All-day ‘meet and greet’ town meeting packs a strong message
The Fort Myers Beach all-day Town Hall meeting Thursday, March 19, at Fish Tale Marina in Santini Plaza offered those who attended a question-and-answer session under a large tent with many high-ranking town and county officials and a chance to meet and greet many non-profit organizations in their respective booths.
Beginning with introductory remarks by Fish Tale owner Al Durrett and finishing with questions directed at the Fort Myers Beach Town Council, the interactive public witnessed a strong community message presented by all speakers.
“In my opinion, the city of Fort Myers Beach was formed to take care of its community members,” said Durrett. “I think the police and fire departments on this beach are exemplary. It absolutely pleases me to have all these people here at the Fish Tale Marina talking to the people of the town.”
Town manager Scott Janke was next on stage.
“This is truly more of a meet and greet,” he said. “You get to meet all of these organizations and non-profits that do charity work here.”
Janke informed the audience that throughout the day hurricane re-entry passes would by offered by the town in its communications trailer. The passes will also be available in Santini Plaza on the last Wednesday of each month. He also delivered good news about the town budget.
“Yesterday, in just about an hour, we were able to close the budget gap that we have because of the reduced revenues for this year,” he said. “No one got laid off, no one had a wage cut so the people in this town are still here to take care of you and things are looking up.”
Lee County Sheriff captain Matt Powell and Fort Myers Beach Fire chief Mike Becker explained their office’s functions and began fielding questions along with Janke.
Cabasca’s owner Joerg Wiebe expressed his concerns over the restrictive noise ordinance set by the town while other concerned citizens asked those town officials about issues such as lack of beautification near the entrance to the skybridge, traffic problems, future plans for Estero Boulevard, loud motorcycle traffic and “garbage” signs on the island’s main road.
Mayor Larry Kiker took a minute to applaud the work done by the captain, chief and town manager.
“These three guys deliver their services that we use everyday,” said Kiker. “This is where your taxpayer dollars go.”
Next up were talks from five non-profit organizations – Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), FMB Plot Club, FMB Civic Association, Estero Island Garden Club and FMB Art Association – followed by three of the Beach Fire Commissioners who discussed their district’s function and welcomed the addition of a third firehouse to the beach.
Vice chairman Ted Rechwerdt discussed the sensitive issue involving the suspension of chairman John Scanlon. Positive remarks were directed toward the fire district by its chief and by many community members including Lion Bill Van Duzer.
“The board members really play a very important role to the operation,” said Becker. “They oversee and approve our fiscal responsibilities and give us direction. They consistently look out for the public’s best interests.”
“I know at least two people in this building that wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Fort Myers Beach Fire Department and the excellent job they do,” said Van Duzer. “One of them happens to be your chief. He overcame a serious accident and injuries because he was taken care of by the responsible people we have in our fire district.
“I’m another one. When I was 37 years old and playing shortstop on a ball team, I became pale and hit the ground. Within two minutes, a medical team was there, put me in an ambulance and took me to the hospital. I had a massive coronary heart attack. If it wasn’t for their care, I wouldn’t be here.”
A volunteer from the Lee County Animal Services explained the shelter’s adoption and fostering programs before the FMB Town Council took center stage.
Questions were directed toward the council but most answers were in the jurisdiction of the town manager.
Janke responded to inquiries regarding hurricane preparation and rules of the hurricane pass. Councilman Tom Babcock announced positive news regarding the aircraft problems that have touched many concerned citizens. A series of meetings have been planned with the local Port Authority and regional director of the FAA.
“(Recently) the town council approved a resolution that stated these issues and requested that some changes be made,” said Babcock. “One change is to allow a new approach route that would allow flights coming over the south end where there is no population and would not interfere and cause problems to our neighbors across the bay in Estero or Bonita as well. The other is to keep the aircraft above 3,000 feet which has become a lot worse since the redesign (of flight patterns).”
Councilman Bob Raymond applauded the council’s management and planning meetings before reiterating the good news on the budget deficit.
“The M&P meetings and the workshops give us an opportunity to talk about a lot of different things,” he said. “(The meetings) also allows us to cut down on the time of our council meetings because we can hash out things before we go to the regular meeting.
“Getting back to the budget, we were facing a $700,000 shortfall before we all sat down with the town manager and (Vice chair) Alan Mandel from the Local Planning Agency. We went from the top of the budget all the way down, and we cut out almost the whole $700,000 shortfall without jobs being lost. We really cut out a lot of things.”
Raymond finished by praising Kiker on his efforts to bring the community together.
“I really think we have to thank our beloved mayor here who worked his butt off to put this thing together,” he said. “No matter how small or large the turnout was, the thing that it shows us is this council, this mayor and this town staff all are wide open and willing to listen to anybody at anytime.”