FLORIDA: Lee Portrait in County Commission Chambers Moved Aside for New Video Board

(A new screen has been erected in the Old Lee County Courthouse in Fort Myers. The portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee has been moved just left of the screen.
(Photo: Andrew West/The News-Press)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The portrait of Robert E. Lee, which has hung for 87 years over the center of what is now the dais of the Board of Commissioners chamber in the Old Lee County Courthouse, has been moved aside to make way for technology.

Workers shifted the portrait to another spot at the front of the meeting room to make way for a high-tech video screen. The painting will now appear on the left side of the dais.

Neither advocates of moving the portrait out of the commission chamber nor those who staunchly believe it should remain see the change as reducing the Confederate general’s position of prominence in the hall of the government of the county that bears his name.

The change was made as part of a project County Manager Roger Desjarlais said he initiated to upgrade the sound system and the video display in the commission’s meeting room.

A portrait of Robert E. Lee in the Lee County Commission chambers is causing controversy. Wochit

“Some months ago, I asked our IT department to design an upgrade including a display unit of some sort, the technology just didn’t work if you put a spreadsheet up there, nobody could read it,” Desjarlais said. “The objective is to make the chambers better able to accept video presentations and graphic presentations whether for zoning or public hearings for the budget.”

More: Lee commissioners’ views on Robert E. Lee portrait

More: NAACP leaders, commissioner open to compromise on Lee portrait

Workers made the changes while commissioners were scattered to vacation spots from the Florida Keys to Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.

The $99,891.27 cost of the audio-visual system upgrade is $108.73 less than the $100,000 limit on expenditures the county manager can authorize without a board vote.

The Lee portrait has become contentious, as some African-Americans believe it perpetuates a grim reminder of their status during the Civil War and the era of American slavery. Blacks were not permitted to sit in the room where the portrait is hung until 1963 but were regulated to spots in the balcony, according to a county history of the building.

“It’s up, that’s a good thing, it’s still on the wall,” said Robert Gates of Fort Myers, a leader in the local camp of the Sons of the Confederacy. “I’d be more satisfied if (the media) would just leave it alone.”

Civil rights leaders say the adjustment in the placement of the portrait does not change their perspective on whether it is appropriate.

James Muwakkil, president of the Lee County NAACP, said moving the Lee portrait to the side doesn’t resolve the issues that his group has had with the placement of the painting.

“The good thing is that now speakers don’t have to have him in their vision when they’re going before the county commission,” Muwakkil said. “It’s still a reminder of when African-Americans and other people did not have rights. That portrait represents a time when we did not have rights and going to the county commission to get things done where we should have rights.”

When the portrait was donated to the county in 1931, the building was still an active courthouse.

The newly installed equipment includes a 12-foot wide video display, a handicapped accessible podium, new microphones and improved speakers. Work was also performed to better integrate audio and graphics with the live stream that allows viewing of meetings from beyond the courthouse, a county statement said.

A press room off the rear of the chamber was also upgraded to allow cameras and devices to receive a live feed from the county display system.

Use of graphics will still be limited to the county staff and formal applicants for land use changes.

Commission procedures allow residents to speak for three minutes during public comment periods, but Desjarlais said there are no plans to change current protocols that require preapproval for use of the audio-visual system.

–newspress.com

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