Two Fort Myers Beach Council members are facing calls from some to remove them from office following claims that they broke Florida's Sunshine Law.
One of those leaders said this is all a sham for his support in developing land into new high rises.
The petitioner said that’s a symptom of the problem.
“They were coming to these meetings already with their minds made up,” said former mayor Ray Murphy. “That's not how the process works.”
Murphy said council members King and Woodson met with developers behind closed doors.
“The decisions are made in the open, in the sunshine, as we say in Florida,” Murphy said.
He and former council member Bill Veach created petitions to recall those two councilmembers over alleged Sunshine Law Violations and accepting gifts.
“That never happened,” said Councilman John King. “They know that.”
He said neither petitioner has filed complaints with the Ethics Committee.
King said the whole dispute is over one main thing.
“They don't even have a pretense of trying to hide behind the alleged violations,” King said. “It's all about the Seagate vote that happened earlier this year. They're not happy about it.”
Seagate will be high-rise condos and other units going across the street from the beach.
Woodson agreed, writing in a statement, “It is about one project vote, Seagate, and is being fueled by a small group relying on distortion, division, and negativity.”
Murphy said both petitions have gotten more than enough signatures to move forward with the next steps in the recall process.
The council members have 200 words or fewer to rebut the petition. The petitioners need 15% of registered voters to sign on again.
DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more.