to have me answer that question or this guy can't vote for me? So he can still ask questions. and he's still a council member. I'm going to leave it up to you, Tom, to decide if you want to answer that or not. Yeah, me too. It sounds like an accusation, not a question. I don't I I I don't understand what the question is in there. Okay.

Another clarifying question for me then is you talked about how you're still involved with project uh protect FMB. They're engaged in a legal action against the town. How is that not a conflict for a possible London Bay vote coming up? You said you wouldn't have any conflicts.

Um, protect FMB serves as a 501c3 that serves to protect the interest of those residents on the island. That's all it does. It asks for judicial review. It is a appeal. It is not a lawsuit against the town. Every single court decision, every single judge has had an appeal race about the decisions that they make. You act as quasi judicial judges. It's okay to be appealed. You should not take that as an offense. It's a legal avenue. Now, it's not I I am not My name is not on that lawsuit. It is. It is about You just said it wasn't a lawsuit. Now, it's Sorry. It is not a lawsuit. We're going to play this game. That's nice. And you're funny. You got me. Haha. The um

Well, hold on. We're both adults here. Let's let's let's let's keep it on let's keep it on point. Please, John, and please, Tom, just let's let's get through this. I know it's uncomfortable for everybody, but let's just get through it. Continue. I think I've said enough. It is it is a ri it is a judicial um review, and that's what it asks for. Anything else, John? Um, no. Thank you. Okay, Rebecca, any follow-up questions for Tom? No. Thank you, Tom. Scott. No, thank you, Tom.

I do have just one. Um, my last question was very open-ended. It was done on purpose because it's easy to answer that question, but it in this position, sometimes you get asked very hard questions that you have to make hard decisions. So, I'm going to ask a follow-up question on that last question. If I asked you to rank the three items that I laid out, economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and quality of life for residents in one, two, and three on how you would approach your policymaking decisions on votes that come before you, how would you answer that question?

Residents, environment, financial. Thank you. There's nothing else. Thanks, Tom. You're welcome. Last, we'll have Mr. John Mlan. So, mayor, if anyone was wondering, um, our tech uh staff member is working the computer. So, as soon as you guys vote, the computer's ready to go.

Okay. So, we were not looking at anything, no cheat notes or anything. So, if anybody just started having a mind of its own, technology, what side do you want to be on, John? whichever side, it's up to you. So, you're going to have five minutes or so for your opening statement, followed by a round of two rounds of questions from the council members and potentially a third follow-up question. Sounds great. Just need you to move up to the mic so we can um the timer is above my pay grade, John. Sorry.

No, no. All good. Thank you. Good morning, mayor, vice mayor, members of town council, staff, and fellow residents. My name is John Mlan, and I'm honored to stand before you as an applicant for the open seat on Fort Myers Beach Town Council. Fort Myers Beach is more than just a place I call home. It is a community I care deeply about and have been committed to for over a decade. Since becoming a homeowner in 2014 and a full-time resident in 2019, I've witnessed firsthand both the challenges and the extraordinary resilience of our island. The devastation of Hurricane Ian tested us all, but it also revealed the strength and resilience of our community. In the years since, I've dedicated myself to understanding the issues facing our town, participating in its recovery, and contributing to a future that honors our history while preparing us for long-term sustainability. What inspires me most is the remarkable resurgence we've seen across Fort Myers Beach. The reopening of the lighthouse was a beacon of hope quickly followed by the emergence of Margaritavville and Wahoo Willies which brought renewed energy and optimism to our island. Old San Carlos and the Bayside have come alive again with cherished establishments like Snug Harbor, Nervous Nellies and Yucatan welcoming residents and visitors alike. At the south end, we've seen not just CVS publics and 7-Eleven return, but the rebirth of Santini Plaza with beloved businesses such as the islander and Annette's Booknook, new openings like I can never pronounce it, Lango, uh, Badass Coffee, Surfside, and the all-important hardware and liquor store. Um, they further fueled our momentum. The rebirth and remarkable success of the whale and beach bar beach bar stand as a testament to our determination and

our spirit. After hurricane Ian, I attended nearly every town council meeting and most LPA meetings simply wanting to understand and contribute to FMB's recovery efforts. This consistent engagement has given me a deep understanding of the comprehensive plan, the land development code, and the complex policy decisions and questions that influence our recovery. I've also been actively involved in communitydriven efforts, including early volunteer work with Let's Go FM, where I led the residential community uh committee to ensure our residents voices were heard during the earliest stages of our rebuilding. My service on the land planning agency has strengthened my commitment to supporting responsible redevelopment. I was honored to be selected by council to fill the seat vacated by Scott Safford when he joined the council. In this role, I've worked to bring a thoughtful, balanced, and resident focused perspective to land use decisions that will shape our community for decades. I have no commercial development interests on the island beyond owning and operating a single vacation home rental. Uh, this allows me to approach each issue with independence, fairness, and a clear focus on moving our island forward. Professionally, I bring more than three decades of executive leadership experience, including global negotiation, strategic planning, and consensus building. These skills translate directly to a collaborative, detailed oriented work required of council member. I'm comfortable evaluating complex information, listening to diverse opinions and viewpoints, and making decisions that balance long-term vision with practical realities. We are at a crossroads. The momentum we've built is extraordinary, but it is not to be taken for granted. If we stifle redevelopment efforts now, we risk stalling the rebirth of Fort Myers Beach. My desire to serve on town council is

rooted in a simple belief. Fort Myers Beach deserves leaders who are committed, informed, and deeply invested in the well-being of our community. I want to contribute to a future where we will build stronger and smarter, protect our coastal environment, support responsible redevelopment, and preserve the unique character and vibe that makes this honor so special. I would be honored to continue serving the residents of Fort Myers Beach in this expanded capacity and to help guide our town through this pivotal moment in its history. Um, I want to thank you for your service, each of you, but I also want to thank Jim and Brenda Ederhole. Uh, Jim's remarkable, tireless advocacy for our island, his selfless, integritydriven, true servant leadership was an absolute inspiration to me. Thank you all for your consideration.

Thanks, John. U, now you're going to have the first round of questions. Rebecca's going to start us off. Great. Good morning, John. Morning, Rebecca. Thank you for being here and for your willingness to serve. This morning, my goal is to hear how you would approach decisionmaking, okay? Especially on redevelopment, fiscal sustainability, considering the unique constraints of our barrier island. Okay, so that's my focus. Okay.

So, my first question is when you evaluate a major redevelopment proposal on Fort Meyers Beach, what specific factors carry the most weight in your decision- making? And how do you prioritize between fiscal impact, infrastructure capacity, and property rights as well as our community character? Well, I think um I think property rights are extremely important and kind of the bedrock of what we all have as our investment here on this island. Um when I look at these projects, um number one, I'll say that I I am heavily researched in them. I I like to think that I come completely prepared and informed. Um and it's it's important for me to for me personally to feel like I have a variety of of of uh of inputs right of different decision different thoughts um different viewpoints and then when we look at these things we try and balance them between obviously what is um acceptable and allowable right and then what is the process process enable us to uh to take a look at at at at the projects and and consider them, right? Um they need to be consistent and conforming with the comprehensive plan obviously land development code as well.

Uh we have the opportunity to grant variances and uh plan developments. Um, and it's ensuring in my mind that a project is compatible with the island. Um, some may not agree with what I consider to be compatible to what they may consider to be compatible. I'm okay with that. I think diverse viewpoints are important. Um, but that's the way I I evaluate a project. Great. Thank you, John. Thanks, John. Uh, what votes in the coming months do you see yourself having to recuse yourself from?

None. Thank you, Scott. Boy, that was fast. John, John, thanks. Thanks for your service on the LPA and thanks for being so engaged in the community since Hurricane Ian. Um, you're truly a lead leader, uh, as well as the other two gentlemen that are applying. My question to you revolves around development of the more challenging lots, the smaller size lots. Yeah. What in your opinion could we do better to encourage those those small places like the Whale or the Beach Bar, which are the only two that have been built so far? Yeah.

How do what what's your opinion of how we can do a better job as a council to get those to get that those lots moving?

Yeah. Um, appreciate the question, Scott. Those it's it's a challenge. I mean, it's a challenge, but I think there are things that we can do around creating incentives and ensuring that um we enable the type of redevelopment that fits with whatever the parcel will be. And quite frankly, you know, I I have shown through my votes that I'm willing to step outside of the envelope in order to help businesses come back and flourish and the recovery of this island. And what I mean by that is not turning away from our our comp plan or LDC at all, but it's in taking the properties that we have and developing them smartly. Right? I mean, some of the things that we are able to do uh to help encourage investment in the island, I think we could be more proactive with that. Um and and it's not just a land development issue. It's a financing issue. It's a regulatory issue. There there are other mechanisms that we need to be looking at cuz I don't think it's just enough to say we want them back. We actually have to help them back.

Thank you.

Hi John. Thanks for taking the uh time to come here today. obviously put your name in the hat and for your service on the LPA. Um, as I've said to the other two candidates, we're fortunate we have three very highly qual qualified candidates to fill um, Councilman or Vice Mayor Adder Holtz role, which uh is going to be tough shoes to fill, but I think we have three candidates that can easily do that. So, thank you for for putting your name into the hat, for lack of a better term, for uh, today. My first question is in your view what is working well within the town today and what would you do to improve the overall effectiveness? So I would say um truly I think that the the town is operating in a more professional way than it has since I've been paying attention. And it's it's only evolved. And it's been such a pleasure to see the stewardship through the town manager, through our initial recovery efforts with our interim managers that Andy come in and establish a level of professionalism and and quite frankly customer service around things like permitting. I mean, we were all all trying to figure out something that we had never dealt with before. Um, and then so Andy came in and I think he really helped develop the staff. I think the staff have been encouraged to grow. Uh, and then we had that, you know, the change where we now have will in. And it's just another layer of professionalism on top. And I think what we've really done is demonstrate um, not just resilience, but growth in the way that the town is being operated. Quite frankly, I'm I'm I'm really heartened by that. Um I think there's always going to be questions and things that we can do better. I think that we could be using

technology way more than we are right now within the town. I think there's great opportunities to do that. And it's we see it with the redesign of the website. We see it with the tools that are coming in, the change of the portal for rental property. All of these things are really significantly modernizing our town and I and I I'm really heartened by that. I think that's great. Uh what could we do better? Um we just have to continue this focus on re resident focused um customer service. I really think it's it's it it is a priority, but it's not something I think we can let off on. Um, I think the other thing that we could be doing as a town a little bit better is probably some more uh commercial development. I don't know that we do enough on that perspective. That's a difficult answer to come up with, but we've got a lot of really smart people on this island with a lot of really good ideas and we should be open and listening to them.

Thank you, Rebecca. I have no followup. I'm good. No, you got a second question. Oh, I didn't ask my second question. here to help. I have deja vu. Thank you, John. Yes. I have a second question, please. I'd love to answer it. Here it is. Thank you, Mayor. Fort Myers Beach, as you know, is a sevenmile barrier island with limited evacuation routes and infrastructure infrastructure constraints. Yes.

How do you determine when additional development intensity becomes a long-term risk rather than a benefit? Yeah, that is I mean quite frankly I think that's the biggest question we wrestle with or at least I I consider um people would be surprised to know that some of the opinions that I've made uh decisions or votes that I've taken are um more difficult than some of the others. Um, and quite frankly, the ones that increased the amount of density have been the hardest ones that I've uh that I've had to make an um a decision to approve. And that is specifically about how it impacts not just the traffic but the infrastructure that we have to support our island. Right? So, um, while I understand and I do hear, uh, and listen that people are most concerned about height, I absolutely understand that. I honestly believe that density is, uh, a a greater threat to our island than height. Personally, I know many may disagree with me, but that's how I feel.

Thank you, John.

