Cape Coral’s budget review committee in shambles after 6 members resign

Conflict is growing in Cape Coral. Six city budget review committee members resigned this week after the council voted to remove the committee chairman, Tom Shadrach.

Patty Cummings is the councilwoman spearheading that effort. Cummings is accused of violating the city policy while running for office.

Shadrach told WINK News he felt like his removal was personal rather than a reflection of his work.

Embattled councilwoman Cummings said Shadrach couldn’t do the work.

“The inaccuracy and not by the whole budget board but by one specific person,” said Cummings.

Other council members agreed, saying Shadrach was ‘inaccurate’ in his numbers a little too often. The budget committee disagreed. Shadrach has a masters degree in finance and 37 years of experience. That’s what had earned him the chairman’s post.

“They voted me to lead them. What does that tell you? Seven people all unanimously say I’m the leader of this group. And they all have strong financial background,” said Shadrach.

And they are loyal to Shadrach. The day after the Cape City council fired Shadrach, the six other members of the board quit.

Cummings and Shadrach have a history.

The city has asked the state attorney to investigate whether Cummings was actually a resident of the district she now represents when she ran for council. When that controversy came to light, Shadrach called for Cummings to be removed. He now believes his dismissal is in retaliation for how outspoken he’s been.

“It’s uninformed. It’s just making it an emotional issue. The only thing is that I have with only make sense is retaliation about how I opposed her being on the council because she didn’t reside in her district,” said Shadrach.

Cummings is not the only member of the Cape Coral government with whom Shadrach has a history. He ran for mayor against John Gunter, the current mayor.

Those two, plus councilmen Sheppard and Long voted to remove Shadrach from the budget review committee.