Mayor David A. Lyons receiving the John Land Years of Service Award for his thirty years of municipal service. (Caloosa Belle/Geoffrey Ionescu)

The City Commission Meeting started with Carol Westmoreland with Florida League of Cities presenting a resolution of the board of directors honoring Mayor David A. Lyons for thirty years of municipal elected service and presenting him with the “John Land Years of Service Award” in recognition of his unselfish commitment to municipal leadership and governance.

The meeting was preceded with the Local Planning Agency meeting. There is a request for a re-designation of the far south-east corner of the Downtown District on Hwy 80 for future commercial land use. One of the concerns raised was that if one area of the downtown district will be re-designated, what are the criteria for other zones to not also request for re-designation? The matter of keeping the aesthetics of the downtown district was also an issue. The request for the re-designation was approved.

At the regular meeting an issue about the fence project on Ft. Thompson Ave. was discussed. Residents on Ft. Thompson requested to build a fence which would enclose the city’s road bed. The commission previously approved this without realizing residents of the neighborhood use that roadbed to walk down to the waterfront. The Commission decided was to come up with a quote on the cost for re-placing the fence.

The Fire Department had 70 fire calls. They also sent firefighters up to the Florida Panhandle where they assisted in several fire calls. October was fire prevention month. The Fire Department stopped by a lot of schools and churches and did an open house on Halloween night.

The Hendry County Sherriff’s Office received 12,550 calls for service, 94 arrests and multiple business and residential checks. They sent ten deputies up to The Florida Panhandle to assist with the devastation left behind by Hurricane Michael.