Explain what it means to act in a quasi judicial role, please. So, it's really important. We've had this discussion. In fact, it's come up quite a bit about whether or not um LPA members, council members should be meeting with developers, whether they should be meeting with Quite frankly, I've been very clear that I think that that's all very beneficial, not just with developers, but with community organizations, with residents, with everybody. And the reason is it allows at least for me it allows me to be more informed about different viewpoints and to really understand uh kind of what the goals are of not just the developer of the project but the the any opposition that there may be for it. That said quasi judicial means that the only thing that we can actually take is what's on the record within a public meeting. That means if there's something that perhaps I learned through a meeting with a resident or with uh a a developer or their architect or somebody like that, I can raise that in the LPA setting on the disform. What's important in a quasi judicial setting is that it is only the information that is put out in the public record on the dis that is considered when making a vote or a decision. That's my understanding of it and I believe it's pretty solid.

Thank you, Scott. What's your opinion of the town's current budget and reserves? And if selected to serve, what priorities or improvements would you recommend for both the long-term and short-term sustainability?

Um, yeah, I actually followed that. Um, personally, I was a little bit disappointed that we didn't contribute more to our reserves uh when given the opportunity. I think we've got a great resource uh resource in Joe. Um, I think we have a transparency into the finances of this town that we didn't have pre Ian and uh we we've seen the challenges that come to us. I mean, we got so lucky last last season. Um, but it's important that just as we do personally with our own homes, with our own finances, that we have what it takes to weather whatever storm may be because they will come. They're not predictable. And I know the only reason that I'm still here on this island is that I was fortunate enough to be able to recover. Not everybody can, but it takes forefather, it takes thoughtful, it takes planning, it takes having a reserve. Um, that's my answer.

Great. Thank you,

John. As we continue to navigate recovery, redevelopment, and long-term resiliency, how would you approach your policy uh decision-making responsibilities to balance economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and the quality of life of residents? Those three I mean I you can't weigh one against the other. All three of them are just of utmost importance. Um I I believe that we need a vibrant community that is obviously the environment is extremely important. That's the resource that brings us all here. This is why we're here. Um it's not just the basis of our way of life but it is also the lifeblood of our economy as well as uh our quality of life. I mean it's it's everything. Um I do believe that a vibrant growing um community it requires investment. I would hate to see what I saw after Charlie occur here, which is lots that just stayed for 10 years. Um, not my vision of this community going forward.

All right, follow-up questions. Rebecca, anything any follow-ups for John? No. Now I really don't have one. Thank you, John. Nothing. Scott? No, I do have a follow up on my last question. Same thing I've asked every candidate. You know, that question is is quite honestly a softball when it comes to the political realm that we find ourselves in,

but often you're put in a position to have to make a tough decision and and stand behind that decision. So I'm going to ask you if you were asked uh and required not necessarily required but asked to rate from one to three between the balancing the economic vitality environmental stewardship and the quality of life for residents. How would you rate those one to three?

Well, I'm going to go I'm going to go environment first, quality of life second, and then economic viability third. Um, it's not our job to make projects profitable, but it's our job to ensure that we have an environment where people feel comfortable to invest in our future. And I think that's an extremely important thing that we need to keep an eye on. All right. Thanks, John. Thank you. Okay. Is everybody coming back in now for the town council deliberation and the announcement a vote is what the next Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Oh, well, welcome back, gentlemen. Again, thank you for taking the time to uh come here today. Obviously, put your name in to to fill a very important seat in the town. Um, I thought you all did great. Um, as I said at the beginning, to each one of you, I think each one of you are highly qualified and more than able to to fill that seat as the next public ser public servant for the town of Fort Myers Beach. U, but with that, we'll bring it back to the council for any kind of discussion or deliberation. Um, pass them down.

Oh, got it. Sorry, we're just being handed the ballot in case anybody's wondering. So, council, any deliberation, any comments that you'd like to make before we we uh move forward with making our vote? Rebecca, I just want to thank all three of you. I I think we're in a situation where we we are in pretty good shape. We got three great candidates. Um, and I want to thank you. I know that took a lot of preparation. I also want to thank the staff. U you know this is kind of out of the dayto-day and with that I think we're ready to move on. I am uh John.

Yeah. I u uh town attorney handed me the voting conflict form and I have to publicly disclose um the nature of the the conflict and that that became uh in January when Mr. V made the proposal to drop his appeal of the recall um legal action uh in essence so he could for a vote for Tom Brady and that created the conflict for me because of the potential financial gain. Um it would keep me in this seat which is also another uh gain as well a conflict. So that's why I have to disclose that. I would also like to say as somebody that's got drugged down a path that he didn't want to go down that I would caution there is a possibility of an ethics violation being uh filed or recall petition with your vote because many consider it a quid proquo bribery effort uh with this appointment. So I'll just uh say that

Scott anything you'd like to No I don't want to once again thank you. I'm so so glad I didn't have to go through this. Well, if it wasn't for luck, right?

Uh I just want to take a minute to say that, you know, for me, a public servant is someone that has to go outside their comfortability once in a while. They have to not necessarily vote all the time in the way they think is the best interest, but what is in the best interest of the town. And for me, finding a person that fits that role that I think we've been fortunate. We've had a lot of people that have come and gone that have done that. Um because it is a difficult decision sometimes. You may in your heart or believe one thing, but what we believe individually is not what we were elected to do. So I think the the person that that would best fit this role and going forward when we get into November are people that can remember that that can remember you are a public servant. At the end of the day, you do work for the people. the people select you to sit up here. Um, but you also have to balance all the things that we talked about today and and I appreciate all three of you taking the time to meet with all of us. I'm assuming you met with all of us individually to have conversations. I know I had a couple hour conversations with both all three of you. Uh, and it was very very enlightening. Today was very enlightening to me. Um, I really appreciate the process that we've put in place to go forward should the unfortunate event ever happen, we have to do this again. I think it's enlightening to the public. I think it's enlightening to staff. I'm certainly like I said, was enlightening to me. Um, but we have to make a decision and we'll see where it goes. But again, thank all three of you for for taking the time and thank you to the people who reached out both email, in person here today, and I'm sure we'll hear from people after the meeting today on whatever decision is made. But um it is a process and and uh looking forward to seeing it through to the end which hopefully will happen very quickly. All right. If no one else has anything else, go ahead and make your vote and we will need to fold it.

I'm going to fold it. Okay. Okay. So I won't know either. Okay. I have four ballots.

The first one's for mayor um from Mayor Allers, sorry, for Jim Bowen. Next one comes from Vice Mayor Safford for John McClean. Uh, Councilman King, John McClean, and Council Member Link for John McClean. So, go ahead.

Uh, three votes for John McClean um and one for Jim Bowen. Go ahead, Nancy. So that is a majority. Um based on your charter um I'm going to cite to section 413. Um the action of council shall be binding and valid um when adopted by an affirmative vote of at least three members of the council. Okay. Do we need to just to verify that that is your vote? Okay. Rebecca, is that your vote? Yes. Uh John, yes. Scott,

yes. And mine is yes as well. So we have selected. Congratulations, John. We have to make a motion. Don't we have to make a motion? You do have to make a motion. And then I believe the oath of office will be next. So a motion to appoint. Yeah. Motion to appoint. Hold on. Hold on, Rebecca. You got to So everybody can hear it. You have go and ask your question. Yeah. Let me just ask a question. Did we not have one for Tom Brady, one for Jim Bone, and two for John McClean? No. No. I misunderstood. Do you want me to read them again? Thanks, Amy. Just to be clear for me.

John King, John Mlan. Uh, Scott Safford, John Mlan. Rebecca Link, John Mlan. No, no. Tom Brady. No. Tom Brady. Now what do I do? No, it's Tom Brady. Hold on just a sec. I mean, we are Fort Myers Beach. That's why I asked the question. Can we take a recess?

Yeah, let's take a fiveminute recess. We'll let Nancy wrap her head around this and we'll trying to kill me now. No, I Hey, you know

Ple, please take your seats, ladies and gentlemen. I think I could have did that. Everyone, please take your seat. Come on, Ron. You're holding up the group here. Lee now. Okay. All right. We're going to call the meeting back to order. It is 10:32, Nancy.

So, um, the process that the new process that we have with the spreadsheet as well as the announcement of the vote by the clerk is all in the spirit of transparency and also the cross check to make sure that a ballot was not marked incorrectly, which unfortunately we we've now lived that situation. Um, so the ballot that was cast did not reflect her intent, her intended vote. So that in that last vote, there were not three votes in favor of any of the three candidates. So we will take a second vote. And I have the ballots.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, I have the four ballots. Okay. First is John King for John McClean. Vice Mayor Safford for John McClean. Uh Mayor Allers for John Mlean and Rebecca Link for Tom Brady. So three for John Mlean and one for Tom Brady. Let's do this again. Rebecca,

let's start with you. Is does that does that signify your vote? Yes, it does. Thank you, Mayor. John, yes. Scott, yes. And I'm a yes as well. Congratulations, Mr. Mlan. Second motion. Motion. Okay. So now we would take a motion to formally appoint uh John Mlan to serve as council member for seat 4. I will make the motion to formally welcome Mr. Mlan to council seat number four filling in for the vacated seat by vice mayor councsil memberhole. I'll second.

We got a mayor a vote by mayor all seconded by vice mayor Safford. Any discussion? I'm an I. Scott I. John I. Uh Rebecca I. That motion carries unanimously. Now congratulations. Now we'll do the oath of office. Do you have anyone here that you would like to Unfortunately, my wife got called out to a business trip. So she's not Okay. I would ask Amy to Thank you. One for John. Thank you.

Perfect. If you'll raise your right hand. I do solemnly swear that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution. I do solemnly swear and affirm that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and the government of the United States and the State of Florida. and the government of the United States and the State of Florida that I am duly qualified to hold office. That I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the State. Under the Constitution of the State and that I will will that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of Fort Myers Beach Town Council on which I am now about to enter. So help me God.

And that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of Fort Myers Beach Town Council on which I am now about to enter. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.

All right. We're going to take a 15minute recess to allow John to get settled in up here. We will reconvene at 10 55. Yeah.

Okay, everyone. We're going to call the meeting back to order. It is 10:44. About to switch to 10:55.

Uh before we get on to the next item on the agenda, we're going to allow John some time here to say a few words if you'd like. Uh, thank you, mayor. Uh, to council and staff, um, appreciate all the help and assistance in working through this process. Uh, council, thank you for your support. Um, I will do my utmost to try and take in the responsibilities of representing the people in the best way that I possibly can going forward. Um, I believe that we need diverse viewpoints on this island and we need to listen to all the voices. Um, and then come together with unity and strength and rebuild this island. I think we made a great start. I think we just need to continue it. And I want to be very clear. I will be running for office this fall. Thank you.

Oh yeah. Uh, one other thing, as I'm now in the seat in the town council, I have to officially resign uh my seat on the LPA. So, there will now be an open position on the LPA. All right, welcome aboard, John. Buckle up, my friend. Uh, our next item, Thank you, John. Our next item is the approval of the final agenda. We have a few things now that are going to change. Item A under the public hearing that applicant is not here. So we'll be opening and uh closing that or with a date certain

with a date certain and also now obviously with the appointment of Mr. Mlan on to the council. There is that vacancy that he mentioned on the LPA. So staff needs to get direction from us to go ahead and and publish that vacancy and notice it so that we can get that seat hopefully filled as soon as possible. Um is there consent, John? Yes. Scott, yes. Rebecca, yes. John, yes. All right, there's your consent. Now, I got to get used to all the flow again. All right, with that, is there any other changes to the uh the final agenda? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So moved. Second.

Got a motion by Councelor King, seconded by Vice Mayor Safford. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Hearing? None. That motion carries unanimously. Next is public comment. Is there anyone that would like to speak during public comment? I have nobody signed up currently. Anyone still here? Yes, sir. Come on up.

