The ongoing recovery in Charlotte County from Hurricane Charley marked another mile-stone Wednesday.

Ground breakings and ribbon cuttings have become standard fare in Charlotte County as it continues to rebuild from the damage left behind by Hurricane Charley in August 2004. This time is the opening of the rebuilt Florida Street Operations Center – headquarters for public works and maintenance in south county. Allen Hobach is Charlotte’s Maintenance Operations Manager.

“there’s been overall good recovery – what we’re seeing now is the remnants of it – those who aren’t going to rebuild – who don’t have the insurance money to be able to rebuild – but I would say we’ve made great strides in the county and city recovering from hurricane charley, but there’s still work to be done.”

The Seven thousand square foot building houses maintenance and operations staff as well as six building inspectors and two customer service representatives. And the rebuilding continues – a new public safety complex is under construction.

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Charlotte County marked another milestone in its recovery from Hurricane Charley. The ribbon was cut today/yesterday and a new public works building in Punta Gorda. In addition to maintenance personnel the 7000 square foot building will also house – six building inspectors. Jim Evetts is director Building Construction Services – he predicts the inspectors will be in place just in time for another boom.

“when you compare our area to the counties around us we’ve never slowed down to the degree they have –we’ve had continuous interest and we’re sitting in the best area possible for when the boom starts again – more available lots, better prices – and charlotte county is a great place to live”

Evetts says there’s been a tremendous increase in commercial construction in recent months – and residential construction is picking up.