Monday June 16 - Lee County Marine Operations Director Steve Boutelle, the man in charge of the county's troubled beach renourishment plan, is refusing to get new construction easement agreements from property owners who have agreed to sign them, according to Town Manager Scott Janke.
At the council meeting Monday night Janke said he "confronted" Boutelle when he learned Boutelle wasn't getting the signatures from property owners who Janke and his staff had worked hard to persuade to give them.
"He said he's not willing to spend money to get the signatures until he sees if the project is viable," an obviously frustrated Janke said Boutelle told him. "I don't particularly like this."
Boutelle has been in charge of the proposed project for more than 10 years but failed to get enough construction easements from beachfront property owners to do the job. The county several months ago persuaded the town to take charge of persuading people not to rescind the easements they had signed earlier.Since then, Janke and his staff have worked tirelessly to persuade people to sign new construction easements across their property. But they have so far fallen far short of the 80 to 90 percent of gulf frontage Boutelle has told them the town and county must have to begin the 4.6 mile project. As of now they have only about 42 percent of the easements they need. The town has been told the drop dead date for doing the project is August. 1.
Kiker was directed by council to go and talk to all five commissioners about Boutelle's refusal to get the new easement agreements.
The question is, is Boutelle doing this on his own or does he have the consent of commissioners who are now ready to end this decade-long struggle.


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