Kristen Livengood, Public Information Officer for Monroe County, joined KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
A hazardous electronic waste collections give back program begins on April 12 in Marathon, also in Stock Island at Bernstein Park as well.
Livengood said, “Our Solid Waste Department and our Recycling Coordinator, they are just rocking over there. They have so much stuff going on. It’s really important to know when these electronic waste and your household, hazardous products like paint and solvents and fertilizers and things like that, where they need to go and when you can drop them off. You can drop them off at our transfer stations too, on certain days. But these other give back programs that are at Bernstein Park and in Marathon. The transfer stations are in Cudjoe and Long Key and Key Largo. So that makes it a little bit easier for people so they don’t have to travel as far. But what is really cool about it is that our director, Cheryl Sullivan, she had seen that people were giving bug sprays and sunscreens and things like that, and paints that were barely used, like, maybe you were just touching up something, but you still have to get a decent size gallon or half gallon of paint or whatnot. So she’s finding all the stuff come through there was completely, either not used or barely used. So that’s when they started this give back program too, that’s taking place, where people can actually go and if you just need a little bit of white paint, or you just want to paint something pretty, you can go and get one of these pieces to be able to do those projects. Also, there’s a really cool Keys for Sustainability event coming up on Saturday, April 12. It’s taking place from 11 to 2pm at Bernstein Park, and that is going to be a really cool project that’s going on too. The Recycling Coordinator will be there, along with the Florida Keys aqueduct and the extension services. They’re going to be doing a composting workshop, and the library is going to be there doing story time. So there’s just going to be a lot going on on that event on April 12.”
What’s going on with the ROGO bills in the state legislature?
Livengood said, “The commissioners were very adamant that they wanted those provisions to be included into it, which Mooney and Rodriguez’s bill have on them. Those provisions include workforce housing and things like that that our commissioners are very, very adamant about being important with those additional ROGOs. This other bill that’s floating around out there doesn’t have any provisions at all, and they wanted to make sure that they are voicing their support for the bills that do have those provisions.”
The resolution that was passed by the Board of County Commissioners asked that 70% of the allocations would be used for workforce housing.
The Key West International Airport announced they’re going to again sponsor five 4th of July celebrations throughout the Florida Keys.
Livengood said, “Our director of airports, Richard Strickland, this started during COVID as well, but he makes sure that even our Key Largo even though that’s very far away from Key West International Airport, they’re sponsored, Islamorada is sponsored, Marathon is sponsored, Big Pine is sponsored, and then the Key West Rotary fireworks are sponsored. So it’s just a nice little tradition that they’ve started to help with their fundraising efforts for these community events and it’s one of those things that started when they weren’t able to do any fundraising during COVID. I believe it was Commissioner Lincoln who brought it forward and said, hey, we have these funds available for community events at through the airport, so it’s funded through airport user fees. How can we help our Rotaries and Chambers with these events that they haven’t been able to fundraise for because of COVID? Ever since then, it’s been a really great community partnership. It’s nice to see that happen and it takes place in our skies, all these fireworks. I think it’s a really, a really great thing that we do for sure.”