FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

COUNTY COMMISSION ELECTS ST. CERNY AS 2005 CHAIRMAN

FORT MYERS, Fla. (November 16, 2004) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners today voted unanimously to designate Commissioner Doug St. Cerny as its chairman for the coming year. Commissioner Tammy Hall was designated as vice chairman. St. Cerny replaces Commissioner John Albion.

On the third Tuesday of each November the Board elects a new chairman. The chairman runs the weekly commission meetings, appoints other commissioners to serve as liaisons to other boards and organizations, and signs documents on behalf of the entire Board of County Commissioners, such as resolutions and financial documents.

The vice chairman typically becomes the chairman the next year, and the chairmanship rotates among the five board members.

Commissioner St. Cerny has served as the District 2 Commissioner since being appointed to fill a vacant seat in March 1990. He was elected in November 1990, and again in 1994 and l998, and ran unopposed in 2002. District 2 covers Fort Myers west of I-75 and north of Daniels and College parkways.

He has been the Board's liaison to Florida Gulf Coast University since its inception and has previously served as chairman of both the County Commission and Lee County Port Authority.