San Carlos and the ‘Commissioner item’

Last week, there were no actual items relating to Boca Grande on the agenda of the Lee County Commission. But there was one item that was indirectly related, by inference and omission. Commissioner David Mulicka brought up a “Commissioner’s Item” relating to the purchase of a property for a boat ramp on San Carlos Island, submitted the Friday before the meeting.

Many readers do not know San Carlos Island, but it is the small island before you get to Fort Myers Beach, after Estero. San Carlos is also where most of the Gulf Coast shrimp boats have docked. If you have taken the Key West Express fast ferry, you have also been there.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has supported the effort of the San Carlos Maritime Park, with a $7.5 million state gift to support the historic shrimp dock, destroyed during hurricanes. The issue is complicated, as are all matters of waterfront property and working waterfronts, but public access to the water is essential to the economic vitality and tourism identity of Lee County and Florida.

The last-minute nature of the item was appropriate, as the competing offer could impede the project.

The San Carlos area became the center of a booming shrimping industry after pink shrimp were found near the Keys in 1949. The shrimp boom, nicknamed the “Pink Gold Rush,” supported about 300 vessels. Boca Grande is directly connected to this effort, as our maritime and fishery lives were once all one economic and animal ecosystem. 

The present issue was a single parcel of land identified as the site for a public boat ramp for which a competing real estate offer had been made. While the San Carlos Maritime Park project was known, the item was a surprise.

Commissioner Brian Hamman said that there have been “a lot of meetings here lately where we’ve all kind of brought up really good commissioner items on the fly” and said that he understood the importance of this one.

“There always needs to be room to make decisions when there is a sense of urgency,” said Hamman. But then he said that, “I always love to have the ability to do my homework on an item before we vote on it.”

He continued: “And I wonder if maybe working with our county manager we can come up with a better process for walk-on items on the agenda. Even if a commissioner wants to walk an actual voting item on an agenda, could we work somehow give the staff the ability to work with that commissioner to put some background together so that all of us can feel fully prepared?”

He continued with a discussion of Sunshine Laws, which will affect a future Parking Committee in Boca Grande. The laws do not allow commissioners to talk before a meeting; instead, they must have conversations with county staff individually, outside of any scrutiny, and the information is then relayed back, like the childhood game of telephone.

“It’s my first time hearing this idea just completely cold because of Sunshine, and we love the Sunshine Law and we respect it and all the reasons why it’s there,” said Hamman. “I think people would be really surprised to find out we don’t get to talk behind the scenes about stuff like this … Maybe we can talk about some way to create like a commissioner walk-on process where we could work with the staff to create more briefing material for things like this when they come up.”

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass also mentioned the issue, saying, “I think what you’re getting to is in the past we’ve had some issues come up, you know, just without naming certain items, but just on the fly things come up without having that administrative code being followed.”

Pendergrass then referenced Monday evening items.

“We get notices even 4 o’clock, the day before, it’s already in there. It looks bad … I’ve said here before I walked out of meetings, and people [even] email me during the meeting going ‘hey where did this come from? You guys didn’t announce this!’”

Referring to a prior meeting, which included the discussion about Boca Grande parking, he referred to unnecessary drama. “I even said something about reduce all the drama in the future. So, we have that. And understand sometimes, in the past, people are afraid if they bring it up. They’re not going to get their support, or staff’s going to work against them or something … Just let us know.”

Leading up to the parking vote, meetings where Boca Grande parking was introduced were frequently at the last minute, and came as walk-on items. Tuesday, it was refreshing to see this item brought out to the open, especially because there was the purchase of real estate. It was real. And it was also encouraging to see the county’s commitment to boat ramps and water access by the public and commercial fishing entities.

Perhaps that openness might be a precedent template for a small Lee County colony, stuck out in the midst of Charlotte Harbor.

The editorial was updated to say that the item was submitted the Friday before the Tuesday meeting.

Garland Pollard is editor of the Boca Beacon. Email your letters to editor@bocabeacon.com.