Gov. DeSantis, Florida officials hold Hurricane Ian roundtable in Cape Coral

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday joined a roundtable with other state officials at Mercola Market, a health food store in Cape Coral, where they discussed the latest in South Florida regarding ongoing Hurricane Ian recovery efforts.

Accompanying DeSantis at the 2:15 p.m. roundtable were secretaries Dane Eagle of the Department of Economic Opportunity and Melanie Griffin of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. and Laura DiBella, deputy secretary of Enterprise Florida.

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The group faced questions from South Floridian residents and business owners keen on hearing the latest state efforts to help their communities bounce back from Ian’s destruction.

Robbie Roepstorff serves as president of Edison National Bank, local to the Sanibel Island area. She said that while the area’s two largest banks remain unable to assess their situation — Chase and Wells Fargo mentioned by name — most banks in the Fort Myers market have since found a way to service their customers. The issues at present, Roepstorff said, were securing electrical access, funding commercial restoration of flooded or otherwise damaged banks and keeping employees on a good payroll, things she said could use state intervention.

“If I could get those two things (electricity, commercial restoration) in there, then we can be self independent in servicing customers to get into safe deposit (boxes) and do limited cash transactions. I have also spoken with a lot of small businesses and they need to make payroll, first and foremost. They’re scared and concerned to death about it. It took them a long time to get employees to come back to work. They finally got them working. They got good people. They were affected in their place where they rent, they now don’t have a job. They’re gonna leave us if we don’t get them on a good payroll,” Roepstorff said.

She continued to also suggest the state attempt to prevent heavy property tax notices from hitting owners at a bad time, while cleanup continues and residents still process their losses,

“So there’s just ways to do this that I think we can all get creative on,” Roepstorff said. “...People do not need to get their tax notices in November and see what their taxes were based on their beautiful properties prior to the storm. It’s going to be devastating for people, so if those notices could be deferred until after they do reassessments or do some abatements or forbearance or something, that’s just gonna be devastating to people who’s lost their income, lost their roof, and now they get a property tax notice.”

DeSantis said the state would take action regarding Roepstorff’s query, but offered few details.

“Yeah, we’re going to do (it at) the state level. We will take action on there. We’re working through exactly what all we can do. I think probably in terms of, you know, relinquishing it, I think the Legislature would probably have to come in and ratify if we put (it) on hold, but you know, I think all there’s a bunch of stuff on the table, so we’re we’re working through that, so we will definitely do something so people can rest assured that there’ll be accommodations,” DeSantis said.

On the topic of temporary housing, DeSantis reiterated the recent launch of FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program in Florida, with many Floridians in areas hit hard by Ian now eligible for FEMA-funded temporary housing as their own property undergoes repairs or otherwise.

Watch the roundtable in the media player below:

For more of the latest on the state’s recovery from Hurricane Ian, DeSantis spoke in Port Charlotte on Monday — observing the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Michael — where he said Florida was ready to award the first $2.5 million in loans from the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan program to 55 small businesses, among other updates.

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