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Mayor Anderson asks city manager to step down

Posted at 7:33 PM, Nov 30, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-01 10:30:00-05

FORT MYERS, Fla. — City of Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson is calling on Saeed Kazemi to step down from his role as City Manager.

Kazemi has served as the city manager for the City of Fort Myers since 2016, after serving as Public Works Director and an engineer for the city for several years.

Mayor Anderson says he asked Kazemi to step down on November 17 over concerns surrounding confidence, credibility, and communication.

If Kazemi doesn’t resign, Mayor Anderson says he will call for a resolution to remove Kazemi during the next Fort Myers City Council meeting, at which point city council members would have to vote, leading to a public hearing.

Mayor Anderson tells Fox 4 he can’t go into specifics just yet as to the exact reason why he is asking the city manager to resign but says it’s something that became clear he had to do shortly after taking office.

“This is not a decision I took lightly; it’s something I put a lot of thought into,” said Mayor Anderson, “When I ran for this office, I pledged I would work hard to keep this city moving forward, so any decisions I’m making are going to be in the best interest of the city.”

Fox 4 has reported on some of the issues putting the City of Fort Myers in a negative light, including the brown water issue in McGregor Reserve and over 300,000 taxpayer dollars paid in overtime to several public works employees.

Fox 4 reached out to Kazemi for comment. We will bring you that update once we hear back.