FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   

Contact:  Mary Gibbs, Lee County Community Development

               (239) 479-8345

                       

COUNTY/CITY ANNEX RIBBON CUTTING TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2003

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FORT MYERS, Fla. (December 5, 2003) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners, City of Fort Myers and Lee Building Industry Association will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday (Dec. 10) of the new County/City Annex in downtown Fort Myers.

The ceremony will be at 5 p.m., 1825 Hendry Street.  Lee County Commissioner Doug St. Cerny and Fort Myers Mayor Jim Humphrey will serve as co-masters of ceremonies.  They will be joined by county and city officials and representatives of the local building industry and business community.

The $7 million, three-floor, 45,000-square-foot building houses:

• First floor - City of Fort Myers Community Development Department, which includes building, permitting and inspections, code enforcement, planning, real estate, development review & licensing and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and fire inspections functions.
• Second floor - Lee County Code Enforcement, Building Inspections and Contractor Licensing.
• Third floor - Lee County Purchasing Department and Clerk of Courts Internal Audit Department and Clerk of Courts Human Resources.

Phone numbers for the county functions will be changing, however the old numbers temporarily will be forwarded in order to allow sufficient time for distribution of new information.

The new phone numbers are:

• Inspections 344-5801 (fax) 344-5896
• Certificate of Occupancy 344-5801 (fax) 344-5896
• Automated Inspections 479-8997 (no change)
• Re-Inspections ONLY 344-5855
• Code Violations 344-5895 (fax) 344-5880
• Contractor Licensing 344-5895 (fax) 344-5877

The building took a year-and-a-half to complete and was funded through a combination of building permit fees, property taxes and payments from the city, which will pay annual installments of $158,393 for 30 years to occupy the 15,000-square-foot first floor. 

The County/City Annex not only continues the county's philosophy of co-locating "like" functions to provide "one stop" service centers for residents, it also is a major part of the redevelopment of downtown Fort Myers and the Hendry Street Streetscape Project.