Stewart fine-tunes contract for Feb. 1
Former Cape Coral Manager Terry Stewart is in the final stages of becoming the next interim town manager of Fort Myers Beach. Stewart, who was chosen as the FMB Town Council’s top choice among four candidates at a special meeting at town hall Thursday evening, has been reviewing an updated draft employment agreement with his lawyer and is expected to be in official capacity at Monday’s regular council meeting.
After the Thursday meeting, Councilman and Chief Negotiator Tom Babcock invited Stewart to his home for what he called “Phase 1” of a negotiation process. The initial, basic details of the contract talks ended at 1 a.m., and the employee agreement was re-read Friday, according to officials. The salary range is expected to be $130,000 to $160,000 a year.
Apparently, all is left in the negotiation process is working the kinks out of the contract, and smoothing out the more intimate details.
“My lawyer is looking at the contract this weekend,” said Stewart on Saturday evening. “We’re working out the fine details.”
Babcock said nothing is official until the council reconvenes on Feb. 1.
“We’re working out the details of the financial arrangements which I spent time Monday with (Director of Finance) Evelyn Wicks to confirm,” he said. “We have tentative numbers in the contract, but until they are reviewed and agreed to by everybody, we need to keep that under wraps.”
Babcock hopes that the contract will be finalized by Friday, Jan. 29, for council preparation reasons.
“I feel like we are making good progress,” he said. “I’m very pleased to get to know Terry over the past few days. He’s an excellent candidate.”
Babcock further stated that Stewart has received two other offers since this negotiation process began.
“It tells you a lot about the quality of our candidate,” he said. “He’s definitely a top quality candidate, not just in our opinion but in others as well.”
Mayor Larry Kiker is looking forward to the future.
“My expectations are that we will begin our meeting with Jack Green as our manager, and we’ll end the meeting with Terry Stewart as our manager,” said Kiker. “He’s obviously bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge. I think the town is going to benefit greatly.”
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FMB Town Council candidates for March elections
Now that qualifying week for Fort Myers Beach Town Council is over, the two expiring seats (Seat #1 held by Herb Acken and Seat #2 held by Larry Kiker) are expected to be filled by the following Beach resident candidates: Alan Mandel; Larry Kiker; and Joe Kosinksi.
Mandel, who is a member of the town’s Local Planning Agency, gave noticed about his candidacy two months ago, while Kiker, the council’s current mayor, made his decision public two weeks ago. Kosinksi, who applied for the interim town manager position but was not among the current council members short list, doesn’t have any town government experience but believes he is qualified for one of the council seats. He has lived on the Beach since 2003, and started J.C. Kosinski Engineering in 2000.
“I have no political experience or set political agendas,” said Kosinski. “I have become well known and accepted by many of the local residents. People who know me approve of my decision to run. I do have a lot of support. My friends know me as a good honest leader who cares and listens to their opinions. I found that most people just want to be heard, and they want someone to take the time to hear what they have to say.”