Key West District 5 Commissioner Chris Massicotte joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The city is working on the future of Higgs Beach and is prepared to move forward with plans for the 16-acre property.
Massicotte, who was elected August 18 and sworn in August 26, said he initially had concerns about the costs and maintenance associated with the city’s decision to take over Higgs Beach from Monroe County.
“But the last commission voted to take over Higgs Beach, so I’m more about looking into the future than the past,” Massicotte said. “So I am embracing the fact that Key West now has control of Higgs Beach, so we can now do what we want with it.”
Massicotte will hold a constituent meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Higgs Beach Pavilion across from Salute. He said the meeting is intended to give residents an opportunity to talk about what they want to see at the property before plans move further into the design process.
“This isn’t going to be, next year we’re gonna and you’re gonna see a brand new Higgs Beach,” he said. “It’s we want to have a comprehensive plan of things that we want to get done over time.”
Massicotte said the city had discussed engaging Bender and Associates to begin architectural designs and concepts, but he wanted additional public input first.
“I just thought that we wanted to get a little bit more public input and have a meeting that wasn’t exactly during working hours, so people that have kids or they work can come,” he said.
Following the meeting, Massicotte plans to take residents on a walking tour of Higgs Beach.
“It’s a 16-acre piece of land, so it’s pretty big, and there’s lots of potential there,” he said. “And I just want to walk around and hear what people have to say, and we’re going to compile that and give that in a really good way to Bender and Associates to use in their conceptual designs.”
Massicotte said the cost of improvements will be one of the issues residents and commissioners will have to consider. One priority is repairing the seawall damaged during Hurricane Ian.
“We got some insurance money for that, about $900,000. But the total repair is going to be more than that,” he said.
The city also wants to consider ways to prevent similar damage during a future storm.
“We obviously want to make improvements to it so it doesn’t happen again in a storm of that magnitude,” Massicotte said. “So there’s a lot of things to talk about and what people’s priorities are.”
Sargassum is another issue expected to come before the commission during its October 1 meeting.
One agenda item calls for the city manager to initiate procurement of professional scientific, environmental and technical consulting services for feasibility planning and conceptual development of a sargassum removal and management pilot project at Smathers Beach. The proposal also calls for Dr. Brian LaPointe to be designated as lead scientist if the project moves forward.
Massicotte said he was pleased to participate in a recent public meeting about the issue.
“It is a public health issue,” he said, noting reports of respiratory problems associated with decomposing sargassum. “It’s also an infrastructure issue.”
Massicotte said residents along Atlantic Boulevard have reported that their air-conditioning equipment is corroding faster than expected because of the discharge produced as sargassum decomposes.
“So we definitely need to find a way to somehow get remove the sargassum before it starts to rot or even reach the beach,” he said.
At the same time, Massicotte acknowledged the environmental concerns surrounding sargassum removal.
“I understand why. I mean, there’s a lot of sea life in there,” he said. “Sargassum is a habitat for a great number of sea life.”
Massicotte said the city should investigate technology that could divert and harvest sargassum before it reaches the shoreline while protecting marine life.
“Because if it doesn’t start to decompose and it doesn’t reach the beach, it’s actually useful,” he said. “Can be used as a fuel. It can be used as fertilizer. There’s so many things that you can use it for, but we just need to make sure first and foremost that we protect our marine life.”
The commission is also expected to revisit issues surrounding the city manager.
Massicotte said he supported a proposal from Vice Mayor Donie Lee to explore negotiations with the city attorney regarding a separation agreement.
“Not because I think that the city manager is doing a particularly bad job right now,” Massicotte said. “I just think that there could be a possibility to move on from this kind of things that are going on.”
He said allegations made by the mayor in extensive documentation concerning the city manager are concerning to him, but he believes the city should determine its next steps before moving forward with an independent investigation.
“I would also probably want to postpone any kind of investigation until we figure out what that piece is,” Massicotte said. “We can chew gum and walk and chew gum at the same time, but we definitely need to make sure that we do them in the right order.”
The cost of an independent investigation was also discussed, with the potential expenditure estimated at up to $50,000.
Another issue Massicotte said deserves additional discussion is the future of the city’s diesel plant.
Massicotte recently toured the property and said it is in “really rough shape.” However, he said he is hesitant to support total demolition without a plan for what happens to the generators and the property afterward.
“Total demolition; like you don’t get to undo that,” Massicotte said. “So I want to make sure that we have a plan for what we’re going to do with the generators that are inside. I want to make sure that we have a plan what we’re going to do with the land.”
Massicotte said turning the property into a parking lot is not something he supports.
“A parking lot is not something that I’m interested in that particular area,” he said. “I don’t think that parking is what is needed down there.”
He said the city could consider preserving a portion of the site.
“The architectural firm said that there were options to demolish some of it and preserve some of it, and maybe we could preserve one generator and have that as like our historical symbol, and then use the rest of that property for something else,” he said.
“But until we have a plan on what we’re going to do with it, I’m very hesitant to tear down a historic structure like that.”
The October 1 agenda also includes discussion of a Key West strategic plan covering 2026 through 2030.
Massicotte said he believes significant work went into the plan but would like to see additional discussion about the city’s overall direction.
“I think that having a plan like that, it is more of a capital project plan than a real strategic plan,” he said.
Massicotte said the city should discuss what kind of community it wants to be and how it intends to achieve those goals.
“Are we focusing on live music for our visitors? Are we focusing on what other experiences that we want our visitors to have?” he said.
He said tourism remains important to Key West’s economy, but the city also needs to consider residents.
“That is really important for us to continue to attract people from all over the world because that is our—that drives our economy,” Massicotte said. “So I want to make sure that we are using our TDC funds, taxpayer dollars, everything, to strike the right balance between our quality of life, our affordability here, and to be able to attract people that want to visit Key West.”
Massicotte is also raising concerns about a proposed change to the city’s form of government involving the mayor’s term.
A referendum approved by the previous commission will ask voters in November whether the mayor’s term should be extended from two years to four years.
Massicotte said the city’s mayoral term was reduced in 1996 and said the shorter term allows voters to replace a majority of the commission every two years if they choose.
“If you have a mayor that has a four-year term, there’s a possibility that only three would be up in a given election year for election,” Massicotte said.
He said he believes that could reduce the power of voters and wants residents to understand how Key West’s current form of government works.
“The most important thing that we do as a commission is to select our charter employees, and that’s the city manager, the city attorney, and the city clerk, and everything else around that is policy based, and we shouldn’t be directing specifics to the city manager,” he said.
Massicotte opposes extending the mayor’s term to four years because he wants voters to retain the ability to change a majority of the commission every two years.
The commission also recently advanced the city’s budget unanimously while keeping the tentative millage rate at rollback.
Massicotte said he believes it is the first time in 12 years the city’s budget has been set at rollback and the first unanimous budget approval in several years.
“I want to commend the finance staff. I want to commend everybody at the city that really put, sharpened their pencils and got to this budget,” he said.
Massicotte also said he likes that the budget does not rely on reserves to make the rollback rate possible.
“They are actually self-sustaining themselves and looking forward to Amendment Three,” he said. “If that should pass, our impact won’t be as great as other towns in Florida, but it will have an effect on what we see in terms of ad valorem tax revenue.”
The Key West City Commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 1, beginning at 9 a.m. at City Hall.
Massicotte’s Higgs Beach meeting is scheduled for Saturday from 10 to 11:30 a.m., followed by a walking tour of the property.