Bill Ribble elected Mayor and Katy Errington elected Vice-Mayor as four Councilmembers start new four-year terms on March 20, 2019

The meeting started with the Honorable Elisabeth Adams, 20th Judicial Circuit Judge, administering the oath of office to Jon McLain, District 3, Katy Errington, District 4, James Boesch, District 5, and James Wilson, District 7.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

These Councilmembers were sworn in to serve four year terms.  Elections are staggered so that elections occur every two years.

Council then voted to elect District 1 Councilmember Bill Ribble as the new Mayor and District 4 Katy Errington as Vice-Mayor for a two-year term each.

Proclamation

As his last official duty as Mayor, Jim Boesch presented a Proclamation to Trish Sargent with the American Heart Association proclaiming Saturday, March 2, 2019, as “the Village of Estero Heart and Wellness Day”, urging all citizens to show their support for the fight against heart disease.

Action Items

Planning & Zoning and Design Review Board items

Council voted to reappoint Marlene Naratil and James Tatooles to the Planning & Zoning Board for three-year terms ending on March 31, 2022.  They appointed Scotty Wood to continue to serve as chairman of this board.

Council voted to reappoint Barry Jones to the Design Review Board for a two-year term ending on March 31, 2021.  They appointed William Glass to serve as the state-registered architect for purposes of determining a quorum.  They appointed Barry Jones to serve as chairman of this board.

Council authorized staff to advertise for the vacant positions on the Design Review Board.

First Reading of Ordinance No. 2019-22

Council moved to pass the first reading of this ordinance which further amends Ordinance No. 15-01 regarding appeals by Council or the Village Manager regarding decisions of the Design Review Board and the Planning & Zoning Board.  It also clarifies that staff reports will be prepared to assist the Design Review Board with the review of development orders.  Land Use Attorney Nancy Stroud will work on additional verbiage stating Council can vote to take jurisdiction of a Board decision and review that decision within a 30-day timeframe. (Ordinance)

Workshop

Estero Branding

Public Works Director David Willems presented an update of the preliminary results from the branding survey and focus group sessions.  There were 7 in-person sessions with a cross section of the community.  91 percent of the responders to the survey were residents of gated communities.  Some of the common positive responses were Estero is good location, close to shopping and entertainment, and a safe community.  Some of the negative responses pertained to traffic and growth.  (Presentation)

Code Enforcement mitigation

The Village has a high rate of compliance with code violations; however, Council had asked that staff and the Village Attorney to review how other cities handle Code Enforcement mitigation.

Following a brief discussion, direction was given to the Village Manager Steve Sarkozy to work with staff to strategize ways to move forward in the strongest way possible to have total compliance with the community’s high standards.

Additional details will be available in the minutes of this meeting.  Residents may also view the archived meeting by going to the Village website http://estero-fl.gov/council/watch-meetings-online/.

The next Council meeting will be conducted at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 3, 2019.