Changing of the Guard

Shelli Connolly can look back with pride at her time on Marco Island City Council’s Beautification Advisory Committee. She recently completed a seven-year-long tenure on the panel, all of that time spent as the body’s chairman.

The BAC is dedicated to recommending to council projects that enhance the community’s aesthetic beauty and appeal and preserve natural and historical assets such as planted street medians and streetscapes, and publicly owned cul-de-sacs and beach access points. Members also recommend policies and practices to the city’s administrative staff and to city council. 

“We assist city council with anything they would like us to research,” said Connolly.

In addition, the committee also promotes community engagement with the project through events and contests, along with providing residents with guidance to help them improve their properties. 

Connolly cited several projects as highlights for her time on the committee, one being the Christmas lights that adorn Collier Boulevard during the holiday season. 

Roughly four years ago, the committee spearheaded the project that led to the utility box wraps created by artists from the Marco Island Center for the Arts.

“Another was when the city asked the Beautification Committee to research and come up with some ideas of how we could enhance and promote our beautiful beaches by way of the walkways at beach accesses at Winterberry and at Maple,” she said. “So, the Beautification Committee came up with ideas on landscaping, lighting, and signs to educate people about our birds and wildlife and native plants. We suggested murals. We suggested more bike racks, just things to make the entrances onto our gorgeous beaches more appealing for visitors and residents.”

Some projects are suggested by residents at BAC meetings, which are held monthly.

The most recent example is the much-needed TLC shown to the city’s 11 historical markers, said Connolly. 

“For many years, they had not been maintained. They were tarnished and hard to read and just not appealing,” she said. “So, we had all of them restored and they look magnificent. We also worked with a landscape designer and planted some plants around each marker.”

The BAC’s new chairman is long-time Marco realtor Marv Needles, who was recommended for BAC membership by Erik Brechnitz, city council’s vice chairman. Needles’ two-year term began in January.

Needles said one of the things on his agenda that he believes his fellow committee support is the issue of residents lining swales in front of their homes with stone. Swales are city-owned, and stones have never been allowed there, he explained. 

“We're also looking at and trying to get people who border cul-de-sacs to install some plantings there and maintain them, added Needles. “Those are some of the things that we've addressed and are in the process of trying to take serious steps forward with.

He also praised Connolly’s chairmanship. 

“She led the way in a lot of activities,” he said. “I've known Shelli from other activities. She used to work with us when I was building homes. She's a good friend of my daughter. I'd gone to a couple of beautification committee meetings in the past to bring up some subjects, and she did a wonderful job of leading the committee and making recommendations and interacting with the public, as well.”

BAC meetings are normally held on the first Wednesday of every month at 3:00 PM in the Police Department’s Fay and Bedford Biles Community Room, located at 51 Bald Eagle Drive. To contact BAC members, please email the city’s committee liaison, Public Works Director Justin Martin, at jmartin@cityofmarcoisland.com.