Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The weekend saw a number of events, including the Save our First Responders 5K and the Wounded Warriors Solider’s Ride.
Henriquez said, “I was able to participate Friday night in the Cuban dinner with the Wounded Warrior soldiers. And I was able to actually have one on one and introduce myself to each one of them and hear their stories and what a great city and county that we live in, with our community is always so supportive of our military. It was a very powerful and humbling event for me so and then Saturday morning, I was able to welcome them to our beautiful city of Key West and and then after that, I had two funerals. We had a celebration of life for Commissioner Hoover. And then another young member in our community passed away, and then we had our holiday Christmas party at the city, and there was just a lot of events. Then Sunday, we went to the Wienerpalooza parade with the dogs, and that was a lot of fun. So it was a busy weekend.”
There was also a city commission meeting.
Henriquez said, “Yeah, so a couple highlights on that it was our garbage, which was we had a lot of conversation in reference to the garbage pickup, and just so that your listeners know, back in September of 2025 the commission did approve a municipal code ordinance amendment outlining the volumes and capacities of our yard waste. They talk about transparency, and workshops, the city did hold a solid waste workshop back in November, providing opportunities to educate and communicate and share the expectations and responsibilities of both the residents and the property owners regarding solid waste management. So as it stands, because it was very confusing as it stands right now, you are provided one green container for solid waste and one blue container for recycling. Containers for yard waste are not going to be provided as part of the annual services. Yard waste can be in and up to 10 resident-provided 40 gallon open top containers. Or you could use the paper yard waste bags and fill them no greater than 12 inches above the rim, and the maximum make a way is 40 pounds. So for large amounts of yard waste, like, if you’re cutting down trees, call waste management, and they’ll be able to make an arrangement with you to pick them up.”
The city is signing an agreement for water quality monitoring as well.
Henriquez said, “Back in October, we did approve Stantec as our water quality testing provider. So we had some conversation on that as well. We did approve the scope of the work that it was awarded to Stantec. On the agenda, it was to approve the scope of work and not the contract. Is it moving a little slow? Yes. Would I like to see it move a little bit faster? Absolutely, but we are moving forward in the right direction, so I’m hoping to get that up and running and started quickly as possible.”
The evaluation of the city manager was also discussed.
Henriquez said, “One of our commissioners said that there was still a hostile and work environment. And that is far from the truth, and we’ve come a long way. Did I give him fives? Yes, I did, but there’s always room for improvement, and with my discussion with him, I let him know that. So another discussion was the electric bus. The electric bus was approved back in January or 2024 with the previous commission, so with what they purchased it for, and what they need now was a difference of a little over $58,000 overage, and that’s what we were approving. So there was some concerns with the king tides and the salt water and having an electric bus. But unfortunately, this was something that was approved back in 2024 and then we also had the lobbying group, which I am very excited to work with. We will have our agenda items, and to try and get passed in Tallahassee, and we’ll be going to Washington, and in February to talk to our lobbyists. So I look forward to that, and we’re just we’re moving our city forward, and we’re doing some some great things. On Wednesday, the Key West Bight Board, they’re having their meetings starting at four in the chamber. Then on Thursday, we have the planning board meeting that starts at five. And then this week’s plogging on Friday will be held at the Nelson English park, located at Catherine and Emma Street, starting at 8am. The southern most youth regatta, starting at 8am at the Truman Waterfront. It is a three day event, so that’ll be going on all weekend. And then also the 28th annual Key West half marathon and run fest, which that would be running all weekend as well, and just so everybody knows, the half shell parking lot will be closed through January 18, from noon to six, and then on Saturday kicks off the Martin Luther King weekend. So we’re having a picnic. It’s on Saturday at the Nelson English park, starting at one. It’s from one to five. Come on out. There’ll be music, food, fellowship, lots of fun. So that will kick off the Martin Luther King weekend. And then the parade is on Monday, and that starts at 1pm, lineup is at 12, and that’s at the Nelson English park. And then it’ll be followed by a celebration at the park when it’s over. So there’s a lot going on this week and a lot of things going on over the weekend as well.”
Commissioner Haskell made a motion regarding tourist tax usage for transit solutions as well.
Henriquez said, “Commissioner Haskell did place that discussion item on our agenda last week, and we received a letter from Kara Franker, who is the president and CEO of the Tourist Development Council, and she is not opposed of a tourism related transportation being supported by the TDC revenues. But just so everybody knows, we don’t control that. So it has to be approved by the Board of County Commissioners and the board of the tourist development so she said there’s several important considerations that need to be part of this discussion. First, tourist development revenues are governed by Florida statute, which narrowly defines allowable uses. Florida attorney general opinions make clear that the tourist development tax is not a general purpose funding source. Secondly, the current fiscal year budget has already been adopted, so all tourist development tax revenues for this year are allocated to be approved through uses through a public process, and then third visit Florida Keys and the Tourist Development Council serve all of Monroe County, not just one municipality. Transportation challenges tied to tourism exists not only in Key West, but also in Islamorada and other areas of our county. So when they look at this, they have to look at it for all of Monroe County, not just for the city of Key West. So she believes that there’s appropriate next steps to deliberate county wide evaluation of tourist oriented transportation needs. And the conversation belongs, like I said, at the TDC level and the Board of County Commissioner level where statutory authority and budgetary responsibility reside with them. So I’m glad that she was able to bring it forth, and we were able to have discussion. I was glad that Kara Franker, the director, was able to bring this information to us, to let us know that this is something that we need to have a lot more discussion, and it needs to be approved by the TDC board and the county commission first before it can come before us.”