UPDATE SEPT. 12:
The Lee County Supervisor of Elections provided Fox 4 with more details about the recall election.
Despite the town voting against a qualifying date, the Supervisor of Elections office set it from Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. to noon on Sept. 22. According to the office, candidates qualifying by petition have until noon on Sept. 16 to submit it to the main office.
"Per the Supervisor's duties under the interlocal agreement with the Town of Fort Myers Beach, the Supervisor has designated a qualifying period to give candidates a chance to qualify for any potential vacancies," the office said to Fox 4 in an email. "Since the judge already set the election date, the election office is required by state law to conduct the election within 30 and 60 days."
If you are interested in qualifying, click here.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Fort Myers Beach Town Council voted Thursday against setting a qualifying date for a recall election, despite being ordered by the Lee County Supervisor of Elections to schedule the vote for November 4th.
Watch as Fort Myers Beach Community Correspondent, Anvar Ruziev, continues the recall coverage:
Four out of five council members voted against establishing the qualifying date, creating uncertainty about whether the recall election will proceed as planned. The recall targets two councilmembers after petition organizers collected and verified enough signatures to trigger the process.
"I'm not putting my name on this until a judge mandates me to do this," Scott Safford said.
The Fort Myers Beach councilmember joined three others in opposing the emergency oridinance, with only the mayor voting to continue the recall process. Vice Mayor Atterholt said the legislation was drafted poorly.
Both councilmembers John King and Karen Woodson had conflict of interest forms drafted for them, which they declined to sign during the meeting.
"I don't have a conflict of interest in voting, I have quite the contrary, I have a vested interested in voting no and I will stand by that," Woodson said during the meeting.
Recall supporters disagreed with the councilmembers' decision to vote on their own recall process. Joe McEneany, who signed both recall petitions, believes the targeted councilmembers should not have been allowed to vote.
"Yes 100% there was a conflict of interest," McEneany said when asked about the situation.
McEneany has expressed frustration with the council's votes on large developments and called Thursday's decision "more malfeasance."
"They know what they have to do, but they refuse to do it. It's gonna happen anyway," McEaneany said.
The Lee County Supervisor of Elections office confirmed they are in contact with the town but said no additional information is available at this time.
The town has stated that potential candidates must have resided on Fort Myers Beach for at least one year and should contact the Supervisor of Elections office for potential candidacy.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
