City to retain vacant building; use to be decided
Before Hurricane Ian, structure was leased to a mental health provider
Cape Coral City Council decided to keep a building, which was damaged by Hurricane Ian, and previously used to provide mental health services Wednesday.
Council authorized the city manager and emergency management director to follow up on its use in an after-the-fact resolution, which passed 7-1 with Councilmember Keith Long dissenting.
Long said the core of Wednesday’s discussion was whether the city should instruct the city manager to move forward with bringing another entity into that site or not. He said he would like to keep it a government building, make it a government building, as they are already bursting at the seams.
“I think that needs to be a facility that is utilized by the city of Cape Coral,” Long said.
City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said it was brought to his attention a couple of weeks ago that the cell tower by the existing Emergency Operation Center is presenting a problem with the enhanced EOC the city wants to redesign and rebuild. All the options — closing the road down, moving the building, rebuilding the tower, or relocating it — all had a cost involved.
From there brainstorming began where the appropriate location would be if they were going to build an EOC.
“There was a discussion about demolishing the buildings that we have across from the PD building. I was also looking for a replacement for the services that we had that were provided up until Hurricane Ian when the previous provider left,” Ilczyszyn said, they have an opportunity to partner with a couple key players with the community. “That meeting is not happening until next week. I cannot tell you what the services are that would be going in there at this point.”
Ilczyszyn said if the council wants to use that site for the EOC, then he would call them and say the city is going in another direction.
Mayor John Gunter said in light of the meeting next week, he thought it was warranted to have a discussion about moving the emergency operation center over to the new location.
Emergency Management and Resilience Director Ryan Lamb said they have received two state appropriations for a total of $18 million from the State of Florida to contribute to the EOC expansion, as well as waiting for final approval for a $15 million grant.
“With that in mind, we started a feasibility study for expanding on the existing site,” Lamb said.
Gunter said he believes the core service that they must make sure they are providing to the community is an EOC centrally located around City Hall.
“It should all be centrally located on our property here,” he said.
Gunter said the EOC building could possibly be moved from where the concept is now, which would be addition to the rear, or tearing down the facilities building.
“The building is vacant there, damaged during the hurricane. The fire station is used for logistics,” he said. “The structure that we are talking about is next to the old station 2 was not an option. It has become an option. When that became available, then I said we need to make a decision of where to put this thing.”
Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra said they have not had in-city mental health services since Hurricane Ian. She said if it makes sense to have the EOC in that location, they should move forward with it, but she wants another solution for the players to offer mental health services to the community because it is a vital piece.
“We need a plan B now — another potential location we can offer mental health services,” Nelson-Lastra said.
Ilczyszyn said it comes down to priority. He said there was an opportunistic opportunity for people to come into the building and offer services.
“If we had another building, or facility, we would have already had a partnership,” Ilczyszyn said. “We are busting at the seams with our existing facilities. I’m not aware right now of any government-owned facilities by the city of Cape Coral that they would go into.”
Gunter said there is a need for mental health services in the community, and a dialogue needs to be had with the county, and other individuals. He said they need to prioritize that particular space for their needs and still reach out and have a dialogue regarding possibly finding some city property.
To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com