It's still green. I can speak. Okay. Thank you. Mark Leixson and my address is 281 Ohio Avenue and I'm speaking for residents and myself uh within two streets. It comes down to a lot to do with uh I'm a messenger here a and it's about uh understanding our building policies here. Uh I've been a licensed contractor since 1989 and uh I retired recently and it's just neighbors that are asking me questions. I'm looking on the website and uh I have a hard time understanding it, let alone uh the residents that are have issues and stuff like that. Uh I've spoken Jason here just a few minutes ago. He's resolved some of the issues uh that that I had. So I'll go on to uh some other issues as uh private providers which I feel is is having we're having issues with it. Uh, one is there's things that the town come out to inspect and sign off. A private provider um is supposedly supposed to come out and and provide and and take these inspections. Well, one is one of the issues are silt fences. They're uh neighbor of ours is uh having work done next door, brand new home, no silt fence has been put up. They contacted the town here and it's been notified that there's a $250 fine per day if they do not or when they do not install the the the silt fence. Uh they're still working and there's no silt fence up. Will we be fining them $250 a day? And the reason I ask is after Ian I had

issues with my home. Okay. Our governor said to do what we had to do to repair our home. I tried to put tarps over my roof. I couldn't get that. That was not working. I got I'm a I was a licensed contractor at the time. I had a licensed roofing contractor install my roof. Months later, I was found that I did not have a permit. While I was doing this, there was no billing department. There was nobody to contact. I saved my home. Not only did I have to pay for the permit, I had it was doubled. I talked to the new town manager at that time. He said he he he he he was understanding, but he also said, "I'm new. I can't kind of give into this here at the moment." So my question being is the issues that are happening and the fines that we're we're we're we're incorporating, are they being held up? Our residents, you know, the that these people that are looking at this house being built and it's not complying with with what our our rules are. Okay. There's another one here.

Time I need you to wrap it up for us. Your time your three minutes are up. I just need you to wrap it up for us. I I don't get no more time. No, sir. There's public comment at the end. You're more than welcome to come back up and continue on from there if you'd like. I don't believe I'll be here. Is there anyone else that would like to speak at public comment? Can I take anybody else's three minutes at one? Come on up. I've got an issue if it's Well, you have to come up to the mic or if it's an issue with you can take take it up with one of the staff members. What's on the agenda? Do I wait till that comes up? come on up now and just identify yourself. And she's here for this. Okay.

This is just about um 173 Gulf Island. We just need your name, ma'am, for the Oh, I'm sorry. Robin Gornto. I live on 158 Mandandalay.

Okay. um the the ginormous deck that they're proposing to build at 173 Gulf Island. This is a nice neighborhood that's been around since like the 40s. There's involves four streets. Anyway, that's beside the point. Um this particular house already has two points of egress. They've got a really nice deck that faces the bay. Granted, the other deck is a little smaller, but I'm concerned that the proposal they're making is is a huge deck that's going out almost to Gulf Island Drive. And is that really is that really necessary? I mean, they're not doing it out of hardship. They just want a I think a big party deck. And um I think it's not appropriate for our particular neighborhood. They do rent this house. They rent it a lot. And I'm not looking forward to all the noise from the renters. It's bad enough the noise from the pool area, but that's um that's just how I feel about it. I'm opposed to that giant deck being built on that house.

All right. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Local achievements and recognitions. John, we'll start with you. Uh just quickly I want to say congratulations and welcome back to Point Asterero uh Beach Resort. Their $15 million in renovations is just fantastic and uh thank you for letting us be a part of your opening. Scott,

I want to give a shout out to town staff. Uh plus this this process was very transparent and well done. Well done. And then just this morning I had three or four friends come in and they had some issues and what helped them get get going and they're all taken care of and staff is just I'm getting so many great comments on on how well the town staff was doing and that's a reflection of of you guys. So, thank you. Thank you, Rebecca.

I would kind of piggy back off what Scott said, but specifically about this whole process of filling this seat. I think they did a great job making sure that the public was involved and felt involved. So, I know it was a lot of extra time and thank you for that, John. Uh, I just want to recognize that Saturday or this weekend was quite a weekend on the beach. We had fashion shows. We had Is your mic on, John? Make sure your green lights.

Yeah, we had fashion shows. We just had There was just so much activity on the island. It was wonderful to see. Uh, and uh, I I I just love the vibrancy and uh, and it feels like we're in season. It's great.

Very good. Well, I just want to reiterate a couple of the comments that we had here today. Obviously, John, thank you for bringing up Point of Stero. They did have a great ribbon cutting um, long road, but they they spent the time to do it right. I think they said they redid every single room in that resort or in that condo, which I didn't know, which is really neat. So, they've got a really great layout over there. Thanks for inviting us all out for that ribbon cutting. And also, I want to say thank you to the staff as well. I recently made some comments about permitting that I probably didn't uh qualify enough or go far as far as it did. My comments were not directed at our staff by any means. They were directed as a whole. And what I mean by that is I've talked since since the storm, you probably heard me say it a million times. When it comes to permitting, it's not just a staff issue. It's a contractor issue. It's a homeowner's respons. It's everybody's responsibility. And unless we keep the the the missing part I think we have right there is the communication part. If you're not communicating with staff, it's hard for them to get you the answers that you need. So if you have issues, make sure you come to the staff. And I'll give you a perfect example that I gave not that long ago. A person had been waiting for a a permit or a close out of permit for over a year. They had no idea that there was a $60 unpaid fine or not fine, but a $60 unpaid fee that was left to pay to be able to close it out. Contractor disappeared. can't get a hold of the contractor. Homeowners frustrated with the town. Had nothing to do with the permitting staff. It had to do with the simple $60 fee. Once we knew about it, it was taken care of. The permit was closed out. So, when I say there's permitting took a step back, that's what I mean is it takes the communication from all of us to be able to talk back and forth amongst one another one another to make sure that we get this done. Staff is here to answer questions. I think as Scott just said today, people talk to staff, they will direct you. You may not like their answer, but they will direct you in the right way to make sure that you get the resolution as fast as you can. So again, I apologize to staff if my comments came as a as a shot at them because that was not my intent. Um it was a shot as at everything in general, not just one

specific group. So keep up the hard work. Thank you for everything that you do and uh let's let's uh hope we never have to discuss it again. Next is the advisory committee items, reports, and appointments. Mr. Nesbomb is here from Murf.

Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, counselors, town staff, and public. Um, I'm Dave Nusbam. I'm here to report on the uh February 11th um MURF advisory committee for the town of Fort Myers Beach. We had two MURF awards that we gave out. One to Kathy Turner of the Garden Club for their generous donation of trees that we gave out during the planting of our gumbo limbo at the blue gym at on Arbor Day. Um and uh secondly, we gave a present we gave a MURF award to uh the FWC personnel for their above and beyond duty during shorebird nesting season. Uh we had two presentations, one by Dr. Debbies uh regarding the u improved resiliency of dune restoration and uh it only verified the uh town's efforts to plant dunes and create the resiliency. He was primarily showing the impact on narrow beaches between the uh landscape and the mean high water mark, but it did show that it was a a preventative m nature and wave action. And then Rebecca Schneider from FWC gave a presentation on the 2025 shorebird nesting season. Uh contrary to what some people have reported, we had an extremely positive season last season. Um we had record uh fletchlings

coming out of of the three endangered species. We had no nests from black skimmers, but the beach reourishment and the bridge um had almost no impact on the birds. They are fairly resilient as residents of our island and came through and had a successful season. The Rebecca asked that the uh the for expanded use of the FWC herbicide. We allowed them to use herbicide last year for the second year in a row on the uh stakeholders section of the beach. It did not occur on the uh uh the uh little Eststerero Island but in front of the private owners and it was primarily used to to kill the sand spurs. This was the first year that we recorded zero deaths on any of the shorebirds due to sepsis from sand spurs. And that's quite an accomplishment given the fact that every of the four varieties that are nesting on the south end. Uh they're all critically endangered and even one is is uh hard to take, but we had zero this year. So, she said, "We're going to ask for approval to expand it in the with the stakeholders approval down there to expand it a little bit on on the beach on an expanded use within the roped off area. Uh they tried cleaning up some of the sand spurs by hand, but she said that was as disruptive to the

birds and literally took away the whole purpose for roping off the area when you have people trapesing through the nesting area trying to dig up sand spurs. So she said as the area has expanded this year on the south end, they wanted to ask the MURF committee for their endorsement of an expanded use and we wholeheartedly said yes and we're going to the council saying that's our recommendation to you. So basically that's it. Uh Abby u is going to be putting out a survey regarding water taxis to the residents and we look forward to seeing what everybody says on that. We think that could be listening to some of the comments today. One of the things we can do to reduce traffic on the island. And with that, that's the end of my report. Any questions?

Councelor King. Any questions for Dave? None. Seth, keep up the good work. Thank you, Rebecca. I used I always do, Dave. Good work on on the MURF committee. I enjoy watching that meeting and I really like that presentation Rebecca gave and I'm not sure if that's publicly available, but I learned so much and I would encourage anyone to go take a look at that presentation or watch the meeting. It was it was inspiring and interesting. Thanks. Thank you very much for all that you do. Thanks, Dave. I don't know if that was as short as you promised, but thanks. You put a quarter, you get a quarter's worth. That's it. Yeah, that's it.

All right. Next is the approval of the minutes from the town council meeting on February 2nd, 2026. I didn't have any in my packet. Did anybody else? I had them, but I did. Huh. They looked good. They looked changes were all made. So motion to approve. All right. Got a motion by councelor Link. Second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Safford. Any further discussion? I found them. Would you like a minute to read through them? No, it'll take longer than that. Okay. Thank you. Yep. All right. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed.

Hearing none, that motion carries unanimously. Next is a consent agenda. We have nothing on that, so there is nothing to be removed to discuss. Next is our public hearings. The next three items on our agenda are public hearings for review for various land use requests for the benefits of the public for the benefit of the public. Please be aware that these items are quasi judicial in nature. Our attorney will further explain.

Thank you, mayor. So the three items is um are one is a variance, the other is a special exception and the last one is a reszoning. And as the mayor mentioned, these are all quasi judicial in nature. And that requires that this public hearing comply with procedural requirements that have been established in Florida law and in our land development code. So these quasi judicial proceedings, they will be less formal than a proceeding before a circuit court, but they will be more formal than the remainder of our meeting. And we must follow basic standards of due process that requires certain notices, the application of the correct standards and the town council's decisions to be made on competent substantial evidence presented to them in written documents or through oral testimony. The town council will then evaluate the testimony and the information for each item and draw a conclusion regarding whether the criteria that is in the land development code or in state law as may be applicable has been satisfied. So pure speculation or opinion that is not based on competent facts cannot legally be considered by the town council when evaluating an agenda item. Testimony by professionals who have been qualified as experts in a particular area has been considered competent evidence by Florida courts as well as testimony by neighbors and residents who have fact-based information such as minutes, surveys, engineering reports, or testimony that is based on their personal knowledge and information. The town's decision is final. If a decision for approval is not obtained, um the reasoning for the denial should be stated on the record. The denial of an application is a denial with prejudice unless the council states

otherwise. So members of the audience, those of you who intend to speak, please keep my comments in mind. When you come forward, state your name clearly for the record and whether or not you've been sworn in and your qualifications or your interest in the matter. For purposes of efficiency, um before we begin these public hearings, I'd like to go ahead and dispose of a few matters. First of all, I would like to ask the town clerk, have all of these agenda items been properly advertised pursuant to our land development code?

