Get acquainted with the BSU board members: Dave McKee

Local citizens founded Bonita Springs Utilities in 1971. Today BSU is a member-owned cooperative with an elected board of directors that oversees the utility’s operation. This is the next in a series of profiles of our board members.

After visiting every year since 1965 when his grandparents retired in Fort Myers, Dave McKee and his family moved to Bonita Springs in 1990 to join his father’s land surveying business. Dave, who is a registered Professional Engineer in three states, added engineering design and permitting services to the company’s resume. He became familiar with BSU through his engineering practice, and when a board position opened in 2002, he jumped at the chance to serve.

Dave later worked for the statewide firm Consul-Tech Engineering for about eight years. In 2005, he founded Lake Hickory Ventures, a one-person consulting firm. This position has provided Dave the most career satisfaction as it allows him to provide hands-on design and permitting services.

Dave served as president of the Bonita Springs Area Youth Council and was a member of the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors and executive committee in the ‘90s. More recently he was president of the Bonita Springs Area Housing Development Corporation and a member of the Bonita Springs Assistance Office board. He is a charter member and past president of the Rotary Club of Bonita Springs Noon and represents Bonita Springs on the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Citizens Advisory Committee.

Dave served as president of the BSU board from 2006 through 2011, one of the most challenging times in BSU’s history due to the area’s economic slump. Still, the utility was able to negotiate a successful $50 million bond issue at favorable interest rates during 2010, setting the stage for further debt reduction and capital expansion.

Dave feels the utility’s reserve funds are misunderstood. He compares the utility’s restricted reserves to a homeowner’s escrow account – those funds are held for only taxes and insurance payments and cannot be used for day-to-day expenses like electric bills. Similarly, BSU’s restricted reserved funds can be used only for capital improvements and other designated projects. The non-restricted BSU reserve accounts are “rainy day” funds that can be used for emergencies and unexpected expenses, just as a homeowner’s savings account. These reserves must be maintained at appropriate levels. Strong reserves put BSU in a much better position than many utilities struggling to maintain aging infrastructure.

Dave and his wife Janet have been married 33 years and have three grown children. Jason, who played football for Estero High School’s state runner-up team in 1998, attended University of Connecticut on a football scholarship and now works as an insurance adjuster in New Haven. Lindsay just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, and Eric is a junior at University of Connecticut.