Business Notes (6/24/15)
Reed elected president
The Lehigh Acres American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 323, at a recent meeting elected Kathleen “Kathy” Reed as president for the upcoming year.
Reed is a life member of Unit 323 and has held many offices and chairmanships, including president and past District 13 president.
Also elected to serve were:
– Evelyn Kanchok, first vice president
– Marilyn Murr-Sherlock, second vice president
– Linda Hall, secretary
– Ellen Woodbury, treasurer
– Anne Cantafio, chaplain
– Patricia Grayshaw, historian
– Sandy Simmons, sgt.-at-arms
– Joanna Arnett, asst. sgt.-at-arms
– Nicole Jaster, asst. sgt.-at-arms
– Teresa Morgan, executive board
– Beverly Talbot, executive board
– Betty Thomas, executive board
– Tina Hanson, past president
– Jacqueline Moody, parliamentarian
Those interested in becoming a member of Unit 323 can contact the Post at (239) 369-3178.
Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
LCEC reduces rates
LCEC is reducing its electric rates for the third time in less than two years, resulting in residential electric rates that are among the lowest of all 56 utilities in Florida and the overall lowest for electric cooperatives in Florida.
The LCEC Board of Trustees recently unanimously approved the decrease last week.
Beginning in July, residential customers will see rates decrease by 2.1 percent, bringing the cost of a typical 1,000 kilowatt-hour residential bill to $108.45. This is 11.6 percent lower than the average electric rate of all Florida electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and investor-owned utilities.
This is the second rate decrease this year for LCEC customers, who have not seen an increase in more than seven years. This most recent rate decrease is the result of power cost savings that are being passed along to customers.
Customer support is also an important factor in managing costs. Customers are doing their part when utilizing green payment methods, paying on time and waiting to run appliances and equipment during off-peak periods.
Doggett serves legal portal committee
As a member of the National Center for State Courts Portal Requirements Advisory Committee, Lee Clerk of Court Linda Doggett is helping to develop a first-of-its-kind website that would combine legal aid, courts and self-help systems in a single online resource.
Doggett and other advisory committee members hope to extend civil justice to a broader range of people by establishing a website where people who cannot afford an attorney for civil matters can find one or get the legal information they need without hiring counsel.
The portal will use evidence-based decision trees to guide people through decisions about how best to resolve their legal problems, what kind of assistance to seek and what the typical outcomes for various case strategies are.
People would go to the website for legal needs ranging from a restraining order in a domestic case to a landlord-tenant dispute.
For serious cases, the client would be put in contact with a lawyer willing to work pro bono or through legal aid agencies.
In cases where an attorney is deemed unnecessary, people will be directed to other self-help resources, such as group legal training, instructional videos or the Clerk’s Office.
The committee hopes to have a pilot project in place by the end of the year.
Airport reports May traffic
During May, 602,891 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport, an increase of 2 percent compared to May 2014. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 4.8 percent from the same period last year.
The traffic leader in May was Delta with 156,411 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (143,100), US Airways (64,543), JetBlue (62,863) and United (49,951).
Southwest Florida International Airport had 6,113 aircraft movements – takeoffs and landings – an increase of 5.2 percent compared to May 2014. Page Field saw 8,446 movements, an 18.3 percent increase from May 2014.
In addition, 2.7 million pounds of air freight moved through Southwest Florida International Airport in May 2015, a decrease of 3 percent compared to May 2014.
Southwest Florida International Airport served more than 7.9 million passengers in 2014 and is one of the top 50 U.S. airports for passenger traffic.
No ad valorem (property) taxes are used for airport operation or construction.
For more information, visit: www.flylcpa.com or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ flyRSW.
Animal Services offers discounts during June
Lee County Domestic Animal Services is spotlighting June as Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month.
Shelters often are inundated between June and October, when most kittens are born.
During June, Animal Services will discount the regular adoption fee of $75 for kittens to $30. The adoption fee for cats 6 months or older is $50 but will be $15, the cost of the pet license.
Cats and kittens are also two-for-one adoption fee.
Adoption fees for some dogs will also be reduced.
Fees include spay/neuter surgery, age-appropriate vaccinations, rabies vaccination and county license for cats 3 months or older, a 10-day pet health guarantee, microchip ID, access to the behavior helpline, feline leukemia and feline AIDS test, flea treatment and de-worming.
The package is valued at $500.
Animal Services encourages residents to proactively help solve the cat overpopulation problem by spaying and neutering their pets and not allowing them to roam free.
Caretakers of feral cat colonies can take advantage of the county’s Trap-Neuter-Return program. Cats that live in neighborhood colonies can be trapped, sterilized and returned to their community through the free program.
For information on the program, visit: www.LeeLostPets.com or call (239) 533-9234.
For adopting, fostering or rescuing, visit: www.LeeLostPets.com.
