Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 06.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
What were some takeaways from Florida Keys Day in Tallahassee last week?
Henriquez said, “The city did very well. We were represented up there in Tallahassee. We flew up Tuesday and Wednesday morning, it was just back to back to back to back meetings all day. And then Thursday, we were right back at it again, with meetings with all the Senators and Representatives. Special thank you to our state lobbying firm, the southern group. I mean, what they did was very instrumental in getting us face to face with the legislative leadership and the decision makers. And we met with the Senate President, Ben Albritton, and we did get to meet with the Speaker of the House, Danny Perez and with those conversations, I mean, we were just building a real momentum there. And so we did have a million dollar already sponsored by Representative Jim Mooney and after a series of productive meetings, we may be coming home with an additional 10 million. So it could be $11 million altogether coming back, which we weren’t expecting. We just put in for that $1 million for the priorities that we had. And so the state funding was for fire station three, so we may get 5 million dollars for that to get that started, and the Duval Street revitalization project for the lift station there. So with Senator Albritton, he was able to maybe allocate another $10 million for us. So we’ll see how it works out. But when we went up there, we went up there just to make sure that we were going to get our million dollars, and now we’re coming back with possibly going to have $11 million in projects. So very, very excited. We were really pounding those hallways and meeting with all of our representatives and our senators and building those relationships up there in Tallahassee. So I feel really good about what we did up there this week, and I think it was very productive. So that 5 million for the Duval revitalization, that will help with the engineering and the plans and being able to get started for the pump station for that project. So, like I said, we’re excited what we did up there and what we’re going to possibly bring home. We’re going to keep our fingers crossed, because up there in Tallahassee, you never know from day to day. Then looking at the property taxes and the local business tax revenues. And those are just going through the the committees and going to the floor. So we’ll see how all it all works out. But we are monitoring all of these bills very closely.”
The Key West City Commission will meet this Wednesday.
Henriquez said, “There’s been a lot of conversation ever since it’s been posted out there live on the agenda. So I did get a lot of phone calls while I was up in Tallahassee over the weekend. So even though it’s not a lot of items on the agenda, but there’s a lot of topics that we’ll have a lot of conversations. Item number 13, which is the employment agreement between the city of Key West and our city manager, Mr. Brian Barroso, so that I know will be pulled. It’s on the Consent Agenda, and probably, I’m almost 1,000% confident it’s going to be pulled from the consent agenda for discussion because of the increases that he is asking for. So we’ll see how that works out. As it stands right now, it is on the consent agenda. And when we vote for the consent agenda, when I ask for approval, everything that’s on the consent will be approved in bulk, unless it’s pulled from the consent agenda. So when I ask, are there any changes to the consent agenda at that time, myself, or any of the commissioners can say, I’d like to pull item number 13, item number 21 whatever items they would like to pull and discuss, so that, I’m sure will be pulled from the consent agenda, so that we can have discussion. And it will not be voted on in bulk. It’ll be voted on separately.”
Another agenda item is approving a three year extension for American cruise lines.
Henriquez said, “They would like to see an additional three years, because the cruise lines always book out one to two years out, and so with their contract, as they currently have right now, that’s why they’re asking for another extension of three years. So that will be on the agenda. Item number 27 that’s approving the final design for the Key West Welcome and thank you signs on US 1. So I’m very excited about that, because I get questioned all the time, where’s our welcome sign? It is still continuing to move forward. So we’ll approve the final design for that. So hopefully, in the near future, we’ll see those welcoming and thanking them for being here in our beautiful city. Item number 28 is adopting the amended rules for the City Commission meeting. So that’s going to be another discussion where they want to change it back from Tuesday to Thursdays. I do agree with that, because the school board has a lot of their meetings here, and that’s why we’ve had to change a few of our meetings, because we had them on Tuesday and so did the school board. So that’s why some of our meetings are now on Wednesday and when it was on Thursday, I don’t think we had to change the calendar as often as we’ve had to change it this year. So changing it from Tuesday to Thursday, and then this is where I think it’ll be a little bit of discussion, which is a start time in the afternoon, if needed, would be at 3pm instead of at 5pm. They want to start the meeting at nine, go all the way through, and if there’s anything that needs to be added, it could be done at 3pm instead of at five. So I’m sure we’ll have discussion on that. Then item number 34 is Mallory Square. There’s a zoning change that will be discussed. Then for some second readings, which they were passed in the first readings. But I don’t know if there’s any changes, because I’m having my agenda review this morning at 8:30 which is granting a franchise to the contour train, the buggy tour bus, and then there’ll be discussion in reference to the HARC, the review process and related code enforcement in the historic district. So that’ll probably be a big discussion. So even though there’s not a lot of items on there, but the items that are on there will have lots and lots of discussion.”
An increase in funding will be discussed for all aspects of inspection services.
Henriquez said, “The Senate unanimously passed a bill that will require local governments to adopt an ordinance allowing accessory dwelling units, the ADUs in single family neighborhoods, so ADUs can be a wide range of things, from a guest house to a mother in law unit, and they feel this is another opportunity to create more affordable housing options. So it will go to the House for their vote. Last year, the House did not vote for it. It died in the House. So we’ll see what happens this year and see how it goes and see if the House will pass it. So it’s already passed through the Senate. Now it’ll be up to the House.”
Meet the Mayor will be from 2 to 4 p.m. today.
Henriquez said, “Last week we had people scheduled. They made appointments at one o’clock, so they’re starting to come early. Today, I already have one coming in at 1:45, so meet the mayor from two to four, and then Thursday, I do have the tourist development board meeting. It’s going to be in Key Largo, starting at 10. Friday will be the early bird cleanup at the Truman Little White House located at 111 Front Street. And then Saturday and Sunday is the 20th annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival. So that’s going to be at the Truman Waterfront Park starting from 11 to eight. And then Sunday, it’ll be 11 to five. And then also there’s a parade on Sunday, it’s the 11th annual Crooks Second Line parade. It’ll be going down Duval and Front, so there will be some rolling street closures at that time. So we have a very busy week, and we’re hitting the ground running ever since we’ve been back from Tallahassee.”