Town counsel pushes back against councilmember’s attempt to remove LPA chair
Attorney says constitutional rights to free speech and association must be protected
The fight over Fort Myers Beach Councilmember Karen Woodson’s attempt to remove Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency Chair Anita Cereceda over her donation to Protect FMB had seemed over after a previous town council meeting, but at the last town council meeting Woodson continued to make her case that town councilmembers had the right to remove any advisory committee member, at any time, for any reason, including Cereceda. Town counsel Nancy Stuparich continued to push back against the assertion made by Woodson.
Woodson cited letters from attorneys she said supported her interpretation of the council’s powers. “Why are there differences of opinions here? If I read what our ordinance says, that council has the right to remove anyone for any reason period,” Woodson said.
Stuparich, town counsel for the town’s law firm, said while the town code may give the town council the right to remove advisory committee members – it can’t be for reasons that infringe on their constitutional rights.
“When you take that and apply it to an individual and you are arguably curtailing their constitutional rights than that is a different analysis and that is where I think it becomes problematic,” Stuparich said.
“I don’t think it is a constitutional right if you just don’t believe in someone anymore,” Woodson said.
Stuparich noted that councilmembers had already made Cereceda’s donation the issue.
“But the reason that has been said publicly numerous times that the concern is the freedom of speech as far as views on a particular project and the association with a particular entity,” Stuparich said. “You would have to make a finding that participating and associating with a particular group is malfeasance, or donating is malfeasance. The concern is you are curtailing constitutional rights.”
Stuparich said Woodson’s attempts to remove Cereceda would “raise some potential legal concerns. You put yourselves at risk. Would there be a lawsuit? I have no idea. It’s my job just to advise you that there is a legal risk should you proceed in that fashion.”
Woodson asked if the town council could instead outline the duties of the Local Planning Agency (LPA) and audit committee members and “put parameters around those things in the future.”
Stuparich said “you are basically asking individuals who want to serve on these committees to give up some of their constitutional rights in exchange for service on this committee. If I want to be appointed to one of your committees, I can no longer associate with certain groups that I have served with for years, I can’t do certain things. Your qualifications for serving on these committees, shouldn’t go down that particular path.”
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said “For what it’s worth, I would certainly never support something that would ask someone to give up a constitutional right.”
Woodson said she believed there was an “ethical question.”
Allers said “you can ask 10 lawyers for an opinion on something and you are going to get 10 different opinions.”
Allers said he believes Stuparich “has given us the answers we need or don’t need. I don’t think this needs to go forward any further.”
Woodson said “I was just asking questions because I wasn’t understanding.”
In this case, that constitutional right revolved around a donation Cereceda made to Protect FMB, a group which filed a lawsuit over the town council’s decision to approve the Seagate Development Group’s 17-story condo project.
Cereceda had voted to deny the project at an LPA hearing before the town council ultimately approved the measure. Woodson voted in favor of the project.
Cereceda, the town’s first mayor after the town voted to incorporate in 1995, and who served multiple terms as mayor – most recently in 2020, said emphatically at the last meeting of the town’s Local Planning Agency that she would not resign her seat.
Woodson had attended that meeting to criticize Cereceda’s actions in donating to Protect FMB.
The LPA only acts as an advisory for most major land development decisions, with the town council needing to approve major development plans and any deviations from town code. Seagate Development Group was given a deviation from the town code that limits the height of new buildings to three stories for that side of Estero Blvd. The town has historically found it difficult to fill all of its advisory committee positions and regularly has openings for seats on its volunteer boards.
Woodson had originally been joined by Councilmember Scott Safford in questioning Cereceda’s ability to lead the LPA. Safford had questioned if applicants to the LPA could “get a fair shake” in light of the donation. Safford said he was concerned in particular with the Arches Bayfront hotel proposal at Moss Marina that was in front of the LPA, which was ultimately approved by the LPA. Safford did not comment on Woodson’s recent statements during the last town council meeting. The council will be reviewing the Arches Bayfront hotel project on Monday.
Woodson, who spent her career working in corporate human resources, has joined town councilmembers in twice voting to vanquish members of the town’s Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force (MERTF) from their seats after they had sought to reapply for their seats when their terms were up. Since being elected to the town council in 2022, Woodson has voted to replace three members of MERTF, replacing one seat with the appointment last year of Eddie Rood to the board. Rood, who donated to Woodson’s campaign, appeared in front of the town council at the last council meeting to state his support for Woodson’s efforts to have Cereceda removed. Woodson made her comments toward the end of the meeting and cited Rood’s comments in her questioning of the town counsel. Rood noted that he himself had sued the town multiple times over his quest to build a boardwalk behind his property over a lagoon that is part of the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area. Cereceda had voted against allowing a special exception permit for Rood’s boardwalk when she was mayor.