Robyn Still, member of Marathon City Council, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the city.
The city is into budget season.
Still said, “We’ve had our first budget hearing, and then we’ll have two more coming up in September, one of which will be to finalize it. And you can find those meeting dates on the city of Marathon website. You can also watch live if you can’t attend or if you can’t do that, you can go back and watch it. All of our meetings are recorded, and you can find those on our website, also on our Facebook page, we have the most amazing public information officer that has joined us, and his name is Carlos Garcia. And if you’ve not been seeing a lot, start paying attention to the city’s Facebook page. He is doing multiple videos a week, or FaceTime lives. Also that’s kind of letting people know what’s going on in our city, upcoming events, upcoming coming meetings. He’s also had our city manager do videos with recaps of our meetings. So basically, you get a little short summary of what’s going on in city. So pay attention to those. I think those are awesome. We had a meeting already, as far as the public attending, we have those two meetings, and then, of course, that that original meeting, but city staff and city council members are working on that budget during those couple months. So just because you only see a couple meetings doesn’t mean that hours of work are not going into it so, and that’ll be evident if you watch those meetings. When we have some council discussions, you’ll definitely see work that’s gone in to kind of see if we can shrink the budget but also still provide the level of service that our community deserves.”
What about the cuts that the Human Services Advisory Board is considering making?
Still said, “It’s pretty tough times right now for everybody all the way around. That funding is still in the city’s budget, but we have a couple more hearings, so I’m not sure where that’s going to be, but right now, looking at the most recent copy of the budget, that is still in there for the city, it’s still in there with the original amount, including our grant to FIRM, that’s Fair Insurance Rates Monroe. So we’ll see what happens with that once we get to those hearings.”
There will also be a city council land development regulation workshop on the 26th at 5:30.
Still said, “I think it’s very important. Some of that stuff can be a little bit confusing. People hear us throw around the terms land development or LDRs and comp plan, or comprehensive plan, on the 26th, this is your chance, and it’s our chance as council also to be a part of a discussion about these things. And what do these terms mean, and how does that apply to the city of Marathon and to development in the city of Marathon? I think it’s going to be very important for the public to kind of tune in. If you can’t come to the meeting, if you can’t watch it live, again, those meetings are recorded. But I think that’s going to be really important to kind of clear up some of the misunderstandings. And there are misunderstandings because it can be a little complicated. Some of that could be confusing to me until I really sit down and I think this is going to be a great opportunity for, like I said, us as council as well as our residents, to hear what these terms mean and how it applies.”
It looks like Marathon is in pretty good financial shape.
Still said, “With the most recent proposed budget, it looks like we do have over a year in reserve. A lot of people argue about and are confused about why that’s important, but one of the reasons that’s important is because if we have a major event happen, and the city has to recover from that, those funds are what are used to keep our city running. In the past, the federal government and FEMA would help with that, but that’s not automatic, so you still need those funds and right now, you really don’t know where you are with the funds given our current times. So it’s important that we have that. It’s like a savings account. We have that as our safety net. We have that to be able to continue to move forward and provide services until we can kind of get settled in, and things could get figured out from there, but those are very important.”
There are three seats open on the Marathon council this November.
Still said, “I just want to emphasize you have three votes. So when you go to the polls or when you get that mail in ballot, you can vote for the top three people that you want to be on your city council. So it’s very important that you vote for those three, and it’s important that you reach out to the candidates and get to know all of us and then make your decisions on who you’d like to see represent you from there.”
A Food Truck Jamboree will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on August 27.
Still said, “That’s going to be Oceanfront Park, which is immediately behind city hall. I think as of the other night, there were 10 food trucks signed up. There is a DJ that’s going to be there. So it’s free to enter. You would obviously buy your food, but come out and check out the food trucks. We’re going to have food trucks at some point when the quay property gets completely developed. This is a great chance to kind of see what food trucks are out there and who might be taking those positions at the quay, so come out. Have a good time.”