Ranger Rob Howell, a naturalist with the Pink Shell Beach Resort, tends to a manatee who washed up near the Pink Shell Beach Resort, and helped it breathe until FWC personnel responded. The manatee was transported to ZooTampa for evaluation. The manatee was declared to be deceased during the transport. Howell was re-appointed to the Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force on Monday, after a second runoff vote. File photo

It’s official.

Two weeks after a miscount in the voting by the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council to make appointments to the Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force (MERTF), the town’s legal counsel has officially acknowledged there was a tie in the voting during a runoff.

MERTF member Rob Howell was initially declared the winner of the runoff for the final seat though records of the written ballots requested by the Fort Myers Beach Observer showed the runoff was a tie between Howell and Tom Torgerson. The council will discuss the matter Thursday at a management and planning session and a new vote is expected Nov. 18, town counsel Nancy Stuparich said.

“There does appear to be a mathematical mistake made as far as the count of the votes and so what we would like to do is address the process so that there is a better check and balance on that as well as better transparency,” Stuparich said.

Stuparich said a discussion on Thursday at the town’s management and planning session will include changes to the town’s procedures regarding voting to its advisory committees.

Tom Torgerson. File photo

Stuparich made the disclosures to the town council on Monday, following an inquiry from Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Aterholt. The Fort Myers Beach Observer had discovered the error in the tabulations a week earlier through a Sunshine Law request after the vote tabulations were announced by Fort Myers Beach Clerk Amy Baker but without attribution to how each councilmember voted. The Sunshine Law requires that the votes of each councilmember be announced after a written ballot – that identifies how each councilmember voted.

Records of the ballots showed that Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers and Atterholt voted in the runoff for Torgerson, while councilmembers Scott Safford and Karen Woodson voted for Howell. Councilmember John King voted for Maureen Kocisko,

The runoff was caused after the first round of voting, in which councilmembers chose to appoint Ed Rood (five votes), Sharon Hegstrom (five votes), Leo Sand (four votes) and to re-appoint Jennifer Rusk (three votes).

Howell, Torgerson and David Patton received two votes. Kocisko and James Onoda received one vote. In the runoff, all five who received votes were made eligible for the final seat (MERTF member Rose Larkin did not receive any votes for re-appointment).

Allers and King voted not to return any of the MERTF members back to the committee.

The Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force recognized Macy Noll in September for her work illustrating the town's children's coloring book titled "Flippers and Feathers: Our Beach Friends Forever.” From left to right is MERTF board members Rose Larkin, Chair Steve Johnson, Rob Howell, Noll, Vice Chair Jennifer Rusk and town councilmember and MERTF liaison John King. Johnson has withdrawn his application for re-appointment and Larkin was not re-appointed.

If Torgerson were to be elected in the runoff, Rusk would be the only MERTF member up for re-appointment to be returned to the advisory committee. Chairman Steve Johnson withdrew his application for re-appointment after objecting to King’s distribution of an email from a MERTF member with a social media outlet that had called for the disbandment of the committee – and which was not intended for publication. King serves as the council’s liaison to the committee. Johnson also objected to what he called the town council’s politicization of the committee – which has been targeted by the social media outlet which is favored by some councilmembers.

Over the summer, Vice Chair Mary Rose Spalletta resigned from the committee over similar concerns about outside influence being directed against the committee.

Last year, the council voted to replace MERTF members Dr. Gregory Fossum and Wendy DeGaetano with seasonal residents Bill Althoff and David Nusbaum.

The upheaval on the committee by the town council follows votes by MERTF to oppose the town council’s decision to approve a special exception permit for the 298-feet boardwalk constructed by Rood in an environmentally critical zone and to call for withholding the special permit until the resolution of a lawsuit by Florida Audubon challenging the council’s decision. That lawsuit was eventually settled. The council also voted to oppose the town’s lighting plan at Bayside Veterans Park – which they contended violated the town’s own lighting ordinance.

Town officials had not commented on whether there was an actual miscount of the MERTF ballots until Monday’s meeting, two weeks after the initial vote.

At the town council meeting last week in which appointments were made to the Local Planning Agency, all of the written ballots of each councilmember were read aloud by the town clerk with the votes listed for each councilmember – a change in the counting of the town’s advisory committee appointment ballots that led to greater transparency.