Lee County GOP will vote to condemn Cape Coral City Council's controversial stipends

A Lee County GOP chairman hopes Cape Coral City Council members will listen to the party after doubling their own wages in a breach of "public trust" and reverse their $340,000 decision.

The committee will vote on a resolution that would “condemn profiteering by the Cape Coral City Council," with Michael Thompson, the chairman of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee, backing it and expecting it to pass.

"Mayor (John) Gunter is gonna have a hard time getting reelected and you can quote me on that; and so is every other single member of the city council over there if they don't take recourse on their actions and take it back and allow the proper protocol to play out," he said.

Council's actions in the resolution are described as compared to President Joe Biden and Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, "abusing their positions of public trust to obtain financial gain for themselves and their families."

The resolution would also withhold funding, resources, or support for the re-election of council members who voted in favor of stipends.

"That no literature from the Republican Party of Lee County advertising Republican candidates shall include the names of Mayor John Gunter or Councilmembers Dan Sheppard, Tom Hayden, or Keith Long, during the election years of 2024 and 2026," the resolution states.

The Republican Party of Lee County currently has 268 members and contributed nothing to Cape Coral candidates in 2022 as the committee supported only school board members that year. The resolution passage cannot stop individual members from contributing to the listed candidates' elections.

Sheppard, Hayden, and Robert Welsh are up for reelection in November. Gunter and Long are up for reelection in 2026.

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Background of stipends and resolution

The council approved monthly stipends for each member, doubling their annual salaries, on Dec. 14 despite heavy residential backlash, echoed in the GOP resolution.

It was a voting item listed on the consent agenda and approved without discussion in a 5-1 vote. Welsh voted no.

Welsh, who is up for reelection in 2024, was not listed among those affected by the resolution.

Part of the justification for the stipends was the added responsibilities the members dissolved the Community Redevelopment Agency and assumed the duties, while Hayden justified the motion because of growing expenses.

According to the resolution, the council placed the work upon itself after disbanding the previously volunteer board.

The stipends amounted to $3,333 per month for each council member and $5,000 for the mayor. The previous CRA commissioners received no compensation.

Council members are paid a base yearly salary of $37,368.96, and a year of stipends amounts to $39,996 for each council member and $60,000 for the mayor. The total annual cost would be $339,972.

The chairman explains the issues

The original resolution was introduced by communications committee chairperson Sean Hartman, a Cape Coral resident, and will be voted on at the next meeting on Jan. 16.

Thompson said he takes issue with how the council passed its stipends and believes the resolution could pass with 100% support.

"In this Biden economy, I totally get it, everybody's looking for more money," Thompson said. "But when you basically sidestep the process that's currently in place in order for you to get a raise, that seems a little unethical, and un-American and definitely un-Republican."

He, like many others before, said the council should have introduced a referendum that would go before the voters or discussed the amount with the residents.

"I would be hard-pressed to find 10 to 20% of the people in Cape Coral, or in the county, or in common sense in general, that actually support their actions," Thompson said. "So when you've got 80 to 90% of the people out here telling you, 'Hey, you're doing it wrong,' you might want to listen."

The chairman described the councilmembers who voted to pass the stipend as in jeopardy of losing their seats and said most of them don't belong to the Republican Party, despite being registered now.

"We are going to primary them; we're going to endorse their opponent; and we're going to fund their opponent as well," Thompson said.

However, he said the actions and resolution could be avoided if the council reversed its vote on the stipend.

"If they back off and say, 'Okay look, we're not going to do this. Let's have public input. Let's involve the community. Let's have this discussion,' Okay. We'll back off you guys," Thompson said. "Go figure it out."

Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. You can reach Luis at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Lee County GOP to condemn Cape Coral City Council over stipend