D.O.T delivers dirt to restricted Wetlands

Berner Home in Buckingham

LEE COUNTY - New information tonight about an investigation into Lee County's troubled transportation department. The state says county workers committed a major violation on protected wetlands. Our investigation already showed you how D.O.T. supervisors ordered workers to deliver hundreds of truckloads of *free* dirt to the Berner family in Buckingham.


Many D.O.T. workers became suspicious because hardly anyone gets that much dirt delivered to their home. That's when we exposed how the Berners are actually related to a D.O.T. supervisor and workers claimed D.O.T. was doing them special favors. Because of what we found state officials launched an investigation, The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) took this aerial photo of the Berner home and found the Lee County D.O.T. delivered more than 12,000 square feet of fill material to a protected wetland.

Rae Anne Wessel has been an environmental expert for 27 years. She says wetlands affect the entire ecosystem; everything from endangered species to you and I, “ It’s a big deal and it affects everything going on up the food chain and it affects mammals not enough good quality water and the presence of water."

Rae Anne Wessel

The state determined the dirt delivered by D.O.T. is a *major* violation. Berner told them he added the fill he got from D.O.T. to the side of the pond so he could fish there. That area along the pond was historically open and feeding into a marsh system off the property into another wetland.

A photograph taken by D.E.P investigators shows the Eastern part of the pond in 2009 and compares it to how the pond looks after the Berners filled it in. Wessel says, "People feel like if they own property they should be able to do anything they want with it, the problem is this is a water supply we all share."

Documents show Berner filled approximately 12, 312 square feet of wetlands without authorization from the D.E.P. and the material all came from Lee County D.O.T. The Berners have been ordered to remove all of the dirt from the wetlands themselves and they can't count on D.O.T. digging them out of this one. Wessel says, "The fact of the matter is here's an individual for whatever reason didn't understand the importance of wetlands."

Florida's d-e-p is continuing to investigate. Code enforcement also launched an investigation into this and this issue will likely be reviewed as the clerk of court conducts his audit into D.O.T. Officials at D.O.T. say they are not liable for this and it's the homeowner's responsibility. D.O.T will continue delivering dirt to anyone who requests it whether they're in a restricted wetland or not. We will let you know how things turn out.
To view Fox 4 report click here: http://www.fox4now.com/news/125927308.html

Lee County Manager promises answers but still no word on audit

Promising you answers but giving you silence. Lee county's top dog still not saying a word about an investigation she ordered of the county's troubled transportation department. The county manager calling for an audit after Four in your Corner investigator Mike Mason exposed allegations of mismanagement.

Karen Hawes

It has been 16 days since county manager Karen Hawes ordered the County Clerk to do an independent audit into Lee County's Department of Transportation. Problem is that we are getting the run around now on how that audit is coming along. On June 27th county manager Karen Hawes sent Fox 4 an e-mail stating: "The scope of the audit will be defined, hopefully by Thursday. At that time I will forward a copy of the scope to you."

So on Thursday Four in your Corner tried contacting Hawes but we were told to speak with Patty DiPiero in the County's Utilities and Compliance Program. Dipper said, "Karen spoke with Charlie Green, the Clerk of Courts, about the audit and he should be aware of the scope. At this point, it may be best to speak with Mr. Green. But when we called Charlie Green he had nothing to say. So on Friday we contacted Karen Hawes again.

We then received an automated email stating 'she will be out of the office until July 6th." That's when Fox 4 again called DiPiero who said Karen Hawes is the only one who can give us information on the audit but Hawes is still on vacation until tomorrow."
Dipiero suggested we then contact assistant county manager Holly Schwartz so we left Schwartz a message. We then went straight to Schwartz's office for answers but were told she wasn't there. Since Schwartz was nowhere around we decided to meet with DiPiero at her office to try to find some answers. DiPiero's secretary told us DiPiero was refusing to meet with us because she had already spoken with us on the phone.

Brian Bigelow

Four in your Corner contacted Lee County commissioner Brian Bigelow today. He says he spoke with Clerk of Courts Charlie Green and Green admitted he has already determined the scope of the audit but is refusing to release details until Karen Hawes returns from her vacation. We'll stay on top of this and let you know what happens.
To view the Fox 4 report click here: http://www.fox4now.com/story/15030279/fox-4-gets-runaround?redirected=true