Estero Council of Community Leaders

Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting

                           Estero Council of Community Leaders
                             Minutes of the 61st Monthly Meeting
                                Friday, February 15th, 2008
                                       1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Eslick at 12:00 p.m. at the Estero Community Park.  A quorum was present.

Forty five people were in attendance representing twenty communities and two community wide organizations.  There were nine guests. 

Guests were introduced.

Minutes

Secretary, Faie Saunders reported that minutes of prior meetings are available on the website, www.esterofl.org.  Minutes for the November, December and January meetings were approved.

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Smith reported a balance for the ECCL account of $7,377.96.  Income from dues was $800 and expenses were $190, $70 for the Florida Annual report and $120 for our webmaster, Kim Dailey.  Seventeen communities have paid their 2008 dues.  All others are asked to turn in their dues soon.  The Foundation (ECIF) has a balance of $19,180.05.  There were expenses of $96.27. Interest earned was $24. The Treasurer’s report was approved as reported. 

Expressway Authority

Chris Cella, consultant to the Expressway Authority reported that she has been meeting with homeowners associations putting out the facts about the tolling and widening of I-75.  Chris would be happy to come to any of our communities and speak on behalf of the Expressway Authority. 

Amy Davies, also a consultant from Wilbur Smith Associates gave an update on the authority’s progress.  At this time data gathering is taking place for an investment grade traffic and revenue study.  Information is being compiled with many alternatives, such as having a rail system or bus rapid transit and moving this to one side or the other, bringing costs down 40 to 50%. The lower cost is the result of not having to re-adjust the interchanges if the expansion is in the middle. This would also mean expanding the interstate lanes in the median instead of on the outside. Many options are being considered. 

Amy also reported about the national transportation finance picture and a bipartisan commission called the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission which released a report recently. One of its recommendations is to invest at least $225 billion per year just to upgrade the existing surface transportation system.  Right now only $68 billion is being spent annually.  Old ways of funding road building are not working as well as in the past, for example the impact fees the county receives from new building are down because of the housing market slowdown.  In addition some vehicles are more fuel efficient and people are driving less because of the high prices of gasoline, and thus gas taxes are not bringing in as much as they had earlier.  New ways need to be found to fund surface transportation and tolls is one likely way. 

Culverts Under I-75

Nick Batos reported about the progress that has been made on this issue through the effort of Estero citizens, the Conservancy and the Brooks Concerned Citizens. About 40 people took a bus over to West Palm Beach for a meeting of the SWFMD to object to the placing of five culverts under I-75 to divert water from the east side of the highway through Estero including a good part of the Brooks neighborhoods and ending up in Estero Bay without a prior needs study.

The group asked that the district study this project to be sure that the wetlands on the east of I-75 are protected, that the water wells serving Lee and some of Collier county are protected, that the water quality of our rivers and streams would not be negatively affected and that flooding would not occur west of I-75.  The BOCC has been in support of this study.

A compromise plan has now been approved by the SFWMD.  None of the culverts will be installed until a study is undertaken jointly by the county and the water district. This study is to be completed in 15 months or the water district may install all five culverts and operate 3 of them. The committee will be watching the progress of this study to ensure that it is completed within 15 months. Please join the Conservancy by showing your support for their efforts.  Membership is $35.

Fire District Consolidation Study

Barbara Akins reported that all three fire district Boards, Bonita Springs, Estero and San Carlos Park each voted at their board meetings to go forth and pursue an RFP for the study of the possible merger. Each fire board voted unanimously. All fire districts must adopt a budget by October 1, 2008; funding for this study will be considered in those budget talks. 

Health Care Topics

The Health Care Forum was held by Lee Memorial at the Three Oaks Center a few weeks ago.  About 85 people attended. Much detail was discussed, but not much forward thinking was presented.  By June, they feel their plans to explore a free standing emergency facility will be completed and we will know if they are supporting a Free Standing Emergency Department. 

