Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency member James Boan has applied for the seat on the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council that was vacated by former Councilmember Jim Atterholt. Photo provided
Town of Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency (LPA) member James Boan has put in an application for the vacant Town of Fort Myers Beach Council seat. The seat was vacated by former Councilmember Jim Atterholt before the new year.
Boan is the third candidate, joining fellow LPA member John McLean and Protect FMB leader Tom Brady. Another LPA member, James Dunlap, expressed to the council interest in the seat earlier this month but has not yet filed an application.
Boan was among the majority of the LPA who voted against the controversial Seagate Development Group condo tower project. McLean and Dunlap were the lone two votes on the LPA in favor of recommending approval of the Seagate plans.
The subsequent approval of the Seagate project by the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council spurred the formation of Protect FMB and a movement that led to a recall election of Town of Fort Myers Beach councilmembers John King and Karen Woodson. The recall of Woodson was successful. The recall of King drew enough votes to remove him from office however a Lee County judge determined that one of the three allegations against him were legally vague and thus invalidated the recall petitions against him. That matter is in appeal.
Boan, 74, is a retired attorney originally from Illinois. He moved to Fort Myers Beach in 2020. He has previously served as chair of the Kendall County Board, which represents a suburb of Chicago.
He also served as village administrator and village attorney in Bolingbrook, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.
In his application, Boan pledged to donate his salary to a local nonprofit. Boan is currently a volunteer member of the LPA, where he draws no salary.
“I think I can add something to the town in their rebuilding efforts,” Boan said by phone on Tuesday. Boan said he hopes he can be a resource for the staff on “municipal business, disaster recovery and finances.”
Boan has been involved in government between Illinois and Fort Myers Beach for about 50 years. He said he vacationed on Fort Myers Beach for many years before moving here to escape the cold.
“We all want to see the community rebuild. There are lot of factors that go into it,” he said.
In a Town of Fort Myers Beach Council meeting last week, Town Attorney Nancy Stuparich advised King that he would have a conflict of interest if he were to vote in favor of appointing Brady.
Stuparich referred to a statement made by former Town of Fort Myers Beach Councilmember Bill Veach earlier this month that he would drop his appeal of a Lee County Circuit Court judge’s decision that invalidated recall petitions of King if the council voted to appoint Brady. Veach cited the complicated nature of his appeal, since if he were to win his appeal, Brady would be the next councilmember since he was the second-highest votegetter in the November recall election.
Stuparich found that King would have a monetary benefit through the dropping of the appeal because if Veach were to win his appeal, King could be found liable for the attorney fees of Veach. The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted last year to approve paying all reasonable attorney fees for King and Woodson to defend themselves against the recall. King also said there was a monetary value to dropping the appeal, since he draws a salary from his council seat.
Brady criticized the decision by Stuparich this past week.
Brady said he has reached out to attorneys to get advice on the opinion of Stuparich. “How can they say that they can vote for somebody else but not one person? It is just bizarre. I am not an expert on the law but I have asked experts to weigh in,” Brady said. “It just seems strange.”
Brady believes that the opinion of Stuparich could “materially impact me” in terms of whether he gets appointed. He said the opinion could impact other councilmembers in their votes.
Brady has said he had nothing to do with the statement by Veach and did not expect it.
Taking the opinion of the town attorney to its logical conclusion, Brady said potentially all of the councilmembers could have a conflict as the dropping of the appeal could benefit the entire town, and “nobody can vote for me.”
Brady said he didn’t think King would appoint him regardless of any conflict of interest.
“I hope they have time to sit on this and think about it a little and say ‘maybe that’s not quite right.’”
Brady said he would run for a seat on the council either way in November, when three seats will be up for election. King’s seat, the seat of Rebecca Link (the top recipient of votes in the November recall election), and the seat that was vacated by Atterholt will all be up for four-year terms.
The deadline to apply for the vacant town council seat is Feb. 2.