Fort Myers Beach Town Council selects Shamp
The Fort Myers Beach Town Council found something on which it could agree.
From six applicants, the council unanimously appointed Joanne Shamp, long-time Local Planning Agency board member, to fill the interim position left open by Vice Mayor Summer Stockton.
“I am honored and humbled by my appointment,” Shamp said. “I appreciate the confidence (the council) showed in me today, that they felt I would be able to step in and conduct the business of the town until the next election.”
Shamp has already filed to run for the March election to remain a fixture on the board.
“I am going to try to work cooperatively with my fellow councilpersons to follow the charter and implement the policies the residents want, and always follow the comprehensive plan to keep the town healthy and vibrant with the small-town character,” she said.
Aside from the solid backing of the other council members, Shamp had no shortage of community support: multiple local residents spoke up in support of her appointment during public comment at the Dec. 5 meeting.
“Come March, the public can vote in who they want for council. To appoint a member to council, you must consider something very valuable: the experience of the person and how they are acquainted with the current issues and the history of these issues,” said Joe Stockton. “Joanne Shamp can hit the ground running.”
And Shamp did have to hit the ground running as a series of agenda items muddled through the town’s storm water mitigation projects and its interlocal agreement with Lee County.
Public Works Director Scott Baker delivered a presentation to the council that was collectively worked on by both the town and county staff teams who are working on the Estero Boulevard and town storm water management system.
The town and the county have been working together to negotiate an interlocal agreement between the two governments that more specifically spells out the responsibilities of each body into the storm water system. Lee County is building the center lane storm water drainage system underground on Estero Boulevard. However, for the system to function properly, the pipe in Estero Boulevard must have “outfalls” to drain the water from the street out to the bay.
Part of that drainage also includes water treatment to help remove the harmful chemicals that accompany stormwater runoff: fertilizers, organic materials, oil, and other substances that are harmful to marine life and water quality, Baker said.
“Think about all the water that hits the roads, the system we’re installing is trying to take care of that,” Baker said. “We need to be extremely good stewards.”
The segment lead up to the proposed interlocal agreement, which included two amendments. Ultimately the interlocal agreement was approved 3 to 2 with Council Member Tracey Gore and Mayor Dennis Boback dissenting, but the vote did not come without lengthy discussion.
Baker listed several areas in which the town had successfully negotiated with the county: originally the piping proposed for the outfalls was larger, but the town negotiated down to 30-inch pipes; the county would pay for five outfalls without town contribution; and the county would allow deactived asbestos pipes to remain underground on Estero Boulevard so long as there was no conflict with the new utilities.
Boback, Gore and Shamp took issue, however, with the amount that the county would pay into the outfalls and the town’s responsibility to maintain them after completion.
Twenty outfalls are proposed in conjunction with Estero Boulevard, with more likely on the way. Five will be fully paid for by the town, but the remainder would be paid for by a cost share in which the county would pay about 20 percent of the cost to upgrade existing pipes up to 30 inches. In the agreement, the county agreed to pay up to $400,000 for outfall improvements, but did not specify how many that amount would cover.
The average cost for an outfall improvement, Baker said, was $20,000; it could be more or less depending on how far the pipeline had to stretch.
Baker also said that cost was fluid, because as the county and town worked together street by street, some areas would be identified which wouldn’t need pipeline systems, the most expensive mitigation tactic. Some streets will not need a full pipeline system for stormwater, as some streets will be more suited for more economical drainage swales.
“You put me right into the fire,” Shamp said. She called the pipe system the “Cadillac” version of what the town needed, and the town was upsizing at the request of the county.
“They’re paying only 20 percent, I’m not sure that’s fair to the people who live here,” she said.
The county isn’t paying solely 20 percent – the entire Estero Boulevard project, for which the county is paying for the center drainage system, sewer force main updates, and road improvements, is costing the county and the entirety of its taxpayers upwards of $60 million; specifically $16 million of that figure accounts to the county’s funding for stormwater. The 20 percent figure is specific to the outfalls, which must be built on the town’s right of way in the residential streets.
Baker said without the outfalls, and the approval of the interlocal agreement, the county could halt the project all together and walk away.
Gore and Boback both said the cost to the town’s residents was too much. Shamp, however, ultimately broke the tie after a strong endorsement of the interlocal agreement by interim town manager Jim Steele.
Steele typically defers to council to make decisions, usually preferring only a mild recommendation when the board asks his opinion. However, he said he was “in complete support” of the agreement he brought to council, especially because he had committed to the council, upon its request this summer, that he would not seek additional funding for storm water projects until the interlocal agreement was in place.
“This is a crucial step, and I request your support,” he said.
His request swayed Shamp, who said she would go with his recommendation “despite my misgivings.”
“It’s very different sitting in that seat than sitting in the LPA seat where you’re making recommendations to the town council,” she said after the meeting. “I suddenly transitioned from recommending into actually making decisions on spending money, and that’s an entirely different level of responsibility.”
Council Member Anita Cereceda and Vice Mayor Rexann Hosafros also voted in favor of the interlocal agreement with Shamp.
“This is a project for the next generation. We push it forward for the future of the community,” Cereceda said.