Business Notes (6/24/15)
Reed elected president
The Lehigh Acres American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 323, at a recent meeting elected Kathleen “Kathy” Reed as president for the upcoming year.
Reed is a life member of Unit 323 and has held many offices and chairmanships, including president and past District 13 president.
Also elected to serve were:
– Evelyn Kanchok, first vice president
– Marilyn Murr-Sherlock, second vice president
– Linda Hall, secretary
– Ellen Woodbury, treasurer
– Anne Cantafio, chaplain
– Patricia Grayshaw, historian
– Sandy Simmons, sgt.-at-arms
– Joanna Arnett, asst. sgt.-at-arms
– Nicole Jaster, asst. sgt.-at-arms
– Teresa Morgan, executive board
– Beverly Talbot, executive board
– Betty Thomas, executive board
– Tina Hanson, past president
– Jacqueline Moody, parliamentarian
Those interested in becoming a member of Unit 323 can contact the Post at (239) 369-3178.
Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
LCEC reduces rates
LCEC is reducing its electric rates for the third time in less than two years, resulting in residential electric rates that are among the lowest of all 56 utilities in Florida and the overall lowest for electric cooperatives in Florida.
The LCEC Board of Trustees recently unanimously approved the decrease last week.
Beginning in July, residential customers will see rates decrease by 2.1 percent, bringing the cost of a typical 1,000 kilowatt-hour residential bill to $108.45. This is 11.6 percent lower than the average electric rate of all Florida electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and investor-owned utilities.
This is the second rate decrease this year for LCEC customers, who have not seen an increase in more than seven years. This most recent rate decrease is the result of power cost savings that are being passed along to customers.
Customer support is also an important factor in managing costs. Customers are doing their part when utilizing green payment methods, paying on time and waiting to run appliances and equipment during off-peak periods.
Doggett serves legal portal committee
As a member of the National Center for State Courts Portal Requirements Advisory Committee, Lee Clerk of Court Linda Doggett is helping to develop a first-of-its-kind website that would combine legal aid, courts and self-help systems in a single online resource.
Doggett and other advisory committee members hope to extend civil justice to a broader range of people by establishing a website where people who cannot afford an attorney for civil matters can find one or get the legal information they need without hiring counsel.
The portal will use evidence-based decision trees to guide people through decisions about how best to resolve their legal problems, what kind of assistance to seek and what the typical outcomes for various case strategies are.
People would go to the website for legal needs ranging from a restraining order in a domestic case to a landlord-tenant dispute.
For serious cases, the client would be put in contact with a lawyer willing to work pro bono or through legal aid agencies.
In cases where an attorney is deemed unnecessary, people will be directed to other self-help resources, such as group legal training, instructional videos or the Clerk’s Office.
The committee hopes to have a pilot project in place by the end of the year.
Airport reports May traffic
During May, 602,891 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport, an increase of 2 percent compared to May 2014. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 4.8 percent from the same period last year.
The traffic leader in May was Delta with 156,411 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (143,100), US Airways (64,543), JetBlue (62,863) and United (49,951).
Southwest Florida International Airport had 6,113 aircraft movements – takeoffs and landings – an increase of 5.2 percent compared to May 2014. Page Field saw 8,446 movements, an 18.3 percent increase from May 2014.
In addition, 2.7 million pounds of air freight moved through Southwest Florida International Airport in May 2015, a decrease of 3 percent compared to May 2014.
Southwest Florida International Airport served more than 7.9 million passengers in 2014 and is one of the top 50 U.S. airports for passenger traffic.
No ad valorem (property) taxes are used for airport operation or construction.
For more information, visit: www.flylcpa.com or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ flyRSW.
Animal Services offers discounts during June
Lee County Domestic Animal Services is spotlighting June as Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month.
Shelters often are inundated between June and October, when most kittens are born.
During June, Animal Services will discount the regular adoption fee of $75 for kittens to $30. The adoption fee for cats 6 months or older is $50 but will be $15, the cost of the pet license.
Cats and kittens are also two-for-one adoption fee.
Adoption fees for some dogs will also be reduced.
Fees include spay/neuter surgery, age-appropriate vaccinations, rabies vaccination and county license for cats 3 months or older, a 10-day pet health guarantee, microchip ID, access to the behavior helpline, feline leukemia and feline AIDS test, flea treatment and de-worming.
The package is valued at $500.
Animal Services encourages residents to proactively help solve the cat overpopulation problem by spaying and neutering their pets and not allowing them to roam free.
Caretakers of feral cat colonies can take advantage of the county’s Trap-Neuter-Return program. Cats that live in neighborhood colonies can be trapped, sterilized and returned to their community through the free program.
For information on the program, visit: www.LeeLostPets.com or call (239) 533-9234.
For adopting, fostering or rescuing, visit: www.LeeLostPets.com.
Business
Wilson Pigott Bridge to temporarily close in mid-April for deck replacement
LANCO to perform at Backyard Social on Sunday