Yes, they have been. And also uh members of town council, if anyone has a conflict of interest that would prohibit them from voting on any of these three items, please disclose that now so that we can make sure that we have a quorum present for the rem for the review of the item. Mr. Mlan, nonec. None. Scott, none. John, no conflicts. I do not have a conflict either, but I just want to reiterate at the first reading of the women's club, I did disclose that my wife is a member of the board, but I do not have a conflict with that agenda item.

Correct. Um, so the next item, just for housekeeping purposes, we'd like to go ahead and swear in anyone in the audience who intends to give testimony today on any of these quasi judicial items. If you would please stand and the clerk will administer the oath. If you all raise your right hand, please. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Okay. All parties have been sworn. So, we'll open the hearing. The first item.

Yes. The first quasi judicial item is resolution 26-20 for variance 2025022 as 173 Golf Island Drive. This is a resolution of the town council. of the town of Fort Myers Beach. Approving approving with conditions or denying variance 20250220 requesting a variance from section 34-638D6B.3 of the land development code to reduce the required 20ft side setback by 11.9 ft to allow a 232 ft deck for the existing single family residence in the RS zoning district for the property located at 173 Gulf Island Drive. Generally referred to as strap number 29-46-24-W2-000050C.0120 in Fort Myers Beach and providing for other clarifications as necessary, providing for conflicts of law, scrier's errors, severability, and providing for an effective date. If any town council members had any exparte communication to disclose, please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person, group, or entity with whom the communication took place. any correspondence that you received or observations made at the site. John,

I received one email against it. Scott, I may have received one email about four or five weeks ago. So, yes. So, um, regarding the exparte discussions we've had lately, I'm going to make this a little more formal. Mayor and council, for the record, I have an exparte communication related to this specific item. On February 12th, 26, I received an email from a third generation resident of that neighborhood opposing the variance. I responded by email that I would take the comments into consideration as well as any other information that comes before us. No promises, no guarantees were given. I also drove by the property yesterday to take a look at it for myself. I'll pass that down to Thank you, Mr.

Mlan. Uh, I have none that I can recall. I also had a email that I received from a resident opposing this u this request, but I do not know the specific date of that email. Probably the same one more than likely. But um Jason Smallley has been qualified as an expert already by this town council and based on his education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Myers Beach. Are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time? We don't believe the applicant is here. So, Jason, go ahead. Hello, my name is Jason Smallley. I'm with the planning and zoning department.

Actually, Jason, hang on a second. If if we're just going to open and close this, do we really need to go into No, we don't. Um, I think it's staff's position, and I I concur with that, that because the applicant is not present today, we are addressing private property rights. Um, it would be my recommendation and staff concurs that we continue this item uh to allow the property owner the opportunity to be here and respond to any questions that you may have. I also want to note for the record that during public comment, there were some comments made by an individual who I would like to go ahead and ask you to incorporate that into the record for this item as well. Okay. Do you need a motion for that?

We do. So it would be a motion toi first to incorporate the prior comments into the record and second to continue it to a date certain and I look to Mr. Smallley as to what date that would be. All right, let's first start with the a motion. Is there a motion to incorporate the comments made at the general public comment to be included into this public hearing? So moved. Second. Got a motion by councelor King. Seconded by councelor Mlan. Any further discussion? Councelor King. I. Councelor Mlan I. Councelor Link. Hi. Councelor Safford. Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. What's that date?

Uh give me just a moment to confirm when the the next one will be. Okay. Uh, sounds like we're going to move forward with March 16th. Okay. Is there a motion to continue resolution 26-020 for variance 20250220 for 173 Golf Island to a date certain of March 16th at 9:00 a.m. So moved. Second. Motion by councelor King, seconded by councelor Mlan.

Is that the property owner or no res? Okay. Could I ask mayor if perhaps they want to put their testimony on the record? Public comment. Do you want to come back on the 16th or mayor? I'll defer to you. I can't see anybody behind the poll, so I'm not sure who you talk to. Oh, there we can do it now. Yeah. Otherwise, you have to come back on the 16th. Okay. Well, we've opened it. Let's Let's get your save you some time. Time is valuable. Okay. We're going to open up public comment. I'll reopen. Just pull that pull that down for me so they can

All right. Anita Turner 140 146 Mandandalay Road which is in the Gulf Island Manor Association development which is where one this uh property is located and we're a older community of of four streets Manderlay Gulf Island Bayside and six on Eststerero and it's been in the same family most of the houses for years and years and years. Uh, I've been a resident and built there in 92, but we've been coming since the mid70s. It's always been a quiet neighborhood, very few rentals. That's changed a little bit. We're trying to keep it down as much as possible. Um, that corner is on Bayside and G Island is rather busy and there's kids playing in the court. They use that a lot. I just I'd hate to see them put in a big old deck that I really don't think they've got a be a really nice deck overlooking the bay and that should be enough for them, but we want to keep it small. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? I can't see behind the poll if there's any. We got their hands up. Do you want to come speak? You did. Yeah.

Come on up. I am Susan Crawford. I live next to the property 173. Um there's a general feeling that it would be disastrous to to to allow these people to um to to approve their request which would put the end of their deck um 8 ft from the road. Um it because of the amount that they because of the the the 20 foot is the limit and and they're wanting to have it much closer and much bigger. Um it's a rental they just put in for shortterm rental. Um certainly if they had a huge deck on that corner um they'd be able to accommodate um a lot of people because they've revised remodeled the inside um so that it it can take quite a few. If this were granted for no exceptional reason other than they would like to have a bigger deck um then that will be the standard. Uh other people will want to you know do that will not understand if they're denied the right to do the same thing. So the whole tone of the of the neighborhood, the whole character of the neighborhood will gradually change and become

crowded, citified. Um, and as Anita said, we're an older community. Um, it's it's not what we want. Um, I've been there 40 years. Um, many people I know have been there longer and we say, "No, we we don't we don't want this." The people newly they've just newly bought the house in the last couple of years. Um, and they are not living there. They're just renting. Um, and it does it that doesn't make sense. There's there's no good reason um to change the character of what we have. So, that's kind of my two cents on that. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else? All right. Seeing none, we'll close public comment. We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Uh, councelor Kink. I. Councelor Mlan. I councelor Lane I. Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously.

Next is resolution 26-015 for SEZ2050271 for 166168 Coconut Drive. A resolution of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida approving approving with conditions or denying special exception SEZ20250271. A request to increase the number of bedrooms in a two family residence while utilizing the post- disaster buildback code of the LDC section 34-3238 2E4A for the property located at 166168 Coconut Drive. Generally referred to as strap number 29-46-24-W2-00007A 0.0160 0160 in Fort Myers Beach providing for Scrivener's errors severability and an effective date. If any town council members had any exparte communication to disclose, please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person, group or entity with whom the communication took place, any correspondence that you received or observations made of the site. Mr. Mlan,

none. Rebecca, just a driveby. Scott, I'm quite familiar with the property. They live two one street over and two doors down. I one of the neighbors did have a concern and and they voiced that to me, but I never got an official email nor had a meeting. John, nothing.

And I have nothing as well. Uh Jason Smallley has already been qualified as an expert by this town council based on his education and experience. Has been accepted expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Myers Beach. Are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time? Anyone? All right. Is property owner here? I don't believe so. Okay. Nancy, do we want to do the property owner is not here?

I I would agree. Um, if the property owner is not here, I mean, the decision you make will impact their private property rights, the value of their property. So, um, Jason, have you heard from them or Not since the last meeting, although anecdotally, he did say that he was looking forward to the project moving forward. So, I don't I don't know if he wishes to push that back or if that's the wish of the council to push that back um as well, but I haven't heard anything from him directly. So may I think out of this out of consistency, I'd feel comfortable making sure that they at least have the opportunity to tell us whether they want to be here or not. Okay. Anyone have any objection to that?

I don't. I agree with you. Public comment. We will open public comment for it though. Is there anyone here that would like to speak during public comment for this special exception? All right. Mayor, are the applicants notified that they are on the agenda? They are notified. So, they do know. Yes, they are. So, then they've they've chosen not to appear, it seems. Well, but I think out of out of, you know, property rights and, you know, we all know things happen that there could be a circumstance where they something happened on the way here. So, I would rather give them the benefit of the doubt than than uh them not having a chance to speak their case.

All right. I will close public comment. Is there a motion? What do you want to use? The same date, the 16th. Correct. Okay. Is there a motion to continue resolution 26-015 sees 20250271 for 1661 168 Coconut Drive to the date certain of March 16th at 9:00 a.m. So moved. Have a motion by councelor King. Second. Seconded by councelor Mlan. Any further discussion? Councelor King. I councelor Mlan I councelor link I vice mayor sabard I and I'm an I as well that motion carries unanimously

that brings us to our last quas judicial item which is ordinance 25-20 for CPD 2025-0203 for 175 Sterling Avenue FMB Women's Club. This is the second reading and final public hearing on proposed ordinance 25-20. This is an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, approving approving with conditions or denying a reszoning to commercial plan development CPD for the property located at 175 Sterling Avenue. A parcel generally identified as strap number 33-46-24-W2-00004.0000 000000 town of Fort Myers Beach from institutional to allow for the redevelopment of the property for the Fort Myers Beach Women's Club, providing for conflict of law, scrier's errors, and providing for an effective date. If any town council member has had any exparte communication to disclose, please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person, group, or entity with whom the communication took place and correspondence that you received or observations made of the site. Mr. MLAN.

Uh while I was a member of the uh LPA, I had a meeting with uh Studio A and their representatives. I can't recall the date of that. I could look it up though. Uh Rebecca, none, mayor. Okay, Vice Stafford. I believe I had one email about the size of the parking lot and I had some private conversations. Again, no official meeting um with some neighbors. Absolutely. John, uh I I too received an email against the project u against this project and then uh had a discussion with Mr. Venass just a few minutes ago.

Yeah. And I've received an email uh from someone that was opposing it, but my understanding is they didn't necessarily understand what the ask was was from from the first meeting. I did reply, did not get a reply back from them after explaining what was potentially changing versus the second reading. Obviously, I've had many conversations with my wife who's on the board about this and other members and I've been to the site many, many times and uh looks like we'll probably be there again coming up very soon, a lot of us. So, that's all I have.

So, before we go further, um there's been a lot of disclosures that have been made. Um, clearly everyone knows about the women's club. Um, so I do want to offer them the opportunity if they want to have any questions raised of of any of the disclosures that have been made. And when you say they, I assume you mean the women's club. The women's club or their um representatives. Okay. No, thank you. Okay.

All right. Jason Smallley has been an expert has been qualified as an expert already by this town council based on his education and experience. has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Myers Beach. Are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant that were not qualified at the first meeting? Mr. Well, I everyone that has raised their hand, but Mr. Inc and uh and Mr. Ambrose, I've been more than once approved as an expert in their field. I don't know that we need to go through that again unless you guys want to give us your resume one more time. You sure? Okay. And you have seen a back a copy of the backup materials from staff.

Yes. Okay. They said yes. Go ahead, Jason.

