Talk about taking a whiz on your legacy …
Cape Coral City Council meetings in the wake of the August primary have been … interesting.
For those with no skin in the game, they also may even have been entertaining.
For the rest of us, not so much with the last session a textbook example of preemptive decision-making gone awry.
In a deal no doubt formulated in one of now former city manager Michael Ilczyszyn’s one-on-ones with some members of council, Mr. Ilczyszyn was “terminated without cause” at the council meeting held the day before the Nov. 3 municipal election.
The “termination” allowed Mr. Ilczyszyn to walk away from the city’s top administrative post with severance pay — contractually obligated at approximately $112,000, plus payment for accrued, unused annual leave.
It also freed him of facing three post-election alternatives: Resign sans severance rather than face a new council that could include members who made him a campaign talking point; deal with that new council through what might be a bumpy onboarding process; or face possible termination with cause and so no severance.
The surprise motion was made by Mayor John Gunter during council reports at the tail end of a long meeting well after public input, something we also will address.
Mayor Gunter apparently thought residents had already had their say on Mr. Ilczyszyn’s tenure — or at least the say the outgoing mayor was willing to grant the public, which now will pay for the council decision.
“Through the election process, I think residents have spoken and that is why I made the motion,” the mayor told Councilmember Rachel Kaduk after she asked why he brought the termination forward.
Councilmember Keith Long was a tad more blunt with his inquiry.
“What the hell? What are we doing here? At the very least, this is something the next council can take up,” he said. “I can’t believe this is where we are at with no discussion.”
Hoping to stop the vote, Councilmember Kaduk left, as did Long, and Jennifer Nelson-Lastra — the lone incumbent left on the ballot after Mayor Gunter failed to clear the primary.
Councilmember Laurie Lehmann, who said the new council should make the decision, was a “nay” in the 4-1 decision to approve.
Mayor Gunter and councilmembers Bill Steinke, who did not run for re-election, as well as Derrick Donnell and Joe Kilraine, who will work with the new council, voted to approve.
Councilmember Kaduk subsequently challenged the vote’s legality, asking for a legal opinion as the removal of a city manger has a statutory process that must be — and wasn’t — followed.
The city attorney told her to go to the State Attorney’s Office with any complaint.
Now for public comment at what was to be the current council’s last meeting before the swearing in of the four newly elected members on Nov. 18.
The session was an out-of-control debacle on both sides of the dais that included the select ouster of two residents among a crowd of clappers eschewing Mayor Gunter’s order to refrain.
The mayor ordered police to remove them — first “the woman in the blue sweater” sitting toward the back, then Kyle L’Hommedieu, standing near the podium with an iPad videoing the public speakers for social media posting. He joined in the clapping when two residents urged more applause in support of the woman whose removal was ordered.
Mr. L’Hommedieu was taken out in handcuffs and then arrested after he said he wasn’t leaving otherwise.
Why is this … interesting?
The woman in the blue sweater is the secretary of a non-profit political advocacy organization, the “Take Out the Trash Committee.” Mr. L’Hommedieu is its chair — and one of the more vocal critics of Cape Coral City Council in general and Mayor Gunter specifically.
Mr. L’Hommedieu also was the subject of an AI-generated image posted on the mayor’s personal Facebook page and a text blasted over the pre-election weekend.
Mr. L’Hommedieu is portrayed in both at a council meeting, dressed in a midrift, belly-revealing, mini-skirted cheerleader costume with the words “F me in the taxes” and a trashcan emblazoned across the chest.
Mr. L’Hommedieu said he found the meme amusing.
His removal and arrest for disturbing the peace not so much.
He is planning to sue the city.
Meanwhile, council apparently now has one more meeting to go.
A special meeting has been called for 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 18 — right before our newly elected council members are sworn in at 4 p.m. Its purpose is to approve the challenged ranking of the bidders for the city’s solid waste contract.
We’d say we can’t wait but count us among those who are exhausted — seriously exhausted — by what has become an episodic embarrassment by a lame-duck led elected board.
It’s not exactly legacy making.
It’s more like taking a whiz over the very real accomplishments this council, and the city’s administration under Mr. Ilczyszyn attained on our behalf: Leadership and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Ian; multiple economic development initiatives; roadway, parks and other infrastructure improvements; continued development of unmatched public safety departments and more.
We thank those who worked to make these things possible.
We urge our incoming and returning council members to bring professionalism back to the dais.
It’s sorely needed and there is much work ahead.
Breeze editorial