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City awards contract to mow around burrowing owls nests

By Staff | Sep 28, 2016

By JIM LINETTE

jlinette@breezenewspapers.com

The official bird of Cape Coral now will be taken care of through a city contract with mowing contractor CBI Inc. after City Council voted Monday night to award the contract for weed trimming of the city’s 2,700-plus burrowing owl nests.

The cost of the nest maintenance is $187,818 for the next fiscal year and will be funded by a recently approved increase of $5 in the city’s vacant lot mowing assessment. Trimming will be done on vacant lots, medians and other rights-of-way the same number of times as the current lot mowing cycle.

Volunteers with Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife had been doing the trimming for a number of years until the city became concerned about private property rights and liability issues.

Firefighters contract approved

Professional Fire Fighters Union Local 2424 has a new three-year agreement with the city with Monday’s unanimous council approval. The agreement stipulates a maximum 3 percent wage increase for battalion chiefs and rank and file members for Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018.

The agreement is a complete rewrite of the old document that was more than 10 years old and a product of more than 70 negotiation meetings between the city and union leaders.

Before the council voted, City Attorney Delores Menendez advised Mayor Marni Sawicki Retzer that she would be able to cast a vote. Menendez said the mayor’s marriage to a city firefighter did not constitute a conflict of interest because her husband is one member of a larger group and therefore it is not seen as any special private gain.

Youth council formed

Council also voted to create a youth council as an advisory group to City Council. The youth council will consist of 14 high school juniors and seniors selected from a pool of nominated students two each representing Cape High, Mariner, Ida Baker, Island Coast, Oasis, Cape residents at North Fort Myers and two at-large students.

The youth group will conduct regular meetings and vote on issues and make recommendations that impacts the younger generation.

“There will be a lot of vetting the candidates,” said Councilmember Rick Williams in response to the concerns of others on council. “I do not want to tie in a GPA requirement at this time to have more flexibility to get it going. We haven’t even put together the applications yet.”

Homeschool students do not receive GPA ratings and, according to Councilmember Jessica Cosden, at least one high school rates students on a pass/fail basis. Candidates can include private and charter school students.

Next meeting

Council’s next regular meeting is not until Monday, Oct. 17, but the panel will hold a special workshop session on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Nicholas Annex building.