Good morning. Um, as was mentioned by the mayor, this is a request before you today for the approval of a CPD reszoning. Uh before you is the is the request to redevelop the women's club uh lot uh which would include uh roughly 14,000 uh gross square foot structure. Uh it would also include uses that span across the lot. And I want did want to point out that uh the applicant from the last meeting was encouraged to bring back a new rendering uh for the consumption on premises to cover the entire uh lot. That was the suggestion at the last meeting. Uh they did take that to heart and have brought back a new updated site plan and I don't believe it actually has made it into your packet. So I would encourage the applicant uh when they come up here for their time if they would go ahead and pass those out to the the voting members. Um we will incorporate that as part of the final package if this is approved. Uh I would note that uh this morning when I talked to the applicant's representative uh they made the point that the coop area had been expanded to include the parking lot, but they wanted to have it set up to where they would have to come back and request uh temporary use to utilize that parking area. So it would open up the ability to do it. they are offering to come back on each time that they want to utilize it so that the town council has the opportunity to uh give their blessing to the the use of that uh of that parking area. Uh otherwise the coop area is being extended uh with as a buy activity in the CPD uh to the grass areas to the building and to the elevated deck um on the building. So that's what they brought before you today to discuss. Uh there was also a discussion at the last meeting about whether or not the town uh

could put a condition of approval into there that would limit the sale of the property um in the eventuality that they did want to sell it in the future. Uh that would limit it to a nonprofit or a co uh some sort of nonprofit uh organization. We did not put that language in there. uh staff felt that that was something that needed to be discussed with the attorney present about what possibilities there were, but staff is here for that discussion if and when it comes up during this meeting. Uh so the the applicant is here uh they are here for any questions that you may have. Uh one last thing I did want to point out uh this is a housekeeping issue from the first meeting. they have uh sent in an architectural package and the architectural package that is included as part of the uh package before you would be accepted uh as what will be built to the greatest extent possible. So if there are any questions or any concerns about the architecturals that you've seen so far on this project, uh this would be the time to discuss them. If there are no um problems with that and this project is approved as is, you would also be approving the architectural package and it will be built to that to the greatest extent possible. I know I've gone over a lot of ground here since that first meeting. Are there any questions for staff?

Mr. Mlan, any questions for No, I'm fine. Thank you, Council Link. No, I just would like to continue the discussion about nonprofit language with Nancy at the appropriate time. Vice uh me as well. John, no questions currently. I don't have any at this time. Come on up.

Good morning. For the record, I think James Inc. I think it's still morning. Yeah, still good morning. Um, I brought along the presentation with just a couple edits that I did in the first goround, but I'd like to leave it up to the mayor and council if they want me to go through that again. I know Mr. Mlan saw it at the LPA of of those parts. So, it's up to you whether you want to go through it or we'll just talk about the two items that are have changed since the last meeting. I'm comfortable going over just the two items. I don't necessarily need to I did see it at the LPA, but Rebecca agree. I concur. John's.

Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Uh the two items that we discussed on the the first part was the coop, which the consumption on premises is really the basis of why we're here in the first place. As you know, the women's club's been here forever. It's operated for a very long time, well before the town existed. And as part of what they wanted to do is they wanted to bring in the coop, which would have required a special exception to do the coop just as that. And the basis of that is we were a legal conforming use on the property. There was some discussion of whether that was true or not when we went through with staff because the definition of a cultural facility is is kind of broad and can be interpreted different ways. So since we had to do the special exception, it just made more sense. We'll go the one step further. It's the one meeting farther and we'll do a CPD and we'll clean everything up. will bring the membership organization into the process. So that's why we came here for the coop. We did hear in the last meeting the council was like why don't you do the whole parking lot and we're like fine. I mean that's a that's a good idea. So, what we've done is we've done that and as Jason says, I think I have at least five. Um, I have the new master concept plans that I would hand out if that's okay.

I love a master plan. as they're being passed out. The the change really exists. It's a little hard to see on the print, but not that hard. Is there's a crosshatch area that was the coop that was on the event lawn and it was on the the deck upstairs and all we did is extend that out to the parking area. It's the only change that was made. question for you is maybe it's just a technicality. In some areas I see you've got actual coop in parenthesis but in some areas you don't. Is it critical to staff or anyone to have the word the letter COP like on the upper deck you've got it in the opening event you have it but you don't actually have it on the building itself or the parking lot. Is it I'm just asking. I don't know if it's correct.

Uh in the bottom lefthand corner there's a little legend that talks about what the hatching means. Yeah, it's well again. Yeah, I see it on the bottom left, but I don't see any hatching on the building itself. The building inside itself is is not covered on a consumption on premises. It's outside. Just outside. Outside. So, there's no consumption on premise. No, there's consumption on premises inside, but it doesn't require So, I'm just I'm just making sure there's not a technicality here that's being overlooked of having you could have the consumption placed on here. I've learned over the last few years that acronyms are very important. Things happen. Yeah. Okay. If everybody doesn't have an issue with it, I don't have an issue. That's why I'm

Yeah. That's why it's not there is it's inside the building which does not require any action whatsoever. Got it.

So, that's the cop part. The other secondary part was the membership organization and there was a comment made about restricting it to nonprofit. I went back and I researched it and I looked to and fro on a membership organization, which is a essentially just an organization that has members. Structure, no structure, bylaws, no bylaws. It's just a membership organization. Nonprofit is a whole other situation of that's IRS ruling. That's how you go to to become considered a nonprofit. And there is a multitude, far more than I even knew when I read the IRS information on this. There's lots of different kinds of nonprofits. And it came up to the conclusion, I'm not an IRS expert, but it just came up to my reasonable conclusion that you can do pretty much any business as a for-profit or a nonprofit if you meet the qualifications that the IRS requires for the nonprofit, but you can still do the same thing. So when we went through that, we kind of made the conclusion that to not limit property rights, to not have unintended consequences, that we were just going to leave it alone as a as a membership organization. Um, going through the comp plan and going through the land development code, nonprofit has very very little uh language on what's considered a nonprofit. I think the only one there's like four things and the only one that was relevant is a school can be a for-profit, a nonprofit, a religious, a and that's the definition. That's the only place it really shows up that

nonprofit shows up. So just came to the conclusion that adding something that is not really defined and if we got down the road somewhere and it became part of and I'm not here, you guys aren't here, it just became a private property issue that could have some serious unintended consequences. So that's where we are. Um, what I'd like to do is there's other people probably going to speak on this is we can do the public hearing and then reserve my right for rebuttal and and we can go through that and at that point we can we can address anything. If you have questions now, I'll address them. But anything after we get there, we could we could talk about.

Councelor King, any questions for Mr. In? Nothing currently. Not right now. Mr. Link, not now. I'm good. Thank you, sir. Okay. Thank you. We'll now open up public comment. Are there any members of the public who wish to comment on this matter? If so, please come forward to the podium and identify yourself, provide your address, and whether you were sworn in. Ron,

good morning. Um, Ron Benock, 210 Sterling Avenue. I live across the street um from the proposed um women's club that's going to be coming up. Um I was at the LPA back in December. Um a letter was put on record for me back in January because I wasn't here for the council meeting, but I am here now. Um one side note real quick, maybe why those uh other two people weren't here was because the sign that is on the women's club said that this meeting was supposed to have been yesterday. we have a problem with this dates.

So I end up coming down here to find out when this meeting was and they said, "Oh, that's President's Day." So the meeting's today, but on the property it says the 16th. So hold up there for a second, Nancy. So we did the right thing on those other two cases by continuing them. Um I I don't know, you know, what is on the sign for those two other cases. However, in this one, um the the uh the date is incorrect. Um I guess I'd defer to Amy on the ad. Did we get today's date on the ad? Do we have any pictures of this sign? Anyone? I do.

She's going to look it up. Um you know, the the property uh representatives and the owners are here, so noticees has been given. Sure. the sign the signs are in addition to what's required by No, I believe you, sir. Um I just wanted to see it just but Florida statutes does require um a proper advertising and um if the date didn't get changed, then we might have to revertise it. The date in the news press was for today, February 17th at 9:00 a.m.

So, we've complied with state law. um possibly we've made an error with our um our uh code of ordinances and the noticing that's required there. However, that is above and beyond what is required by statute. So, I don't think that in and of itself would uh create a an issue regarding the noticing, but I do thank you for for pointing that out. And yes, that may have been the reason why the other two were not here, but council, I think you did the right thing by continuing those hearings. We'll finish up, Ron, and discussion.

So, um, as I said in the in December in my letter that was read uh, in last month that I f fully support fully support the women's club and what they do and and everything they do. Um, I would support their stuff moving out to the parking lot. I I have nothing nothing against the women's club at all. They do great work. As a matter of fact, a couple of us are going to join. I'm going to get my membership put into the women's club. But um my my concern is and then is is the changing from institutional to commercial. Um again um and this is my my concern was was that if it ever gets sold now they're selling a piece of commercial property and right across the street from me is going to be whatever. Well, all of a sudden now, uh, coming up in March, they're going to be voting on putting it together a board for when they go to for if they go to sell it. Now, they're they're they're trying to raise money to build it, and I'm all for that, but then let's put a committee together for when we if we go to sell this property. So, they're looking at trying to sell it, but also trying to raise money. It's just there's just too much going on. Um, so even though I support them, um, if we can't do something to where in a deed that it if it if if they sell it that it reverts back to institutional, something to protect the neighborhood, um, from this commercial property that they're trying to get it changed to commercial property. Um, and if not, um, I would say if we could table this for next month, let's do some more research to see what we can do to protect the neighborhood. um from them selling a commercial piece of property. That's that's my concern. I have nothing against the women's club. I hope they do good. I they if they change it to commercial and they have it forever, that's great. But if they ever go to sell it and now they're selling a commercial piece of property, I have a

big problem with that and that's that's where I'm at. Thank you for your time. Thanks, Ron. Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Also, anyone else public comment? Pat.

Good morning. My name is Patrick Vaness. Uh I reside at 5711 Lauder Street, which is uh two houses removed from the women's club. Just wanted to start by saying 100% uh support the women's club and the mission. And uh I've emailed all of you and uh reiterated that. um just like to explain and clarify the concern from from myself and also from my neighbors. So right now the idea is to resort to CPD. There's a list of uses within the CPD. The main ones are membership organization and recreational facility. So without any additional language or caveats to those uses, technically it could be sold next year to a private entity and someone could build a private club. Uh there will be nothing in the zoning limiting that. And a private club, I don't know if I necessarily object to that. I just think that it is materially different. private club versus uh a nonprofit organization that we all know and love. So what I would like and maybe the suggested language of limited to nonprofits only is not the right language, but we can define the use. That's the beauty of a CPD. We can define exactly what we mean. And other communities have terms such as fraternal organizations, cultural organizations. And this is the prerogative that we have as part of CPD. We define what that use is. And I think if you keep the use consistent with what the women's club is today, neighbors 100% support it. But if it's open-ended and it could be sold to a private entity, that private club could be materially different. We don't know what the impacts could be. And I

think the right thing is to just come back at that point if there's a sale. present what is desired and let the neighbors comment on it and let the council also opine on it. And again, like I said, I don't think I necessarily have a problem with a private club. I just would like to know what it is and have a chance to provide my opinion. So, I think there are easy solutions here. I think we we 100% support the mission. Let's put up some guard rails and let's find the right definition. I have talking to your staff. Um Jason is aware that other communities such as Collier County and Lee County have much broader use definitions than we have and we could maybe borrow one of those. Thank you. Thank you Patrick. Anyone else? All right. Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Do you want to say anything before I say something? Go ahead. Um, I would just like at this point, I mean, we talked about this and it really comes down to looking at the private property in the future and what might be and and may happen in the future that we don't know. Um, I would like to bring up a board member and let her talk to a little bit about what is going on with uh the bylaw review and changes and discussions, which is not unlike uh the town does with a charter review or anything. You go through your documents and you clean things up from time to time. Um there's no indication that there's any nefarious we're going to sell it to some developer that's going to do something different is is not there. It just may be some uh untimed consequences that really didn't need to happen. But I think we stay on

our point of membership organization as it is in the land development code says what it says. Now whether we want to restrict that to something um that's that's a different discussion that let me bring up hold on before I just want to kind of gauge the council's willingness to continue based on the I know Nancy said it it doesn't necessarily have anything but I I kind like to know where everybody I don't want I 100% I and I'd like to just get this done. I'm sure I'm sure you would.

So my my question if I may isn't the Moose Lodge a membership organization? So what's Well, before we go before let's talk about this advertising thing, I want to get that clear. Did on the advertising thing from Does the council wish to continue to move forward with the advertising issue that Mr. Ron brought up? Um before we everybody's time is valuable, right Jim? So I want to make sure before we continue down this conversation that everybody is comfortable moving forward with the issue that was brought to our attention about the sign. May I add one item about this specifically? Sure. Go ahead.

