Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
City Hall is closed for President’s Day today.
Henriquez said, “So that means that there will be no meet the mayor today from two to four, but I will have the meet the mayor tomorrow from two to four, since City Hall is closed. So I’m just going to change it from Monday to Tuesday. So we’ll put it on social media, and if anybody wants to come out, they’re more than welcome. So then Tuesday, we do have a tree commission meeting starting at five, and there’s an item on the agenda that the staff is requesting to indefinitely postpone the 701 Passover tree removal, and that was with those two strangler fig trees. So just to let everybody know that that’s not going to be on the agenda, they’re going to request to postpone it indefinitely. And then on Wednesday, there is a Bight board meeting starting at 4pm and there is an item on the agenda in reference to the Shrimp Boat Sound Studio, which I think everybody would be very interested to hear. They’re requesting the city manager to negotiate a lease agreement with Bernsen and Spottswood for the recording studio located on Lazy Way Lane. There were three written proposals. One was from Mr. John Bolt, and he’s proposing preservation and continuation to maintain the studio as a living space that reflects the same space that Jimmy Buffett embodied throughout his life. Then there’s a second proposal that was from Miss Lisa Milko of WT Chapel LLC, and they were proposing to make it a wedding chapel. And then the third proposal was from Mr. Bernsen and Robert Spottswood, who proposed to keep the space as a working recording studio, but also offer museum tours, frozen drink and Margarita bar and retail sales, showcasing the city of Key West, music, art, fishing, history with the indoor and outdoor seating. So we’ll see what the will of the Bight board is going to be, but I’m sure there’ll be a lot of conversation in reference to that item on the agenda.”
The Arts in Public Places will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Henriquez said, “That’ll be right after the Bight board. And then Thursday, there’s a code enforcement meeting starting at 1:30 and then we have the planning board meeting starting right after that at five, there is an item on there that could have some discussion maybe, maybe not. There’s a major development plan for a conditional use for the 3401 Doug Avenue. And their request is that the applicant proposes the phase two redevelopment of Poinciana Royale campus. And that consists of removing the two obsolete, non conforming, two story quad plex structures and replacing them with a three story residential structure, which would contain 40 residential units. So that could be an item that would be discussed on the planning board as well. And then Friday, we have our plogging, our early birdie bird cleanup at Smathers Beach in front of Margaritaville. Please do not park in the Margaritaville parking lot, but park around the beach area. And that starts at 8am. The Guidance Care Center is sponsoring the event, and it’s a special event, this is to bring awareness to fentanyl, so it’ll be a nice event, very well attended. Then on Saturday and Sunday, we have the Key West Arts and Craft Festival at the Truman
Waterfront Park. There is a lot going on this week, a lot of meetings. So please go online, look at the agendas and see how you can have a voice and participate in all of these board meetings.”
The next commission meeting will be March 5.
Henriquez said, “It’s going to be now the first Thursday of every month instead of the first Tuesday of every month. The times will remain the same with the sessions beginning at 9am and reconvening at 5pm and I will tell you, one thing did change as well is changes to the public comment. Commissioners approved the meeting procedures, but the public comment will now occur when each agenda item is presented. So instead of having public comments in the beginning and talking about an agenda item that may be an hour two hours down the road, now they’re able to speak when that agenda item is presented, and they’re still limited to three minutes per person. If a resident signs up to speak on a consent agenda item, that item will be removed from the consent vote, and then it will be brought forward for us for discussion. So if anybody would like to speak on a consent and agenda item, then that would automatically take it off for us to be able to discuss it, and then we will vote, and then the general public comment now will be held at the end of the meeting.”
The last commission meeting discussed the city manager’s salary increase.
Henriquez said, “It was a five, two vote with Commissioner Kaufman and myself voting no. The commissioners did vote to increase Mr. Barroso’s base salary from 245 to 265. He will remain with the current two year contract with an option to renew for two years. He did receive his $500 per month expense reimbursement account with the receipts required. And then he still keeps his current $500 a month transportation allowance. The other thing that was a discussion that he’ll remain with the current severance provision of 15 weeks instead of 20 weeks, which was requested. It was a very hot topic when we were in Tallahassee, and when the agenda went public and it was published, my phone started ringing in Tallahassee, and I was like, what is going on? My vote was not personal, it was a policy decision based on my responsibility. The city manager, he does play a critical role in the operation of our government. And like I said at the meeting, our city manager is doing a great job, especially for his first year, while I respect the perspectives of my colleagues, I just could not support that agreement.”
The American cruise lines was another discussion topic.
Henriquez said, “They had asked to renew for another three years. And that passed unanimously. It wasn’t a very heavy agenda, but a lot of the agenda items had a lot of discussion. So it was a great discussion. Just a reminder, City Hall is closed today. We look forward to seeing everybody tomorrow. Have a great week. Get involved and be safe out there.”