Estero Community Improvement Foundation (ECIF)

Dan Dronkers encouraged the membership to buy $20 tickets to the March 14 Spirit of the Gulf concert at Estero High School. He had posters to display. Dillards is giving out a $500 shopping spree at this concert.  He met with Keith Butterfield of the Bonita Foundation and learned a lot about how their Foundation works. The ECIF has license plate frames for $6 each, 2 for $10.  The Copperleaf Community Foundation is considering the ECIF for a grant.

County DR/GR planning progress report

Mr. Eslick is on the Advisory Committee studying the DR/GR.  A tour of the mining area is now planned for February 27, a rain date. The next meeting will be February 20 where the consultants who will be studying the area will appear. This is a $1.4 million study that will shape the DR/GR.  The firm is Dover Kohl & Partners. Their website is www.doverkohl.com.  The Advisory Committee  meetings are held in the 1st floor conference room of the community development building at 1500 Monroe Street from 1:30-3:30. 

Mining in the DR/GR

Kevin Hill will be monitoring the Strategic Aggregate Study and Task Force; the final report web site can be found on the agenda of this meeting. 

ECCL Organizational & Membership applications

Paul Dempsey from Terra Vista is interested in representing his community which is located on the north side of Broadway just west of US 41.  It is just developing.  It was moved, seconded and approved that he represents that community.  Arnie Rosenthal sent in a suggestion the ECCL facilitate Community Board Presidents meeting to exchange experience and ideas.  Two different goals seemed to appear with this suggestion: 1) a meeting to handle turnover and common problems within the communities and 2) getting the presidents together to learn about what is happening in Estero and ECCL’s role in those changes.

Voter Registration

Estero had a good turnout for the January 29 primary.  Many that were thought to be inactive did vote and thus became active voters.  A list of registered voters will be available in your precinct in a few days.  Try to identify those residents of your community that are not registered and that may want to vote in Florida. Then provide them with the information provided on registration and absentee voting.  ECCL’s interest is in maximizing the voter participation in Estero.  You may go to www.leeelections.com/absballot.pdf if you will be out of state at the time of an election. The August 26 primary and November 4 general election are coming up.

Meeting with President Bradshaw of FGCU

At the meeting, Dr. Bradshaw said he is revitalizing a community/environmental advisory committee that has been dormant of some time.  Sam Levy is trying to find out who is on this committee.  It is not clear whether this is a civic and/or environmental committee.  A suggestion was made about including the university in our activities to see how we can interface with them.  Increased continuing education in Estero was suggested.  Much of this has been moved to Naples and not convenient to Estero residents.  Estero Community Park could be used as a facility. 

Vote Estero

Mike Maloney, President of Vote Estero, Inc. reported that an attorney has been hired to do a feasibility study. Mr. Maloney asked that the Annexation/Incorporation committee meet to read and study the feasibility study prepared by Vote Estero. The website is www.voteestero.com.  The study will be available by February 28th. A discussion came up about the 2 mile buffer with Bonita Springs and the northern residents included in the planning district. Vote Estero’s study covers just the Estero Fire District.

Estero Fire District

Susan Lindenmuth thanked those who attended the “white paper” meeting which is posted on www.esterofire.org.  Future dates she announced were Celebrate Estero on Saturday, February 16 at Miromar. Also Monday, February 18 will be the Faith and Family Expo at Germaine Arena; on March 12 an open house will be held at Station #4 east on Corkscrew Road. 

Koreshan State Park

A representative of the Koreshan State Park came to tell the audience about the Park.  The Park includes over 70 acres of preserved land with over 50 exotic botanicals; a pod of three manatees in the Estero River, a horned owl and many woodpeckers, plus many other birds, waterfowl and Estero River fishing is available. Programs are available for your organizations from Koreshan State Park. In the planning stages is a “Taste of History Gala” to be held next fall. A link to the State Park will be put on the ECCL website www.esterofl.org. 

The meeting was adjourned.  Next meeting will be on March 19th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Estero Community Park. 

Respectfully, submitted,

Faie Saunders, Secretary