Um we got the paperwork from the town when we made the signs up. We put out there what was there. I think what happened was they put it at Monday the 16th and we put the sign up at the LPA hearing date. It's all three of them, but the advertising is as the counselor has said is we've met the criteria for advertising in our opinion.

My only concern is not everybody reads the news press. Not everybody knows how to use Facebook and I would hate whether it's an approval or a denial for there to be a challenge issued potentially based on a simple sign. That's my only concern. Yeah, we'll defer to your direction. We're not in that big of a hurry if if the air on caution is to come back on the 16th. John, Mr. Kton, how do you feel? I I'm comfortable with moving forward, but u whatever the council wants to do. Scott,

I agree with you, Mr. Mayor. I would hate for something like this to be caught up in a technicality. I think it's is prudent to let's get the sign right. Let's try to work out some of these other details and and to make a date certain. Councelor Link, I agree with the with our council that we've met the burden and if that is the case uh and the parties are all here, I I'm okay with going forward. Welcome to your first decision, Mr. Mlan. Uh, I also am okay with going forward knowing that the parties are all present and are able to participate. But are they all here? Because there could have been some neighbors that

Can I say something? Yeah, I I I always like to air on the side of caution, but I understand times, money, and so if I can add my two cents, unless the applicant strongly disagrees, I would prefer not to have to defend a frivolous claim. People will argue all kinds of things. Um, and sometimes we spend a lot of time and staff resources. Um, so I'm going to be a little conservative and I prefer to heir on the side of caution. Uh, based on the counselor's uh, further recommendation, I'll change mine to defer. I I agree. I agree.

I always listen to the good wise council's advice. Wise. Well, maybe I should have started there. I think we're done. Yeah. I well other than voting and and I think to the vice mayor's point it'll give you guys some time to maybe sit down with Ron and and and Pat and any other neighbor that wants to sit down. The women's club are very good about having meetings and talking. Maybe they should have one with the neighbors to discuss the issues that were brought up here today. It sounds like people are in support. Just a couple things to maybe potentially iron out or maybe they won't iron out but it's worth having discussion. Sounds like a good idea. Mayor, may I have a question or should I save it for the next meeting?

Um, you know, I'll it's up to you if you think it's important to ask now that it's a clarifying question because it may require some work on your behalf. So, we talked about uh Patrick, you said about defining uses. Is it ever allowable to define what we do not want it to be? Like, could we say we do under no circumstances would it be a gentleman's club or a gambling facility? like we just took the few things that we know we never want them there. Can you say what can you define what it shall not be? I to me this whole thing kind of resonates around property rights and what people's rights are for their properties and what they're not.

I don't know. It's the government's job to get into saying what might happen 20 years from now or might happen 30 years from now. It is our job to talk about what's within the CPD to Patrick's point, right? But where is that fine line? I'm not a lawyer. That's between the lawyers and you guys to figure out. But I would just keep all that in mind as you discuss it over the next I think the the mayor is wise that uh a meeting in this interim is with the two parties is wise and will happen. Okay. Thank you sir.

So I think we've got the direction that we're going to is there a motion to continue ordinance 25? Do we want to use the same date? March 16th. Yes. Okay. There is a there's been a consensus to is there a motion to continue ordinance 25-20 for CPD 2025-0203 for 175 Sterling Avenue the FMB Women's Club to a date certain of March 16th at 9:00 a.m. I'll move that mayor. All right. Got a motion by councelor King. I'll second seconded by Vice Mayor Safford. Any further discussion? Councelor King. Hi. Councelor Cyber. Hi. Councelor Link. Hi. Councelor Mlan. Hi.

And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. We are on a roll with these continuous. Thanks.

Uh our last public hearing is ordinance 26-01, town council compensation salary waiver clarification. This legislative item is a second reading for and final public hearing on proposed ordinance 26-01. This is an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, amending section 2-19, compensation of chapter 2, administration of the code of ordinances of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, to one, allow town council members and the mayor to be paid as provided in the town charter and to voluntarily wave receipt of salary as authorized by the charter or benefits associated with their service on the town council. and reaffirm that town council members and the mayor may be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred and the performance of official town duties subject to applicable law, the town charter and adopted town and town council policies and procedures providing for codification severability conflicts of law and an effective date. Nancy.

So, on um page 179 of your agenda packet, um you can see the proposed changes. Um the issue that came up was whether or not a cola would be provided to an automatic um adjustment um as initially provided in the town charter. And so we were amending the um the language to say that basically they would be uh paid as provided in the charter, not the specific amounts that are in your ordinance. Um and that you could also now elect to voluntarily uh wave receipt of a salary or any benefits that um you may otherwise be entitled to due to your service on town council. And uh there was an interpretation of the charter regarding uh reimbursement of expenses and basically they will be reasonable and necessary. And so we are simply codifying that in section B.

All right. Questions for Nancy? Mr. Mlan? No, I have no cost for link. None. Vice Mayor Steph. So what you just said that we're going to keep the cost of living in there if the cost of living was provided in the charter. I don't have that language um directly in front of me. Cost of living is not in the charter. Is this a question? I'm sorry then I I thought it was it was it's it's an amount. The language is different. We'll pull it up here.

Yeah. Just want to make sure we're all on the same page because we we've we've been talking about this in the charter review for three months now about Yeah. I think where the confusion came and Tisa will will help us is that it referred to cola but it also referred to specific amounts in two separate parts of the charter and the town has continued since its incorporation of using the set specific amounts not the cola amounts. Is that correct? That is not correct. It it changed three years ago. Well, that's what I think she's trying to if you have that section. I don't have it directly in front of me.

Section 4.05, 05 but it never changed her from 95 till then. That was the issue. Yes, there it is.

Tisa Olivera, human resources director for the record. So, um, regarding the salary, it is specifically stated what the salary amounts are for each town council member, but it also states that town council members are eligible to receive across the board increases as all staff uh receive. So, a COLA would qualify for that. Um, and then it was 2024 uh was the first time that the town since I have been here and that I'm aware of um implemented a cola for all staff. And so effective that day, October 1st, 2024, the town council members also received the COLA aligned with staff and they have every year since that point.

Did that answer your question? Yeah. And this this codifies all that. Is that correct? Yes. So there's no change to the charter language uh regarding that, but the change is to the um breakdown of the payment from the initial amounts that were in the charter,

the 1,200 per month and the mayor's payment of 1,400. So then we got we eliminated that and just basically said as provided in the town charter which does have the cola um across the board. Let me read the sentence. Um so it starts off effective April 1st 2016 the base pay would be 19,200 annually and council members will be paid 16,800 annually as compensation for their services. So this eliminates on page 179 that first line uh just substituting in shall be paid as provided in the charter. The charter then reads compensation shall be revised annually based on across the board adjustments budgeted for staff and administered at the same time as town employees which we um we made no change to that. Um but we did add an additional um option that you have to voluntarily wave the receipt of a salary or any benefits. And then the reimbursement, the charter says that it's reimbursement for actual expenses. And here we say um reasonable and necessary actual expense. I mean the word actual is not in your code, but it's interpreting the word actual.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks for that clarification. Council King, no questions. I do not have any either. Uh public comment. Is there anyone out there would like to speak in public comment? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Any further discussion from the council or a motion for ordinance 26-01 for town council compensation salary waiver clarification? So moved. Got a motion by councelor King. Second. Seconded by councelor link. Discussion. Councelor K. I. Councelor Link. I. Councelor Mlan. I. Vice Mayor Safford.

I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Brings us to our administrative agenda. The first item is resolution 26-040 2026 TDC grant application authorization. This is a resolution of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, authorizing the town manager or designate to apply for grant funding through the Lee County's visitor and convention bureau's tourist development council for beach and shoreline funding in the amounts of 1,151,416 for beach and shoreline maintenance. $26,2670 for an accessible accessess accessibility capital project at Albatross Street and $150,000 for a capital project to repair three kayak launches authorizing the town manager or designate to execute all related and necessary documents and providing an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That pretty much summed it up. I'd like to ask Joe and Jeff to maybe stand up if the counselors have any questions specifically about these project or these recommended uh requests for TDC funding. Any questions for Joe or Jeff? Councelor Mlan? Uh none. Councelor Link. None. Joe. Councelor King. Uh, I guess I'm stunned that we have to approve and ask for a for a grant, but that's uh but also can you explain more? I on the beach and shoreline aspect of it.

You want me to go for that? Um, so we typically when we do apply for a grant, we usually ask permission from the council to do so. um you know it's just kind of I don't know if that's an actual policy or we just sometimes they ask for a resolution as part of the application process that shows that the um the municipality is indebted to actually putting up a match if that's one of the requirements.

Yeah. And there there's incind match on this but no monetary match as far as you know putting down a certain amount. Um and then the beach and shoreline maintenance is is just one of the things that TDC funds that we get. Um the other thing we do uh get as a as a town is a marketing grant through TDC. So those are the two pots that we get out of. Um so we can do anything that's beach and shoreline uh including the moundhouse which is also um has shoreline uh with the kayak launch and the restrooms uh for visitor services. So, uh, what exactly council? So, this is different than what we've been talking about putting sand on the beach in essence. Correct. This is our annual kind of our annual TDC

beach access. Yeah. For improvements or

Yep. staffing. Um, you know, if we need any new Kabotas or Polarises, um, you know, there is money in there for vegetation, those kind of things to improve the beach accesses and maintain the beach accesses. Um, those kind of things. So just anything related to the beach uh that we have and I think the the amounts are in the in the packet is what we requested but and then we do have additional um uh capital projects that we're going for. Uh Albatross Beach Access, we're going to try to do uh an ADA compacted shell, which is kind of new, and see how that that works. Um, and then we're going to try to repair all three kayak launches um on the island um that we have including Mount House.

Thank you, Jeeoff, because it just I think some people might have got confused with the beach and shoreline funding aspect of it. So, thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, so TDC has has a bunch of different ones. I mean, they have a a sports authority. They give money to that for the stadiums and that. This is just one aspect that we can we qualify for uh as far as the TDC goes. Thanks. And then this goes fiscal year 27. Correct. Correct. Okay. Do you have a quick question? Um so things like equipment and machinery, those things that are purchased and funded under this can only be used for those projects. Is that correct? Okay. Correct. Yep. Any but they will pay for any maintenance of the vehicles. sofa. Okay.

You know, we need new tires for the K Cabota that's TDC funded. Um that and one of the one of the caveats, just so everyone knows, if you don't know, is that we always label TDC items with a special sticker. It's Town of Fort Myers Beach and Tourist Development Council on there, too. So, Yep.

Thank you. I like that. You know, Jeff and Will, and you guys haven't heard me talk about this, but I get up on a soap box every time this comes around every year because it ever since I've been paying attention ever since I've lived here. It seems like we're in the same rut of asking for the exact same thing every single year. And the dollar amounts are almost exactly two. And maybe that's because that's what we think that we're all going to get. I don't know that we've ever really pressed the envelope. I've tried and maybe Vice Press Afford will have better luck than I had or Rexan Hos Frost had before that, but to me it seems like we're always asking for the same thing and we're not challenging. I mean, there's a lot of information. I mean, I've I've beat it to beat the dead horse over the Times Square, but I still think there's a path for that to be it's the most used beach access in Lee County. However, you know, we talk about traffic and we talk about things like this, yet we don't have any facilities, any restroom facilities for anyone down this entire beach. We welcome TDC encourages people to come to the beaches, but we don't have any comfort stations, if you will, for people to be able to use up and down the island. We should be asking for things like that. We don't ever do that. Now, I understand some residents don't want that next to their house,

but there are some that would rather have them using a comfort station than their bushes. Andre, you know, I just would like us to challenge staff to press the envelope a little bit. I mean, they may say no, but if we can make the argument, I know Nancy and I have talked about this about there's a lot of ways you can legally word things that uh help our cause. And I I'd really like to see us I'm not going to hold all this up, but I mean going forward, it'd be nice to be able to see us, you know, we talk a lot about Moby Bats, we talk about garbage cans, comfort stations, all these things that are part of the beach and shoreline, but we don't ever ask for them.

