For the previous couple months, the Lee County Lengthy-Term Recovery Activity Force hosted neighborhood townhalls to hear straight from citizens on what the county could have carried out superior to withstand and recover from Hurricane Ian.
Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane is chairman of the county’s Hurricane Ian Recovery Activity Force. He lately spoke at the Southwest Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Ruane stated the goal of the activity force is to critique and endorse a unified list of priorities for consideration by the State Legislature. He stated neighborhood input is vital.
“The goal definitely is to attempt to advocate, due to the fact we as a neighborhood need to have to come back as 1 neighborhood. Just about every piece is necessary and essential to this neighborhood. I’m satisfied to say that it is a good representation of our neighborhood,” stated Ruane. “160 individuals from Lee County (that of course represents Lee County), with a entire bunch of elected officials that have the chance to appear at some policies, make essential suggestions to the Board of County Commissioners.”
The activity force connected with legislators in Tallahassee to make the case that Lee County requirements added monetary help to accomplish complete recovery.
“The argument was definitely to ask them to make an investment in Lee County: it was definitely not a handout, it was an investment to give us an chance to get back on our feet,” he stated. “They encouraged us to come up with a program.”
Tanya Shannon spoke just after Ruane. Shannon is Deputy Director for Recovery with Hagerty Consulting, a national corporation that aids consumers prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. The corporation facilitated the townhalls in Lee County.
“Recovery is measured in years, not months. And although there is devastation and people are going via a lot — and we are hearing that in just about every single town hall, of person stories of what they’re experiencing — there is a lot of chance with the funding, as soon as-in-a-generation level funding, that is going to be coming into this location to construct back additional resiliently so that if some thing have been ever to happen once again, a incredibly incredibly lengthy time from now, that it would not hurt as negative as Ian did,” stated Shannon.
Although the 19 town halls are now comprehensive, Shannon encouraged these individuals who have been unable to attend to give their input on-line at resilientlee.com.
Neighborhood input is vital due to the fact, these comments will be integrated in a proposed recovery program that will be presented to the Lee County Commission on December five, 2023.
Karen Moore is a contributing companion for WGCU and the publisher of SWFL Company Now.