Round one to remove Fort Myers Beach town council members John King and Karen Woodson from their seats has ended. Enough signatures were gathered and verified during that first round to move the process onto the next step.
Step one in the recall process is to gather 10% of the registered voters on a recall petition. With about 3,300 voters on the island, the committee needed 337 signatures. This week the Lee County Supervisor of Elections verified 422 signatures to recall town councilman John King (85 more than needed) and 427 signatures for Councilwoman Karen Woodson (90 more than needed). 35 signatures from King’s packet of petitions were rejected. 39 signatures from the total collected for Woodson were rejected.
Both King and Woodson now have a few days to submit their resignation or a statement of defense of 200 words or less. If they resign the remaining Town Council members would appoint someone to fill those seats. Both King and Woodson plan to fight the recall and by law, according to Town Attorney Nancy Stuparich, town taxpayers must reimburse them “reasonable” legal fees…