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

In a re-vote for the appointments to the Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force, MERTF member Rob Howell was re-appointed by the town council after a second runoff Monday morning.

The re-vote was necessitated due to a miscount over appointments to MERTF last month when Howell was re-appointed after a runoff vote for the final. After a Sunshine Law request by the Fort Myers Beach Observer for copies of the written ballots, it turned out that Howell had actually been in a tie with Margaritaville Beach Resort developer Tom Torgerson for the final seat.

The led to a re-vote Monday morning.

Torgerson withdrew his application for the MERTF seat before Monday’s meeting.

The council re-voted on all five seats with Mayor Dan Allers and Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt continuing to vote against Howell’s appointment – instead choosing David Patton, while Howell was re-appointed by councilmembers John King, Scott Safford and Karen Woodson following a second ballot (the fourth ballot since last month).

Safford and Woodson had voted for Howell in the initial vote while King voted again for Maureen Kocisko for the final seat.

In the second runoff vote, King switched to Howell.

Howell, a naturalist at the Pink Shell Beach Resort and Marina, took part in an attempted rescue of a manatee earlier this year and has been credited with rescuing sick and injured birds on the beach.

Howell joins Vice Chair Jennifer Rusk in returning to the board with new members Sharon Hegstrom, Ed Rood and Leo Sand. MERTF member Rose Larkin did not receive a vote and was not re-appointed.

The town has since changed its procedures to have the ballots of each councilmember read aloud after written ballot votes on appointments to its advisory boards to comply with the Sunshine Law.

The votes followed the resignation of MERTF Chair Steve Johnson last month after he withdrew his application over his objections of what he described as the town council’s politicization of the committee. Former vice chair Mary Rose Spalletta resigned over the summer over similar concerns about outside special interests.

The advisory committee was at odds with the town council last year when the board voted to call on the town council not to approve a building permit for a controversial 298-feet boardwalk in the town’s environmentally critical zone until the outcome of a lawsuit filed by Florida Audubon challenging the town’s approval of a special exception permit for the boardwalk. Ed Rood, one of two property owners who applied for the permit to build the walkover over state lagoons, later applied for a seat on MERTF but was not appointed in a split vote by the town council last year. The council then changed its mind in October, unanimously appointing Rood.

Rood had challenged the denial of the special exception permit from previous town councils through various legal challenges which were unsuccessful until a new town council was elected in 2022.

Rose Larkin, a master gardener who has volunteered with the Estero Island Garden Club on many planting projects throughout the town and who has been an advocate for native plantings, had spoken out against the town staff’s handling of a garden planted by the Estero Island Garden Club at Times Square earlier this year. Larkin had contended that actions taken by town staff, including Jeff Hauge, had damaged the plants and led to the loss of many of the plants at the garden. Hauge defended the town’s actions at a MERTF meeting this summer but did not respond to requests for comment from the Fort Myers Beach Observer regarding the actions of town staff with the garden.