Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The city commission held the predetermination hearing for Raj Ramsingh, the former chief building official for the city, last week. Ramsingh has been indicted on fraud related to allegations of alteration or falsification of city building permits.
Henriquez said, “He was with pay on administrative leave and then after the predetermination hearing, the city has placed Raj Ramsingh on unpaid administrative leave indefinitely. So I think everybody wanted to hear that.”
Who will fill the position?
Henriquez said, “I just received an email in reference to the building department and the organizational chart. Interim building department director, which is Zoe Porter, and then the chief building administrator, his name is Ron Wampler, so he is the chief building administrator. So we do have an organizational chart that we were sent this morning.”
Will any of the permits in question be investigated?
Henriquez said, “There was an item on our last commission meeting. It was item number 35 to be able to go outside to get an auditor. There was a motion, but there wasn’t a second, and everyone just felt that it was just too premature right now to go outside because, the State Attorney’s Office identified seven properties. But it’s like we said, it’s premature. Let the process take place. Let’s see if there’s anything else out there, and then if we do need to go out for an outside auditor, then we can do it at that time.”
A search is also underway for another city attorney. The former city attorney was fired without cause in relation to the indictments.
Henriquez said, “We do now have an interim city attorney, and that is Kendal Harden and then the first step was to establish an advisory screening committee, so the commissioners are supposed to be giving their appointment to our city clerk, and then our HR director will be going out for a national search. As she gets the applications, she’ll review them, make sure that they meet the qualifications. Then the committee will establish a timeline, and then, pretty much the same as our city manager’s process, then those applications will come to us. We will then interview them as well, and then hopefully I’m looking at maybe a three to four month timeline as far as the process is going to take and hopefully we’ll have a city attorney in place by that time. The city of Key West still remains fully cooperative with the ongoing investigation following the recent arrest of the three city officials, and like I’ve said from the beginning, we are committed to maintaining transparency and accountability throughout this process, and then we will continue to provide professional and dedicated service to our community and the city is still continuing to work on projects, and we are moving our city forward, even with everything surrounding and around us, we are continuing to work on our projects.”
Commendations were also given to police and firefighters recently.
Henriquez said, “We’re just so very proud of our leadership with our police and our fire department and what they do to keep us safe out there in the city of Key West, and we can’t be more proud of them. I’m hoping by next Monday we should have a date for we’re going to have one more Garrison Bight workshop before it goes on to our agenda in June, so hopefully I’ll have a date by the time I talk to you next Monday, so that everyone will be able to participate in that workshop. Every time we have one, it is very well attended, and this is in reference to their rate increases. There will be a date out there soon.”