FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Pete Winton, Lee County Administration
              (239) 335-2777

BOARD TABLES TRAUMA CENTER ACTION/APPROVES SANIBEL CAUSEWAY SPENDING

FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 11, 2003) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners today approved the following items during its regular weekly meeting. They are:

Trauma Center - Voted to table indefinitely a proposal to obtain $1.5 million of Medicaid matching funds for the Lee Memorial Trauma Center by using an $11 million county loan. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration has indicated the $11 million must be used as a grant to pay for Medicaid services for the deal to work. The county had the ability to loan the funds on a short-term basis, but not to grant the money over.

Sanibel Causeway - Approved up to $300,000 for engineering consultants PBS&J to reevaluate whether the Sanibel Causeway Drawbridge (Span A) can be cost-effectively rehabilitated, or should be rebuilt based on the recently discovered deterioration of the span.

Transportation Authority Bill - Voted 3-2, with Commissioners Ray Judah and John Albion dissenting, to ask that a recently proposed Legislative bill to establish a Southwest Florida Transportation Authority be withdrawn. Commissioners have concerns about the lack of county involvement in the drafting of the bill and in the bill's lack, as written, of county approval and control over projects and funding. The board also voted unanimously to oppose the bill should it not be withdrawn.

Road Extension - Approved the purchase of 14 parcels totaling $972,000 to make way for Three Oaks Parkway Extension South. The majority of the lots are in Leitner Creek Manor Mobile Home Park. The parcels are needed for the section of the extension from Terry Street north to The Brooks.

Road Study - Approved a contract with Cella & Associates to do a corridor alignment study for the proposed Sandy Lane Extension. The amount of the contract is $216,420. The extension would connect Sandy Lane north to Oriole Road in San Carlos Park and south to Old U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs.

Turn Lane - Approved an agreement with Florida Department of Transportation to add a left-turn lane on Pine Ridge Road at the intersection of San Carlos Boulevard heading to Fort Myers Beach. FDOT will add the lane and the county will make the appropriate traffic signal changes. Cost is $174,624, primarily paid by FDOT.

Toll Plaza - Awarded a $1.8 million contract to URS Corporation to do the engineering and permitting for the reconstruction of the Sanibel Causeway and Cape Coral Bridge toll plazas.

Utility Bonds - Approved going forward with financing, with bonds, the acquisition of Gulf Environmental Services Utility, which serves southern sections of Lee County. The debt will be repaid through user fees.