Yeah. In there. in there. Every year we ask for Moby Mat um replacement. Um and then they also they they did just fund what was it two years ago they funded the two restroom trailers. One at Newton and one that was at Palm. We're actually thinking about moving it because it gets damaged so much at Palm Avenue. Um but they did it's it's not at Palm Avenue. It's It's not there. Right. We pulled it cuz it was Well, I thought you said you're thinking about moving it. Well, we have to repair it first. Oh boy.

So we've had to put a lot of money in repairing it at that location. So once we get it repaired, we we may may think about moving it u somewhere else on an access. But um yeah, so we have asked for those in the past and we can, you know, definitely continue. It's just a matter of, you know, where we put them and what the council wants us to do. So very good. Yep. Anything else for staff? All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Joe, why don't you go ahead and just stay for the next one? All right. Is there a motion for resolution 26-040 for the 2026 TDC grant application authorization? So moved. Motion by councelor King. Second.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Safford. Any further discussion? Councelor King. I. Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. Councelor Link. I. Councelor McLean. Hi.

And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Next is resolution 26-039 authorizing contract with Malden and Jenkins for auditing services. This is a resolution of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, authorizing the town manager to execute a three-year contract with Malden and Jenkins for financial auditing services in the amount of $59,300 for the first year and $60,950 for the second year and 62,600 for the third year plus 5,500 for each additional major program to be audited. authorizing the town manager to execute the audit and examination engagement letters for fiscal year 2025 attached to the contract as exhibits provided for an effective date. Joe Enick, finance director. I think the title of the resolution probably encompasses everything that you need to know about this, but so basically it is a three-year contract that we will um that this would authorize the town manager to sign. Um the dollar amounts for each year is is spelled out ahead of time. Um and then there is an additional cost of $5,500 for each additional major program. And by that this would be a major grant program. And so what we're anticipating like for um the 2025 audit would be um about four major grant programs. And so that would um in increase it um to a total um cost of $81,300. and that is within the budget. It's actually below what we had budgeted for this coming year. Um and then there's also two um engagement letters that this authorizes um the town manager to sign, which is the auditor's um specific um outline of what they're the services that they're going to perform specific to um the examination engagement letter, which is actually um they look at our investments to make sure that it's

they're um meeting the statutory requirements in terms of how they're handled. And then they also of course um it's the audit itself. Mr. Mlan, questions for Joe. Uh yeah, Joe, when I was reading it, I was a little bit confused in that it uh maybe you can explain to me. It seems that it's projectbased as opposed to an all-encompassing audit. Is that correct? Uh well, I mean there isn't. It's when you say project based maybe are you thinking in terms of why it might be different depending on the number of programs that they're auditing is that what maybe

I guess I was trying to understand if it's a program byprogram audit versus what I've experienced in corporate America which is you actually have your auditors sign off on your financial uh

they do do an a total financial audit of everything. So that's that's one aspect of it. But there are very specific requirements for grants for um that are required by like the federal and state governments. If there if the total amount of the grant is $750,000 or more, then there's very specific um audit specialized audit requirements for that where they look at internal controls and they they do more in-depth testing of the grant to make sure that everything that has been um reimbursed, you know, met the eligibility criteria. So it's a way of the federal government and the state government also making sure from their perspective that you know we've met their requirements.

So if I understand you right I this sounds great. It sounds like it's absolutely required that the larger projects would get extra scrutiny per se. Yes. Uh but there is an over overarching audit that is completed as well as part of this service contract. Yes, absolutely. That's um that's what the um second engagement letter, the audit engagement letter that encompasses the all financial statements. So they do a thorough financial statement audit. Great. You've answered my question. Thank you. Absolutely. No, but I'm happy to sign this one. This one keeps us uh out of or keeps us in compliance. Yes. Vice Mayor Saffford

makes the audit committee's job really easy. Wait, is that why you wanted to be on it? That's correct. Councelor King, no questions, but uh I was glad to hear that this is actually coming in under the budgeted amount. So, thank you for that. It is always good job, Joe. Thank you very much. Very welcome. All right. With that, is there if there's no other questions, is there a motion for resolution 26-039 authorizing contract with Malden and Jenkins for auditing services? So moved. Got a motion by Vice Mayor Safford. Second. Seconded by councelor King. Any further discussion? Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. Councelor King. Hi. Councelor Link. Hi. Councelor Mlan. Hi.

And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Next is resolution 26-018, title basin firstear amendment for one-year renewal. This is a resolution of the town of Fort Myers Beach approving a first amendment to an agreement between the town of Fort Myers Beach and Titlebase and Government Consulting LLC to extend the term of the service provider agreement for disaster recovery and mitigation consulting services to February 23rd, 2027 by the exercise of the first of three one-year renewal options, incorporating the town's updated standard contract addendum provisions into the agreement, increasing the total not to exceed by 700,000. authorizing the mayor to sign the amendment and the town manager to expend budgeted funds provided for severability and providing for an effective date. Joe.

Okay. This is um of course title base and the the consulting firm that you're all familiar with. Their contract with us, their initial three-year contract is expiring February 23rd. Um they've the initial three-year period was authorized for nearly for five mill up to $5 million in total. Um and we and just taking a look at what we paid them year-to- date so far for the entire three-year period it was 4.9 million. So but that they had provided quite a team of people to the island to help us through especially after Ian that were with us all the way through and it's now kind of tapered down to one person. So, um the fact that they're asking for 700,000, that's really in anticipation if there is another hurricane. It's just authorizing enough um potential assistance if it's needed, but certainly it it would not come about to be that much if it's not needed. And I'd also just like to make sure everyone's aware that any expense that is incurred um through Title Basin would be um reimburseable primarily from like FEMA. They're also going to be assisting us with CDBGR and so they'll be processing um the reimbursement requests and preparing the reporting reporting for that and so that also would be reimbursed through um CDBGR grant. So it's kind of covering several bases.

Okay. Councelor King, questions for Joe? Uh none currently. Councelor Link. So you're saying we're just approving up to 700 and doesn't necessarily mean we will spend 700. It's not a flat fee for them. Exactly. It's on a per hour basis. I'm fine with that. Thanks, Counc. I have no questions. So I'm I'm assuming that this hall encompasses, you know, we get the reports of the updates for all the projects. This encompasses that as well, right? Everything that's in there for the updates on those reports. Yes, that that would continue under the extension of this contract. Okay.

Mayor, I I'd be like to hear a little more, I guess, maybe from you because I think you expressed some discomfort with them very recently. Uh so, uh well, it's no secret I've always had some discomfort with Tidal Basin from the beginning. Um I feel that there was a lot of things that were left on the table

that uh you at the beginning and at the beginning right after the storm it was very difficult to get information from title basin. It was almost we had to ask for something versus being consulted with this is what you should be looking at doing. That has gotten better at least in all the staff that I've talked to. So I I feel much better about it. But that was always my contention with Title Basin from the beginning and in talking with their owner. Um I believe that they have corrected that. But I would still encourage you to, you know, you're our consultants, right? We want you to bring us things like, "Hey, you haven't thought about this. Maybe you should look at this grant or maybe you should look at doing it this way or or always improving it." And I'm not working with them every single day like I was two years ago or three years ago. So, I'm I'm not 100% sure that that is happening. I believe I've been told by Will that that is happening. So, I feel comfortable with that it's being done. If that's what you're asking me, councelor K.

Thanks. Yeah. No, appreciate Thank you for sharing. real quick. I I I would say since I've been here, Mr. Mayor, it's been an excellent supportive relationship uh both in house with Adrian and Brian now. Adrien previously, Brian now, and Jeremy and and Mark are always there just a phone call away if we need any support from the leadership. But uh I I'd from my perspective uh just watching the or listening into the conversations or watching the conversations that go back and forth between my directors and and uh and Joe and their their staff has been excellent. They do exactly what you're asking for. Okay. Um and uh you know if or if we want to push for something, they support us as much as they can in doing that.

Yeah. You know, the thing I had the biggest issue with was that the owner of Title Basin came from a FEMA background and it almost seemed like some of those bad habits came along with it. And what I mean by that is, you know, after the storm, we were we would get people from FEMA that they finally understood the situation. They pro we we were communicating on the same level, right? And then someone new came in and then we start all over. And at the beginning, that's how Tidle Basin was. At least in my mind, it was all the information that we just spent three months discussing, you had to now spend all this time to recatch up the new people that came in. There was no transition. And as long as that has been corrected, then I have no issues with with continuing to move forward with with title base. And I just wanted to make sure that was my biggest contingent is having to start all over. It's almost like you didn't pass the notes to the next student or I it was it was frustrating with everything else that was going on. But if you feel if staff feels comfortable with it, then then I feel comfortable with it. And with that, I will make the motion to approve resolution 20-018 for title basin's first amendment to their first year renewal.

Second.

I got a motion by Mary Aller, seconded by councelor King. Any further discussion? I guess I should have asked anyone in Title Basin, would you guys want to come up and introduce yourself so people know who you are? I I think I spoke in front of the council before, but my name is Jeremy Speaks. I'm the deputy director of recovery for Tidal Basin. I'm accompanied with Mark Mark Boone, who's also a mitigation uh director under Title Bas. And we would just like to say we thank you guys for working with us continuously over these past three years to help you guys recover not only in public assistance with FEMA public assistance, but also with mitigation as well as CDBGDR. we are going to continue that that same working relationship to make sure that we can cover it and everything that we can or what we see that you can do. Um we even have expanded our our outreach to do uh other grant funding as you have been awarded some of those grant fundings. So we are constantly looking at different ways to recover from Ian also recover from Adelaia also recover from Helen and also recover from Milton and we will continue to do that for you. Don't forget to tell you

and prepare you for the next storm, too. Um, uh, one of the things, Mr. Mayor, I always wanted to do was to commend you on your staff. Um, we worked with, uh, several folks, u, lots of points of contact actually, uh, that we have worked with and they have the heartbeat of this community and they they always look for the right thing to do uh, on behalf of the residents and businesses and enterprises here. So, we want to commend them. Um, we want to thank you also for the honor of serving y'all. And um, in the spirit of transparency, I I I recall some of our conversations, Mr. Mayor, about about some of your concerns. And I do hope that with the changes that you've seen, both Jeremy and I, put in place that you continue to be pleased. Um, but, uh, you have two necks to choke if, uh, if for some reason that

Funny Funny you put it that way. Yeah. Yep. If if if you need somebody, um we we're pretty much Johnny on the spot. We can be here. Um I don't live too terribly far away. So, uh would be happy to be here, be held accountable, but just very grateful for the continued um trust in our in our organization.

Quick question for you since you guys are here. when we were going through our budget hearings and we were talking about every I think everybody was kind of taken back at the emergency funds that you know I think Joe had mentioned that you know we're waiting for a lot of reimbursement to come back in that will help fill that reserve fund. Are we getting closer to see I know some has started to come in and and following through your reports there's it just seems like things have kind of stalled obviously I know we're dealing with shutdowns and things like that but do you see any money in the near future coming in to help put back into where we where we have some contention?

