Rood announces run for Town of Fort Myers Beach Council seat in recall election
Edward Rood, who spent years in litigation with the Town of Fort Myers Beach to construct a boardwalk in the town’s environmentally critical zone over a lagoon that flows through the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area, has filed paperwork with the Lee County Supervisor of Elections to run in the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council recall election as one of three candidates now seeking two seats on the council.
Fort Myers Beach councilmembers John King and Karen Woodson are facing a recall election for their seats on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The ballot will also include a vote for new councilmembers to succeed King and Woodson, provided voters act to approve the recall.
After years of unsuccessful attempts to force the town to issue a special exception permit to allow the boardwalk through court actions as well as a lawsuit challenging state ownership of the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area, Rood and neighbor Kurt Kroemer were granted a permit to construct the 298-feet lagoon walkover in 2023 by the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council. Voting to grant the permit were King and Woodson, who were elected to the town council the previous November.
Rood was also controversially appointed to the Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force (MERTF) last year by the current town council, taking the place of longtime MERTF member Rose Larkin. Larkin had unsuccessfully sought to be reappointed to the advisory committee.
The previous town council had rejected Rood’s application for appointment to MERTF a year earlier. That year, he had organized a group of property owners near his home to send letters to Florida Audubon blocking them from accessing their properties to monitor shorebird nesting. The actions were in response to Florida Audubon challenging the council’s approval of the special exception permit for Kroemer and Rood. Kroemer and Rood eventually reached a settlement with Florida Audubon and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to allow access to their properties during shorebird nesting season.
Rood also sued the town in a federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit to claim that the lagoon walkover was needed due to a handicap he had in walking. The town had challenged Rood’s handicap, countering that he did not use a wheelchair. Rood’s ADA lawsuit was tossed by a U.S. District Court judge in 2022.
The recall election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 4, with the qualifying period deadline for candidates to enter the race ending on Monday, Sept. 22.
Protect FMB leader Tom Brady and school technology consultant Rebecca Link are the two other candidates in the recall election. Voters will decide whether to recall King and Woodson in the Nov. 4 election and will choose their successors on the same ballot pending the success of the recall question.
Rood said he was running as a pro-development candidate.
“I made the decision to run when I realized that there was not another prospective candidate on the pro development side of the current controversy,” Rood said in an email.
“I am not in favor of the recall movement, but if it is successful there needs to be a pro-development candidate so that both sides are represented equally,” Rood said. “I believe it’s best if future development is approached in a reasonable manner with common sense. Each project needs to be looked at individually and common sense applied in the decision-making process. I am in agreement that there are areas that have different needs, and thus need to be developed accordingly. We need to be responsible, but the entire island is not one-size-fits-all. I believe we need to be reasonable,” he said.
There will be no early voting in the recall election. All voting will take place Tuesday, Nov. 4 at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus on Fort Myers Beach.
The deadline to be registered to vote in the election is Monday, Oct. 6.
The deadline to request an absentee or vote-by-mail ballot is Thursday, Oct. 23. Vote-by-mail ballots must be returned before 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
If the recall election is successful, the candidates who succeed King and Woodson will have to run again in November of next year to retain their seat as the four-year terms of King and Woodson run through November, 2026.
The full details and information for filing for the election and voting in the recall election can be found on the website of the Lee County Supervisor of Elections at:
https://www.lee.vote/Candidates/Town-of-Fort-Myers-Beach-Special-Recall-Election.