Rep. Mike Giallombardo (at left) speaks with Lee County Board of County Commissioners Chair Mike Greenwell after Thursday's Lee County delegation meeting. NATHAN MAYBERG

In one of the most sharply-divided discussions among Lee County commissioners in recent years, the board rejected an attempt from state legislators to overhaul the shape of the county government.

A proposed bill from State Rep. Mike Giallombardo (R-79) to create a new elected county mayor position, and a bill from State Rep. Adam Botana (R-80) to re-arrange the Lee County Board of County Commissioners from a five-member board to one with five single-member districts and two at-large districts, were both rejected in a 3-2 vote by the county commissioners during a special meeting Wednesday.

Voting to support a letter of opposition to the bills were commissioners Mike Greenwell, Cecil Pendergrass and Ray Sandelli. Commissioners Brian Hamman and Kevin Ruane voted against the county commissioners sending letters of opposition.

The sweeping bills by Botana and Giallombardo would be a massive upheaval of the county’s political system, one year after Hurricane Ian. The new county mayor position would be a new executive office which would be installed with much more power than the current manager while no longer being held accountable by the Board of County Commissioners. Botana’s bill would also require an eighth commissioner seat to be added to the board once the county’s population surpasses 1 million.

The new political framework would essentially create two opposing governments within one – a county mayor with more power than the Board of County Commissioners, each with their own attorneys. The county mayor would also have the power to hire and fire executive office employees at will and to limit the contracts of county employees without any oversight from the County Commission.

The county commissioners authorized a letter to be sent to the county’s delegation of state legislators who were scheduled to meet today at 7 a.m. at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers.

Pendergrass, who has led opposition among the commissioners to the bills, said Wednesday at a meeting of the county commissioners that the legislation would “change the structure of government.”

Pendergrass said the legislation would cost county taxpayers an estimated $3 million by increasing the size of government and leading to more elections.

Greenwell (R-District 5), the Lee County Board of County Commissioners chair, summed up his view of the state law succinctly: “I promised myself when I decided to run to be a county commissioner that I would never, ever vote for bigger government. There is no way I could ever vote for bigger government.”

Hamman spoke Wednesday in support of the state legislation by speaking against mask mandates and COVID vaccinations.

“I am concerned about those 1920’s era progressive policies that still rule the structure of our government today,” Hamman said.

Hamman said he thinks voters will support an elected mayor.

Ruane said, “We do have a problem.”

Ruane recently visited state legislators in Tallahassee and said “they have made up their mind.” He said the county should be focusing on obtaining funding from the state for Hurricane Ian recovery.

“We seem to be at some type of conflict with the delegation,” Ruane said. “I believe their minds are made up.”

Ruane said he didn’t have an opinion on the strong mayor, and wasn’t advocating for it, but said the county should work with the state delegation of county legislators so the county can focus on hurricane recovery.

Ruane said state legislators want tighter internal controls on county government.

“Maybe I’m skeptical of poking the bear,” he said.

Pendergrass asked Ruane if “funding issues are being withheld from us, from the taxpayers of Lee County, because there are some concerns?”

Ruane said state legislators lowered a funding request from the county from $15 million to $8 million.

“I want to make sure we get maximum funding,” Ruane said. Ruane said he doesn’t know if the vote by commissioners will change the vote by legislators.

Pendergrass said he hopes that a letter of opposition from the commissioners will lead to state legislators dropping the legislation.

Hamman replied, “How did that work last time?”

Hamman had previously voted against sending a letter at the October meeting of the county commissioners.

“Last time you sent a letter, they filed the bill,” Hamman said. “So this time you are going to send another letter, what are they going to do?”

Pendergrass, replied, “That is their choice.”

Former Lee County Commissioner John Albion, speaking to the commissioners on Wednesday during public comment, said state lawmakers representing other areas of the state should not be involved in setting the county’s form of government.

“This is a dangerous slope,” Albion said. “I am not sure why this is coming up now.”

Albion said the county’s state delegation should “keep their nose out of it.”

County residents can petition for a ballot question on changing the form of government, he said.

The Lee County Charter Review Commission voted 11-2 to reject an elected county manager form of government this year.

At least one state representative from Lee County said she heard the opinions of the county commissioners and said she was listening. State Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka said she opposed both of the initiatives.

“I personally am opposed to those,” she said. Persons-Mulicka said the issue should be decided locally and “not in the chambers of the capital.”

Giallombardo and Botana, who have introduced the bills, couldn’t be reached for comment. Giallombardo’s bill to expand county government stands in contrast to statements he has made in support of merging local fire districts.

Former Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais, who retired this summer, said he opposed the county mayor position. He said the “strong mayor” form of government could lead to “bossism.” He said the county commissioners would become marginalized and warned that it would lead to political favoritism where a new county mayor could reward political allies with jobs. Commissioners would lose their power by not being able to replace the county mayor and would have to wait four years for an election.

“The strong mayor system sets up a power struggle between the mayor and the commission,” Desjarlais said.

A strong mayor system could destroy employee morale and stifle career growth, he said.

“There is a potential for a new CEO every four years during the election cycle and it promotes bureaucracy and discourages creativity,” Desjarlais said.

During public comment, Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell said he supported single-member districts. He said at-large districts “disenfranchise voters.”

Caldwell said the incorporation of communities throughout the county over the years are a sign of that feeling of disenfranchisement. He said communities in Alva, Captiva, Lehigh Acres, Pine Island may do so in the future.

Lee County resident Steve Maxwell, who has served on two charter review commissions and has taught political science, said setting up a new system with two different attorneys for two political entities (county mayor and Board of County Commissioners) represent “competing interests” that he said are “a conflict of interest to the public and it’s an affront to the public,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell said there are only three counties in the state that have an elected county manager form of leadership: Duval, Orange and Miami-Dade. “When people blow this smoke as to it’s going to be better, there is no evidence to support it,”

Maxwell said. Maxwell said the increasing cost of government that will accompany the office of an elected county mayor is not “fiscally responsible. I see it as more of a political want.”