Monroe County Mayor Holly Merrill Raschein joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
The Tourist Development Council is in the middle of contract negotiations since a new director has been named.
Raschein said, “I actually sit on the board as the member representing the Board of County Commissioners. So it has been a busy season. As you know our clerk of the court completed an audit last fall, found some, let’s say interesting findings regarding financial policies and procurement policies and just some areas that needed some major improvements. So we as a board made a leadership change and made the decision to hire a nationwide search firm. There was a selection committee that was established really good people from up and down the Keys, very diverse. They combed through dozens of applications, whittled it down to five I believe, had interviews, whittled it down to two. Now we have a backup which I think is a good move and we now have a new director Kara Franker coming on. I thought the thing that jumped out at me about Kara was that she has lived in South Florida. She has legal experience in Miami Dade County with the state attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle. She has CEO experience. She has tourism experience. She has a really diverse background. She’s a young lady and I think she’s a go getter and I’m super excited to see what she has to offer. We needed a breath of fresh air, we needed a change and from what I can glean, she’s ready to get to work. Having that legal background is a very creditable attribute. So I think this is a good first step of many. It’s a tremendously important agency. It has a giant budget for a community of our size. Constituents talk to me a lot about tourism and the impacts to our community and what we can do to mitigate that. I think that’s a very appropriate topic to be on the front burner. I think this is something that we’ve struggled with for for many years. We certainly love our tourism industry. The impacts, though, to our full time residents, or even our snowbirds, it’s a constant balancing act. I’m excited about the future. I think my quote was craving some accountability and I think we’re going to get it and it takes a minute to turn the Titanic.”
Workforce housing challenges are always a discussion.
Raschein said, “You can’t have a middle class if you don’t have a robust economy, you can’t have a middle class, you don’t have somewhere affordable for them to live. So all those components have to exist. There’s never going to be a perfect solution. But I think that we’ve gained momentous ground. It certainly has been a priority, and will remain a priority for me, at least, and I think that’s the desire of the commission. Folks kind of forget that we live on a skinny Island archipelago that is far from the mainland, far from resources and we do an amazing job. We live on one of the most amazing places on the planet. I think sometimes people lose sight of that and they need a little reminder, I’m happy to do that.”
Resurfacing projects are continuing, too.
Raschein said, “The sheriff and I got notice from DOT on Tuesday and we heard from one of their project managers that they were very excited to provide an update for the resurfacing and improvement project. Now, I want to remind your listeners that this is only from mile marker 108 to 112. I believe it’s both northbound and southbound though. It’s going to start August 26. I thought okay, well, that’s good news. It’s two and a half months, a little later than anticipated. There’s usually a reason so I asked the question and the change, the project was changed because of a proposal that the agency received from the contractor that’s going to be doing the work and I thought this was interesting. They wanted to improve the traffic control plan for the work that’s going to go on along that portion of the stretch and the additional time was needed for the development and the department’s full analysis of the proposal. So I thought if it’s going to ease the traffic congestion, we could give them a couple more months. But I hope indeed, that is the case. So that’s the latest and greatest on the 18 mile stretch improvement.”
Raschein was appointed as the chair of the Florida Association of Counties Water and Environmental Sustainability Policy Committee, as well as being reelected to the Florida Association of Counties board of directors.
She said, “Since coming on to the commission, I knew of the Florida Association of Counties, when I was in the legislature, worked with them closely. They are a powerhouse when it comes to lobbying for important policies like Home Rule, keeping preemption to a minimum allowing local governments to lead on issues that I’ve learned, I’ve had a huge learning experience on local issues that should be left at the local level, vacation rentals. We could spend an entire show talking about that, but I’m not going to. So I’m super honored, super excited to get to serve another term as the chair of Water and Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee. What we do is we go out to all the counties, all 67 counties are members, they submit proposals, legislation for policy, and that’s just what it is. It could be anything ranging from, for example, we usually do something regarding water quality. Obviously, that’s a pretty big issue down in our neck of the woods. A lot of folks want to talk about septic to sewer, we’ve already done that. But that’s still an issue in our neighboring counties, that very well could be affecting our water quality. Everglades restoration, we’re talking about PFAS, what is that? That’s like the microplastics that are in water. What can the state do from a county wide perspective to improve these? We look at all these proposals, we whittle it down to a priority list, there’s usually, I don’t know, a dozen or so priorities, that we’re able to take to Tallahassee and say, okay, this is what our collective has really taken a deep dive in on policy regarding water and the environment. There’s obviously other committees that have to deal with Housing and Urban Development and healthcare and the judicial system and things like that. But my area of focus in my area, well, I won’t call myself expert, but expertise is this one. I think that Monroe County is heads and tails above a lot of communities because this is such an important topic in our community. We live or play on the water, people come down to visit us because of our beautiful natural resources and we have done so much. Well, gosh, just in my couple decades of living in the Keys, and there’s still so much to do. People recognize us, that Monroe County has their act together and we are often looked at as a model, as an example, and folks are like, wow, you guys can do that in the Keys? Well, certainly, we should be able to do it here in our county. It’s neat.”
Michael Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM said, “There certainly is a theme here of water quality environmentalism as well and we have you to thank if I can say so for the Florida Keys Stewardship Act, which is the long term framework for state funding of the critical Keys Water Quality and Acquisition needs. So we certainly know you have had a history and I want to commend you for your leadership role in protecting our environment.”
Raschein said, “Thank you. That is the gift that keeps on giving in the most positive best way possible. Every year when the budget is signed by the Governor and I see that line item in there for the Florida Keys Stewardship Act, I breathe a sigh of relief and I smile. And I think, God, thank you so much. We got that one right, because it’s still doing what it was intended to do. That was a massive piece of public policy that a lot of people said, you are not going to be able to pass this and I said, watch me. But it was a wonderful experience. It was a challenging experience. But it was worth it because it’s benefiting our community. Representative Mooney and Senator Rodriguez were able to bring the full funding back home this this spring after the close of the legislative session and that that money is spent on very important things having to do with water quality and conservation, canal restoration, stormwater projects, land conservation through the Monroe County Land Authority. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I don’t see that momentum changing. There’s a lot of projects that are in the wings, in the queue that need that vital funding. So thank you so much for that shout out.”