John Turner, Assistant Lee County Attorney, today as scheduled, provided the Lee Commissioners a briefing on the Ceitus mediation and litigation. Neither the public nor any experts on the subject were allowed to speak, and only the commissioners were allowed to respond.

He said what started off as a boat lift or sheet flow issue has, per his consultant Kevin Erwin, become a broader issue and they need to develop a strategy for the entire area, which he described as 15 to 16 miles of shoreline. He said as regards pre-trial mediation, which is scheduled for 6 March, they have three options: (1) go to mediation and present our data, or (2) delay mediation and gather more data, or (3) end mediation. He asked for BOCC guidance.

Commissioner Tammy Hall said the Natural Resources Director (Roland Ottolini) should be in charge of this issue and not the County’s Attorney's Office. [Note: Ottolini lives only a block or two behind the Barrier and in fact was one of the Cape Coral people that arranged for the Barrier to be removed—he was excluded from the mediation/litigation because he has a direct conflict of interest.] Hall said the $1.5 million set aside for the barrier reconstruction should be used for more worthwhile environmental projects. She said the “citizens committee spent two years coming up with a list of projects that would be better than rebuilding the Barrier.” [Note: That statement is incorrect. Cape Coral presented that group a list of city projects that they preferred the money (including County money) be spent on; but the group, which is known as the Environmental Management Agreement, voted 14 to 4 to reject that list based on a finding that restoration of the Barrier would provide greater environmental benefits. The EMA vote was and still is legally binding.] Hall noted that the consultants have spent $300,000 of the $500,000 set aside for the litigation and have accomplished nothing—she claimed that eventual costs of the litigation could be $1.5 million. Hall also claimed the BOCC had not approved Commissioner Manning as the BOCC representative to the pre-trial mediation. She said the matter should be turned over to Ottolini, who should start doing other projects.

Commissioner John Manning said we should go to mediation, which is a precondition to litigation, and then revisit the issue.

Commissioner Frank Mann said he was frustrated. He noted they had previously voted unanimously to continue the fight, but there was no progress—“only talking and no listening.” He said he “accepted at face value the word of the Cape representatives” that (1) “tidal increase changes science” and (2) that “no evidence of damage has been presented—where are the dead mullet, where are the dead sea grasses?” [Note: We have presented dozens of photographs of dead marine life including tunicates, sponges, oysters, and sea grasses as well as sea grass beds and oyster beds smothered in siltation, plus dozens of photographs of horrendous algae blooms. We even presented to the EMA sample bodies of the dead marine life (not including mullet and other fish, which in adult form are generally unaffected by the excess fresh water). Second note: Sea level rise has been about 4 inches since the North Spreader was built, but it takes 16 inches of spreader canal rise provided by the Ceitus Barrier to regain historical flows into the wetlands—that’s real science and it does not change.] Mann said we should give the Cape one last chance to agree, and that we should ask the DEP for their view.

Commissioner Larry Kiker demanded to know who is in charge of this issue, and said having “lawyers running business” is bad. He insisted that “Ottolini be involved.” He also said he prefers that Ceitus funds be reallocated.

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass said he personally wanted to know why the Ceitus permit was denied by DEP. He also said the big issue is water quality.

Turner said a formal motion was unnecessary and that he had the guidance he needed. He said they would proceed with the 6 March mediation proceeding and that Ottolini would be involved. He also said they would check with DEP and the Corps of Engineers.

My personal comment: The loss of environmental expert Ray Judah and his leadership from the Board of County Commissioners has changed the BOCC from a dependable protector of the environment (with consistent 5 to 0 votes on Ceitus and many other environmental matters) to what you see in the above discussion.

Phil Buchanan
email: coolcherokee@comcast.net