Council approves park cuts, shifts community policing funds to cover $50,000 emergency-lighting request

Lede Fort Myers Beach emergency-services leaders asked the Town Council for $50,000 to equip town vehicles with emergency/alert lighting and related equipment; council members agreed to fund the request by reducing a community-policing line item and reallocating budget savings.

Nut graf The request was framed as a public-safety measure that will allow town personnel to respond more effectively at accident scenes, during special events and in other critical incidents. Council and staff said the equipment also supports a broader plan to increase the town’s capacity to handle community public-safety tasks and to reduce reliance on contracted sheriff services.

Body Emergency Services Director Thomas (Tom) Yazzo described a small unit of staff who now perform duties beyond parking enforcement, including neighborhood service and event support. He told the council the $50,000 allocation would buy vehicle overhead lighting and related equipment to increase safety and operational capacity during incidents and events.

“We're doing more assistance on a stereo side street in the special events that we do…The idea is to have our vehicles have lighting on them that incorporates a safety aspect,” Yazzo said, describing the equipment as “lighting for those vehicles” and devices to support “generator space to satellite recovery” during incidents.

Manager and finance staff proposed funding the lighting from a cut in a community-policing/general-law-enforcement line item. Finance Director Joe Anzick explained the community-policing allocation had been scaled back from what was proposed at the budget workshop; those reductions create the savings needed to cover the $50,000 emergency-lighting request without increasing the general-fund deficit.

Councilors discussed the trade-offs. Several praised Yazzo’s work building local capacity and the improved coordination with Lee County Sheriff’s Office and other partners. Council members said they preferred increased local capability and training over routine, recurring increases to contracted sheriff services.

Ending Council approved the funding approach as part of the larger tentative budget package; staff were directed to implement the equipment purchase and return with any necessary follow-up on staffing, training and deployment protocols.