Yeah I think Jeremy you're going to handle PA and I'll handle some mitigation. So so in the mitigation realm we do have uh money already request requests that are already out there. Uh we've been receiving RFIs from the state state to clarify some of the uh requests and we're also with mitigation uh you get a certain percentage uh that you can get refunded and the issue is that as the projects kind of evolved some shrunk, some grew, some were discarded. Um it changed the budget. So that percentage applied to the new budget is how they're doing it at FDM. Um the fortunate thing for us is that FDM is or I'm sorry that Florida is an enhanced state, meaning that our projects are reviewed by the state and FEMA typically takes the recommendation. The unfortunate thing is that right now we're we're at a glut in uh FEMA as far as production. uh plus with the uh the shutdown that's really set us back quite a bit.

Speaking of mitigation, before you move on to the the public assistance part, you know, the grants for people who are trying to either repair their home or lift their home seems to have been, you know, we try to get some updates from FDM. I know it's no longer in the town's hands and it's kind of in that purgatory between FDM and FEMA. It appears at least in the communications that I've seen. Do you have any updates on where those two grant programs are? I mean, we get a lot of we get questions from obviously the residents and I know there's not a lot of them, but there's still enough there that, you know, they're waiting to move pro we talk about progress and we talk about moving forward.

Well, some of these people really need that grant funding to be able to move forward and they they can't do anything until a decision has been made at the federal level. Is there any updates on where those are?

Yeah. So, so first of all, I can spread that empathy because there's some folks um and council may not know there's some folks who were advised don't repair your home until um the until the grant is approved. And so those are folks that can't get back into their homes. Um and so that's a deep concern for us as well. the issue. Um, we we do have regular contact with FDM and we've started to include that in our in our monthly uh reports to you uh on progress and we'll continue to do that. the we do provide a te a local telephone number uh for the uh grantees to also call and ask us but um we also we're looking at um actually hosting something uh once we have clear direction from fdm uh an opportunity to have like an open house where we can uh discuss this with the specific uh property owners so that they can have more clarification. We can't do that really until we get an indication from FDM.

Thank you. All right.

In regards to FEMA public assistance, we are continuously moving these projects forward all the way up to obligation. Um during that time uh we know that FEMA is coming now with a new staff of people and and we I know Joe have and everybody in the town has seen emails of us trying to work with the current staff so we don't have to do the start over the passing the notes. Um so we are continuously pushing those projects as quickly as possible uh Mr. Mayor and town council so we can get them to obligation once the government shut down and everything is done. hope is we'll hope to get those funds trickling in. As you know, with it being FD them, we have to do a a a reimbursement process with them. Make sure we get that the documentation as well.

All right. Any other questions for these gentlemen? All right. Thank you guys. No problem. All right. We got a motion and a second. If there's no further discussion, I'm an I. Councelor Kang. Hi. Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. Councelor L. Hi. Councelor Mlan. Hi. Motion carries unanimously. Next is a special event for the fourth annual red grouper bash and offduty fishing series is requesting to hold on the four hold the fourth annual red grouper bash. Anyone here staff? You got anything to add to this? Any Nothing to add. Just that this will be February 27th uh to February 28th. The event at Moss Marine.

At Moss Marine. That is correct. All right. Any questions? Is there a motion to approve the special event permit for the 4th annual Red Grouper Bash? I'll make a motion to approve that. All right. Motion. Got a motion by Councelor Mlan. Second. Second by Vice Mayor Safford. Any other discussion? Councelor M. Remember to turn on your mic. I There you go. Councelor Mlan. Did I hear you say I Okay. Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. Councelor King. I, Councelor Link, I and I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously.

Next is the special event permit for the St. Patrick's Day parade. The Fort Myers Women's Club is requesting to hold a St. Patrick's Day parade contingent on approval from FMB fire and LCSO, including a request for a sterile boulevard to be shut down from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. during the parade and to wave the noise and open container ordinances. You want to come up and say anything? Yeah, come on up. I know that was a dumb question. My name is Deb Nelson. I'm with the Women's Club of uh Fort Myers Beach. One thing I wanted to state in there is that Asterero Beach Boulevard to be shut down at 8:30 and not 7:30 unless it's the fire LCSO that needs it at 7:30. But right now, if you look into the paperwork further down, it does state 8:30. That will give the people with the floats time to arrive to Santini Plaza and get set up.

Okay. Any questions for Deb? John? None. Other John? None. Councelor L? None. Scott, none. Thank you. Thanks, De. All right. Is there a motion to approve or deny special event Pat for the St. Patrick's Day for the women's club? So moved. Motion by councelor King. I'll second. Uh, any further discussion? Councelor K. Hi. I'm an I. Vice Mayor Safford. Silante. I councelor Lee. Hi. Councelor Mlan. Hi. That motion carries unanimously. Thanks, Deb.

Final public comment. Tim, come on up. You're the only one here. How are you? Tim Shadel. Uh I I'm an owner of property but don't live on the island any longer. But a suggestion and some of you might be saying to yourself, "Oh no, now what?" But you can relax. Um it's about the road the the upcoming road project. I I came before prior councils many times, wrote a lot of emails, spoke with a lot of people from the county, and I probably my comments I realize would be best addressed to the county, but maybe the the message hopefully can be conveyed or already has been conveyed, but the way the construction was done of this road initially, it it was described as an experiment from the very beginning. the engineers and I I spoke with many of them and it it was obvious to me as a lay person. I mean, I was in construction and other businesses, but I had a construction company and it's didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the way it was being constructed, it was going to compact over time. They take a round pipe, dig a square trench, lay it in. They tried to compact it, but it it couldn't be. And then on top of it, there's stone. So the stone does it compacts just over time anyway. And what's happening now was there before the hurricane. You know, there was areas that were and I complained. I've got emails and conversations. It needed addressed even before Ian in certain places. And I just hope that the engineering this time is going to be much different than the last time because if they're going to either use what's there and just try to patch it up and use the same concept, it's going to continually keep compacting and there's going to be

problems like this and this is what I warned so many times and tried to stop at the very beginning and tell them to do something different because it just wasn't a real well planned out engineering. uh feed. So, that's all I wanted to say. I just hope that it's conveyed to the the county and they change some of the engineering. I mean, even they should have put if they're going to put a round pipe, put in the square concrete or something that sits flat on the ground that everything beside it can be compacted very well. And if they plan on using what's there and just try to repair it, they should come up with a a way to build up an inner curb inside of the concrete and maybe even put big steel graded plates if they want to keep using the stone and fill that back up and the pavers on top of that. So at least they won't move again. But something should be addressed that it shouldn't be done the way it was. That's all I know. Thank you.

Thanks, Tim. No one else is here unless you two gentlemen want to say something public comment. We'll close public comment. Town manager items.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Four things. First of all, uh myself and Dr. Kohler attended the Lee County School District workshop last week where the uh results of the Castaldi report were briefed to the school board. The Castaldi report for everybody's memory was a report that the school district had to submit to uh the uh Department of Education for Florida um and with basically consultants recommendations that the school uh the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School be uh demolished and then um then for the board to decide uh on that and then what to do in the future. Uh during the meeting last week, Deputy Superintendent Savage did make it clear that that is not their recommendation as far as at current moment his or Superintendent Carlin's recommendation to the school board to it is not their recommendation to demolish the building. They just were reporting the final that the state validated the Castaldi report. Uh I took the time to make public comment there where I reiterated some of our requests in my last uh correspondence with the school district that uh the town would like to ask the school district. We are asking the school district to uh turn the property and facilities on the property over to the town of Fort Myers Beach and a sum of now $9 million uh from their disaster relief funding and and previously budgeted funds uh for this from the school district for Fort Myers Beach Elementary. Uh I also expressed to them that we still as a community uh are passionate about bringing back Fort Myers Beach Elementary School. If the school district does not wish to, then we wish that they would give us the opportunity to do that and the resources to do such. Um, just wanted to give the council an update. I have not received a response um, as of today from the school district or or the school board on that

request. Um, I hope to have more continuing discussions with the school district staff uh this week or next week to try and keep things moving along. Um, otherw next item I'd like to talk about is I'd like to thank What's Up FMB and ask the council to uh uh consent to accept a donation for a down payment on fireworks for Fourth of July. They What's Up FB has given the town a check for $25,000 so we can make that deposit to uh reserve the fireworks for the 4th of July. And just it's my understanding and and I'd love to have anybody from what's FMB come and talk to us in the future. It's my understanding that their campaign for further donations to support the other expenses is going well uh very well at this point. And uh so we're hoping uh we we know we now I am definitely planning with the staff to continue with Fourth of July fireworks uh for this year being our our nation's 250th anniversary. I think uh we want to have a significant celebration for that. Uh, shorebird nesting season started two days ago.

Before you before you move on, let's get to your consent. Consent. Yes. You have my consent, John. Wonderful. Yes, Rebecca. Absolutely. Scott. Boom. Yes, John. Thank you. What's up, FMB? And yes, I think he stole your thunder.

Great. Thank you. Uh, shorebird nesting season started a couple days ago. Just like to make that publicly known. I know a lot of people who track that are already aware. Um, but also just a reminder that uh driving on the beach uh although it it's not permissible uh during shorebird nesting season for those that do, town staff, uh Lee County Sheriff's Office, other emergency responders and so forth, uh is supposed to be maintained under six miles an hour, miles per hour during shorebird nesting season. Uh keep the um move quickly over to the wet sand and keep it keep it over there. Um, avoid in any activities on the beach, avoid the rack, laying the seaweed, uh, because the birds, you know, uh, appreciate the seaweed and what is alive within it. And I'd like to remind all visitors and residents, too, that we do have a leash ordinance. And, uh, I'd like to especially, um, emphasize that during shorebird nesting season. Thank you very much. Finally, congratulations to Shelby Armit, our uh HR generalist, who we just recently found out is now shermqu qualified, sherm certified. Very, very significant accomplishment. Uh just to Lisa and everybody, thank you so much for the continued professionalization and education of our staff and Shel's already doing a great job. I'm sure this will help the town out very much. That's all I have.

Do you want to let the people out there know what that means or what that stands for? Sherm Tisa, please help me. It's got HR in it. That's what we know. Yes, it is very interesting.

Hi, it's Lisa Oliver, HR director for the record. So, SHERM is the Society for Human Resource Management. Um, it is nationally recognized. The the exam I I'm sure I'm certified also is very difficult. Um, I don't exactly remember the number of questions, but I mean it's a 4-hour exam. So, uh, Shelby has spent a lot of time and dedication preparing for this. And she actually took it and did not tell me because she, you know, that's just her style, and I understand, but she called me on Friday and she told me, and I just so proud of her. So, thank you, Will, for um for acknowledging that. We're super excited for her. Congratulations, Shelby. Yeah. Congratulations. That's all, Mr. Mayor.

All right. Town attorney items. No items. Oh, okay. Town councelor items and reports. Councelor King.

Well, it was interesting to hear today that uh basically the recall was about Seagate, which we all know u it was um a bunch of lies. Uh legal technicality was what uh some folks talked about when uh they asked for a person's appointment and u the legal technicality was actually what was used to carry out the recall. You can't recall for a legal vote, so you find a flaw in the law that allowed you to go forward with your lies. Uh the judge found the last lie to be legally insufficient. In my mind, you went a lie too far. But I would urge Mr. V to drop his appeal uh and save the town whatever money we can. Thank you.

Okay, Mary Stafford, want to wish everybody a happy Marty GR. And who brought the king cake? That was a good touch. Right. Of course he did. That's awesome. Happy murderer and John. Welcome aboard. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Councelor Lake. No comments. Well, except welcome John. Council, I just like to reiterate I really look forward to working in a more effective manner with the staff as well as uh the current council. I'm very confident that we can do good work together. Yeah. You're welcome to drink through a fire hose, my friend.

I do not have anything uh extra to add. Councelor King. Well, you may have heard that b the bird is a word, but actually Frankie Valley tells me grease is the word. And grease is the word because it's got groove. It's got meaning. Uh grease is the time is the place is the motion. And with that motion, I'll move to ajourn. All right. Any objection? We are adjourned at 12:46.