The Lee County Delegation of state legislators will have a full agenda of proposed bills Thursday to discuss that could dramatically alter the balance of power in county government by introducing a new elected county mayor, an expansion of the Board of County Commissioners and reshaping the taxing districts of the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District and Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District through mergers.

All of the proposed state bills would require referendums.

The delegation of eight state legislators whose districts cover Lee County are scheduled to meet at 7 a.m. at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers, in the Nursing Building, Room AA-177. A vote by the legislators at the delegation would be the first step in moving the legislation up to state legislative committees.

The Lee County Board of County Commissioners scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in Commission Chambers at the Old Courthouse, 2120 Main St., Fort Myers. The commissioners are expected to discuss the proposed county mayor bill and a bill which would create two new at-large seats on the county board beginning in 2026.

The Lee County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-1 last month to oppose a new elected mayor.

State Rep. Mike Giallombardo (R-79), whose district includes Cape Coral and Matlacha, has introduced the legislation to create an elected county mayor. State Rep. Adam Botana (R-80), whose district covers Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs, Estero and Sanibel, has proposed the legislation to expand the Board of County Commissioners. Botana’s bill would also expand the county commission to a sixth single-member district for a total of eight seats once Lee County’s population surpasses 1 million residents. The chair of the board would be required to be elected by all residents.

Currently, county voters elect five commissioners through their districts to the commission and the commissioners appoint a county manager who answers to the board. Lee County Manager Dave Harner succeeded longtime County Manager Roger Desjarlais in August. A new elected county mayor would change the county government into a system where the county mayor would have more power over decisions while drawing power away from the county commissioners and county managers.

Under Giallombardo’s bill, the county mayor would gain the executive powers and responsibilities, away from the commissioners. Among the new powers of the county mayor would be the ability to fire staff in the executive branch at will and limit employee contracts. The bill also makes the office of the hearing examiner to review zoning cases in unincorporated Lee County, a part of the legislative branch of county government.

The county mayor would also have the ability to veto legislation by the commissioners.

A referendum could be held as early as Nov. 5, 2024. If voters approve the establishment of the county mayor position, the first special election for a county mayor would take place in November 2026 with a two-year term. The county mayor would appoint the county manager and county attorney with a three-fifths vote by the county commissioners.

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass (R-District 2), whose district covers Fort Myers, led opposition to the proposal after being approached about it by one of the county’s state legislators.

Commissioner Brian Hamman (R-District 4), whose district includes Cape Coral and Fort Myers, has made statements supportive of the concept and was the lone vote against issuing a letter of opposition to the proposed bill.

On Monday, Hamman said, “I have always supported the voters and their right to determine the structure of their government. Should the question appear on the ballot, I will support whatever the voters decide.”

Commissioners were sharply divided during a debate last month on the subject.

Pendergrass said, “It’s really important to protect Lee County that we bring this up now so it’s not brought up without us knowing about it in the future.”

At the October meeting, Hamman said, “I think we are actually searching for a problem here that doesn’t need to be solved right now. I don’t understand why we would put this on the radar of the delegation if it’s not something that they are already looking at you know. The other question that I would ask is what would be the actual consequence or reaction to passing this resolution? I don’t know that by passing this resolution the delegation would just say ‘Oh, they didn’t like it so we are not going to do it.’ Typically, resolutions and letters haven’t swayed or been persuasive to delegations in the past.”

Hamman said the County Commissioners needed to go into the legislative session unified to work together with the state delegation to bring back Hurricane Ian funds to the community and “not get distracted.”

Hamman said the issue should be up to the voters. “The voters of Lee County voted in a charter for their Board of County Commissioners and they voted in a charter with the current setup that it has but should they ever want to change it, it will be the voters of Lee County who want to change that as well,” he said.

The county could change its executive form of government through a charter review commission, by a petition of voters or by a vote of the Commissioners, Hamman said.

“I would certainly hope that if the delegation wanted to bring this forward, they would give the Commissioners or the charter review commission or even the citizens a chance to use the current process to amend the charter without doing it through legislation,” Hamman said.

Commissioner Mike Greenwell (R-District 5), who was recently elevated to chairman of the board in the Commission’s annual rotation process, said it was important for the Commissioners to get its message out.

“I don’t believe in adding another layer to government,” Greenwell said. “We elect five Commissioners across the county.”

Greenwell said a new elected county mayor would make it “more difficult” to get things done and would take power away from the Commissioners.

Pendergrass noted that the County Commissioners each selected three representatives to the county charter review commission which has been meeting and did not act to change the county’s form of government.

“I’m not sure why this one issue about our form of government would be an issue for the (state) delegation,” Pendergrass said. “I know one person wants to see that changed but I’m not going to set policy based on one person’s personal objectives.”

Rep. Giallombardo did not return a message seeking comment.

Lee County Commissioner Ray Sandelli (R-District 3), whose district includes Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs and Estero, said the county’s “system works.”

Sandelli said, “It goes back to if it’s not broken what are you trying to fix? The second thing is we are seeing division at almost every level from the federal level to the state level down to the local level.”

Sandelli said, “I think it’s important that we do state a position going forward.”

Hamman said, “90% of the time the system works really well but I would also say that my personal experience and now having been able to serve people on the County Commission for 10 years, is that there are times when the system really breaks down. There are times when an appointed person who doesn’t seem to have their finger fully on the pulse of the residents would make decisions more from a bureaucratic mindset than a mindset of reaction to the voters. I think evidence of that is how Gov. DeSantis had to step (after Hurricane Ian) in to build the Matlacha Bridge.”

Pendergrass said the Matlacha Bridge issue was more about funding and jurisdiction of the waterways.

Hamman said there were initiatives he wanted to push that didn’t go far because of disagreements with a county manager.

“I am always open minded,” Hamman said. “To just take a blanket statement without ever exploring anything, to me I think that is short-sighted. You can always have a workshop on something, understand it, and then say no to it.”

Botana’s legislation would also limit the Commissioners to three terms on the board.

The fire district and mosquito control district mergers had been previously discussed at the last state delegation meeting in October though the fire control district merger bill proposed by Rep. Botana that was to join Fort Myers Beach with Bonita Springs, now also includes the Iona-McGregor Fire & Rescue Control District. The original proposal was opposed by the Fort Myers Beach Board of Fire Commissioners, Fort Myers Beach Council and the firefighter unions representing Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Springs.

Botana had originally proposed that the bills didn’t require a referendum even though state law requires local referendums to involuntarily merge special districts. Botana’s new bill would require a referendum. State law also requires study of the effects of the merger, which has not yet occurred.